In Search of Moby Dick: Quest for the White Whale

Amazon.com
Historian and adventurer Tim Severin has made a career of retracing epic voyages. He crossed the Atlantic in an open boat of stretched leather to test whether a sixth-century Irish monk could have made a fabled journey to North America, and later explored the Spice Islands of eastern Indonesia to see how the archipelago has "evolved" since 19th-century naturalist Alfred Wallace first surveyed it. The quest for the white whale, however, lands Severin in different territory: the shifting currents of fiction. Following tenuous evidence of pale sperm whales, Severin embarks for the South Pacific and the birthing grounds of Melville's masterpiece. On Nuku Hiva, the setting for Typee, he finds that the island harbors "many of the sources that Melville had raided to embellish his own, rather thin, experiences." Also thin is any evidence of a white whale, so he moves on to Pamilican, a dirt-poor little scrape where the locals subsist on jerry cans of imported fresh water and by "jumping" the sea's bounty. Their principal prey is the whale shark, the largest fish in the sea. Artists of the jump actually wrestle these plankton eaters underwater by hand, hooking the beasts with a massive grappling hook before coming up for the fight on board. One ancient hunter speaks vaguely of having jumped a white whale shark, but there are also rumors of giant white manta rays and other fantastic creatures.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
In Search of Moby Dick culminates an outpouring of mainstream literature inspired by Melville's classic novel. While Sena Jeter Naslund's Ahab's Wife gives Moby-Dick a feminist spin, and Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea revisits the epic's genesis, In Search of Moby Dick attempts to confirm the very existence of the monstrous white whale that destroyed the whaleship Essex.

Author Tim Severin conducts a vigorous hunt: first by establishing Melville's paper trail, then by boating with the whale hunters themselves. Severin finds two primary sources for Melville's whale knowledge: Thomas Beale's The Natural History of the Sperm Whale and F. D. Bennett's Narrative of a Whaling Voyage Around the World, 1833-1836. Severin contends that Melville went so far as to plagiarize: "[H]e plundered Beale's work shamelessly, sometimes almost copying phrase by phrase, and pirated Bennett with almost equal aplomb."

Severin, author of In Search of Genghis Khan, is not afraid of a good hunt. He sails through the South Pacific with whale hunters whose methods of whaling closely resemble those of Melville's times. The village of Lamalera is "the last community on earth where men still regularly hunt sperm whales by hand." Knives, harpoons, and ropes are the instruments of killing. Seemingly insane "hook jumpers" leap from their boats onto the whales' backs for a more certain kill.

Although the Pacific islanders' methods of whaling hark back to Melville's day, their use of the whale is entirely different. Western whalers sought only the valuable spermaceti oil, but "the native whale hunters were carefully allocating every scrap that was edible, and the oil was free to all." Intriguingly, Severin correlates the Pacific natives' attitude toward the whale with Native American attitudes toward the buffalo.

When an international whaling organization attempted to educate the people of Lamalera on modern whaling technology, including a fiberglass boat, a harpoon gun, and fishing nets, the locals were left shaking their heads at the contemporary world. Says one, "The nets tore, and were too expensive to replace. And we did not need so many whales. We did not know what to do with them. They stayed on the beach and smelled bad. It was a waste."

Numerous South Pacific whalers attest to the existence of the protective, sometimes belligerent white whale that the author seeks. Yet Severin ultimately "finds" Melville's Moby-Dick not by confirming the white whale but by understanding the islanders' attitude toward whaling: "For some Pacific peoples a 'fighting whale' was not a remote adversary to be hunted down for revenge or profit. It was a creature...which met the spiritual needs of the hunters, even as the great animals could supply some of their material wants. If the whales vanished, man would be diminished." (Brenn Jones)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

First time in paperback: "A riveting traveler's adventure�.Original, audacious, and exuberant—signature Severin." —New York Times.

Herman Melville's classic novel Moby—Dick immortalized the idea of a mammoth sperm whale roaming the seas, wreaking havoc on all that crossed its path. But could such a creature actually exist, then or now? To find out, the acclaimed adventure writer and explorer Tim Severin set off to the islands of the South Pacific in search of one of our most iconic modern myths. From the Marquesas Archipelago, where the twenty—one—year—old Melville deserted his whaling ship in 1842, through the Philippines, Tonga, and Indonesia, Severin follows a trail of ocean legend and lore to the last surviving islanders who hunt the great whale by hand, shadowing a victorious hunt from Stone Age boats and uncovering tantalizing evidence of the existence of a Great White Whale. In this captivating account of his voyage, Severin traces not only the origins of Melville's legendary literary creation but also something of the spiritual relationship between the islanders and the creatures of the sea, the hunter and his prey.

