Unreported Whaling Fatalities
The first supporting point for the White Whale narrative’s validity is that most whaling-related deaths and disasters go unrecorded in public, so people on land have no accurate sense of how frequent and common whaling perils are. The narrator recounts a Pacific voyage where he spoke to 30 different ships, every one of which had suffered at least one whale-related death, with some losing entire boat crews. He notes that whale oil is effectively paid for with human blood, as even a single drop of oil requires at least one drop of a man’s blood spilled in its production.
Sperm Whale Ship Attack Cases
The second key supporting point documents verified cases of sperm whales deliberately attacking and sinking or damaging large ships. First, the 1820 sinking of the Nantucket ship Essex by a large sperm whale in the Pacific, which the narrator corroborates via the Essex’s chief mate Owen Chase’s published narrative, conversations with Chase’s son, and personal proximity to the incident site. Second, the 1807 sinking of the Nantucket ship Union off the Azores in a similar attack, though the narrator never found full official records of this event. Third, an incident where a U.S. Navy commodore’s sloop-of-war was rammed and damaged by a sperm whale near Oahu in the Sandwich Islands, forcing the ship to port for repairs. Fourth, an account from Langsdorff’s Voyages of a Russian expedition ship nearly sunk by a giant sperm whale in the Okhotsk Sea, which the narrator corroborated via his uncle Captain D’Wolf, who commanded the ship in question. He also notes a corroborating account from Lionel Wafer’s voyages of a ship shock at sea likely caused by an unseen whale, rather than the earthquake originally assumed.
Sperm Whale Deliberate Malice
Additional verified examples of intentional destructive behavior by sperm whales are provided: instances where whales chased attacking whaling boats back to their parent ships, pursued the ships themselves, and withstood lance attacks from the ships’ decks; cases where a running sperm whale’s tow line was secured to a ship, towing the full hull through calm water as a horse pulls a cart; and observations that when a sperm whale is given time to rally after being struck, it acts with calculated, deliberate destructive intent rather than blind rage, often holding its mouth open in a threatening expansion for several consecutive minutes during attacks.
White Whale Narrative Corroboration
The chapter concludes by noting that these verified, modern examples prove the extraordinary events of the White Whale (Moby Dick) narrative are grounded in real, repeated historical facts. Such seemingly marvelous events are not new but recur across ages, aligning with the biblical adage that there is nothing new under the sun.
CAPÍTULO 45. The Affidavit.
This chapter centers on a documented 6th century account of a long-destructive Propontis (Sea of Marmora) sea monster, and builds a reasoned case that the creature was a sperm whale, drawing on the credibility of the original historian, evidence of sperm whale presence in connected waters, feasible access routes, and available local prey.
Procopius: 6th Century Constantinopolitan Historian
Procopius, a 6th century Christian magistrate and historian of Constantinople, is introduced as the author of a highly valued history of his own era, written during the reign of Emperor Justinian and the military leadership of Belisarius.
Procopius’s Reputation as a Trustworthy Historian
Procopius is widely considered by leading authorities to be an extremely trustworthy, unexaggerating historian, with only minor, irrelevant exceptions to this reputation that do not impact the validity of his account of the Propontis sea monster.
Procopius’s Account of the Propontis Sea Monster
In his historical work, Procopius records that during his tenure as prefect of Constantinople, a large sea monster was captured in the adjacent Propontis (Sea of Marmora), after destroying vessels in those waters for more than 50 years; this fact, set down in substantial historical writing, is not reasonably disputed.
The Half-Century Ship-Destroying Propontis Sea Monster
The Propontis sea monster described by Procopius spent over half a century destroying ships in the region’s waters during the era of the Roman Empire under Justinian, per the historian’s documented account.
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