Andrew is a post-doctoral researcher in North Carolina focused on population and conservation genetics in hydrothermal vent communities.

David is a graduate student in Florida. He studies the ecology and conservation of sharks.

Amy is a graduate student in North Carolina studying local ecological knowledge within small scale fisheries.

Chuck is a graduate student in North Carolina focusing on apex predators and how they interact with fisheries.

Lyndell is a graduate student in North Carolina, studying the feeding ecology of cownose rays.

Iris is a graduate student in Washington studying habitat use and feeding habits of juvenile Pacific salmon and herring in Puget Sound.

Michael is a graduate student in Maryland investigating the visual systems of mantis shrimp.

Finding Melville’s Whale: The Mast Head (Chapter 35)

By Andrew David Thaler, on January 6th, 2011

Thanks to everyone who stuck around during our blog vacation. Our adventure into Moby Dick continues with chapter 35 – The Mast Head. Read along with us and discuss this chapter or the book as a whole in the comments. Visit this page for the complete collection to date: Finding Melville’s Whale.

The Mast Head

Upon his perch, one hundred feet above
the rolling pitch, deepest blue, a whaleman
loses himself to the sea, becomes her.

Grasping the cross-bar, he sheds all meaning,
binding his body with the ships timbers,
joining in holy union with the waves

beneath her hull. And from this vantage he
shall sight the monster rising from the deep
and call out to his shipmates, “Whale! Whale-ho!”

Yet lost in revelry, a thoughtful man
may falter in his union with the ship
and find the sea an unforgiving fate.

Comments are closed.