Historical Events tagged with "sperm whale"

Turns out history loves a label—battles, breakthroughs, and the occasional disaster, all neatly tagged for your browsing pleasure. Because sometimes you just need every weird invention in one place.

Exploration & Discovery

Sperm Whale Attacks and Sinks Whaling Ship Essex

November 20th, 1820 204 years ago

The whaling ship Essex, from Nantucket, Massachusetts, was attacked by an 80-ton sperm whale approximately 3,200 kilometers from the western coast of South America. The whale rammed the ship, causing it to sink and prompting the crew to resort to lifeboats for survival. This incident inspired Herman Melville's 1851 novel, Moby-Dick, highlighting the tension between humans and nature in the whaling industry.

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