Chapter 120
The Deck Towards the End of the First Night Watch
Starbuck tries to manage the storm-ready ship, but Ahab dismisses practical caution.
Why it mattersThe chapter shows command turning into performance. It also makes clear that Ahab can hear practical advice and still reject it when it threatens his sense of control.
Ahab standing by the helm. Starbuck approaching him.
“We must send down the main-topnauticalA platform or working area high on the mainmast.-sail yard, sir. The band is working loose and the lee lift is half-stranded. Shall I strike it, sir?”
“Strike nothing; lash it. If I had skysail poles, I’d sway them up now.”
“Sir!—in God’s name!—sir?”
“Well.”
“The anchors are working, sir. Shall I get them inboard?”
“Strike nothing, and stir nothing, but lash everything. The wind rises, but it has not got up to my tablelands yet. Quick, and see to it.—By masts and keels! he takes me for the hunchbacked skipper of some coasting smack. Send down my main-top-sail yard! Ho, gluepots! Loftiest trucks were made for wildest winds, and this brain-truck of mine now sails amid the cloud-scud. Shall I strike that? Oh, none but cowards send down their brain-trucks in tempest time. What a hooroosh aloft there! I would e’en take it for sublime, did I not know that the colic is a noisy malady. Oh, take medicine, take medicine!”