For an instant, the tranced boat’s crew stood still; then turned. “The ship? Great God, where is the ship?” Soon they through dim, bewildering mediums saw her sidelong fading phantom, as in the gaseous Fata Morgana;li only the uppermost masts out of water; while fixed by infatuation, or fidelity, or fate, to their once lofty perches, the pagan harpooners still maintained their sinking lookouts on the sea. And now, concentric circles seized the lone boat itself, and all its crew, and each floating oar, and every lance-pole, and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex, carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight.
But as the last whelmings intermixingly poured themselves over the sunken head of the Indian at the mainmast, leaving a few inches of the erect spar yet visible, together with long streaming yards of the flag, which calmly undulated, with ironical coincidings, over the destroying billows they almost touched;—at that instant, a red arm and a hammer hovered backwardly uplifted in the open air, in the act of nailing the flag faster and yet faster to the subsiding spar. A sky-hawk that tauntingly had followed the main-truck downwards from its natural home among the stars, pecking at the flag, and incommoding Tashtego there; this bird now chanced to intercept its broad fluttering wing between the hammer and the wood; and simultaneously feeling that etherial thrill, the submerged savage beneath, in his death-gasp, kept his hammer frozen there; and so the bird of heaven, with archangelic shrieks, and his imperial beak thrust upwards, and his whole captive form folded in the flag of Ahab, went down with his ship, which, like Satan, would not sink to hell till she had dragged a living part of heaven along with her, and helmeted herself with it.
Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as its rolled five thousand years ago.
Epilogue.
“And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.”
Job.lj
The drama’s done. Why then here does any one step forth?—Because one did survive the wreck.
It so chanced, that after the Parsee’s disappearance, I was he whom the Fates ordained to take the place of Ahab’s bowsman, when that bowsman assumed the vacant post; the same, who, when on the last day the three men were tossed from out the rocky boat, was dropped astern. So, floating on the margin of the ensuing scene, and in full sight of it, when the half-spent suction of the sunk ship reached me, I was then, but slowly, drawn towards the closing vortex. When I reached it, it had subsided to a creamy pool. Round and round, then, and ever contracting towards the button-like black bubble at the axis of that slowly wheeling circle, like another Ixionlk I did revolve. Till, gaining that vital centre, the black bubble upward burst; and now, liberated by reason of its cunning spring, and, owing to its great buoyancy, rising with great force, the coffin life-buoy shot lengthwise from the sea, fell over, and floated by my side. Buoyed up by that coffin, for almost one whole day and night, I floated on a soft and dirge-like main. The unharming sharks, they glided by as if with padlocks on their mouths; the savage sea-hawks sailed with sheathed beaks. On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and picked me up at last. It was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan.
ENDNOTES
1 (p. 3) Dedication. Melville met Hawthorne on August 5, 1850, while the Melvilles were living in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and the Hawthornes in nearby Lenox. The two men admired one another’s work, and visited back and forth while Melville was writing Moby-Dick. The friendship was particularly intense on Melville’s part.
2 (p. 30) Seneca and the Stoics: The Roman philosopher, dramatist, and statesman Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 B.C-A.D. 65) was an adherent of Stoicism, a Greek and Roman philosophical school that advocated quietude through control of the passions. Seneca calmly committed suicide at the order of the emperor Nero, his former pupil.
3 (p. 63) Whaleman’s Chapel: The chapel is Melville’s adaptation of the Seaman’s Bethel, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The model for Father Mapple was probably Edward Taylor of Boston; formerly a sailor, he was well known for using nautical language when preaching.
4 (p. 169) Chapter “Cetology”: Melville lists many sources of information about whaling, only some of which he used. Detailed accounts are in the notes to the Mansfield-Vincent edition of the novel, and in the Hayford-Parker-Tanselle edition (see “For Further Reading” for detail on both editions).
