Edgar Allen Poe’s only novel details the sailing life of Arthur Gordon Pym, a young sailor from Nantucket. The novel follows him as he gets caught up in all sorts of dangerous situations and somehow manages to survive them all (maybe). It is unclear whether or not Pym dies at the end of the novel, though it is clear from the end of chapter notes that his death was untimely. Pym’s childhood friend Augustus is the one to get him into sailing and the sea, and the two begin their adventures by nearly dying in a weather related sailing accident. They then go on to board Augustus’ father’s whaling ship, with Pym as a stowaway, where the ship is taken over by mutineers and most of the loyal crew ends up dead. Augustus, the still-hidden Pym, and a kind mutineer named Dirk Peters concoct a plan to reclaim the ship using Pym as a ‘ghost’ of one of the dead sailors. Somehow this works, and with the ship reclaimed, the reader is given the first glimpse of the supernatural in the story. However, a storm soon hits the ship and they end up resorting to cannibalism of Parker, a spared mutineer, in order to survive. Augustus dies soon after from wounds, and soon Pym and Peters are rescued by the Jane Guy. While on the ship, the crew meets a tribe on an island and befriend them. However, the tribe soon attacks the men, leaving only Pym, Peters, and another man alive. They soon retaliate, capturing one native and stealing canoe ships to escape. As they paddle, the environment starts acting bizarre and their captive dies of fright. Pym and Peters see a white, ghost-like figure in the fog, and the story cuts off abruptly.

 

What stood out to me in this story was how similar it was to the true story of the whaleship Essex. Ignoring the obviously unnatural aspects of Poe’s novel, the two share certain scenes as well as a general atmosphere of the story. In Pym, after the Grampus is recaptured by Pym, Peters, and Parker, they face a storm and end up starving and dehydrated. Parker suggests drawing lots for food, and he himself picks the short straw. The rest of the men kill and eat him. In the case of the Essex, the crew was aboard three small whaling dinghies, also starving and dehydrated, and decided that drawing lots would be the best way to ensure that they all did not die. Owen Coffin, a teenage boy, was the unlucky sailor and was shot by a crewmate when he began to back out. Also in both accounts, the stranded sailors come across foreign islands that betray them. Pym’s new ship, Jane Guy, stops at an island and most of them are killed by the inhabitants. The escapees, Pym, Peters, and a captive, paddle off into the ocean, unsure of a destination and hoping someone will rescue them. The tragedy of the Essex saw the men wash up on an unknown island where they are able to find water and food (in the form of birds) for several days. They quickly realize, however, that the island is far too small to sustain all of them, and all but two men pack up food and water and return to their small boats, hoping to be found. While we don’t know the fate of Pym entirely, aside from an encounter with an astral projection, the men of the Essex were rescued, though the men left on the island were found dead months later. It is not unheard of that Poe based his novel even loosely around this story, as his book was published in 1838 and the tragedy occurred in 1820.