HEFFERNAN, Thomas Farel 1933-

PERSONAL: Born May 29, 1933, in Buffalo, NY; son of Thomas Andrew (in sales) and Katherine (a technical librarian; maiden name, Gallagher) Heffernan; married Carol Falvo (a professor of English), March 21, 1970; children: Geoffrey. Education: Fordham University, B.A., 1956, M.A., 1959; Columbia University, Ph.D., 1970.

ADDRESSES: Home—148 Kildare Rd., Garden City, NY 11530. Office—Department of English, Harvey Hall, Room 208, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY 11530.

CAREER: Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, professor of English.

MEMBER: Modern Language Association of America, Melville Society.

WRITINGS:

Stove by a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex, Wesleyan University Press (Middletown, CT), 1981.

Wood Quay: The Clash over Dublin's Viking Past, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 1988.

The Richest Vein: Literary and Historical Surprises in Aurora, New York, Tallcot Bookshop, 1992.

Mutiny on the Globe: The Fatal Voyage of Samuel Comstock, W. W. Norton (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: For ninety-three days during 1819 and 1820 a whaleship, the Essex out of Nantucket, was attacked and ultimately defeated by a whale in the Pacific Ocean, killing all but seven of the twenty men aboard. The surviving first mate, Owen Chase, produced a narrative account of the sufferings experienced by the crew during the ordeal, including details of their cannibalism in order to survive. In Stove by a Whale, Heffernan studies Chase's writings, questions some of the actions of the crew, and details Chase's life after the tragedy.

In Mutiny on the Globe: The Fatal Voyage of Samuel Comstock, Heffernan relates the events surrounding the violent mutiny aboard the whaleship Globe, and the role of Thomas Comstock, who led the revolt. A Publishers Weekly reviewer called the book a "dynamic, tightly edited record" of the event.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kliatt, April, 1991, review of Stove by a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex, p. 24.

Library Journal, May 15, 2002, review of Mutiny on the Globe: The Fatal Voyage of Samuel Comstock, p. 109.

Modern Language Review, January, 1985, review of Stove by a Whale, p. 131.

Natural History, November, 1988, John R. Alden, review of Wood Quay: The Clash over Dublin's Viking Past, p. 92.

New Yorker, June 10, 2002, Leo Carey, review of Mutiny on the Globe.

New York Times Book Review, October 4, 1981; May 19, 2002, review of Mutiny on the Globe, p. 11.

Oceans, July-August, 1983, review of Stove by a Whale, p. 62.

Publishers Weekly, April 1, 2002, review of Mutiny on the Globe, p. 66.*