5 (p. 173) BOOKS . . . DUODECIMO WHALE: The terms folio, octavo, and duodecimo refer to the number of times a printed sheet of paper is folded to produce the pages of a book, and hence roughly to the book’s size. See Melville’s note on quarto, p. 177. While making distinctions, Melville is also satirizing scientific classification.
6 (p. 250) Essex: The whaleship Essex was sunk by a sperm whale in the Pacific, and the account by Owen Chase, the first mate, was an important source for Moby-Dick. Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex is an excellent account; see “For Further Reading.”
7 (p. 311) Chapter “Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales”: For sources of information on the images discussed in chapters LVI, LVII, and LVIII, refer to the notes in the editions cited in note 4, above.
8 (p. 360) hieroglyphic palisades: Melville frequently uses unreadable writing as an image that expresses the permanent mystery at the heart of things. At the end of “Bartleby the Scriviner,” we learn that Bartleby had previously worked in the Dead Letter Office, which housed communications that could have been read but never were.
9 (p. 385) Locke’s head . . . Kant’s: John Locke (1632-1704) and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) advocated two different theories about how we learn—whether all through the senses (Locke) or in part through capacities inherent in the mind (Kant).
10 (p. 394) Stoic . . . Platoninan . . . Spinoza: For Stoicism, see note 2, above. The Greek philosopher Plato (c. 427-348 B.C.) was an idealist. Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) had the pantheistic view that the entire universe constitutes God.
11 (p. 405) Physiognomist or Phrenologist: Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801), Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828), and Johann Christoph Spurzheim (1776-1832) developed pseudoscientific theories that character could be deduced from expression and the shape of the head.
12 (p. 423) St. George and the Dragon: The patron saint of England, Saint George is said to have slain a dragon. Melville’s tall tale, which turns the dragon into a whale, is a good example of humor through preposterous argument.
13 (p. 436) Plato, Pyrrho . . . Jupiter, Dante: For Plato, see note 10, above. The philosopher Pyrrho (c. 360-270 B.C.) is regarded as the father of skepticism. Jupiter is the Roman name for the Greek Zeus, chief of the gods. The Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was the author of The Divine Comedy.
14 (p. 493) Cowper . . . Rabelais: William Cowper (1731-1800) and Edward Young (1683-1765) were English poets; Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), a French mathematician and religious thinker; and Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), a French philosopher and novelist. All were at times given to somber meditation. François Rabelais (c. 1490-1553) was a humanist and author of Gargantua and Pantagruel, popularly known for its baudier passages.
15 (p. 498) Chapter “ The Doubloon”: The chapter makes partial use of the zodiac, an ancient astronomical system, used in astrology, in which the sky is divided into twelve equal parts corresponding to periods of the year. Sections are assigned symbols associated with constellations, many of which have animal names. Melville’s stress is on the individuality of interpretation.
DICTIONARY OF SEA TERMSll
Aback. The situation of the sails when the wind presses their surfaces against the mast, and tends to force the vessel astern.
Abaft. Toward the stern of a vessel.
About. On the other tack.
Abreast. Alongside of. Side by side.
A-cock-bill. The situation of the yards when they are topped up
at an angle with the deck. The situation of an anchor when it hangs to the cathead by the ring only.
Adrift. Broken from moorings or fasts. Without fasts.
Aft—After. Near the stern.
Aground. Touching the bottom.
A-lee. The situation of the helm when it is put in the opposite direction from that in which the wind blows.
All-aback. When all the sails are aback.
All hands. The whole crew.
Amain. Suddenly. At once.
An-end. When a mast is perpendicular to the deck.
Apron. A piece of timber fixed behind the lower part of the stern, just above the fore end of the keel. A covering to the vent or lock of a cannon.
Arm. Yard-arm. The extremity of a yard. Also, the lower part of an anchor, crossing the shank and terminating in the flukes.
Athwart. Across. Athwart-ships. Across the line of the vessel’s keel. Athwart-hawse. Across the direction of a vessel’s head. Across her cable.
