There She Blows! Or, The Log of the Arethusa — Themes and Context

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In Category - Adventure Picaresque Fiction

Authors: Macy, William Hussey, 1826-1891 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2014 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Whaling -- Fiction; Sea stories Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 89,033

Reading time 388 min

Text sections 11

The catalog record for There She Blows! Or, The Log of the Arethusa — Themes and Context provides practical reading context through 89,033 words, 6 hr 28 min estimated reading time, and 11 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 21.3 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Whaling -- Fiction,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #46390

A whaling voyage narrative structured as a series of episodic sketches, using the log format to move between Nantucket, the Pacific, and encounters with whales, islanders, and shipboard characters. The author, a blind Nantucket captain, frames the work as true incidents and real characters, not a mere yarn.

Editorial Edition Score 4.8/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

Calculated from edition completeness, EPUB availability, text structure and catalogue metadata. Not a user rating.

How this score is calculated

Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg46390

Read the Text

FROM PECK SLIP TO NANTUCKET BAR 1

IN AND OUT OVER THE BAR 12

FROM THE BAR ROUND GREAT POINT 24

FAIRLY AT SEA.--THE FIRST LOOKOUT.--INTRODUCTION 38

THE WESTERN ISLANDS.--"YARNS" AND ANECDOTES 50

BOILING.--CUTTING THE LINE.--DUTCH COURAGE.--"MAN OVERBOARD" 85

"GAMMING" WITH A "HOMEWARD-BOUNDER" 98

WHALING NEAR THE FALKLANDS.--DEATH OF MR. JOHNSON 112

PROMOTION.--"COOPER'S NOVELS."--THE MATE MORALIZES.--CAPE HORN 125

FISHING AT JUAN FERNANDEZ.--FIGHT WITH AN UGLY WHALE 139

THE BILL-FISH.--THE MARQUESAS.--A PRISONER AMONG THE SAVAGES 167

ESCAPE FROM THE SAVAGES.--RECOVERY OF THE BOAT.--MAGICAL EFFECTS OF LYNCH LAW 181

THE COOPER "ROMANCES".--INCIDENTS.--BYRON'S ISLAND 197

KINGSMILL'S GROUP.--SINGULAR WHALING INCIDENT.--HARD AND FAST.--A PERILOUS POSITION 211

OFF THE ROCKS AGAIN.--A BAD LEAP.--ANECDOTES.--THE RUN TO THE CAROLINE ISLANDS 225

ON JAPAN.--ORMSBEE'S PEAK.--WHALING INCIDENTS.--A YANKEE TRICK 253

RADACK CHAIN.--WATERING AT OCEAN ISLAND.--INCIDENTS ON THE RUN TO SYDNEY, N. S. W. 267

SYDNEY.--UP ANCHOR FOR HOME.--"GALWAY MIKE." 280

HOMEWARD.--THE EPISODE OF GALWAY MIKE.--CAPE HORN.--THE LAST WHALE 294

HOMEWARD. The Whale Recognized as an Old Acquaintance.--Incidents of the Run Home.--Nantucket Again 307

FROM PECK SLIP TO NANTUCKET BAR.

"WANTED--500 able-bodied, enterprising young men, to go on whaling voyages of from twelve to twenty months' duration in first class ships. All clothing and other necessaries furnished on the credit of the voyage. To coopers, carpenters and blacksmiths, extra inducements offered."

This announcement, on a gigantic placard, in staring capitals, arrested my attention, and brought me to a stand, as I was strolling along South Street, near Peck Slip. I had just attained the susceptible age of eighteen, and had left my country home with the consent of my parents, to visit the great city of Gotham, like a modern Gil Blas, in quest of employment and adventures. As the old story-books have it, I had come "to seek my fortune." I have sought it ever since, but it has kept ahead of me, like an _ignis fatuus_. Like old Joe Garboard, I began the world with nothing, and have held my own ever since.

I had always a predilection for the sea, and had cultivated my adventurous propensities by the study of all books of voyages and travels that I had access to. All the wanderings of famous navigators, from the days of Sinbad down to the present era, had been perused with delight, and I had always affected the sailor, as well as I knew how, in manner and dress. I had discovered, since I arrived in the city, however, that I was a miserable amateur; and not a ragged boy along the piers but would have spotted me for a "green one" at sight, while Jack himself, the real article, would have found my verdancy really refreshing after a long cruise.

