Sea Salt, Scriptural & Domestic Phrases

We have our own Bildad amongst us, which is a good and magical thing.  He’s a bit of an elusive figure, but always an enlightened one, me thinks.  Truth be told, me thinks he’s building a ship of his own as we speak.  A vessel of sorts, by hand.  It’s an old trade, but keeps men young.

This phrase/sentence is rather lovely (18):  “Pious harpooners never make good voyagers — it takes the shark out of ‘em’; no harpooner is worth a straw who ain’t pretty sharkish.”

Although ‘harpooning’ seems so malicious and cruel to me, somehow, if you are going to jump on that game, this sentence rings very true.

There’s a kind of moral and I’m not sure how to say it, but I feel it... I can’t put my foot on it .... Melville and this book.  He kind of captures the hypocrisy of Western culture, without shaming it.  Or coming off as a pompous prick?  Maybe?  Like noting the differences between cultures, and kind of saying our own comes up a bit shy.  Again, new to the book and first  impressions.  But there’s also this just lovely sea vocabulary I’ve always loved without knowing Melville, talk of ships and adventure, and shipmaking, and the like.  That will draw me in all the time.