On August 20, 1851, a New Bedford, Massachusetts, whaling ship called the Ann Alexander met a similar end as the Essex which was the ship attacked by a sperm whale that inspired Herman Melville.
According to the 1902 book Sunk by a Whale, “The whale struck the ship about two feet from the keel … knocking a great hole entirely through her bottom, through which the water roared and rushed in impetuously. … The ship sank rapidly, all effort to keep her afloat proving futile.”
Three months later, on November 14, Moby-Dick was released in the U.S.
Melville wrote to an acquaintance about the Ann Alexander:
“It is really & truly a surprising coincidence—to say the least,” “I make no doubt it is Moby-Dick himself, for there is no account of his capture after the sad fate of the Pequod … Ye Gods! What a commentator is this Ann Alexander whale. What he has to say is short & pithy & very much to the point. I wonder if my evil art has raised this monster.”
the best way i can think to describe the experience of reading moby dick is you’re in line at the dmv and this guy behind you very loudly says “well who HASN’T had a gay experience” and then proceeds to tell you every detail about his life in between anecdotes about how great sperm is and how ropes work and sometimes he’ll say the most poetic shit you’ve ever heard in your life and them jump RIGHT back into explaining how a whale is a fish because 1) it swims in water and you’re still only like halfway through the dmv line
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