Coffin was the son of Nancy (Bunker) and Hezekiah Coffin.
Owen Coffin died at sea on board a lifeboat from the Whaleship Essex. He gave his life, that others might live.
The Whaleship Essex and its crew met with tragedy on November 20, 1820, when it was sunk by an enraged sperm whale in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. First mate Owen Chase and cabin boy Thomas Nickerson wrote accounts of the ordeal, and the incident inspired Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick (Herman and Owen are 5th cousins 1x removed)
The crew drifted for more than ninety days in three tiny whaleboats, succumbing to weather, hunger, disease, and ultimately turning to drastic measures in the fight for survival.
Featured Asian and Pacific Islander connections: Owen is 21 degrees from 今上 天皇, 19 degrees from Adrienne Clarkson, 21 degrees from Dwight Heine, 23 degrees from Dwayne Johnson, 18 degrees from Tupua Tamasese Lealofioaana, 19 degrees from Stacey Milbern, 18 degrees from Sono Osato, 29 degrees from 乾隆 愛新覺羅, 22 degrees from Ravi Shankar, 25 degrees from Taika Waititi, 22 degrees from Penny Wong and 17 degrees from Chang Bunker on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
Categories: Whaleship Essex | Lost at Sea | Murder Victims | Pearson-3638 Notables | Nantucket Founders and Descendants | Notables