Stubb Teases Flask About His Red Hair
Stubb affectionately mocks Flask’s red hair, calling him “Aquarius, or the water-bearer” and suggesting he could “fill pitchers at your coat collar” in the drenching spray. He playfully suggests that even Flask’s prominent hair couldn’t catch fire in such wet conditions, demonstrating the easy camaraderie between the two mates.
Stubb’s Thoughts on Storm-Appropriate Clothing
Stubb advocates for formal attire during storms, arguing that a long-tailed coat helps water run off through the tapering tails. Similarly, he claims cocked hats serve as “eave-troughs” due to their cocks. He rejects the common “monkey-jackets and tarpaulins,” declaring his intention to wear a swallow-tail coat and drive down a beaver hat instead.
Stubb’s Tarpaulin Blows Overboard
As Stubb espouses his preference for proper clothing, his tarpaulin is suddenly blown overboard by a gust of wind. Stubb exclaims at the unmannerly winds from heaven, calling the night “nasty” as he witnesses his practical outerwear swept away—a humorous irony given his earlier advocacy for formal attire.
CHAPTER 122. Midnight Aloft.—Thunder and Lightning.
On the main-top-sail yard, the harpooner Tashtego is occupied with securing new lashings around the yard as he works. Throughout the labor, he repeats a rhythmic “um, um, um” in a manner suggesting both the physical exertion of the task and perhaps a counting or chanting cadence. The scene captures a moment of tension between the powerful natural forces of thunder and lightning overhead and the sailors’ simple desires—specifically, the yearning for rum rather than the threatening thunder that surrounds them.
Main-Top-Sail Yard Lashing
The scene unfolds high above the deck, where the crew must secure the main-top-sail yard with new lashings. This rigging work represents one of many essential tasks that keep the whaling vessel operational as it pursues its quarry across the open seas.
Tashtego Passing New Lashings
Tashtego, the skilled harpooner, is depicted in the act of passing the new lashings around the main-top-sail yard. His expertise as a sailor is evident in this work aloft, where he must navigate the treacherous heights of the ship while performing the delicate operation of securing the rigging.
Midnight Aloft Thunder Complaint
At the stroke of midnight, aloft in the mastheads, the harpooner voices his complaint about the conditions surrounding him. The “thunder” he references likely alludes to the groaning and creaking of the ship and rigging in the wind, which creates a constant, thunderous din that penetrates even to the highest reaches of the vessel.
Harpooner’s Rum Request
In a characteristically humorous complaint, the harpooner rejects the surplus of thunder in favor of a more earthly comfort. He repeatedly vocalizes his desire for rum rather than thunder, dismissing the natural phenomenon as useless and calling for a glass of the spirit to warm his bones during this midnight watch.
Rejection of Excessive Thunder
The harpooner expresses his exasperation with the abundance of thunder permeating the air around him aloft, insisting that such a commodity holds no value to him or his fellow sailors. His insistence on rum over thunder reflects the practical priorities of working sailors who sought spirits to sustain them through their labors at sea.
CHAPTER 123. The Musket.
During the Typhoon’s aftermath, Starbuck descends to Captain Ahab’s cabin to report that the wind has shifted favorably, but he hesitates at the door, struck by the sight of loaded muskets standing against the bulkhead. The very musket Ahab once pointed at him becomes the instrument of a terrible internal struggle as Starbuck wrestles with whether he should kill the sleeping captain to prevent the ship and crew from being dragged to doom by Ahab’s madness. He examines the loaded weapon, considers the moral implications of murder versus the greater danger of allowing Ahab to continue, and ultimately hears Ahab’s tormented mutterings through the door before deciding against the act. Starbuck returns the musket to its rack and leaves, ordering Stubb to wake Ahab and deliver the report while he tends to the deck, demonstrating that his moral restraint has prevailed over his desperate calculations.
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