Ann Alexander (ship) - Aftermath

Aftermath

Weak with infection from the two harpoons and pieces of timber from the attack embedded in its head, the whale was caught and killed five months later by the crew of the Rebecca Simms, and yielded 70 or 80 barrels of oil.

While an accidental collision with a sperm whale at night accounted for sinking of the Union in 1807, the Essex incident some 30 years prior was the only other documented case of a ship being deliberately attacked, holed and sunk by a whale. However, these two incidents are probably not as much of a freak occurrence as they appear to be. Observations of aggression in males of the cetacean species suggest that head-butting during male–male aggression is a basal behavior, and that the enlarged melon or spermaceti organ is a direct product of sexual dimorphism, evolving as battering ram to injure an opponent in these attacks.

The ability of the sperm whale to aggressively attack and destroy ships some 3–5 times its body mass in this manner is therefore hardly surprising. The 5-month period that elapsed between the sinking of the Ann Alexander and the killing of the whale involved demonstrates that long-term survival was possible after combat with a much larger ship and so, presumably, with another whale as well.