Capt. Worth was the husband of Adaline Chase, daughter of Owen Chase, the first mate of the whaleship Essex in 1820 when it was sunk by a whale. Chase wrote a narrative of this adventure which became one of the sources of Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick" (1851). Capt. Worth's mother's maiden name was Starbuck, which is the same as that of the First Mate of the Pequod, the whaleship in "Moby-Dick."
In 1860, Capt. Worth's whaleship the Swift was attacked by a wounded and angry sperm whale in a manner that recalls the final encounter in the pages of "Moby-Dick." Perhaps shortly thereafter, the two men met, and Capt. Worth gave Melville a large tooth of the sperm whale, reported to be "nine inches long by three wide and weighing 33 ounces." The tooth bears an inscription which says in part, "Presented by Capt Worth to Herman Melville / Author of "Typee" and "Omoo." In 1962 it was in the New-York Historical Society.
This story comes from Hershel Parker's "Melville Biography: An Inside Narrative," 154-56.
In 1860, Capt. Worth's whaleship the Swift was attacked by a wounded and angry sperm whale in a manner that recalls the final encounter in the pages of "Moby-Dick." Perhaps shortly thereafter, the two men met, and Capt. Worth gave Melville a large tooth of the sperm whale, reported to be "nine inches long by three wide and weighing 33 ounces." The tooth bears an inscription which says in part, "Presented by Capt Worth to Herman Melville / Author of "Typee" and "Omoo." In 1962 it was in the New-York Historical Society.
This story comes from Hershel Parker's "Melville Biography: An Inside Narrative," 154-56.
Capt. Worth was the husband of Adaline Chase, daughter of Owen Chase, the first mate of the whaleship Essex in 1820 when it was sunk by a whale. Chase wrote a narrative of this adventure which became one of the sources of Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick" (1851). Capt. Worth's mother's maiden name was Starbuck, which is the same as that of the First Mate of the Pequod, the whaleship in "Moby-Dick."
In 1860, Capt. Worth's whaleship the Swift was attacked by a wounded and angry sperm whale in a manner that recalls the final encounter in the pages of "Moby-Dick." Perhaps shortly thereafter, the two men met, and Capt. Worth gave Melville a large tooth of the sperm whale, reported to be "nine inches long by three wide and weighing 33 ounces." The tooth bears an inscription which says in part, "Presented by Capt Worth to Herman Melville / Author of "Typee" and "Omoo." In 1962 it was in the New-York Historical Society.
This story comes from Hershel Parker's "Melville Biography: An Inside Narrative," 154-56.
In 1860, Capt. Worth's whaleship the Swift was attacked by a wounded and angry sperm whale in a manner that recalls the final encounter in the pages of "Moby-Dick." Perhaps shortly thereafter, the two men met, and Capt. Worth gave Melville a large tooth of the sperm whale, reported to be "nine inches long by three wide and weighing 33 ounces." The tooth bears an inscription which says in part, "Presented by Capt Worth to Herman Melville / Author of "Typee" and "Omoo." In 1962 it was in the New-York Historical Society.
This story comes from Hershel Parker's "Melville Biography: An Inside Narrative," 154-56.
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