Avast, or ’Vast. An order to stop; as, “Avast heaving!”
A-weather. The situation of the helm when it is put in the direction from which the wind blows.
A-weigh. The situation of the anchor when it is raised clear of the ground. The same as a-trip.
Back. To back a sail, is to throw it aback.
Backstays. Stays running from a masthead to the vessel’s side, slanting a little aft. (See Stays.)
Balance-reef. A reef in a spanker or fore-and-aft mainsail, which runs from the outer head-earing, diagonally, to the tack. It is the closest reef, and makes the sail triangular, or nearly so.
Bale. To bale a boat, is to throw water out of her.
Ballast. Heavy material, as iron, lead, or stone, placed in the bottom of the hold, to keep a vessel from upsetting. To freshen ballast, is to shift it. Coarse gravel is called shingle ballast.
Bank. A boat is double banked when two oars, one opposite the other, are pulled by men seated on the same thwart.
Bare-poles. The condition of a ship when she has no sail set.
Bark, or Barque. A three-masted vessel, having her fore and main masts rigged like a ship’s, and her mizzen mast like the main mast of a schooner, with no sail upon it but a spanker, and gaff topsail.
Battens. Thin strips of wood put around the hatches, to keep the tarpaulin down. Also, put upon rigging to keep it from chafing. A large batten widened at the end, and put upon rigging, is called a scotchman.
Beams. Strong pieces of timber stretching across the vessel, to support the decks.On the weather or lee beam, is in a direction to windward or leeward, at right angles with the keel.
On beam-ends. The situation of a vessel when turned over so that her beams are inclined toward the vertical.
Bear. An object bears so and so, when it is in such a direction from the person looking.To bear down upon a vessel, is to approach her from the windward.
To bear up, is to put the helm up and keep a vessel off from her course, and move her to leeward.
To bear away, is the same as to bear up; being applied to the vessel instead of to the tiller.
To bear-a-hand. To make haste.
Beating. Going toward the direction of the wind, by alternate tacks.
Becket. A piece of rope placed so as to confine a spar or another rope. A handle made of rope, in the form of a circle, (as the handle of a chest,) is called a becket.
Belay. To make a rope fast by turns round a pin or coil, without hitching or seizing it.
Bend. To make fast.To bend a sail, is to make it fast to the yard.
To bend a cable, is to make it fast to the anchor.
A bend, is a knot by which one rope is made fast to another.
Berth. The place where a vessel lies. The place in which a man sleeps.
Bibbs. Pieces of timber bolted to the hounds of a mast, to support the trestle-trees.
Bight. The double part of a rope when it is folded; in contradistinction from the ends. Any part of a rope may be called the bight, except the ends. Also, a bend in the shore, making a small bay or inlet.
Bilge. That part of the floor of a ship upon which she would rest if aground; being the part near the keel which is more in a horizontal than a perpendicular line.Bilge water. Water which settles in the bilge.
Bilge. The largest circumference of a cask.
Binnacle. A box near the helm, containing the compass.
Bitts. Perpendicular pieces of timber going through the deck, placed to secure anything to. The cables are fastened to them, if there is no windlass. There are also bitts to secure the windlass, and on each side of the heel of the bowsprit.
Bitter, or Bitter-end. That part of the cable which is abaft the bitts.
Block. A piece of wood with sheaves, or wheels, in it, through which the running rigging passes, to add to the purchase.
Bluff. A bluff-bowed or bluff-headed vessel is one which is full and square forward.
Boat-hook. An iron hook with a long staff, held in the hand, by which a boat is kept fast to a wharf, or vessel.
Bobstays. Used to confine the bowsprit down to the stem or cut-water.
Bolsters. Pieces of soft wood, covered with canvass, placed on the trestle-trees, for the eyes of the rigging to rest upon.
