Quotes and Passages from the Past

[FBM]

From Koestler's The Sleepwalkers, talking about the impact of Tycho Brahe's observations of a nova:

The German painter, George Busch, for instance, explained that it was really a comet condensed from the rising vapours of human sins, which had been set afire by the wrath of God. It created a kind of poisonous dust (rather like the fall-out from a Hydrogen bomb) which was drifting down on people's heads and caused all sorts of evil, such as "bad weather, pestilence, and Frenchmen".

[Coito ergo sum]

"Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damages morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hung" - Abraham Lincoln.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Part of a written account by Owen Chase, first mate of the whaling ship Essex:-

"I turned around and saw him about one hundred rods [500 m or 550 yards] directly ahead of us, coming down with twice his ordinary speed of around 24 knots (44 km/h), and it appeared with tenfold fury and vengeance in his aspect. The surf flew in all directions about him with the continual violent thrashing of his tail. His head about half out of the water, and in that way he came upon us, and again struck the ship."

"The captain's boat was the first that reached us. He stopped about a boat's length off, but had no power to utter a single syllable; he was so completely overpowered with the spectacle before him. He was in a short time, however, enabled to address the inquiry to me, "My God, Mr. Chase, what is the matter?" I answered, "We have been stove by a whale." —Owen Chase.

After this incident, 20 of the crew took to 3 small whale boats and began a 3 month long nightmare of starvation and thirst. From what I gather only 5 (in 2 boats) survived the ordeal by eating other dead and dying crewmembers. The third boat got separated from the others in a squall. Several years later, a whaleboat containing four skeletons was found beached on a Pacific island. Although it was suspected to be the third missing boat, the remains were never positively identified.
The account of the sinking of the Essex became one of the main inspirations to Herman Melville to write Moby Dick and also "Nantucket Sleighride (to Owen Coffin)" by the group Mountain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_%28whaleship%29

[FBM]

I had to dig into that one, Jack. Gud reedin'!

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

The story captured my imagination some years ago.
I'd really like to get my hands on copies of the original accounts of events but have been unable to find any so far.