Thank You!
The logos are small but the contributions and our thanks are huge.
On the Same Page is successful because of our amazing community partners.
On the Same Page
What is the power of one book? Can it do more than enlighten and
entertain individual readers? Can it impact the heart and soul of a
community, help us to open new lines of communication and lay the
groundwork for a stronger and better Forsyth County? We believe
that On the Same Page, the Library's community book reading
program, has the potential to do just that. On the Same Page seeks to
broaden appreciation of literature through the shared experience of
reading and discussing a single work of literature. It offers us a unique
opportunity to see things through a different perspective, one that
will only expand our understanding of the world around us.
“What is it about the sea that inspires us so? “
Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin
Director, Forsyth County Public Library
“There she blows!” Three simple words that, when bellowed from the
masthead of the whaleship Essex, cue a surge of adrenaline in her twenty-man
crew. They’ve traveled a long distance from the island of Nantucket, survived a
terrible squall, sailed down the coast of South America, and braved the
treacherous passage around Cape Horn, all to reach a fertile offshore hunting
ground far out in the Pacific Ocean. These hardy souls came to prey upon
whales, to slaughter the majestic creatures and reap oil and ambergris. These
hapless men have no idea what’s in store for them, that Nature will seek
vengeance in the form of an enraged eighty-five foot sperm whale and that
most of them will never return home alive.
In its day, back in the early 19th century, this tragedy was as widely known as
the Titanic disaster is today. Small wonder. As Nathaniel Philbrick relates it in
his nonfiction masterpiece In the Heart of the Sea, the true story of the Essex
is filled with more adventure and suspense, more twists and turns than the
best fiction. Accounts of the epic ordeal inspired a young green hand, or
rookie seaman, named Herman Melville to pen the great American novel
Moby-Dick, which has in turn inspired a long list of adaptations, in film,
television, books, cartoons, and comics. Yet Moby-Dick only told half the tale.
Now, nearly two hundred years later, we can hear the whole unbelievable
story from a pair of the survivors themselves.
What is it about the sea that inspires us
so? What draws us to that watery crucible,
where fortunes can be made lest cruel fate
intervenes, where the very limits of human
endurance are tried and tested? Do we
recognize in the ocean, as our good friend
Ishmael suggests, “the image of the
ungraspable phantom of life?” Whatever it
may be, the Forsyth County Public Library
invites you to climb aboard as we embark
on another adventure.
Nathaniel Philbrick
Background courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540
Our Community Partners
We have many partnerships in the community that make
On the Same Page possible.
Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County
ArtWorks Gallery
Bookmarks and Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors
The North Carolina Black Repertory Company
Recorded Books, Inc.
Twin City Stage
Wake Forest University and the Lifelong Learning Program
WFDD
The Winston-Salem Journal
Forsyth County Public Library Administration
Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, Director
Elizabeth Skinner, Associate Director
On the Same Page Steering Committee
Michael Ackerman, Chair Candace Brennan
Tarron Chester Theodora Drozdowski
Don Dwiggins Janis Fox
Jonathan Furr Nan LaRosee
Zachary Leonard Christina Mayhand
Elizabeth Skinner
Cover art and clip art by Tarron Chester.
For more information visit www.forsythlibrary.org
Quotations from whaling songs taken from The Whale and His Captors; or, The Whalemen's Adventures, and the
Whale's Biography as Gathered on the Homeward Cruise of the "Commodore Preble." Rev. Henry T. Cheever.New
York: Harper & Bros., 1853. www.mysite.du.edu/~ttyler/ploughboy/cheever.htm
15
Meet Nathaniel Philbrick
Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the
Whaleship Essex, grew up in Pittsburgh, and earned a BA in English from Brown
University and an MA in American Literature from Duke University. After working
as an editor at Sailing World magazine, he
wrote and edited several books about sailing,
including The Passionate Sailor, Second Wind,
and Yaahting: A Parody.
In 1986, Philbrick moved to Nantucket with
his wife Melissa and their two children, where
they still live today. In 1994 he published his
first book about the island’s history, Away Off
Shore, followed by a study of the Nantucket’s
native legacy, Abram’s Eyes. In 2000 Philbrick
published the New York Times bestseller, In
the Heart of the Sea, which won the National
Book Award for nonfiction. Since publishing In
the Heart of the Sea, he has written further
prize-winning titles, Sea of Glory (2003),
Mayflower (2006), and The Last Stand (2010).
