Sperm Whale Breeding and Nursing Details
The excerpt includes details of sperm whale breeding and nursing: they breed year-round, have a roughly nine-month gestation period typically producing one calf at a time (occasionally twins, accommodated by two teats positioned near the anus), their milk is sweet and rich enough to be eaten with strawberries, and wounded nursing mothers can discolor the sea with a mix of milk and blood.
Wounded Rampaging Whale Terrorizes the Herd
A whale wounded by a short-handled cutting-spade (used to hamstring powerful, fast whales) breaks free with the spade still embedded in its flesh; the loose rope attached to the spade becomes tangled in the harpoon line wrapped around the whale’s tail, leaving the spade loose in the water and driving the whale into a mad, violent rampage where it flails and wounds other herd members with the sharp tool.
Herd Panics and Enters Collective Flight
The rampaging, tormented whale triggers widespread panic across the entire herd: whales on the pod’s margin crowd and tumble against each other, the underwater nursery areas disappear, and the herd collapses into a single dense mass before launching a rapid, unified flight.
Boat Narrowly Escapes Tumbling Whale Pods
The boat is nearly crushed between two massive whales, but the crew rows through a series of narrow gaps between tumbling whale pods to escape; during the close calls, Queequeg loses his hat to the air current created by the sudden flick of a nearby whale’s flukes.
Aftermath: Single Drugged Whale Captured
After the herd flees, the remaining boats collect drugged whales that fell behind the pod, but only one of the drugged whales is successfully captured; the rest escape temporarily, destined to be caught by other whaling ships at a later date.
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