Ishmael speaks in the first person. He shouted Ahab's oath with the crew. He shouted even louder because dread lived in his soul. Ahab's endless feud felt like his own fight.
He then tells the history of Moby Dick. For a long time, news about one white whale spread slowly. Whaling ships were scattered across vast oceans. Long voyages and few meetings slowed gossip.
Fatal fights and wild sea rumors made the whale seem worse than he was. Some sailors said he was everywhere at once. Some even said he could not die. Harpoons found in far-apart whales fed those myths.
But even without magic stories, the whale was frightening. He had a snow-white forehead and a tall white hump. His body was streaked and spotted. He would swim away, then wheel and smash boats.
Several hunters died chasing him. Ahab attacked with a knife from a broken boat. Moby Dick struck and tore off Ahab's leg. After that wound, Ahab hated the whale with furious, focused madness.
On the trip home, Ahab raved around Cape Horn. Sailors had to strap him in a strait-jacket. He looked calm when he came ashore. But inside, his mad hunt never stopped. He knew his thinking was sharp while his purpose was insane.
Nantucket people thought grief and rage made him fit for another hunt. Ahab sailed on the Pequod with one goal: kill the White Whale. Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask were weak checks on his will. The crew seemed pulled into his hate.
Ishmael says he cannot fully explain how that happened. He felt dragged like a small boat tied to a warship. He gave himself to the moment. He rushed toward the whale and saw only deadly evil in it.
Coming Up in Chapter 42
Next: The Whiteness of the Whale. What the white whale was to Ahab has been hinted; Ishmael must now explain what appalled him most. Not size or malice alone, but whiteness itself, the colorless all-color that shadows void, shroud, and dread beyond obvious danger.