Author Biography: Tim Severin has retraced the journeys of such mythical figures as Sindbad, Ulysses, and Jason and the Argonauts. His books include The Brendan Voyage and In Search of Genghis Khan. When not traveling, he lives in County Cork, Ireland.

SYNOPSIS

An adventurer sails the South Pacific in an attempt to determine the likelihood of the existence of the great White Whale. He introduces real-life characters who seem to have stepped out of literature and the distant past, including hunters who use Stone Age boats and hook- jumpers who jump on the backs of 10-ton whale sharks. The author has made a career of retracing the journeys of mythical and historical figures in replica vessels, and has received numerous awards for exploration and geographic history. Lacks a subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In the role of adventurer-cum-historian, Severin (The Brendan Voyage, etc.) has built leather boats and replicas of ninth-century Arab dhows in order to re-create the voyages of St. Brendan, Jason and the Argonauts, and Sindbad. His new adventure explores Melville's white whale and the culture of the gifted harpooners who are the last people on earth to hunt whales from small boats. Melville himself met such men when he deserted a whaling ship in French Polynesia in 1842, and Severin returns to the same island, Nuku Hiva. There he collects the information that allows him to dissect the myths and facts of Melville's Typee, and convincingly argue that Moby-Dick was influenced by Melville's contact with the Nuku Hivans. Severin also expounds on the disaster of the whaleship Essex, the habits of the great mammals themselves and the spiritual and mystical aspects of the Polynesians' whale hunts. A description of a young islander's coming of age in a successful hunt is transfixing. The author's firsthand account of whaling from a small boat is equally powerful. Severin is mystified that the whales don't flee as the hunters draw near enough to attack: "Where is their sense of self-preservation?" But the hunters know: the whale gives himself to those who have performed the ritual; just as surely, the whale will punish those who are greedy or negligent. This, Severin suggests, is the root of Melville's spiteful cetacean: Ahab was unworthy, and Moby-Dick delivered divine retribution in accordance with islander lore. The islanders' generations of experience, legend and myth are the authorities for Severin, as valid to him as any laboratory test results, and his description of their culture is profoundly moving. (June) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

KLIATT

Severin has spent the past quarter century checking out various legends of our culture and writing about his experiences. Among others, he has followed the paths of St. Brendan, Sinbad the Sailor, and Jason and the Argonauts. By way of introduction to the present offering, he discusses his experiences with whales during his previous adventures and how they led him to a quest for "a great white sperm whale that attacked ships at sea." This personal background information plus a synopsis of the Essex disaster (the real ship that was sunk by an attacking sperm whale) sets the scene for a captivating, well written story. Severin writes in a pleasant, conversational style that makes the pages turn quickly. Calling this a detective story may be too trite and calling it a scientific investigation may be too sophisticated. Either way, the story of Severin's search is interesting and worthwhile. He follows Melville's tracks through the Philippines, Indonesia, and French Polynesia. Along the way, he points out inaccuracies in Melville's stories. Although these islands no longer hold the "allure of an exotic island paradise," they are occupied by interesting people who have interesting stories to tell. Does Severin ever find the white whale? No, but he is convinced that it exists. Armchair explorers will quickly become completely caught up in this book. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2000, Basic Books, Da Capo, 212p., $13.50. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Prof. John E. Boyd; Jenkintown, PA , September 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 5)

Library Journal

Beginning with his first book, Tracking Marco Polo, Severin has specialized in retracing famous historical or fictional voyages and journeys. (Other recent examples include In Search of Genghis Khan, The China Voyage: A Pacific Quest by Bamboo Raft, and The Spice Island Voyage: The Quest for Alfred Wallace, the Man Who Shared Darwin's Discovery of Evolution.) In this book, Severin travels to the South Pacific in search of the great white sperm whale immortalized in Melville's Moby Dick. In the Philippines, he accompanies hunters who jump on the backs of manta rays and whale sharks to set the hook, and in Indonesia, he follows the hunt for the sperm whale, using a hand-thrown harpoon. References to Melville and his book are made throughout this well-written and interesting travel adventure, and although Severin himself never encounters a great white whale, he ably relates the stories and legends he hears during his travels. Recommended for large public and academic libraries as well as those where Severin's previous books have been popular.--John McCormick, New Hampshire State Lib., Concord Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

W. Jeffrey Bolster - The New York Times Book Review

Severin's eye for detail is keen, his ability to cross cultural boundaries impressive and his rendering of island culture lyrical...Original, audacious, and exhuberant.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Tim Severin has demonstrated once again that he is that rare combination: the most determined and intrepid of adventurers, and an accomplished writer. This is a terrific story of a high adventure at sea, but one that also sounds the depth of the animals and men whose fatal embrace has become the material for legend and literature. — (Derek Lundy, author of Godforsaken Sea)