6. Offering the inspiration behind Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, Henderson Island provided sanctuary to the crew of the Essex after they were sunk by a retaliatory sperm whale
An uninhabited member of the Pitcairn Islands archipelago in the south Pacific Ocean, Henderson Island – also known historically as San Juan Bautista and Elizabeth Island – is most unsuitable for human habitation. Spanning just 37.3 square kilometers, the small isolated speck of land contains little fresh water and its poor soil renders it ill-suited for agriculture. Believed to have housed a small permanent Polynesian settlement between the 12th and 15th centuries, it has been suggested Henderson, like Pitcairn Island itself, was dependent on Mangareva for the necessities to survive and thrive.
Offering refuge to the survivors of the Nantucket whaleship Essex, who arrived on November 20, 1820, after their ship was rammed and sank by a sperm whale – providing the inspiration for Moby Dick – within a week the crew had exhausted natural food sources on the island. Departing in three boats, leaving behind three men who elected to remain instead of risking the journey, all three incredibly survived almost four months until their eventual rescue on April 9, 1821. During their stay, the trio discovered five human skeletons in a cave, with modern analysis confirming these unfortunate souls died of dehydration and were likely survivors of an earlier shipwreck.