Moby-Dick was based on a real whale! Sometimes the truth is crazier than fiction.

A real life white whale destroyed over 20 whaling ships and reportedly survived encounters with another 80 or so.This massive 70 foot long albino sperm whale was named Mocha Dick and was one of the two whales that inspired the novel Moby Dick.

Mocha Dick was given his name as he was first sighted off the coast of Chile near Mocha Island; the latter “Dick” part of the name is thought to have simply been after the practice of naming certain deadly whales common names like “Dick” or “Tom”. The whalers that first spotted him attempted to kill him, but he survived the encounter.

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