Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

Macey’s Death

Jeroboam chief mate Macey, eager to hunt Moby Dick despite Gabriel’s repeated warnings, convinced five crew members to man a whale boat for the hunt. Gabriel took position on the main-royal masthead, hurling frantic prophecies of doom for attacking the whale he claimed was a divine incarnation. As Macey stood in the boat’s bow poised to throw his lance, Moby Dick surfaced suddenly, the broad white shadow of his body temporarily knocking the breath out of the oarsmen. The whale then struck Macey bodily, sending him flying through the air in a long arc before he fell into the sea 50 yards away and sank permanently. No part of the whale boat was damaged, nor were any of the oarsmen harmed, and when Macey’s body was later recovered, it bore no marks of violence— a type of fatal accident that is nearly as common as any other in the sperm whale fishery.

The Fatal Letter

After Mayhew finishes his story of Macey’s death, Ahab asks if he intends to hunt Moby Dick if the whale is sighted again, and Ahab confirms he will pursue the White Whale. Gabriel again leaps to his feet, warning Ahab he will meet the same blasphemous end as Macey. Ahab then remembers his letter bag, and asks Starbuck to check it for letters addressed to the Jeroboam’s crew. Starbuck finds a tattered, damp, mold-covered letter addressed to Mr. Harry Macey, the Jeroboam’s chief mate, which Ahab realizes is the very man Mayhew just told him was killed by Moby Dick. To avoid letting the Jeroboam’s boat come alongside the Pequod, Ahab has Starbuck attach the letter to the end of a cutting spade pole to hand it over at a distance, but as Ahab reaches the pole toward the boat, the Jeroboam’s oarsmen stop rowing so the boat drifts close enough for Gabriel to snatch the letter. Gabriel impales the letter on his boat knife and throws it back to the Pequod, where it falls at Ahab’s feet, before he shrieks at his crew to row away immediately.