“The Whale-ship Globe,on board of which vessel occurred the horrid transactions we are about to relate, belonged to the island of Nantucket.” —“_Narrative of the Globe Mutiny_,” _by Lay and Hussey survivors. A.D._ 1828.
Being once pursued by a whale which he had wounded,he parried the assault for some time with a lance;but the furious monster at length rushed on the boat;himself and comrades only being preserved by leaping into the water when they saw the onset was inevitable.” —_Missionary Journal of Tyerman and Bennett_.
“Nantucket itself,” said Mr. Webster,“is a very striking and peculiar portion of the National interest.There is a population of eight or nine thousand persons living here in the sea,adding largely every year to the National wealth by the boldest and most persevering industry.” —_Report of Daniel Webster’s Speech in the U. S. Senate, on the application for the Erection of a Breakwater at Nantucket_. 1828.
“The whale fell directly over him,and probably killed him in a moment.” —“_The Whale and his Captors,or The Whaleman’s Adventures and the Whale’s Biography,gathered on the Homeward Cruise of the Commodore Preble_.” _By Rev. Henry T. Cheever_.
“If you make the least damn bit of noise,” replied Samuel, “I will send you to hell.” —_Life of Samuel Comstock_ (_the mutineer_),_by his brother, William Comstock.Another Version of the whale-ship Globe narrative_.
“The voyages of the Dutch and English to the Northern Ocean,in order, if possible,to discover a passage through it to India,though they failed of their main object,laid-open the haunts of the whale.” —_McCulloch’s Commercial Dictionary_.
“These things are reciprocal; the ball rebounds,only to bound forward again;for now in laying open the haunts of the whale,the whalemen seem to have indirectly hit upon new clews to that same mystic North-West Passage.” —_From_ “_Something_” _unpublished_.
“It is impossible to meet a whale-ship on the ocean without being struck by her near appearance. The vessel under short sail, with look-outs at the mast-heads, eagerly scanning the wide expanse around them, has a totally different air from those engaged in regular voyage.” —_Currents and Whaling. U.S. Ex. Ex_.
“Pedestrians in the vicinity of London and elsewhere may recollect having seen large curved bones set upright in the earth, either to form arches over gateways, or entrances to alcoves, and they may perhaps have been told that these were the ribs of whales.” —_Tales of a Whale Voyager to the Arctic Ocean_.
“It was not till the boats returned from the pursuit of these whales,that the whites saw their ship in bloody possession of the savages enrolled among the crew.” —_Newspaper Account of the Taking and Retaking of the Whale-Ship Hobomack_.
“It is generally well known that out of the crews of Whaling vessels (American) few ever return in the ships on board of which they departed.” —_Cruise in a Whale Boat_.
“Suddenly a mighty mass emerged from the water,and shot up perpendicularly into the air.It was the whale.” —_Miriam Coffin or the Whale Fisherman_.
“The Whale is harpooned to be sure; but bethink you,how you would manage a powerful unbroken colt,with the mere appliance of a rope tied to the root of his tail.” —_A Chapter on Whaling in Ribs and Trucks_.
“On one occasion I saw two of these monsters (whales) probably male and female,slowly swimming, one after the other,within less than a stone’s throw of the shore” (Terra Del Fuego),“over which the beech tree extended its branches.” —_Darwin’s Voyage of a Naturalist_.
“‘Stern all!’ exclaimed the mate, as upon turning his head,he saw the distended jaws of a large Sperm Whale close to the head of the boat,threatening it with instant destruction;—‘Stern all, for your lives!’” —_Wharton the Whale Killer_.
“So be cheery, my lads, let your hearts never fail,While the bold harpooneer is striking the whale!” —_Nantucket Song_.
“Oh, the rare old Whale,mid storm and gale In his ocean home will be A giant in might,where might is right, And King of the boundless sea. ” —_Whale Song_.
CHAPTER 1. Loomings.
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.
There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes,belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs—commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there.
Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon.Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip,and from thence, by Whitehall, northward. What do you see?—Posted like silent sentinels all around the town,stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries.Some leaning against the spiles;some seated upon the pier-heads;some looking over the bulwarks of ships from China;some high aloft in the rigging,as if striving to get a still better seaward peep.But these are all landsmen;of week days pent up in lath and plaster—tied to counters,nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then is this?Are the green fields gone?What do they here?
But look!here come more crowds, pacing straight for the water,and seemingly bound for a dive. Strange!Nothing will content them but the extremest limit of the land;loitering under the shady lee of yonder warehouses will not suffice.No. They must get just as nigh the water as they possibly can without falling in. And there they stand—miles of them—leagues. Inlanders all, they come from lanes and alleys, streets and avenues—north, east, south, and west. Yet here they all unite. Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither?