The attack of the whale

Even if you are not attracted by the songs of Moby, an American pop singer and composer, and maybe his life is not full of lovers like Madonna or scandals like Amy Winehouse, the story behind his name has already become a legend.

Descendant of the American novelist Herman Melville, his name was created to honour one of the most important books of all times: Moby Dick.

Recently, another book, In the heart of sea, a more historical one, was launched by the American historian Nathaniel Philbrick, to celebrate and tell the true story of the whale that sunk a boat on the Pacific Ocean in the XIX century. According to Philbrick, Melville just tells a story about an attack of a furious whale, and many important and veridical facts did not deserve the right attention in his book. Meanwhile, to improve our knowledge in the past events, Philbrick uses many sources and researchers to take us deeper into subject.

Therefore, during the reading, much information about the biology of whales and their ecosystem and the life of whale hunters on sea are presented to us. There are still interesting parts describing the lifestyle in the historic Nantucket island during the XVIII and XIX centuries. This island grew with the whale hunt and the making of all products extracted by the whale as oil and? However, after many years of indiscriminated exploration, the whales almost disappeared.

However, to be honest, the author gets all my mind during the description of the ‘fight for life’ that the sailors needed to face after the boat was sunk. I could fell my throat dry up and even hungry with all their privations.

In the heart of sea can be an adventurous book to whom is searching for strong feelings. Or it is an historical book for those interested in sources and past voices. It can be still considered a guide to the sea lovers. Even so, in my opinion, we can take a more profound message on this book: the ecosystem must be used consciously.

Tobias Vilhena de Moraes (Archaeologist and Historian)