Bolt-rope. The rope which goes round a sail, and to which the canvass is sewed.
Boom. A spar used to extend the foot of a fore-and-aft sail or studding-sail.Boom-irons. Iron rings on the yards, through which the studdingsail booms traverse.
Bound. Wind-bound. When a vessel is kept in port by a head wind.
Bow. The rounded part of a vessel, forward.
Bowline. (Pronounced bo-lin.) A rope leading forward from the leech of a square sail, to keep the leech well out when sailing close-hauled. A vessel is said to be on a bowline, or on a taut bowline, when she is close-hauled.Bowline-bridle. The span on the leech of the sail to which the bowline is toggled.
Bowse. To pull upon a tackle.
Bowsprit. (Pronounced bo-sprit.) A large and strong spar, standing from the bows of a vessel.
Box-hauling. Wearing a vessel by backing the head sails.
Box. To box the compass, is to repeat the thirty-two points of the compass in order.
Brace. A rope by which a yard is turned about.To brace a yard, is to turn it about horizontally.
To brace up, is to lay the yard more fore-and-aft.
To brace in, is to lay it nearer square.
To brace aback. (See Aback.)
To brace to, is to brace the head yards a little aback, in tacking or wearing.
Brails. Ropes by which the foot or lower corners of fore-and-aft sails are hauled up.
Brake. The handle of a ship’s pump.
Break. To break bulk, is to begin to unload.To break ground, is to lift the anchor from the bottom.
To break shear, is when a vessel, at anchor, in tending, is forced the wrong way by the wind or current, so that she does not lie so well for keeping herself clear of her anchor.
Breaker. A small cask containing water.
Breast-fast. A rope used to confine a vessel sideways to a wharf, or to some other vessel.
Bridle. Spans of rope attached to the leeches of square sails, to which the bowlines are made fast. Bridle-port. The foremost port, used for stowing the anchors.
Brig. A square-rigged vessel, with two masts. An hermaphrodite brig has a brig’s foremast and a schooner’s mainmast.
Broach-to. To fall off so much, when going free, as to bring the wind round on the other quarter and take the sails aback.
Broadside. The whole side of a vessel.
Broken-backed. The state of a vessel when she is so loosened as to droop at each end.
Bucklers. Blocks of wood made to fit in the hawse-holes, or holes in the half-ports, when at sea. Those in the hawse-holes are sometimes called hawse-blocks.
Bulk head. Temporary partitions of boards to separate different parts of a vessel.
Bull. A sailor’s term for a small keg, hol
ding a gallon or two.
Bull’s eye. A small piece of stout wood with a hole in the centre for a stay or rope to reeve through, without any sheave, and with a groove round it for the strap, which is usually of iron. Also, a piece of thick glass inserted in the deck to let light below.
Bulwarks. The wood work round a vessel, above her deck, consisting of boards fastened to stanchions and timber-heads.
Bum-boats. Boats which lie alongside a vessel in port with provisions and fruit to sell.
Bunt. The middle of a sail.
Buntlines. Ropes used for hauling up the body of a sail.
Burton. A tackle, rove in a particular manner.A single Spanish burton has three single blocks, or two single blocks and a hook in the bight of one of the running parts.
A double Spanish burton has three double blocks.
Butt. The end of a plank where it unites with the end of another. Scuttle-butt. A cask with a hole cut in its bilge, and kept on deck to hold water for daily use.
Cabin. The after part of a vessel, in which the officers live.
Cable. A large, strong rope, made fast to the anchor, by which the vessel is secured. It is usually 120 fathoms in length.
Cap. A thick, strong block of wood with two holes through it, one square and the other round, used to confine together the head of one mast and the lower part of the mast next above it.
Capstan. A machine placed perpendicularly in the deck, and used for a strong purchase in heaving or hoisting. Men-of-war weigh their anchors by capstans. Merchant vessels use a windlass.
Moby-Dick (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Page 69