Opening Purpose: Vindicating Whaling to Landsmen
The narrator, having embarked on the business of whaling alongside Queequeg, expresses concern that landsmen regard whaling as an unpoetical and disreputable pursuit. He aims to convince these critics of the injustice done to whale hunters and to defend the honor of his profession against widespread misconceptions.
Rebuttal of Perceptions of Whaling as Lowly and Unclean
The text addresses the common view that whaling ranks below liberal professions and that presenting oneself as a harpooneer would not enhance one’s social standing. The narrator argues that while whalemen are indeed butchers, so too have been honored martial commanders. Regarding cleanliness, he promises to reveal facts showing the sperm whale-ship among the tidiest things on earth, comparing the alleged uncleanliness of whale decks favorably to the carrion of battlefields. The narrator emphasizes that while soldiers’ perils enhance their prestige, many veterans would recoil at the sight of a sperm whale’s tail, suggesting whaling’s terrors surpass those of conventional warfare.
Evidence of State and National Patronage of Whaling
The narrator presents historical evidence of governmental support for whaling: Dutch admirals commanded whaling fleets during De Witt’s time; Louis XVI of France personally funded whaling expeditions from Dunkirk and invited Nantucket families to settle there; Britain paid over £1,000,000 in bounties to whalemen between 1750 and 1788. American whalemen now outnumber all others worldwide, operating a fleet of 700 vessels manned by 18,000 men, consuming $4,000,000 annually, with ships worth $20,000,000 and importing $7,000,000 yearly—a demonstration of whaling’s powerful significance.
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