Moby-Dick Ch. 71: The Jeroboam's Story

Summary

The wind pushes the Pequod toward another ship. Through the spyglass the crew sees it is a whale ship. The Pequod sends its private signal flag. The other ship answers. She is the Jeroboam of Nantucket.

The Jeroboam comes alongside and lowers a boat. Captain Mayhew waves off the ladder. He will not come aboard. His ship has a deadly sickness on board. He is afraid of spreading it to the Pequod. So the two ships sail side by side while Mayhew talks from his boat, rowing now and then to stay level as waves push them apart.

In Mayhew's boat is a strange young man with freckles and long yellow hair. Stubb shouts that this is Gabriel, the fanatic the Town-Ho crew warned them about. Ishmael tells Gabriel's story.

Gabriel grew up among the Shakers, a religious group. He pretended to be normal to join the Jeroboam. Once the ship was at sea, he went mad. He said he was the archangel Gabriel. He ordered the captain to jump overboard. He said he ruled the seas. The crew became afraid of him. When the captain tried to put him ashore, the crew said they would all leave if Gabriel went. So Gabriel ran the ship.

When a plague broke out, Gabriel said he controlled the sickness. The sailors bowed to him like a god. Mayhew could not stop him.

Ahab calls from the rail that he does not fear the sickness and tells Mayhew to come aboard. Gabriel jumps up and screams about fevers and plague. Waves drown out the words.

Ahab asks if Mayhew has seen the White Whale. Gabriel warns about the horrible tail. Mayhew then tells his dark story. Another ship had warned them about Moby Dick. Gabriel said the White Whale was God and must not be attacked. But when the whale appeared, chief mate Macey wanted to fight. Five men went with him. Macey got a harpoon in the whale. Gabriel screamed prophecies from the masthead. Then a huge white tail rose from the sea. Macey was thrown into the air and drowned. The boat was not harmed. The crew thought Gabriel had foretold it. His power grew.

Mayhew finishes. Ahab asks if he will hunt the White Whale. Ahab says yes. Gabriel points down at the drowned blasphemer and warns Ahab he will end the same way.

Ahab remembers a letter in his mail bag. Starbuck finds a mouldy old letter addressed to Mr. Harry Macey on the Jeroboam. Ahab reads it. It is from Macey's wife. But Macey is dead. Mayhew sighs that poor fellow, from his wife.

Ahab tries to pass the letter on a long pole so the boats do not touch. Gabriel grabs it, stabs it on a knife, and sends it back. He tells Ahab he will soon go Macey's way. Ahab curses him. Gabriel orders the oarsmen away and the Jeroboam's boat flees. The Pequod crew go back to work on the whale, whispering about the strange visit.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Gaming Across a Quarantine Gap

Critical news often arrives when you cannot safely close distance. Mayhew tells how Macey died hunting Moby Dick while Gabriel rules the parallel boat and impales the letter meant for a dead mate.

Before you merge teams or share docks, plan how you will exchange facts without letting prophecy or plague veto the handoff.

Coming Up in Chapter 72

Next: The Monkey-Rope. Queequeg fixes the blubber-hook on the revolving carcass while Ishmael holds the monkey-rope that weds their fates at both ends under Stubb's Pequod rule, honor forbidding cut.

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Original text

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Chapter 71

The Jeroboam's Story

The Jeroboam’s Story. Hand in hand, ship and breeze blew on; but the breeze came faster than the ship, and soon the Pequod began to rock. By and by, through the glass the stranger’s boats and manned mast-heads proved her a whale-ship. But as she was so far to windward, and shooting by, apparently making a passage to some other ground, the Pequod could not hope to reach her. So the signal was set to see what response would be made. Here be it said, that like the vessels of military marines, the ships of the American Whale Fleet have…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

10 minutes

Map Your Parallel Gam

Recall a deal or call where you could not close distance. Who was Gabriel? Who was Mayhew?

Consider:

•What gap existed?
•What prophecy blocked?
•How was mail delivered?

Journaling Prompt

Write about a message that arrived too late for someone already gone.

Master this chapter. Complete your experience

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Summary