“Call me Ishmael.”
― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
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On this date in 1820, a sperm whale attacked a whaling ship off the coast of South America. The Essex hailed from Nantucket, Massachusetts, and was captained by George Pollard Jr. Pollard was only 29, the youngest man to ever command a whaling ship; the Essex, by contrast, was pretty old, and she was also small for a whaleship. She was considered lucky, though, because crews made money on most of her voyages.....
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The inspiration for Moby Dick, from the Writers Almanac -
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.or...ate=2013/11/20