she had a first time captain george pollard jr. first mate owen chase 21 men. the cabin boy was thomas nickerson and they departed and headed for the pacific. it was a normal wailing voyage not a very successful one as they made their way around cape horn up the west coast of south america and they decided to venture out farther into the pacific than the essex had ever been before to the offshore grounds, and they were after a stop at the galap. 3,000 miles from the coast of south america when they cited a huge -- whale 85 feet long, this is a huge whale if you know the huge jaw here at the whaling museum that reputedly came from an 85 foot whale just massive particularly when you realize the ship was 85 feet long well, one of the whale boats was was in was damaged and so first made owen chase. well drag that boat up onto the deck of the whale ship essex was repairing it. well the other two whale boats were off pursuing whales. cabin boy thomas nickerson all of 15 years old was at the helm steering. when this huge 85-foot -- whale appeared to the to this on thi