CHAPTER 63
The Crotch
Out of the trunk, the branches grow; out of them, the twigs.
So, in productive subjects, grow the chapters.
The crotch alluded to on a previous page deserves independent mention.
It is a notched stick of a peculiar form, some two feet in length, which is
perpendicularly inserted into the starboard gunwale near the bow, for the
purpose of furnishing a rest for the wooden extremity of the harpoons,
whose other naked, barbed end slopingly projects from the prow. Thereby
the weapon is instantly at hand to its hurler, who snatches it up as readily
from its rest as a backwoodsman swings his rifle from the wall. It is
customary to have two harpoons reposing in the crotch, respectively called
the first and second irons.
But these two harpoons, each by its own cord, are both connected with
the line; the object being this: to dart them both, if possible, one instantly
after the other into the same whale; so that if, in the coming drag, one
should draw out, the other may still retain a hold. It is a doubling of the
chances. But it very often happens that owing to the instantaneous, violent,
convulsive running of the whale upon receiving the first iron, it becomes
impossible for the harpooneer, however lightning-like in his movements, to
pitch the second iron into him. Nevertheless, as the second iron is already
connected with the line, and the line is running, hence that weapon must, at
all events, be anticipatingly tossed out of the boat, somehow and
somewhere; else the most terrible jeopardy would involve all hands.
Tumbled into the water, it accordingly is in such cases; the spare coils of
box line (mentioned in a preceding chapter) making this feat, in most
instances, prudently practicable. But this critical act is not always
unattended with the saddest and most fatal casualties.
Furthermore: you must know that when the second iron is thrown
overboard, it thenceforth becomes a dangling, sharp-edged terror, skittishly
curvetting about both boat and whale, entangling the lines, or cutting them,
and making a prodigious sensation in all directions. Nor, in general, is it
possible to secure it again until the whale is fairly captured and a corpse.
Consider, now, how it must be in the case of four boats all engaging one
unusually strong, active, and knowing whale; when owing to these qualities
in him, as well as to the thousand concurring accidents of such an audacious
enterprise, eight or ten loose second irons may be simultaneously dangling
about him. For, of course, each boat is supplied with several harpoons to
bend on to the line should the first one be ineffectually darted without
recovery. All these particulars are faithfully narrated here, as they will not
fail to elucidate several most important however intricate passages, in
scenes hereafter to be painted.
