Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

The Invariable Usage of the Fishery

According to the established customs of the whaling industry, when a whale-boat pushes off from the mother ship, the headsman or whale-killer serves as the temporary steersman while the harpooneer or whale-fastener takes the foremost oar, known as the harpooneer-oar. This arrangement has been followed consistently across the fleet.

The Harpooneer’s Role

Striking the first iron into the fish requires a strong, nervous arm. In what is called a long dart, the heavy harpoon must sometimes be thrown a distance of twenty or thirty feet, demanding significant physical strength and precision from the harpooneer.

The Long Dart

The implementation used in these long-distance throws is heavy, and the distances involved can be considerable—sometimes reaching twenty to thirty feet from the boat to the target whale.

The Critical Moment

When the exciting cry goes out—“Stand up, and give it to him!”—the harpooneer must instantly drop and secure his oar, turn halfway around on his center, seize his harpoon from its resting place in the crotch, and with whatever remaining strength he possesses, attempt to pitch it into the whale.

The Exhaustion of the Harpooneer

Despite the prolonged and exhausting nature of the chase, the harpooneer is expected to continue rowing to the uttermost while simultaneously setting an example of superhuman activity to the rest of the crew. This includes incredible rowing effort combined with repeated loud, intrepid exclamations. The difficulty of shouting at the top of one’s lungs while all other muscles are strained is known only to those who have attempted it.

Failures in the Fishery

When considering the entire fleet of whalemen, it is hardly surprising that out of fifty fair chances for a dart, fewer than five prove successful. Many harpooneers are madly cursed and demoted, and some have actually burst blood-vessels in the boat. Some sperm whalemen return home after four years with only four barrels of oil—a disastrous outcome. For many ship owners, whaling becomes a losing concern, since the harpooneer makes the voyage possible, and if his strength is exhausted before the critical moment, he cannot possibly perform when most needed.

The Second Critical Instant

If the dart proves successful, a second critical moment occurs when the whale starts to run. At this point, both the boatheader and harpooneer begin running fore and aft along the boat, placing themselves and everyone else in imminent danger. It is during this chaos that they change places, with the headsman—the chief officer of the small craft—taking his proper station in the bows of the boat.

The Headsman’s Proper Station

The headsman should occupy the proper station in the bows of the boat from the very beginning to the end of the operation, handling both the harpoon and the lance. Under ordinary circumstances obvious to any fisherman, no rowing should be expected of him.

Proposed Reform in Whaling

This author maintains that current whaling practices are both foolish and unnecessary. The headsman should remain in the bows throughout the entire hunt, darting both the harpoon and the lance, with no rowing duties expected of him except under circumstances immediately apparent to experienced fishermen.

Efficiency in the Dart

To ensure the greatest efficiency in the dart, the harpooneers of this world must rise to their feet from a state of rest and readiness, not from a state of exhaustion and toil.

The Foolish Practice

The existing practice of exhausting the harpooneer before the critical darting moment is counterproductive and dangerous. While this might sometimes involve a slight loss of speed during the chase, long experience across various whalemen of multiple nations has убедил the author that most failures in the fishery result not from the whale’s speed, but from the exhaustion of the harpooneer described above.

The Whale-Boat’s Departure

The standard procedure involves the whale-boat pushing off from the ship, with the headsman serving as temporary steersman and the harpooneer positioned at the foremost oar, ready to pull while simultaneously preparing for the critical moment of the dart.