Above the attractive placard to which I have alluded, in the form of a hanging sign projecting over the sidewalk, was a most stirring nautical piece, illustrating one of those agreeable little episodes which diversify the life of the whaleman. The principal figure in the foreground of this masterpiece of art was a huge sea monster, intended, doubtless, to represent something "very like a whale," but which, in truth, bore rather more resemblance to a magnified codfish with a specific gravity something less than that of a cork, as he floated _on_ the water instead of _in_ it. Fragments of a devoted whaleboat, which had been nearly pulverized by a blow of his tail, filled the air, and rained back in showers upon the unfortunate leviathan, at the imminent hazard, as it seemed, of inflicting serious splinter wounds, while several sailors, apparently dressed for the occasion in span new blue and red shirts, cut pirouettes among the wreck at various altitudes between sky and water, and made spread eagles of themselves for the special diversion of a gaping public. From the head of the sea monster was ejected a stream of blood, which rose in a solid column to a height but little exceeding that of the topmasts of the ship, which appeared standing under all sail, in fearful proximity to the fast boats, and having no apparent intention of starting tack or sheet to avoid a collision. Hogarth's famous "Perspective" was quite eclipsed by this effort.

I stood, for a time, regarding this picture in silent admiration, and especially commiserating the situation of one luckless mariner, for whom the fate of Jonah seemed inevitable, as he appeared suspended in mid-air, directly over the jaws of the whale, which were widely distended in his agony.

"Now," said I to myself, "why wouldn't this be the sort of cruise for me? A long voyage, full of adventure and excitement. The very thing. I'll stop in here, and get some information about this business."

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The author’s preface declares this work is “not to be regarded as a mere ‘yarn’” but “a series of illustrated sketches of actual life on the ocean, made up of real incidents and introducing for the most part real characters.” Written by a blind Nantucket captain, the book follows the whaling voyage of the Arethusa through a sequence of chapters that move from Peck Slip to Nantucket Bar, then across the Atlantic and Pacific. The structure mimics a ship’s log, with each chapter marking a geographic or narrative stage—from “The First Whale” to “Cutting In” and “Boiling.”

Logbook Structure and Movement

The book’s chapter titles trace a literal voyage: “From Peck Slip to Nantucket Bar,” “In and Out over the Bar,” “From the Bar Round Great Point,” and so on. Each chapter functions as a log entry, anchored to a specific location or event. The narrative moves steadily westward—from the Western Islands to the Falklands, Juan Fernandez, the Marquesas, and Japan—before turning homeward. This geographic progression gives the episodic incidents a coherent trajectory, even when individual chapters focus on self-contained set pieces like a bill-fish attack or a prisoner escape.

Recurring Images: The Bill-Fish and the Ship’s Bow

A striking episode in Chapter XIV involves a bill-fish that impales itself on the ship’s bow while chasing bonitas. The fish’s bill breaks off “short up to his head,” and the crew speculates it may “caulk its own” hole. This image recurs thematically: the ship as a vessel that both receives and deflects violent impacts. Earlier, the author describes bonitas “gambolling ahead” of the ship, and the bill-fish’s attack is a sudden, almost suicidal collision. Such moments of abrupt physical contact—whale strikes, boat launches, man-overboard alarms—punctuate the log’s steady rhythm of sailing and processing.

Voice and Prejudice in Dialogue

The narrator’s voice is matter-of-fact, but the dialogue of characters like Jeff reveals sharp prejudices. Jeff, a sailor, recounts being betrayed by a “Cholo” who sold him for a bounty, concluding: “Gi’me white or black, I say; for where you mix ’em, you spile two good things.” This line, delivered with a “greenish kind of blush,” exemplifies how the book embeds racial attitudes within casual seafaring talk. The author does not comment on these views; they are presented as part of the “real characters” he claims to depict. The reader must weigh such moments against the narrator’s own observations.

Scene Shifts and the Log’s Gaps

The narrative often jumps between scenes with minimal transition: “Down the coasts of Chili and Peru we pursued our voyage, and then off-shore among the Galapagos.” These shifts mirror the logbook format, where weeks or months may pass between entries. The author acknowledges this by noting “No incident of note occurred during this pleasant cruise” before introducing a new event. This selective reporting means the reader experiences only the highlights—whale catches, near-disasters, encounters with other ships—while the long, uneventful stretches remain implied. The structure thus emphasizes the dramatic peaks of whaling life.

Readers should approach There She Blows! as a curated log rather than a continuous novel. The author’s blindness, mentioned in the preface, lends weight to his claim of recording “real incidents.” Pay attention to how the narrator’s voice shifts between observation and reported dialogue, and how the ship’s movement from port to port organizes the episodic material. The book rewards those who read for specific, vivid moments rather than overarching plot.

The rain drummed on the windows that day, and I remember losing myself in the logbook of the Arethusa, feeling the salt spray between those blind captain’s lines. That search for something beyond the horizon stayed with me, so I found myself, almost without thinking, drifting toward The Strange Voyage and Adventures of Domingo Gonsales, to the World in the Moon — Context and Discussion, another journey just as improbable, yet somehow just as real.