Chapter 82: The Honor and Glory of Whaling
Ishmael considers the heroic history of whaling. He draws
from Greek mythology, popular British legend, the Judeo-Christian Bible,
and Hindu mythology: Perseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnu
(whose name Melville spells “Vishnoo”) can all be considered whalemen
based on the stories told about their exploits.
Chapter 83: Jonah Historically Regarded
Ishmael examines the Jonah story—which has shadowed the
novel ever since the “Extracts” and Father Mapple’s sermon in New
Bedford—through the eyes of an old Sag Harbor whaleman who questions
the tale based on his personal experience. Sag Harbor, as Ishmael
calls him, doesn’t believe that a whale of the kind described in
the Bible could swallow a man, and he thinks that a whale’s gastric
juices would not permit a man to survive in the whale’s stomach. Ishmael
details various theologians’ arcane responses to such practical
questions.
Chapter 84: Pitchpoling
Ishmael describes the process of oiling a harpoon boat’s
underside to increase speed. He reports that Queequeg performs this
task carefully, seemingly with an awareness that the Pequod will
encounter whales later that day. Stubb harpoons a fast and tireless
whale. In order to capture it, he must “pitchpole” it by throwing
a long lance from the jerking boat to secure the running whale.
Stubb’s lance strikes home, and the whale spouts blood.
Chapter 85: The Fountain
With an attempt at scientific precision, Ishmael discusses
how whales spout. He cannot define exactly what the spout is, so
he has to put forward a hypothesis: the spout is nothing but mist,
like the “semi-visible steam” emitted from the head of such ponderous beings
as Plato, Pyrrho, the Devil, Jupiter, Dante, and even himself.
Chapter 86: The Tail
Ishmael then considers the opposite end of the
animal, celebrating the whale’s most famous part: its tail. He admires
its combination of power and grace, and muses that it represents
the whale’s attempts to reach to heaven—the tail is often seen protruding
toward the skies. Whether this positioning is viewed as an act of
angelic adoration or demoniac defiance (like the shaking of a fist)
on the whale’s part depends on the mood of the spectator. Ishmael
notes that the tail is the sperm whale’s most frequent means of
inflicting injury upon men.
Chapter 87: The Grand Armada
When the Pequod sails through the straits
of Sunda (near Indonesia) without pulling into any port, Ishmael
takes the opportunity to discuss the isolation and self-containment
of a whaling ship. While in the straits, the Pequod encounters
a great herd of sperm whales swimming in a circle (the “Grand Armada”),
but, as the ship chases the whales, it is itself pursued by Malay
pirates. The Pequod escapes the pirates and launches
boats after the whales, somehow ending up inside their circle, a
placid lake. One harpooned whale flounders in pain, causing panic
among the whole herd. The boats in the middle are in danger but
manage to escape the chaos. They “drugg” the whales by attaching
lines with large blocks of wood attached, which provide resistance
and tire the swimming whales. The whalemen also try to “waif” the
whales, marking them with pennoned poles as the Pequod’s,
to be taken later. They succeed in capturing only one whale.
