Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

Second Great Tail Motion: Combat Use

Second Great Tail Motion: Combat Use The second motion is when the whale uses its tail as a mace in battle. While sperm whales fight each other with head and jaw, in conflicts with man they chiefly use their tail contemptuously. When striking a boat, the whale swiftly curves away its flukes from it, and the blow is inflicted by the recoil alone. If made in the unobstructed air, especially descending to its mark, the stroke is simply irresistible—no ribs of man or boat can withstand it. One’s only salvation lies in eluding it, but side blows often result in merely a cracked rib or a dashed plank.

Third Great Tail Motion: Surface Sweeping

Third Great Tail Motion: Surface Sweeping The third motion is sweeping. The chapter suggests that in the whale, the sense of touch is concentrated in the tail, a delicacy equalled only by the daintiness of the elephant’s trunk. When sweeping, the whale moves his immense flukes from side to side upon the sea’s surface with maidenly gentleness and soft slowness. If he feels but a sailor’s whisker, woe to that sailor. The preliminary touch holds tenderness, though the tail lacks prehensile power—a power the elephant’s trunk possesses, as demonstrated by the elephant that could present flowers to damsels or extract darts when wounded.

Fourth Great Tail Motion: Lobtailing

Fourth Great Tail Motion: Lobtailing The fourth motion is lobtailing, when the whale plays in the middle of solitary seas. Unbent from the vast corpulence of his dignity, the whale kitten-like plays on the ocean as if it were a hearth, yet power remains visible in his play. The broad palms of his tail are flirted high into the air, then smite the surface, and the thunderous concussion resounds for miles. One would almost think a great gun had been discharged, and the light wreath of vapor from the spiracle suggests smoke from a touch-hole.