By Nathaniel Philbrick. Never in the history of the whaling hunting had a ship been attacked by a whale. But on November 20,1820, the unthinkable happened. The whaleship Essex was rammed and sunk by an angry whale. In minutes, the twenty-man crew (several of whom were only teenager)found themselves stranded in the middle of the pacific Ocean, in three leaky boats with the minimal supplies and little hope. 293 pages