Chapter 57 Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth, etc

Abridged Text, followed by Abridger Notes, followed by multimedia, followed by Original Text with deletions.

 

Chapter 57 Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars

 

On Tower-hill, as you go down to the London docks, you may have seen a crippled beggar holding a painted board before him, representing the tragic scene in which he lost his leg. There are three whales and three boats; and one of the boats (presumed to contain the missing leg in all its original integrity) is being crunched by the jaws of the foremost whale.

 

Throughout the Pacific, and also in Nantucket, and New Bedford, and Sag Harbor, you will come across lively sketches of whales and whaling-scenes, graven by the fishermen themselves on Sperm Whale-teeth, or ladies’ busks wrought out of the Right Whale-bone, and other like skrimshander articles, as the whalemen call the contrivances they carve. In general, they toil with their jack-knives alone; and they will turn you out anything you please, in the way of a mariner’s fancy.

 

Long exile from Christendom and civilization inevitably restores a man to that condition in which God placed him, i.e. savagery. Your true whale-hunter is as much a savage as an Iroquois. I myself am a savage, full of barbaric spirit and suggestiveness, as that fine old Dutch savage, Albert Durer.

 

Wooden whales, or whales cut in profile out of the small dark slabs of the noble South Sea war-wood, are frequently met with in the forecastles of American whalers. Some of them are done with much accuracy. At some old gable-roofed country houses you will see brass whales hung by the tail for knockers to the road-side door. On the spires of some old-fashioned churches you will see sheet-iron whales placed there for weather-cocks.

 

In bony, ribby regions of the earth, where at the base of high broken cliffs masses of rock lie strewn in fantastic groupings upon the plain, you will often discover images as of the petrified forms of the Leviathan partly merged in grass, which of a windy day breaks against them in a surf of green surges.

 

Nor when expandingly lifted by your subject, can you fail to trace out great whales in the starry heavens, and boats in pursuit of them. Thus at the North have I chased Leviathan round and round the Pole with the revolutions of the bright points that first defined him to me. And beneath the effulgent Antarctic skies I have boarded the Argo-Navis, and joined the chase against the starry Cetus far beyond the utmost stretch of Hydrus and the Flying Fish. 

 

Link to Chapter 58 Brit.

 

Abridger Notes

 

The chapter reminds me a bit of my love of small town arts – that the arts and humanities, particularly local history, are alive and well in small town America. These arts are on the sides of barns, downtown mail drop boxes on the street, corn silos, basically anything big enough for an image.

 

It would also be worth talking more about the art and crafts exhibits that Moby Dick has inspired and spawned, to include the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) where we saw the Draw Me Ishmael exhibit, and the PEM’s gift shop with whales in wood and painting, and probably other artifacts – how about lunch boxes? https://www.mobydickrestaurants.com/

 

Photography and film, and audio recordings were unavailable at the time of Moby Dick’s publication, and an update on the ubiquity of whales in media would be interesting.

ChatGPT 4o: Chapter 57: "Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars" is one of Moby-Dick's most expansive and imaginative digressions, exploring how the image of the whale appears everywhere—from sailor’s carvings to church weather-vanes to constellations.

What Stands Out in This Chapter?

1.   Whales as Cultural Artifacts:

o   Melville catalogs human-made depictions of whales, from scrimshaw on whale teeth to brass door knockers, showing how sailors and societies imprint the whale onto objects.

o   He elevates these carvings and engravings to the level of ancient relics—comparing them to Hawaiian war-clubs and Greek shields, as if whalemen are both warriors and artists.

2.   The Sailor as a "Savage":

o   Ishmael playfully declares himself a "savage", claiming that long exile from civilization returns a man to his natural, primal state.

o   He contrasts patience and industry (seen in scrimshaw art and carvings) with the so-called “savagery” of the whaleman’s life, undermining the civilized vs. savage dichotomy.

3.   The Whale as a Shape in Nature:

o   Moving beyond physical art, Ishmael suggests that whales exist in the very landscape—seen in cliff formations, mountain ridges, and even star constellations.

o   This cosmic vision transforms the whale into something timeless and universal, an archetype woven into the fabric of the world.

4.   Ishmael's Expansive Mind:

o   The passage takes a leap from the physical to the metaphysical, with Ishmael imagining himself riding the cosmic whale beyond the skies to see if heaven itself exists.

o   This playful yet deeply philosophical moment echoes the novel’s mix of scientific observation and spiritual yearning.

My Thoughts on the Chapter

This chapter is classic Ishmael—a mix of obsessive detail, philosophical musing, and poetic vision. What starts as an inventory of whale images expands into a meditation on the whale as a universal, almost divine presence. It captures Melville’s ability to blur the line between the physical and the cosmic, turning a creature of the sea into something that pervades human art, landscape, and even the heavens.