Philbrick’s Why Read Moby-Dick? (2011) was
a finalist for the New England Society Book Award. His latest, a New York Times
bestseller, Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution (2013) was awarded both the
2013 New England Book Award for Non-Fiction and the 2014 New England
Society Book Award as well as the 2014 Distinguished Book Award of the Society
of Colonial Wars. Bunker Hill has been
The work is the basis of the
optioned by Warner Bros. for feature film
adaptation with Ben Affleck attached to
Warner Bros. movie In the
Heart of the Sea, directed by direct.
Ron Howard, starring Chris
Hemsworth, and scheduled
for release in December,
2015.
Visit nathanielphilbrick.com to learn more
about the author, his books and his world.
1
Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors
Saturday, September 12th
10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts
251 Spruce St N, Winston-Salem
Join the library at the 11th annual
Bookmarks Festival of Books and
Authors. We'll be there to spread the
news about On the Same Page. You can also visit with forty
popular authors, among them Diane Ackerman, Sandra Brown,
Candace Bushnell, Kwame Alexander, Marc Brown, R.L. Stine, Pat
Conroy and Mercedes Lackey.
Learn more at bookmarksnc.org.
On the Same Page kicks
off at Bookmarks Festival
of Books and Authors with
a conversation between
award-winning audiobook
narrator Scott Brick and
UNCSA’s Dale M. Pollock.
Scott Brick
11:00-11:45 am
Hanesbrand Theater
2
Movie Screenings
Branch Library Movies
Monday, September 21 at 6:00 pm. Finding Nemo (2003, G 101 min) Clemmons
Branch Library, 3554 Clemmons Rd, Clemmons. After his son Nemo is captured in
the Great Barrier Reef and taken to a dentist's office in Sydney, Marlin, a timid
clownfish, sets off on a journey with his forgetful new friend Dory to bring him
home.
Monday, September 28 at 6:00 pm. Black Sea (2014, R 1 hr, 55 min) Rural Hall
Branch Library, 7125 Broad St, Rural Hall. Soon after losing his salvage job,
former naval officer Robinson (Jude Law) assembles a misfit crew of unemployed
sailors for a risky mission: Find a sunken Nazi U-boat, rumored to contain a
fortune in gold.
John Huston’s
Moby-Dick
Sunday, October 4
3:00 pm.
The Annenberg Forum
Carswell Hall
Wake Forest University
Actor, writer, and award-winning audiobook narrator, Scott Brick certainly knows
how to tell a story in a way that keeps top publishers, bestselling and awardwinning authors, critics and the reading public begging for more. Brick has
narrated almost seven hundred audiobooks, including In the Heart of the Sea. A
popular choice with high profile authors including Nelson DeMille, Janet
Evanovich, Clive Cussler, Brad Meltzer, Harlen Coben, David Baldacci and Greg
Hurwitz, just to name a few, Brick continues to weave magic into every story he
touches. AudioFile Magazine proclaimed Brick a “Golden Voice” and Publishers
Weekly then honored Brick as Narrator of the Year in both 2007 and 2011.
To date, he has won fifty Earphone Awards, two Audie Awards, and a Grammy
nomination.
Scott Brick’s appearance is sponsored
by Recorded Books, the largest
independent publisher of unabridged
audiobooks and provider of digital
media to consumer, retail,
professional, school, library and infotainment markets. The company owns an
exclusive catalog of more than 22,000 audiobook titles narrated by professional,
award-winning actors. Recorded Books provides digital audiobooks and eBooks,
as well as other compelling third-party content, including digital magazines and
films, through its proprietary RBdigital Gateway platform. The Company operates
in the United Kingdom through its W.F. Howes subsidiary and in Australia through
its Wavesound subsidiary. Recorded Books was founded in 1979 and is
headquartered in Prince Frederick, MD.
Audiobook fans, do you know about
One Click Digital and Overdrive?
Join us for a free screening of the
classic 1956 film adaptation of Moby Dick,
starring Gregory Peck and Orson Welles.
Dr. Steve Jarrett, professor of Film and
Media Studies at Wake Forest University,
will give an introduction and talk about
the making of the movie, which won John
Huston both the New York Film Critics
Circle Award and the National Board
of Review Award for Best Director. The
Image courtesyMovie Licensing USA® - Public
film is unrated and runs for 116 minutes.
