Thomas Nickerson

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Thomas Nickerson in old age

Thomas Gibson Nickerson (born March 20, 1805 on Nantucket , USA , † November 30, 1883 ) was an American sailor and later hotelier. Nickerson's parents Thomas Nickerson Sr. and Rebecca, née Gibson, died just under two years after he was born. Nickerson was then hired as a 14-year-old cabin boy on the New England whalers Essex . This was attacked by a sperm whale on November 20, 1820 in the Pacific 3100 kilometers west of the Galápagos Islands and caused it to sink. After a three-month voyage in the small whaling boats across the Pacific, five of the 20 crew members were rescued, including Nickerson, who were already close to death.

Sketch by Thomas Nickerson of a sperm whale attack on Essex on November 20, 1820

On November 26, 1821 Nickerson hired again on a whaler, the Two Brothers , whose captain George Pollard already led the Essex and was also rescued. The Two Brothers hit a reef near Hawaii after a storm and were also lost. Here, too, Nickerson was saved with the team, but this time after a shorter time.

After that, Nickerson ran a small hotel on Nantucket. In 1876, at the suggestion of the journalist Leon Lewis, he put his memories of the sinking of the Essex and the subsequent voyage across the Pacific to her rescue on paper. This remained unnoticed until 1960 and was only published in 1984 with the title The Loss of the Ship "Essex" Sunk by a Whale and the Ordeal of the Crew in Open Boats .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Genealogy of the population of Nantucket
  2. ↑ "The Tragic Tale of the Nantucket Whaleship Two Brothers"

Primary literature

  • Thomas Nickerson: The Loss of the Ship "Essex" Sunk by a Whale and the Ordeal of the Crew in Open Boats . The Nantucket (Massachusetts) Historical Society, Penguin Books, New York 1984, ISBN 0-14043796-7 .
  • Owen Chase : Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex, of Nantucket; Which Was Attacked and Finally Destroyed by a Large Spermaceti-Whale, in the Pacific Ocean; with an Account of the Unparalleled Sufferings of the Captain and Crew during a Space of Ninety-Three Days at Sea, in Open Boats; in the Years 1819 & 1820 . New York 1824; Reprint: Harcourt Brace & Co., San Diego 1999, ISBN 0-15-600689-8 .
  • Owen Chase: The Fall of the Essex . Piper, Zurich 2002, ISBN 3-492-23514-X .

Secondary literature

personal data
SURNAME Nickerson, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nickerson, Thomas Gibson (full name); Died, Gibson (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sailor and later hotelier
DATE OF BIRTH March 20, 1805
PLACE OF BIRTH on Nantucket , USA
DATE OF DEATH November 30, 1883