Moby-Dick Ch. 20: All Astir

Summary

A day or two passes. The Pequod is busy getting ready to sail. Old sails are mended. New canvas and rope come on board. Captain Peleg stays on the ship in his tent and watches the workers. Captain Bildad buys supplies on shore. Men work until late at night.

The day after Queequeg signs, word goes out at all the inns. Sailors must bring their chests on board before night. The ship might sail soon. Ishmael and Queequeg pack their bags but keep sleeping at the inn. As it turns out, they always give long warnings like this. The ship does not sail for several more days.

A whaling trip is like running a house for three years far from any store. You need beds, pots, knives, and a hundred other things. Whale ships need spare boats, spare harpoons, and spare everything because accidents at sea destroy gear you cannot replace. Ishmael jokes they pack spare parts for everything except a spare captain and a second ship.

Captain Bildad's sister Aunt Charity helps load the ship. She is lean, strong, and kind. She brings pickles one trip and quills the next. She owns money in the voyage and wants nothing missing. On the last day she boards with an oil ladle in one hand and a whaling lance in the other.

Bildad carries a long shopping list and checks off each arrival. Peleg roars orders down into the hold and up at the men in the masts. Then he roars back into his tent.

During all this, Ishmael and Queequeg visit the ship often. Ishmael keeps asking when Captain Ahab will come on board. Peleg and Bildad say Ahab is getting better and should arrive any day.

Deep down Ishmael knows he only half wants a long voyage under a captain he has never met. Once the ship is at sea, that captain will have total power. But Ishmael is already signed on. So he hides the worry even from himself. He says nothing and tries to think nothing.

At last word spreads that the ship will sail some time the next day. The next morning Ishmael and Queequeg get up very early and head out.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Naming Doubt Before Wheels Turn

Bustle after you sign can trick you into silence about the one question that still matters. Ishmael watches Aunt Charity board with a ladle and a lance while Peleg roars and Bildad checks lists, yet he only half wants a years-long voyage under Captain Ahab, a man he has never met, and he hides that fear even from himself.

Before you treat activity as proof you chose well, say aloud what you are avoiding while a door is still open.

Coming Up in Chapter 21

Sailing day arrives and Ishmael must actually step aboard the Pequod. Grey mist at six o'clock, and he and Queequeg hurry toward the wharf where sailors already run ahead. Elijah blocks their path, hands on both shoulders, asking if they are going aboard and whether they will come back.

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Original text

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Chapter 20

All Astir

All Astir. A day or two passed, and there was great activity aboard the Pequod. Not only were the old sails being mended, but new sails were coming on board, and bolts of canvas, and coils of rigging; in short, everything betokened that the ship's preparations were hurrying to a close. Captain Peleg seldom or never went ashore, but sat in his wigwam keeping a sharp look-out upon the hands: Bildad did all the purchasing and providing at the stores; and the men employed in the hold and on the rigging were working till long after night-fall. On the day…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

10 minutes

Name What You Are Not Asking

Think of a commitment you already made: a job, lease, loan, or move. List three concrete prep tasks you completed (packing, paperwork, supplies). Then write the one question about leadership, safety, or fit you kept postponing. Note whether bustle made silence feel easier.

Consider:

•Who kept giving you the same reassuring answer without new facts?
•Did activity make you treat doubt as disloyalty?
•What would one honest question have cost you before wheels turned?

Journaling Prompt

Write about a time you signed on before meeting the person who would actually be in charge. What did the prep phase hide, and when did you stop asking?

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All Astir

Summary