Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

Fifth Great Tail Motion: Fluke Peaking

Fifth Great Tail Motion: Fluke Peaking The fifth motion is peaking flukes, which occurs when the whale is about to plunge into the deeps. In the ordinary floating posture, the flukes lie considerably below the level of his back and are completely out of sight beneath the surface. But when preparing to dive, his entire flukes with at least thirty feet of his body are tossed erect in the air, vibrating a moment before shooting downwards out of view. Excepting the sublime breach, this peaking is perhaps the grandest sight in all animated nature. From the bottomless profundities, the gigantic tail seems spasmodically snatching at the highest heaven. At a sunrise when a large herd of whales headed toward the sun with peaked flukes vibrating in concert, the narrator perceived such a grand embodiment of adoration of the gods that he pronounced the whale the most devout of all beings, echoing Ptolemy Philopater’s testimony about the African elephant, and King Juba’s account of military elephants hailing the morning with uplifted trunks.

Whale Tail and Elephant Trunk Comparison

Whale Tail and Elephant Trunk Comparison The chapter addresses the comparison between the whale’s tail and the elephant’s trunk, warning against placing these organs on an equality or equating their respective creatures. As the mightiest elephant is but a terrier to Leviathan, so the elephant’s trunk is but the stalk of a lily compared to Leviathan’s tail. The most direful blow from an elephant’s trunk would be as the playful tap of a fan compared with the measureless crush and crash of the sperm whale’s ponderous flukes, which have repeatedly hurled entire boats with all their oars and crews into the air, much as an Indian juggler tosses his balls.