In 1820, 15-year-old Thomas Nickerson set sail for the Pacific Ocean aboard the whaling ship Essex, captained by George Pollard. But the voyage, which began as a search for whales, turned into one of the most famous shipwrecks in maritime history.
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On the morning of November 20th of that year, a sperm whale attack tore a hole in the side of his small boat. As he and his companions rowed back to the main whaling ship, Nickerson spotted another, larger whale charging toward the vessel. As soon as he informed the first mate, Owen Chase, of what he had seen, shouts of alarm and panic erupted among the crew before the ship was rocked
Whether the sperm whale struck the ships intentionally or accidentally remains a difficult question to answer, but Thomas Jefferson, an independent researcher at the Pacific Southwest Fisheries Research Center of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, suggests that the collision was likely intentional if the whale repeatedly struck the ship, or if it showed acceleration in its movement before hitting it.
According to Nickerson's account of the events in 1876, the whale slammed into the Essex with such force that the men were thrown to the ground. It then moved 270 meters away before turning and charging back at the ship, this time smashing against its bow. As water flooded in, the Essex sank, leaving its crew to their fate in the middle of the ocean.
Today, 175 years after the novel was published, the question goes beyond the details of the historical incident to a broader scientific puzzle: How could a sperm whale sink a ship many times its size? Ironically, the answer was predicted by Owen Chase himself in his testimony written in 1821, in which he left a description of the collision that still forms an essential part of solving this puzzle.
The sperm whale has a huge head that makes up about a third of its total body length, and contains a brain that weighs up to 9 kilograms, making it the largest among animal brains on Earth. However, the size of the head is not due to the brain alone, as it is also occupied by two large fatty structures that surround parts of the vocal apparatus.
The first structure is the amber organ, also known as the "case" or "sac," which is an elongated, cylindrical organ composed of soft, spongy, oil-rich tissue. The second is the anterior sebaceous cyst, also known as the "junk," which consists of adipose tissue interspersed with connective tissue barriers.
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