NMLP P-036051 · Point of issue · minted 2026-07-09

Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex, of Nantucket

Owen Chase · W. B. Gilley (New York) · 1821

The printed text includes an errata note asking readers to excuse mistakes 'which have resulted from the haste in transcribing the original narrative.' Herman Melville acquired and heavily annotated a copy of this exact narrative shortly before he began writing Moby-Dick, cementing the book's importance as a documentary source for that novel's climax

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New Mexico Literacy Project — Point of issue NMLP P-036051 for "Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex, of Nantucket" by Owen Chase (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/id/point/p-036051, CC BY 4.0, dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21184548).