Moby-Dick Ch. 101: The Decanter

Summary

As the Samuel Enderby sails away, Ishmael pauses to tell the story of the London whaling house behind her. Enderby and Sons is one of the great names in whale history. In 1775 they sent out the first regular English ships to hunt sperm whales. Nantucket sailors had already been hunting them since 1726, but only in the Atlantic. In 1778 the Enderbys paid for the ship Amelia to sail around Cape Horn into the Pacific. Later they helped send the warship Rattler and the discovery ship Syren to Japan.

Long after Ahab visited the Enderby, Ishmael himself boarded her off Patagonia at midnight. The crew shared hot flip drink in the forecastle, about ten gallons an hour. When a storm hit, everyone had to climb the rigging to reef the sails. They were so drunk they had to swing each other up in ropes. Still, Ishmael remembers the ship as jolly. The beef was tough but good. The dumplings were small, round, and nearly indestructible. From boot heels to hat band, the Samuel Enderby was capital company.

Why are English whalers so generous with food and drink? Ordinary merchant ships feed their crews poorly. Whalers do not. Ishmael traces the custom back to Dutch whalemen who packed huge amounts of beef, bread, butter, cheese, gin, and beer. He found the proof in an old Dutch book called Dan Coopman, translated by Dr. Snodhead. When a ship cruises with an empty hold and nothing good comes from the world, Ishmael says, at least get a good dinner. That is how you empty the decanter.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Feeding the Crew When the Hold Is Empty

A dry quarter is when culture shows. Ishmael honors Enderby voyages, remembers Patagonia flip and reefing, and traces English whaler cheer to Dutch provisioning before he says that cruising empty still means get a good dinner and empty the decanter.

Before you cut every morale cost because revenue missed, ask whether you are merchant-scrimping a crew that still has to reef your topsails when the squall comes.

Coming Up in Chapter 102

Next Ishmael visits a palm temple in the Arsacides where a stranded whale skeleton stands like an altar. He measures the bones and tattoos the numbers on his arm.

PreviousPrevious Chapter NextNext Chapter

Original text

1,749 wordscomplete

Chapter 101

The Decanter

The Decanter. Ere the English ship fades from sight, be it set down here, that she hailed from London, and was named after the late Samuel Enderby, merchant of that city, the original of the famous whaling house of Enderby & Sons; a house which in my poor whaleman’s opinion, comes not far behind the united royal houses of the Tudors and Bourbons, in point of real historical interest. How long, prior to the year of our Lord 1775, this great whaling house was in existence, my numerous fish-documents do not make plain; but in that year (1775) it fitted…

Public-domain chapter text, formatted for reading.

Critical Thinking Exercise

10 minutes

Audit Empty-Quarter Meals

When did your team feast or scrimp while the hold was empty?

Consider:

•Inherited culture?
•Flip then squall?
•Decanter moral?

Journaling Prompt

Write about one dinner you would keep in a dry quarter.

Master this chapter. Complete your experience

Purchase the complete book to access all chapters and support classic literature

Buy at

Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats

Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Explores identity & self

The Idiot

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Explores identity & self

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley

Explores identity & self

As I Lay Dying

William Faulkner

Explores identity & self

Identity & Self-Discovery

Lessons from Moby-Dick

Theme-by-theme analyses that connect this book to modern life skills.

Deep diving the literary elements.

The Decanter

Summary