Herman Melville, who used this story as research for "Moby Dick," wrote years later, and from dry land, quote, "All the sufferings of these miserable men of the Essex might in all human probability have been avoided had they, immediately after leaving the wreck, steered straight for Tahiti.
Herman Melville, koji je tu priču koristio pri pisanju "Moby Dicka", kasnije je, s kopna, napisao, "Sve patnje ovih jadnih mornara Essexa mogle su se izbjeći da su odmah nakon napuštanja broda krenuli ravno prema Tahitiju.