Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

Whale Attacks Boats

The White Whale churning himself into furious speed, nearly instantaneously, rushes among the boats with open jaws and a lashing tail, offering terrifying battle on every side. He seems heedless of the harpoons being darted at him, instead appearing focused on annihilating each separate plank of which the boats are made. Though the boats skillfully maneuver like trained chargers in battle, eluding him for a time—sometimes by only a plank’s breadth—Ahab’s supernatural battle cry drowns out all other sounds. The whale continues his untraceable evolutions, crossing and recrossing while entangling the slack of the three lines now attached to him, gradually foreshortening and warping the boats toward the planted harpoons.

Lines Tangled

The White Whale’s movements entangle the slack lines attached to him in a thousand ways, causing them to foreshorten and warp the boats toward the harpoons planted in his flesh. The whale briefly draws aside, apparently rallying for a more tremendous charge, giving Ahab a moment to pay out more line and then rapidly haul it in again to disencumber it of snarls. Suddenly, caught and twisted like a corkscrew in the maze of line, loose harpoons and lances with their bristling barbs and points come flashing and dripping up to the boat’s bow chocks—a sight more savage than the teeth of sharks.

Ahab Cuts the Line

Faced with the terrible tangle of lines, harpoons, and lances, Ahab realizes only one action is possible. Seizing his boat-knife, he reaches critically within and then through the rays of steel, drags the line beyond the obstruction, passes it inboard to the bowsman, and then twice severs the rope near the chocks. He drops the dangerous fagot of tangled steel into the sea and the boat is fast again. In that same instant, the White Whale makes a sudden rush among the remaining tangles of the other boats’ lines, irresistibly dragging Stubb’s and Flask’s more involved boats toward his flukes.

Boats Destroyed

Moby Dick dashes the two boats—Stubb’s and Flask’s—together like rolling husks on a surf-beaten beach, then dives down into the sea in a boiling maelstrom. For a space, the cedar chips from the wrecks dance round and round in the swirling water, like grated nutmeg in a stirred bowl of punch. Meanwhile, the crews of the destroyed boats circle in the waters, reaching for floating line-tubs, oars, and other debris. Little Flask bobs up and down like an empty vial, twitching his legs to escape shark jaws, while Stubb lustily calls for someone to ladle him up. Ahab’s line—now parting—allows him to pull into the creamy pool to rescue survivors.

Ahab’s Boat Sunk

In that wild moment of concentrated peril, Ahab’s still-unstruck boat seems drawn up toward Heaven by invisible wires as the White Whale, shooting perpendicularly from the sea like an arrow, dashes his broad forehead against the boat’s bottom. The boat is sent spinning through the air, turning over and over, before falling gunwale downwards into the sea. Ahab and his men struggle out from beneath it like seals emerging from a seaside cave. The whale’s upward momentum carries him a short distance from the destruction, where he lies momentarily feeling with his flukes, smiting the sea with his tail whenever any stray piece of boat touches his skin. Soon, apparently satisfied with his work, he pushes forward and continues his leeward journey, trailing the entangled lines behind him.

Rescue and Recovery

The attentive Pequod, having descried the entire fight from afar, bears down to rescue the survivors. Dropping a boat, the ship picks up the floating mariners, line-tubs, oars, and whatever else can be caught, landing them safely on deck. The wreckage reveals sprained shoulders, wrists, and ankles, livid contusions, wrenched harpoons and lances, tangled ropes, and shattered oars and planks. However, no fatal or even serious injury has befallen anyone. As with Fedallah the previous day, Ahab is found grimly clinging to his boat’s broken half, which provided a relatively easy float and did not exhaust him as the earlier mishap had.