In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville2s Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. This story reveals the encounter2s harrowing aftermath, as the ship2s surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive.

A trouble-shooting 19th century seaman is trying to discover why so many whaling ships have been disappearing of late. Teaming with a scientist and a diver, they set sail to investigate. They are promptly captured by the megalomaniacal Captain Nemo, who skippers a lavish, scientifically advanced submarine.

One of the great works of American literature, Moby-Dick is the epic tale of one man's fight against a force of nature. The outcast youth Ishmael, succumbing to wanderlust during a dreary New England autumn, signs up for passage aboard a whaling ship. The Pequod sails under the command of the one-legged Captain Ahab, who has set himself on a monomaniacal quest to capture the cunning white whale that robbed him of his leg: Moby-Dick. Capturing life

...

In 1876, after eight years of incarceration at Fremantle Prison in Western Australia, six Irish political prisoners escaped to America on board the American whaler Catalpa. Under the pretext of a whaling voyage, the Catalpa and its courageous and unassuming captain, George Smith Anthony, were part of an ambitious plan to liberate the prisoners. Their story is one of swashbuckling adventure and heroism.