Captain George Pollard Jr. was just 29 years old when his whaling vessel, the Essex, met with disaster. As the hapless crew struggled (and largely failed) to survive their horrific time at sea, they encountered starvation, madness, exposure and some fates arguably worse than death. In the second part of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the harrowing, doomed journey of the Essex -- and how the tale later inspired Herman Melville's masterpiece, Moby Dick.

<p>Captain George Pollard Jr. was just 29 years old when his whaling vessel, the Essex, met with disaster. As the hapless crew struggled (and largely failed) to survive their horrific time at sea, they encountered starvation, madness, exposure and some fates arguably worse than death. In the second part of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the harrowing, doomed journey of the Essex -- and how the tale later inspired Herman Melville's masterpiece, Moby Dick.</p>

History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.

Ridiculous History

The Origin of Moby Dick, Part Two: Horrors At Sea

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/b16954a9-7a2f-4336-9c5b-afa400f3db0d/transcript

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