Library Movies - A Division of Swank Motion
Forsyth County Public
Library cardholders can
download thousands of
audiobook titles to their
mobile devices or computers by visiting Overdrive and One Click Digital, our
source for Recorded Books titles, at the library’s website at
www.forsyth.cc/library/downloadable_media.aspx
Pictures, Inc.®
For maps of the Wake Forest Campus and information on parking, please visit
www.wfu.edu/visitors/maps/
14
3
Keep in touch with On the Same Page this season
and watch out for more programming announcements
on the Library’s website at forsythlibrary.org
Whaling in North Carolina
Whaling had a significant history as an industry in North Carolina. Learn more
from these resources.
Jenny McElroy’s 2009 blog post on “The End of North Carolina Whaling” from the
North Carolina Miscellany. www.tinyurl.com/nedk4k3 .
A History of Whaling In and Near North Carolina by Randall R. Reeves and Edward
Mitchell. A 1988 report for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. www.tinyurl.com/pbbpvpy .
Branch Library Programs
MoreResources on the Web
Two Primary Sources for the story of the Essex
Nathaniel Philbrick interprets two original historical sources to tell the story of the
whaleship Essex. Owen Chase, the ship’s First Mate’s published his story within
months of the disaster. His Narrative of the most extraordinary and distressing
shipwreck of the whale-ship Essex, of Nantucket from 1821 can be read at Tom
Tyler’s The Ploughboy Journals of Lewis Monto, online at
www.tinyurl.com/pt9ncvx
Thomas Nickerson, the ship’s cabin boy, did not tell his story until much later,in
1876, and his story, The Loss of the Ship "Essex" Sunk by a Whale and the Ordeal of
the Crew in Open Boats,”was lost until 1960, then published in 1984. An excerpt
from the whole, a description of the Essex’s stop in the Galapagos in 1820, can be
read at John Woram’s Human and Cartographic History of the Galápagos Islands
online at www.tinyurl.com/o6owduw
See the movie trailer for Warner Brothers In the Heart of the Sea
A Ron Howard production, starring Chris Hemsworth, In theaters in December,
2015. View the trailer at www.intheheartoftheseamovie.com
Kernersville Branch Library, 150 E Mountain St.
Nathaniel Philbrick on You Tube
Wednesday, October 7 at 7:00 pm. Join us to view and discuss a TED Talk about
the whaleship Essex, and what we can learn about ourselves today from the
tragedy that inspired Moby Dick.
Wednesday, September 16 at 10:15am. Preschool Storytime about Oceans
(ages 3 to 6).
Thursday, September 17 at 10:30am. Toddler Storytime about Oceans
(ages 2 & under).
There are several great videos on YouTube featuring Nathaniel Philbrick. Search
for these videos and many others.
“BCC One Book Project Author Nathaniel Philbrick”
“Nathaniel Philbrick at Mystic Seaport”
“Nathaniel Philbrick: The Library Was a Refuge”
“Author Talk: Nathaniel Philbrick's ‘Why Read Moby-Dick?’“
Southside Branch Library, 3185 Buchanan St.
Tuesday, October 13 at 6:30 pm. Southside Book Club discusses Sena Jeter Naslund’s Ahab’s Wife, or, The Stargazer (1999). “’Captain Ahab was neither my first
husband nor my last,’ says Una Spenser, the eponymous narrator, in the first sentence of this deliciously old-fashioned bildungsroman, adventure story and romance. Naslund's inspiration, based on one reference in Moby-Dick, [will please]
with its suspenseful, affecting, historically accurate and seductive narrative.”
~Library Journal
Wednesday, September 23 at 10:30 am. Whale Watching! Storytime for preschoolers.
4
The Providence Public Library’s Whaling and Maritime History Collection
Many of their historic whaling logbooks have been digitized and there is a good
collection of scrimshaw images.
www.provlib.org/exhibitions/whaling-maritime-history
Planning a New England Trip? Visit These Whaling History Venues
The New Bedford Whaling Museum www.whalingmuseum.org
The Nantucket Historical Association www.nha.org/exhibits , where
Stove by a Whale: 20 Men, 3 Boats, 96 Days, an exhibiton on the story of the
Essex, is on display through November, 2016.
13
Resources on the Web
For in-depth research about the whaling industry,
search NCLive through Forsyth County Public Library’s
website for news, magazine and journal articles,
ebooks and videos. Historical information as well as
contemporary problems and issues. www.nclive.org
Mystic Seaport’s The 38th Voyage of the Charles W.
