The Nantucket Girl's Song and the Sinking of the Essex 1821

Yay, a second finish for 2020!  I had a wonderful journey stitching Plum Street Samplers 'Nantucket Girl's Song', which tells the story of the sinking of the Essex whaleship in 1821 alongside part of the capricious poem from the journals of Eliza Spencer Brock.  Eliza lived from 1820-1899 and actually traveled aboard the whaleship Lexington with her husband for several years in the South Seas.

While stitching this sampler I listened to the audio book by Nathaniel Philbrick, 'In the Heart of the Sea', which detailed not only a fascinating history of Nantucket's whaling industry, but the grueling work of the whalers, the dangers they faced, and the details of the horrific sinking of the Essex and the travails of the survivors.  The book mentions Eliza's poem, which was the inspiration for the sampler.

I also found a song sung by Susan Berman of the entire poem.  So much fun.

Pun intended - this experience was the Perfect Storm.