Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

The Sinking Carcase

The whale’s carcass grows increasingly heavy, dragging the Pequod dangerously sideways and tilting her deck nearly vertical. All attempts to pry the fluke-chains free from the ship’s timberheads fail as the carcass sinks lower, putting the vessel at imminent risk of capsizing.

Cutting the Chains

With no alternative to save the ship, Stubb orders the fluke-chains cut. Queequeg uses a heavy hatchet to slash the chains from a porthole, and the immense strain on the fastenings causes them to snap instantly. The Pequod rights herself as the whale carcass sinks fully.

Why Whales Sometimes Sink

The occasional sinking of recently killed, healthy young sperm whales remains unexplained to whalers, unlike the more common sinking of right whales which carry heavy, dense bone. Sunken whale carcasses often resurface days later as decomposing gases build up, turning them into buoyant “animal balloons”; New Zealand shore whalers attach buoys to sunken right whales to mark their location for later retrieval.

The Jungfrau’s Futile Pursuit

Shortly after the carcass sinks, the Pequod’s mastheads spot the Jungfrau lowering her boats to chase a Fin-Back, a fast, uncapturable whale whose spout is often misidentified as a sperm whale’s by unskilled crews. The Jungfrau and her boats sail full speed after the Fin-Back, disappearing to leeward in their futile pursuit.

第八十二章 The Honor and Glory of Whaling.

This chapter celebrates whaling as an honorable profession with ancient roots. The narrator reflects on the “great honorableness and antiquity” of the calling, finding distinction in belonging to a fraternity that includes great demigods, heroes, and prophets.