Owen Chase (October 7, 1797 – March 7, 1869) was first mate of the whaler Essex, which a sperm whale rammed and sank on 20 November 1820. Chase wrote about the incident in Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex. This book, published in 1821, would inspire Herman Melville to write Moby-Dick. Chase was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, the son of Phebe (Meader) and Judah Chase.