If Moby-Dick is partly about the obsession with the unknowable, this chapter suggests that the whale is more than just an animal—it is an idea, a presence, a mythic force that humanity cannot help but carve into its world.

 

Multimedia Chapter 57 Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; etc

 

 

 

Whalebone whale whistle.

 

Scrimshaw.

 

 

Original Chapter 57 Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; etc with Deletions

 

On Tower-hill, as you go down to the London docks, you may have seen a crippled beggar (or kedger, as the sailors say) holding a painted board before him, representing the tragic scene in which he lost his leg. There are three whales and three boats; and one of the boats (presumed to contain the missing leg in all its original integrity) is being crunched by the jaws of the foremost whale. Any time these ten years, they tell me, has that man held up that picture, and exhibited that stump to an incredulous world. But the time of his justification has now come. His three whales are as good whales as were ever published in Wapping, at any rate; and his stump as unquestionable a stump as any you will find in the western clearings. But, though for ever mounted on that stump, never a stump-speech does the poor whaleman make; but, with downcast eyes, stands ruefully contemplating his own amputation.

 

Throughout the Pacific, and also in Nantucket, and New Bedford, and Sag Harbor, you will come across lively sketches of whales and whaling-scenes, graven by the fishermen themselves on Sperm Whale-teeth, or ladies’ busks wrought out of the Right Whale-bone, and other like skrimshander articles, as the whalemen call the numerous little ingenious contrivances they elaborately carve out of the rough material, in their hours of ocean leisure. Some of them have little boxes of dentistical-looking implements, specially intended for the skrimshandering business. But, in general, they toil with their jack-knives alone; and, with that almost omnipotent tool of the sailor, they will turn you out anything you please, in the way of a mariner’s fancy.

 

Long exile from Christendom and civilization inevitably restores a man to that condition in which God placed him, i.e. what is called savagery. Your true whale-hunter is as much a savage as an Iroquois. I myself am a savage, owning no allegiance but to the King of the Cannibals; and ready at any moment to rebel against him.

 

Now, one of the peculiar characteristics of the savage in his domestic hours, is his wonderful patience of industry. An ancient Hawaiian war-club or spear-paddle, in its full multiplicity and elaboration of carving, is as great a trophy of human perseverance as a Latin lexicon. For, with but a bit of broken sea-shell or a shark’s tooth, that miraculous intricacy of wooden net-work has been achieved; and it has cost steady years of steady application.

 

As with the Hawaiian savage, so with the white sailor-savage. With the same marvellous patience, and with the same single shark’s tooth, of his one poor jack-knife, he will carve you a bit of bone sculpture, not quite as workmanlike, but as close packed in its maziness of design, as the Greek savage, Achilles’s shield; and full of barbaric spirit and suggestiveness, as the prints of that fine old Dutch savage, Albert Durer.

 

Wooden whales, or whales cut in profile out of the small dark slabs of the noble South Sea war-wood, are frequently met with in the forecastles of American whalers. Some of them are done with much accuracy.

 

At some old gable-roofed country houses you will see brass whales hung by the tail for knockers to the road-side door. When the porter is sleepy, the anvil-headed whale would be best. But these knocking whales are seldom remarkable as faithful essays. On the spires of some old-fashioned churches you will see sheet-iron whales placed there for weather-cocks; but they are so elevated, and besides that are to all intents and purposes so labelled with "Hands off!" you cannot examine them closely enough to decide upon their merit.

 

In bony, ribby regions of the earth, where at the base of high broken cliffs masses of rock lie strewn in fantastic groupings upon the plain, you will often discover images as of the petrified forms of the Leviathan partly merged in grass, which of a windy day breaks against them in a surf of green surges.

 

Then, again, in mountainous countries where the traveller is continually girdled by amphitheatrical heights; here and there from some lucky point of view you will catch passing glimpses of the profiles of whales defined along the undulating ridges. But you must be a thorough whaleman, to see these sights; and not only that, but if you wish to return to such a sight again, you must be sure and take the exact intersecting latitude and longitude of your first stand-point, else so chance-like are such observations of the hills, that your precise, previous stand-point would require a laborious re-discovery; like the Solomon islands, which still remain incognita, though once high-ruffed Mendanna trod them and old Figueroa chronicled them.

 

Nor when expandingly lifted by your subject, can you fail to trace out great whales in the starry heavens, and boats in pursuit of them; as when long filled with thoughts of war the Eastern nations saw armies locked in battle among the clouds. Thus at the North have I chased Leviathan round and round the Pole with the revolutions of the bright points that first defined him to me. And beneath the effulgent Antarctic skies I have boarded the Argo-Navis, and joined the chase against the starry Cetus far beyond the utmost stretch of Hydrus and the Flying Fish.

 

With a frigate’s anchors for my bridle-bitts and fasces of harpoons for spurs, would I could mount that whale and leap the topmost skies, to see whether the fabled heavens with all their countless tents really lie encamped beyond my mortal sight!