Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American writer who wrote novels, short stories and poetry. In 1839, he went sailing for a year and a half around South America and afterwards joined the Navy. His first two books, Typee (1846) and Omoo (1847), were about his travel adventures. His most famous book, Moby Dick (1851), is about a white whale that destroys a ship and bites off a man's leg. The man, Captain Ahab, is now setting sail with his crew to find the whale and get revenge.

Moby Dick

"What do you see?" cried Ahab, looking up to the sky. "Nothing, nothing, sir!" was the reply. "The sails! Raise the sails on both sides!" After the sails were set, Ahab was lifted up to the main mast. When he was almost at the top, he peered between the sails and cried, "There she blows! - there she blows! A hump like a snowy-hill! It is Moby Dick!"

When they heard the cry, which seemed to come from the three lookouts, the men on the deck rushed to see the famous whale that they had been searching for. Ahab was now at the top and higher than the other lookouts. Tashtego was standing just beneath him on the top of the lower mast, (1-B) so that his head was almost on a level with Ahab's heel. From this height the whale could now be seen some mile or so ahead, with every wave revealing his high hump (2-E) and the silent poets of water shooting into the air. To the men on board it seemed like the same silent spout they had seen so long ago in the moonlit Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

"And did none of you see it before?" cried Ahab, asking the men all around him.

"I saw him almost that same instant, sir, (3-C) and I cried out," said Tashtego.

"Not the same instant; not the same - no, the whale is mine, Fate kept the whale for me. There she blows!- there she blows! - there she blows! There again! - there again!" he cried, in long, drawn-out tones, in the same rhythm of the whale's water jets. "He's going to make a sound! Take down the top sails! Stand by the boats. Mr. Starbuck, remember, stay on board, and keep the ship safe. Are the boats there ready? Bring me down, Mr. Starbuck; lower, lower-quick, quicker!" (4-F) and he came down through the air to the deck.

"He is heading straight into the wind, sir," cried Stubb, "right away from us; he cannot have seen the ship yet."

"Be silent, man! Stand by the ropes! Boats, boats!"

Soon all the boats but Starbuck's were ready (5-A) and all the boat sails were up. With swiftness they sailed into the wind, with Ahab taking charge. A pale glimmer lit up Fedallah's tired eyes and he bit his lip.

Like noiseless shells, the little boats sped through the sea (6-D) but slowed as they neared the whale. It was like a meadow, it was so smooth.

At length the hunter came so near to his prey that his entire hump was visible. Ahab saw the big wrinkles of the head and the glistening white shadow from the broad forehead. The blue waters flowed behind him and bright bubbles came up by his side but were popped by the feet of birds on the sea. A tall but broken pole of a spear was stuck in the white whale's back.