Morgan
www.mysticseaport.org/voyage/
This web portal is a must visit! An 1841 whaleship is
restored, and returns to the sea under sail in 2014.
Mystic Seaport’s web portal offers timelines, maps,
historical background, interviews, video and enough
information to study for a year. A great resource for
families wanting to learn more, and information for
educators, too. The Charles W. Morgan sails on Block
Island Sound en route to Newport on June 15, 2014.
Photo credit: Mystic Seaport/Dennis A. Murphy.
Laura Jernegan: Girl on a Whaleship
www.girlonawhaleship.org/
The Martha’s Vineyard Museum brings you the
story of a 6-year-old girl from Edgartown, Massachusetts, who spent three years in the Pacific with
her family on the whaleship Roman. Images of the
pages of little Laura Jernegan’s own diary bring her
experiences to life, and they are accompanied by a
rich depth of context, including maps, glossaries,
historical images, stories of the people in her life,
and an interactive exploration of her ship. Another
good choice for families. Image courtesy Martha’s
Vineyard Museum.
Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World
A PBS American Experience Documentary on YouTube
www.tinyurl.com/pt3qame
The history of the American whaling industry from its 17th-century origins in drift
and shore whaling off the coast of New England and Cape Cod, through the golden
age of deep ocean whaling, and on to its demise in the decades following the
American Civil War. DVD available for checkout from the library.
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On the Same Page in partnership with
Wake Forest University’s Lifelong Learning
Moby-Dick: No Wonder
No One Wants to Read It,
and Why Everyone Should
Dr. Eric G. Wilson
Monday, October 26, 7:30 pm
Porter Byrum Welcome Center
1834 Wake Forest Rd
Wake Forest University
For more information, please call 336-758-5232 .
Moby-Dick is one of the greatest novels ever written. Why, then, do so few
people finish the book? Melville starts his riveting story of a mad captain pursuing
a mythic monster, and the next thing you know he's digressing about the various
types of whale, the parts of a whale ship, the philosophy of whaling, how whales
appear in the Bible, and so on. Then there’s his wild variety of styles—Biblical
diction, Shakespearean talk, seaman's jargon. This is the point: in Moby-Dick,
Melville has written a book that is almost impossible to read, and it's this very
impossibility that makes the book so profound. The novel opens us to energies
that can never be contained: unending thoughts, infinite power. Moby-Dick's
difficulty is precisely what makes it so vital, so necessary. If you don't read the
book before you die, you can't say you've fully lived.
Eric G. Wilson is the Thomas H. Pritchard Professor of English at Wake Forest
University, where he teaches British Romantic poetry, nineteenth-century
American literature, and Creative Nonfiction. He is the author of thirteen books—
including his most recent, Keep It Fake: Inventing an Authentic Life, as well as
his LA Times bestselling Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy--and his work
has appeared in the New York Times, the LA Times, The Oxford American, the
Virginia Quarterly Review, the Georgia Review, Salon, and The Chronicle of Higher
Education. Much of his writing has grown out of his twenty-five year fascination
with Herman Melville, especially his novel Moby-Dick.
For maps of the Wake Forest Campus and information on parking, please visit
www.wfu.edu/visitors/maps/
5
Book Discussions
Book Discussions are the heart of On The Same Page. They offer
a chance to get together with other readers, share impressions, and
be reminded why reading is one of life’s great joys. All discussions
are free and open to the community—you are welcome to join us at
any location.
Tuesday, September 1 at 2:00 pm – Tuesday At Two Book Club, Lewisville Branch
Library, 6490 Shallowford Rd, Lewisville
Tuesday, September 8 at 6:00 pm – Book Talk Tuesday, Carver School Road
Branch Library, 4915 Lansing Dr, Winston-Salem
Thursday, September 10 at 12:00 pm – Books for Belles, Kernersville Branch
Library, 130 E Mountain St, Kernersville
Saturday, September 12 at 10:30 am – Friends of the Library Reading Group,
Walkertown Branch Library, 2969 Main St, Walkertown
Wednesday, September 16 at 2:00 pm – Brown Bag Book Club, Shepherd’s
Center, 1700 Ebert St, Winston-Salem
Wednesday, September 16 at 12:00 pm – Forsyth County Government Center
Multipurpose Room C, 201 N Chestnut St, Winston-Salem. A special book
discussion from the business perspective. Imagine being the Captain of a
whaleship, attacked by a sperm whale in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
in the 1820s. Maybe you are the First Mate with a management style
that is different from your boss. Your luck, you are a lowly crew member
just trying to stay alive. Would your management style hold up to disaster
conditions?
