Category Archives: Moby Dick

“Sometimes the whale shakes its tremendous tail in the air, which, cracking like a whip, resounds to the distance of three or four miles.” – SCORESBY “Mad with the agonies he endures from these fresh attacks, the infuriated Sperm Whale … Continue reading →

“No, Sir, ’tis a Right Whale,” answered Tom; “I saw his sprout; he threw up a pair of as pretty rainbows as a Christian would wish to look at. He’s a raal oil-butt, that fellow!” COOPER’S PILOT. “The papers were … Continue reading →

Whales, but did not take any till the first of May, the sea being then covered with them.” – COLNETT’S VOYAGE FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXTENDING THE SPERMACETI WHALE FISHERY. “In the year 1690 some persons were on a high … Continue reading →

consideration of his guarding and protecting the seas from pirates and robbers, is the right to royal fish, which are whale and sturgeon. And these, when either thrown ashore or caught near the coast, are the property of the king.” … Continue reading →

lime-stone, juniper-wood, and some other articles of the same nature in their boats, in order to terrify and prevent their too near approach.” – UNO VON TROIL’S LETTERS ON BANKS’S AND SOLANDER’S VOYAGE TO ICELAND IN 1772. “The Spermacetti Whale … Continue reading →

attended with such an insupportable smell, as to bring on a disorder of the brain.” – ULLOA’s SOUTH MERICA “If we compare land animals in respect to magnitude, with those that take up their abode in the deep, we shall … Continue reading →

length of the whale-bone kind came in, which (as I was informed), besides a vast quantity of oil, did afford 500 weight of baleen. The jaws of it stand for a gate in the garden of Pitferren.” – SIBBALD’S FIFE … Continue reading →

vents, which nature has placed on their shoulders.” – SIR T. HERBERT’S VOYAGES INTO ASIA AND AFRICA. HARRIS COLL. “Here they saw such huge troops of whales, that they were forced to proceed with a great deal of caution for … Continue reading →

Civitas) which is but an artificial man.” – OPENING SENTENCE OF HOBBES’S LEVIATHAN. “Silly Mansoul swallowed it without chewing, as if it had been a sprat in the mouth of a whale.” – PILGRIM’S PROGRESS. “The mighty whales which swim … Continue reading →

or ork we have received nothing certain. They grow exceeding fat, insomuch that an incredible quantity of oil will be extracted out of one whale.” – IBID. “HISTORY OF LIFE AND DEATH.” “The sovereignest thing on earth is parmacetti for … Continue reading →