
Herman
Melville was a brilliant writer, blending Biblical and Shakespearian
prose to describe his experiences in the Navy and on commercial whaling
ships of the time.
Moby
Dick was based on a real life sperm whale called Mocha
Dick, that sank around 20 ships before finally being killed in 1838.
In 1820
the Essex was sunk by a whale matching the description of Mocha
Dick, but then in 1851,
the Ann Alexander was rammed and sunk by another sperm
whale.
The
fictional account of whaling in Moby
Dick, amounts to a comprehensive
picture of whaling before petroleum oil was discovered so as to make
whaling un-competitive.
Enjoy
a free reading resource using the links below:
BOOK
CHAPTERS
CHAPTER 1. Loomings
CHAPTER
2. The Carpet-Bag
CHAPTER
3. The Spouter-Inn
CHAPTER
4. The Counterpane
CHAPTER
5. Breakfast
CHAPTER
6. The Street
CHAPTER
7. The Chapel
CHAPTER
8. The Pulpit
CHAPTER
9. The Sermon
CHAPTER
10. A Bosom Friend
CHAPTER
11. Nightgown
CHAPTER
12. Biographical
CHAPTER
13. Wheelbarrow
CHAPTER
14. Nantucket
CHAPTER
15. Chowder
CHAPTER
16. The Ship
CHAPTER
17. The Ramadan
CHAPTER
18. His Mark
CHAPTER
19. The Prophet
CHAPTER
20. All Astir
CHAPTER
21. Going Aboard
CHAPTER
22. Merry Christmas
CHAPTER
23. The Lee Shore
CHAPTER
24. The Advocate
CHAPTER
25. Postscript
CHAPTER
26. Knights and Squires
CHAPTER
27. Knights and Squires
CHAPTER
28. Ahab
CHAPTER
29. Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb
CHAPTER
30. The Pipe
CHAPTER
31. Queen Mab
CHAPTER
32. Cetology
CHAPTER
33. The Specksnyder
CHAPTER
34. The Cabin-Table
CHAPTER
35. The Mast-Head
CHAPTER
36. The Quarter-Deck
CHAPTER
37. Sunset
CHAPTER
38. Dusk
CHAPTER
39. First Night Watch
CHAPTER
40. Midnight, Forecastle
CHAPTER
41. Moby Dick
CHAPTER
42. The Whiteness of The Whale
CHAPTER
43. Hark!
CHAPTER
44. The Chart
CHAPTER
45. The Affidavit
CHAPTER
46. Surmises
CHAPTER
47. The Mat-Maker
CHAPTER
48. The First Lowering
CHAPTER
49. The Hyena
CHAPTER
50. Ahab's Boat and Crew. Fedallah
CHAPTER
51. The Spirit-Spout
CHAPTER
52. The Albatross
CHAPTER
53. The Gam
CHAPTER
54. The Town-Ho's Story
CHAPTER
55. Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales
CHAPTER
56. Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, and the True
CHAPTER
57. Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron
CHAPTER
58. Brit
CHAPTER
59. Squid
CHAPTER
60. The Line
CHAPTER
61. Stubb Kills a Whale
CHAPTER
62. The Dart
CHAPTER
63. The Crotch
CHAPTER
64. Stubb's Supper
CHAPTER
65. The Whale as a Dish
CHAPTER
66. The Shark Massacre
CHAPTER
67. Cutting In
CHAPTER
68. The Blanket
CHAPTER
69. The Funeral
CHAPTER
70. The Sphynx
CHAPTER
71. The Jeroboam's Story
CHAPTER
72. The Monkey-Rope
CHAPTER
73. Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale; and Then Have a Talk
CHAPTER
74. The Sperm Whale's Head—Contrasted View
CHAPTER
75. The Right Whale's Head—Contrasted View
CHAPTER
76. The Battering-Ram
CHAPTER
77. The Great Heidelburgh Tun
CHAPTER
78. Cistern and Buckets
CHAPTER
79. The Prairie
CHAPTER
80. The Nut
CHAPTER
81. The Pequod Meets The Virgin
CHAPTER
82. The Honour and Glory of Whaling
CHAPTER
83. Jonah Historically Regarded
CHAPTER
84. Pitchpoling
CHAPTER
85. The Fountain
CHAPTER
86. The Tail
CHAPTER
87. The Grand Armada
CHAPTER
88. Schools and Schoolmasters
CHAPTER
89. Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish
CHAPTER
90. Heads or Tails
CHAPTER
91. The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud
CHAPTER
92. Ambergris
CHAPTER
93. The Castaway
CHAPTER
94. A Squeeze of the Hand
CHAPTER
95. The Cassock
CHAPTER
96. The Try-Works
CHAPTER
97. The Lamp
CHAPTER
98. Stowing Down and Clearing Up
CHAPTER
99. The Doubloon
CHAPTER
100. Leg and Arm
CHAPTER
101. The Decanter
CHAPTER
102. A Bower in the Arsacides
CHAPTER
103. Measurement of The Whale's Skeleton
CHAPTER
104. The Fossil Whale
CHAPTER
105. Does the Whale's Magnitude Diminish?—Will He Perish?
CHAPTER
106. Ahab's Leg
CHAPTER
107. The Carpenter
CHAPTER
108. Ahab and the Carpenter
CHAPTER
109. Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin
CHAPTER
110. Queequeg in His Coffin
CHAPTER
111. The Pacific
CHAPTER
112. The Blacksmith
CHAPTER
113. The Forge
CHAPTER
114. The Gilder
CHAPTER
115. The Pequod Meets The Bachelor
CHAPTER
116. The Dying Whale
CHAPTER
117. The Whale Watch
CHAPTER
118. The Quadrant
CHAPTER
119. The Candles
CHAPTER
120. The Deck Towards the End of the First Night Watch
CHAPTER
121. Midnight.—The Forecastle Bulwarks
CHAPTER
122. Midnight Aloft.—Thunder and Lightning
CHAPTER
123. The Musket
CHAPTER
124. The Needle
CHAPTER
125. The Log and Line
CHAPTER
126. The Life-Buoy
CHAPTER
127. The Deck
CHAPTER
128. The Pequod Meets The Rachel
CHAPTER
129. The Cabin
CHAPTER
130. The Hat
CHAPTER
131. The Pequod Meets The Delight
CHAPTER
132. The Symphony
CHAPTER
133. The Chase—First Day
CHAPTER
134. The Chase—Second Day
CHAPTER
135. The Chase.—Third Day
Epilogue

IWC is a voluntary
international organization and is not backed up by treaty, therefore,
the IWC has substantial practical limitations on its authority. First,
any member countries are free to simply leave the organization and
declare themselves not bound by it if they so wish. Second, any member
state may opt out of any specific IWC regulation by lodging a formal
objection to it within 90 days of the regulation coming into force (such
provisions are common in international agreements, on the logic that it
is preferable to have parties remain within the agreements than opt out
altogether). Third, the IWC has no ability to enforce any of its
decisions through penalty imposition.
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