Owen Chase - Return To The Sea

Return To The Sea

In December 1821 Chase signed on as first mate on the whaler Florida which sailed on December 20 from New Bedford, Massachusetts, the crew list contains the only extant physical description of Chase; 24 years old, five feet 10 inches, dark complexioned and brown haired. After whaling in the same area where the Essex sank, the vessel returned to New Bedford on November 26, 1823. Chase was again greeted by a daughter he had never seen, 18 month old Lydia. On September 14, 1824 a son William was born and Chase's wife Peggy died two weeks later. Nine months later Chase married Nancy Joy, the widow of Matthew Joy who was the first of the Essex survivors to die. Two months later Chase sailed again, as captain of the Winslow. The Winslow fished the Japan grounds before continuing east to dock briefly in San Francisco before sailing for the Pacific ground and finally returning to New Bedford on June 20, 1827. In mid August the Winslow set sail for the Brazil Banks but was badly damaged in a severe storm south of the Canary Islands which also sank two other whaling ships and damaged three more. The ship was forced to return to New Bedford where it took nine months to repair. The ship sailed for the Pacific grounds in mid July 1828, returning early July 1830.

Relatively wealthy from his successful whaling voyages, Chase now stayed in Nantucket for two years to supervise the construction at the Brant Point shipyards of his own whaler, the Charles Carrol which sailed on October 10, 1832 for a three and a half year voyage. Nine months into the voyage, Chase's wife gave birth to a daughter named Adeline, Nancy Chase died several weeks later. Chase's brother Joseph, captain of the Catherine, was told of the tragedy several months later and passed the news on to Chase when they met in the Pacific ground in August 1834.

The Charles Carrol returned to Nantucket in March 1836 and on April 5 Chase married Eunice Chadwick. In August, Chase departed on another three and a half year whaling voyage. Sixteen months later Eunice gave birth to Charles. Herman Melville wrote of the news in his copy of Chase's narrative:

"For, while I was in the Acushnet we heard from some whaleship that we spoke, that the captain of the "Charles Carrol" - that is Owen Chace - had recently received letters from home, informing him of the certain infidelity of his wife, the mother of several children, one of them being the lad of sixteen, whom I alluded to as giving me a copy of his father's narrative to read. We also heard that this receipt of this news had told most heavily upon Chace, & and that he was of the deepest gloom."

We know from the ship's log that the Charles Carrol met the whaler Hero in the grounds, the captain of which was Reuben Joy, brother of Matthew Joy from the Essex and that the two vessels remained together for the unusually long time of two months. It is speculated that it was Joy who passed on the news to Chase. The Charles Carrol docked at Holmes Hole on February 15, 1840 where Chase left the ship and travelled to Nantucket where he filed for divorce on February 18. The divorce was granted on July 7.