Owen Chase, the 22 year old first mate of the ill-fated whaleship Essex, seen here years after the disaster. Instead of heading west to almost certain salvation in nearby Tahiti, the confident first mate with the cocksure attitude, convinced the less assertive Captain Pollard to head east for South America several thousand miles away. As Chase grew older, the headaches that had plagued him ever since the ordeal became unbearable. By 1868 he was judged insane.

Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association.

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