Factual error: Herman Melville interviews whaling survivor Thomas Nickerson in Feb. 1850. Nickerson tells him "I heard a man from Pennsylvania drilled a hole in the ground recently and found oil." Oil was discovered in Titusville PA in 1859.
In the Heart of the Sea (2015)
Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, Benjamin Walker
Old Thomas Nickerson: Greed took hold of our captain and first mate. So we headed out. A thousand leagues along the equator. Where knowledge ended, speculation began. That's where the whales had gone to hide. As far from man as they could possibly go. But we hunted them down. Centuries before, sailors feared sailing off the edge of the Earth. But we where headed for the edge of sanity. Trust gave way to doubt. Hope to blind superstition.
Herman Melville: Something else you've given me tonight.
Old Thomas Nickerson: And what's that?
Herman Melville: The courage to go where one does not want to go.
Old Thomas Nickerson: We were headed for the edge of sanity... like we were aberrations, phantoms. Trust gave way to doubt. Hope to superstition.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: Nickerson is told "put that between your teeth" and is given a piece of whale bone for him to bite down hard, to help him deal with the foul stench, which can cause nausea, coughing, gagging, and vomiting.
Super Grover ★