Whale Ship Essex

What Should we do!!

November 20, 1820

Trust me!  If you were on this little whaler (small boat with sail), you would be asking the same question.  

This Painting will be shipped  Monday to Nantucket Country, Nantucket, MA. 

Recently, I read a little about the whale ship Essex.  I have never been able to get thru the book MOBY DICK, so I felt it was  high time to at least read a few lines about this famous ship to see what all the hype is and was about.  I found the little "reader's digest" version (actually Wikipedia)  to be very entertaining.

Here's what I found over the internet.  The whale that rammed the boat ESSEX, actually struck it two times, the second time being the fatal blow. This ship sunk so fast, that it made their eyes swim…literally.  There were some eye witness accounts  that said  the whale was actually about 85-feet long.  This is at least 20-feet longer than these guys were known to grow.  The sailor's reference point for this fact was the Essex Ship, itself.  Apparently, the whale after hitting it the first time, sort of parked itself directly beside the ship but under the water. He was quite obviously stunned from the blow.  Because it was so close to the surface, it was clearly seen.  It was said that the whale from head to toe was as long as the essex which was nearly 90-feet in length.  

The captain ordered the men NOT TO HARPOON it. Why would he do this?  Well, it was mainly due to the fact that he believed the whale to be too close to the ship's hull and that it would possibly hit the ship again in reaction to the harpooning.  Obviously, he made the wrong call.  

They were all in disbelief as the whale swam away only to return with a speed of 20-25 knots.  His blow proved to be more than this ship could handle.  Most of the men met a watery grave.  There were some survivors, though, witnesses that escaped in the whale boats that were onboard the ship.  

Here you can see that the whale is nearly as long as the ship. 

Special time was spent on the water.  I wanted the whale to have a a prominence without actually being  on top of the water, as I usually depict the whales.  This painting has a lot of blue in it.  Having said that, this painting is totally Nantucket.  Nantucket has all the warm pine floors and beams and nautical pieces that will compliment this painting and bring  in the warm tones that will totally balance it.  The houses on Nantucket with their shake cedar siding and roof tops are AMAZING! Thought went into the piece to compliment the tale long ago without presenting anything that was clearly incorrect.  I am sure that there will be that one person that will prove me wrong.  Go for it.  

Today, before I pass this painting off to the next person, I present to you this piece in its entirety.  While you are looking at Nantucket Country's website, check out all the other paintings of mine that she has in stock.  If you want my original work, this is a good place to find it because I do not do a lot of retail shows.  The show in Bedminster, PA (I blogged about it last week), is the only retail outlet I do.  Nantucket Country's gallery presents an avenue where collectors can do what they do…collect.  

Thanks for looking!  

Enjoy! 

Tweet

Share on Tumblr