CAPÍTULO 50. Ahab’s Boat and Crew. Fedallah.
This chapter examines the preparations for Ahab’s personal participation in the whale hunt, focusing on his modified whaleboat, secret crew, and the enigmatic figure Fedallah.
Stubb and Flask Discuss Ahab’s Leg
Stubb expresses amazement that the one-legged Captain Ahab would still venture into a whaleboat. Flask counters that since Ahab still has one knee and part of the other leg, he is not entirely disabled. Stubb admits he has never seen Ahab kneel.
The Captain’s Peril in the Chase
The chapter considers the debate among whalemen about whether a captain should risk his life in the active perils of the chase, given his paramount importance to the voyage’s success. The text draws parallels to Tamerlane’s soldiers arguing about carrying their leader into battle. However, Ahab sees this differently, recognizing that a maimed man in a whale-boat faces extraordinary dangers at every moment.
Ahab’s Private Boat Preparations
Ahab secretly prepares his own whaleboat without requesting permission from the Pequod’s owners. He fashions thole-pins with his own hands and cuts small wooden skewers used for pinning the line in the bow. He also ensures an extra coat of sheathing is applied to the boat’s bottom.
The Secret Boat Crew
Though Ahab knows the owners would never sanction assigning him a boat crew as a regular headsman, he takes private measures to assemble one. The sailors only realize something unusual is happening after Cabaco makes a discovery aboard the ship.
Mysterious Crew Members on Whalers
The narrative explains that whalers often pick up strange castaways and crew members from various corners of the earth. These “floating outlaws” include people found on planks, wreckage, canoes, and blown-off Japanese junks, so the crew does not become excessively excited about unusual new arrivals.
The Mystery of Fedallah
Fedallah, a figure wrapped in a hair turban, remains an unexplained mystery throughout the chapter. None of the crew knows where he came from or by what connection he has linked himself to Ahab’s fortunes. He appears to hold some mysterious influence over the captain, perhaps even authority over him. Described as a creature from the East, he seems more at home among the unchanging Asiatic communities than among Western sailors.
Ahab’s Modified Whaleboat
Ahab meticulously modifies the spare whaleboat to accommodate his physical condition. He carefully shapes the thigh board or cleat in the bow where he can brace his knee when darting at whales. He repeatedly stands in the boat with his solitary knee fitted into the semi-circular depression, using a carpenter’s chisel to refine and adjust it until it fits perfectly.
The Maimed Captain’s Dilemma
The chapter ultimately poses the question of whether a maimed man should enter a whale-boat during the hunt, given the constant dangers involved. While the joint-owners likely thought it unwise, Ahab’s determination to personally pursue Moby Dick overrides these considerations.
CAPÍTULO 51. The Spirit-Spout.
Under easy sail, the Pequod slowly traversed several cruising grounds before one serene moonlight night revealed a silvery jet far ahead, first descried by the Oriental Fedallah perched aloft at the main-mast head; his unearthly announcement of the spout startled every reclining mariner to his feet, and though Ahab commanded the ship to pursue it, the jet disappeared and would continue to reappear mysteriously night after night, luring the crew onward while some sailors swore it was cast by none other than Moby Dick himself. As the ship turned eastward and encountered the howling Cape winds and troubled seas, the atmosphere grew bleak with strange birds clinging to the rigging and a black conscience-like sea heaving unrestingly, yet throughout this tempest Ahab manifested the gloomiest reserve, standing dead to windward for hours gripping a shroud with his ivory leg, and one night Starbuck found him sitting motionless in his chair with closed eyes, his lantern swinging from his tightly clenched hand—still, despite appearances, fixated on his relentless purpose.
The Cruising Grounds
The Cruising Grounds The Pequod methodically traverses four distinct whaling grounds: the Azores, Cape de Verdes, the Plate (off the Rio de la Plata), and the Carrol Ground near St. Helena. Under easy sail, the voyage proceeds deliberately, positioning the ship in traditional hunting waters where sperm whales are known to gather.
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