The story that helped inspire Moby Dick is coming to cinema screens in action adventure In the Heart of the Sea, a film directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard and based on the book of the same name.

Nathaniel Philbrick's nonfiction In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex tells the story of the sinking of the Essex, an American whaling ship, in 1820.

The vessel was struck by a sperm whale and its crew was left stranded at sea.