Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

Preparing the Boats

With the whales fleeting, the ship is kept away from the wind and gently rolls. Crew members secure line tubs, thrust out cranes, and swing the three boats over the sea, their crews poised with one hand on the rail and a foot ready on the gunwale, eager to launch the hunt.

Ahab’s Phantoms

Just as the boats are about to be lowered, a sudden exclamation diverts all eyes from the whale. Dark Ahab appears, surrounded by five dusky phantoms that seem to materialize from thin air, instantly capturing the crew’s attention and ending the momentarily focused pursuit.

第四十八章 The First Lowering.

This chapter, titled “The First Lowering,” chronicles the Pequod’s first attempt to hunt a sperm whale. It opens with mysterious phantom-like figures casting loose the captain’s spare starboard quarter boat, introduces the enigmatic white-turbaned Fedallah and his crew of tiger-yellow Manilla natives, covers Ahab’s order to lower the boats and the crew’s eager leap into them despite their amazement at the strangers, Ahab’s arrival in a fourth windward boat with the five mysterious men, the officers’ reactions and questions about the stowaways, the crew’s superstitious concerns and their partial easing, the powerful rowing of Ahab’s crew that pulls them ahead of the other boats, Ahab’s spotting of the whale that halts all vessels, crew members taking high vantage points to scan for the whale, Stubb pausing to light his pipe during the wait, Tashtego’s signal that the whale has been spotted, the ensuing high-speed chase, Flask’s wild antics and Stubb’s ambiguous humorous leadership during the pursuit, Ahab’s fierce commands to his crew, and the intense, awe-inspiring thrill of the crew’s first whale hunt. As the whales dispersed and the darkening cloud-shadows deepened over the sea, Starbuck gave chase to three whales running dead to leeward while the crew pulled their boats farther apart, sailing with such speed through the white water that the oarsmen could scarcely keep pace. Suddenly a squall overtook them, wrapping the scene in a suffusing mist that hid both ship and boat, and amid the chaos Starbuck whispered the order to stand up as Queequeg hurled his harpoon; the strike grazed the whale, which escaped, while the combined force of squall, whale, and harpoon swamped the boat and left the crew half-suffocated, clinging to their seats with water up to their knees. The storm intensified into a howling wilderness of forked lightning and crashing waves, the useless oars were pressed into service as life-preservers, and Starbuck finally managed to ignite the lantern and hand it to Queequeg, who sat holding up that feeble light in the heart of the squall as a symbol of a man without faith, hopelessly upholding hope amid despair. At dawn, hearing the muffled creak of rigging through the mist, the crew glimpsed the looming hull of their ship bearing down upon them; they leaped into the sea as the vessel rolled over and crushed the abandoned boat, and after being dashed against the wreckage by the waves they were at last taken up and safely landed aboard, where they learned the ship had only just ceased searching for tokens of their perishing.