Thursday, September 17 at 3:00 pm – Books without Borders, Milton Rhodes Arts
Center, 251 Spruce St N, Winston-Salem
Friday, September 18 at 7:00 pm – Nature & Science Literary Society, Milton
Rhodes Arts Center, 251 Spruce St N, Winston-Salem
Tuesday, September 22 at 7:00 pm – Lewisville Friends Book Club, Lewisville
Branch Library, 6490 Shallowford Rd, Lewisville
Wednesday, September 23 at 12:00 pm – Books for Dudes, Kernersville Branch
Library, 130 E Mountain St, Kernersville
Monday, September 28 at 1:00 pm – Book Discussion Group, Reynolda Manor
Branch Library, 2839 Fairlawn Dr, Winston-Salem
6
Recommended Reading, continued.
For Our Young Readers
Avi. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (1990).
Calabro, Marian. The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party (1999).
Donaldson, Julia and Scheffler, Axel. The Snail and the Whale (2005).
George, Jean Craighead and Hendrix, John. Ice Whale (2014).
Hesse, Karen, and Parker, Robert Andrew. Stowaway (2000).
Latham, Jean Lee. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (1955).
Marsh, Laura. Great Migrations: Whales (2010).
Murphy, Jim. Gone A-Whaling: The Lure of the Sea and the Hunt for the Great
Whale (1998).
O’Connell, Jennifer. The Eye of the Whale (2013).
Oppel, Kenneth and Widener, Terry. Peg and the Whale (2000).
Rylant, Cynthia. The Whales (1996).
Shute, Nevil. Trustee from the Toolroom (1960).
Taylor, Theodore. The Cay (1969).
Selected works by Nathaniel Philbrick
Abram’s Eyes: The Native American Legacy of Nantucket Island (1998).
Second Wind: A Sunfish Sailor’s Odyssey (1999).
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (2000).
Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602-1890, (1994).
Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex (2002).
Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery: the U.S. Exploring Expedition
(2003).
Mayflower: a Story of Courage, Community, and War (2006).
The Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ New World: The Story of Plymouth Colony for
Young Readers, (2008).
The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn,(2010).
Why Read Moby Dick? (2011).
Bunker Hill: a City, a Siege, a Revolution (2013).
Recommended Reading
For Adult Readers
Brown, Daniel James. The Boys in the Boat (2014).
Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe (1719).
Forester, C.S. Horatio Hornblower series (1937-67).
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea (1952).
Horwitz, Tony. Blue Latitudes (2002).
Junger, Sebastian. The Perfect Storm (1997).
Kurson, Robert. Shadow Divers (2004).
Lansing, Albert. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage (1959).
London, Jack. The Sea Wolf (1904).
Martel, Yann. The Life of Pi (2001).
Melville, Herman. Billy Budd (1924).
Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick (1851).
Naslund, Sena Jeter. Ahab’s Wife, or The Star Gazer (1999).
Nordhoff, Charles and Hall. James Norman Mutiny on the Bounty (1932).
O’Brian, Patrick. Master and Commander
Spout! spout! spout!
(1969).
The waves are purling all about,
Philbrick, Nathaniel. Why Read Moby Dick?
Every billow on its head
(2013).
Strangely wears a crest of red.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest (1610-11).
See her lash the foaming main
For Young Adult/Teen Readers
In her flurry and her pain.
Bodeen, S.A.. The Raft (2012).
Take good heed, my hearts of oak.
Cox, Lynne. Grayson (2006).
Lest her flukes, as she lies,
Greci, Paul. Surviving Bear Island (2015).
Swiftly hurl you to the skies
Herlong, M.H. The Great Wide Sea (2008).
~Whaler’s song
Meyer, L. A.. Bloody Jack series (2002-14).
Nelson, Peter. Left for Dead : A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS
Indianapolis (2002).
Paulsen, Gary. The Voyage of the Frog (1990).
Philbrick, Nathaniel. The Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship
Essex (2002). Young adult adaptation of In the Heart of the Sea.
Sandler, Martin W. The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic
Adventure (2012).
Tullson, Diane. Red Sea (2005).
