On Dec. 9 in Honolulu, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument hosted a special screening event featuring its own “Lightning Strikes Twice” short documentary film and the Warner Bros. movie “In the Heart of the Sea,” directed by Academy Award-winner Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth.
The event served to showcase the connection between the Hollywood movie and the most remote protected area on Earth.
Based on the book of the same name, the movie “In the Heart of the Sea” tells the story of the true events that inspired Herman Melville’s novel “Moby-Dick.”
In 1820, the New England whale ship Essex, captained by George Pollard Jr., was rammed and sunk by a sperm whale, leaving the crew adrift at sea for more than 90 days in three tiny lifeboats. Pollard is one of the few survivors who returned to Nantucket.
The book “In the Heart of the Sea” was authored by Nathaniel Philbrick, who appears in PMNM’s “Lightning Strikes Twice,” along with Jeff Corwin, Animal Planet TV show host and Emmy Award-winner for “Ocean Mysteries.”
“Lightning Strikes Twice” is the real-life sequel to “In the Heart of the Sea,” telling the tale of what happened next. Pollard was given command of another whale ship, the Two Brothers, and optimistically set sail for the Pacific once again, believing the adage “lightning never strikes in the same place twice.” Unfortunately, in his case it did when, in the middle of the night Feb. 11, 1823, the Two Brothers struck a reef and came to rest in what is now Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
The wreck site of the Two Brothers was discovered by NOAA maritime archaeologists in 2008, and positively identified after 2 1/2 years of research. “Lightning Strikes Twice,” produced by NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries for PMNM, depicts the Two Brothers’ saga and the research surrounding its discovery.
“Film is an incredibly powerful way to share stories of exploration and discovery in remote places like Papahanaumokuakea,” said PMNM maritime archaeologist Kelly Keogh.
For more information, visit www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/maritime/twobrothers.html.
To view the full film “Lightning Strikes Twice,” visit https://vimeo.com/146734532.