10
Thursday, October 1 at 12:00 pm – Noon Book Club, Kernersville Branch
Library, 130 E Mountain St, Kernersville
Monday, October 5 at 7:00 pm – Book Lover’s Club, Clemmons Branch
Library, 3554 Clemmons Rd, Clemmons
Tuesday, October 6 at 7:00 pm – Rural Hall Book Club, Rural Hall Branch
Library, 7125 Broad St, Rural Hall
Wednesday, October 14 at 12:00 pm – Books for Dudes, Camel City News, 533 N
Spring St, Winston-Salem
For information about locations or details of book discussions, please contact
the library at 703-3022.
Buel, J.W., Sea and Land: An Illustrated History of the Wonderful and Curious Things of Nature Existing
Before and Since the Deluge. Philadelphia, 1887, p. 148. Image online at www.tinyurl.com/p8vyqca
Text online at www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/53544#/summary
7
Discussion Questions for Book Groups
Discussion Questions for Book Groups
1. In 1820, Nantucket was a Quaker town. How did their beliefs help
Nantucket in becoming the Whaling Capital of the World? How did their
beliefs help them survive the ordeal?
8. When the crew was rescued from the lifeboats (and island), what was
the general sentiment of their rescuers? How did the people of Nantucket
view the crew and Captain Pollard after they returned? How was Pollard
viewed by his crew and his family? Do you think they were judged fairly?
2. In chapter three, the Essex caught, killed and processed its first whale.
What would your feelings have been if you were a member of the crew?
3. Captain George Pollard and First Mate Owen Chase were instrumental in
the decision making for the Essex crew, yet they each had a very different
style. Do you think differences in decision-making contributed to the
demise of the Essex or the eventual loss of life? Who made the best
decisions? Who was a better leader?
O'er the deep! o'er the deep!
4. Put yourself in the role of a crew
member. As the crew began to leave Where the whale, and the shark, and
the sword-fish sleep.
Henderson Island several crew
members decided to stay on the
On the craggy ice, in the frozen air,
island rather than continue the
Heedless of dangers
tortuous journey at sea. Would you
if game be but there,
have decided to stay on the island or
Encountering all
continue in the lifeboats? Whose
the great whale to snare.
lifeboat would you want to be on?
Why?
~Anonymous
5. The crew of the Essex was made up of Nantucketers and off-islanders
(including several African Americans). In what ways did the Nantucketers
take care of their own (before and after the attack)? Do you think the analogy made between the hawks and the Tropic Birds in chapter nine is fair?
Why or why not?
6. Was it hypocritical of a Quaker community to embrace such a violent
occupation as whaling? What other decisions were hypocritical to their
beliefs?
7. Did race have anything to do with who lived or died? Speculate on why
the African Americans were the first to die. Under the circumstances was
cannibalism acceptable?
8
9. Why do you think the whale attacked the Essex? In later years, as
mentioned in the Epilogue, several more attacks by whales occurred.
Sperm whales have the largest brain of any animal on earth. Do you
believe they were provoked?
10. The Nantucket whale ships had harvested over 225,000 whales. Today
it is estimated that there are between 1.5 and 2 million sperm whales (the
most abundant of the world’s great whales). How have the views of
whaling changed in the last 200 hundred years?
Obtained and adapted with permission from Chesapeake Bay Governor’s School
www.cbgs.k12.va.us/cbgs-document/Senior%20Summer%20Reading.pdf
“I could not believe what I was seeing: everywhere there were whale
bones. Thousands of them stacked on top of each other. They rose
from the seabed almost to the surface of the water. There were big
bones. I could make out many of them: rib bones, jaw bones,
vertebrae. In some places they were piled so high that, when I took a
stroke, my hands touched them. I thought of all the beautiful whales
I’d seen around the coast of South Africa and Norway that add so much
to the area. How many whales were hunted and brought to this island
before having their carcasses burned for oil and their bones dumped in
this way?
“I have been haunted by that swim through the whale graveyard and
haven’t been able to get the image of the bones out of my head. Man
hunted whales almost to the point of extinction, not seeming to care
that we would lose one of the wonders of the sea world forever. It is
the coldness of the water in Antarctica that preserves the bones and
makes it look like they were left there yesterday but I like to think they
are there as a reminder of man’s potential for folly.”
~Lewis W. G. Pugh, ocean advocate, from Achieving the
Impossible, 2010.
9