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In Search of Moby Dick: The Quest for the White Whale
Herman Melville's classic novel Moby-Dick immortalized the idea of a mammoth sperm whale roaming the seas, wreaking havoc on all that crossed its path. But could such a creature actually exist, then or now? To find out, the acclaimed adventure writer and explorer Tim Severin set off to the islands of the South Pacific in search of one of our most iconic modern myths. From the Marquesas Archipelago, where the twenty-one-year-old Melville deserted his whaling ship in 1842, through the Philippines, Tonga, and Indonesia, Severin follows a trail of ocean legend and lore to the last surviving islanders who hunt the great whale by hand, shadowing a victorious hunt from Stone Age boats and uncovering tantalizing evidence of the existence of a Great White Whale. In this captivating account of his voyage, Severin traces not only the origins of Melville's legendary literary creation but also something of the spiritual relationship between the islanders and the creatures of the sea, the hunter and his prey.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
11 people are currently reading
202 people want to read
About the author
Tim Severin
46 books266 followersTim Severin was a British explorer, historian and writer. Severin is noted for his work in retracing the legendary journeys of historical figures. Severin was awarded both the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He received the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for his 1982 book The Sindbad Voyage.
He was born Timothy Severin in Assam, India in 1940. Severin attended Tonbridge School and studied geography and history at Keble College, Oxford.
Severin has also written historical fiction along with non fiction. The Viking Series, first published in 2005, concerns a young Viking adventurer who travels the world. In 2007 he published The Adventures of Hector Lynch series set in the late 17th century about a 17-year-old Corsair.
He was born Timothy Severin in Assam, India in 1940. Severin attended Tonbridge School and studied geography and history at Keble College, Oxford.
Severin has also written historical fiction along with non fiction. The Viking Series, first published in 2005, concerns a young Viking adventurer who travels the world. In 2007 he published The Adventures of Hector Lynch series set in the late 17th century about a 17-year-old Corsair.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
September 2, 2010
I don’t much like travel books and I don’t know exactly why this is. Perhaps it is because travel writers strike me as being in the midst of an on-going existential crisis, constantly a’roving in order to fill an insatiable and desperate maw. Their frantic hithers and thithers make me uncomfortable. Or perhaps the fact the average travel writer takes on a heartiness and condescension towards us landlubbers that I find hard to take. Perhaps I’m just jealous. Or there’s the fact that I only like traveling after I’m back home – otherwise I’m a nervous wreck…
This being said, despite being a travel book, In Search of Moby Dick was quite good. My one major specific complaint (rather than my genre complaints noted above) is the rather pumped up “reason” behind it, the whole “search for the white whale” business. I’m certain there are white sperm whales out there – they are albinos and they are rare, rare enough for old sailor’s tales and Polynesian creation myths, etc. Mystery solved. But Severin, no doubt bending to the implacable will of editors who insist that every non-fiction book has to have some kind of a whodunnit suspense aspect tacked on to it insisted that Severin add cliff-hangers throughout. All sorts of books are written this way these days. It’s a plague.
Despite the corny “search,” this is really a well-written and intelligently organized book with little by way of waste and unnecessary authorial posturing. I couldn’t believe how tight the prose often was – he’s almost as good as Jon Krakauer. During the chase scenes (whales, sharks, rays), I couldn’t put the book down. Reading landscape and action (or combat) descriptions can be either tedious or confusing, and Severin was neither. Here’s the layout: Severin hops about the Pacific, looking for white whales and peppering his narrative with quotes from 19th century whaling authorities (Melville, mostly, or Melville’s sources, and the Essex wreck survivors). This blending of travel and literature is well done. The places Severin goes depressed the hell out of me – he perhaps conveys poverty better than anyone I’ve ever encountered, which made for some uncomfortable reading for well-insulated me.
The stories are astonishing. There is an island in the Philippines called Pamilacan where the last of the “whale jumpers” dwell. Whale jumpers don’t use harpoons – harpoons get lost too easily and are considered a luxury. Instead, a guy jumps off the boat with a hook and hand-delivers the barb. Then the rest of the crew gets drug around by the whale until it is exhausted, they gradually jab it to death, just like the Nantucket whalemen of the 1800s. These days whales are not (legally) hunted anymore of Pamilacan, but they still go after giant rays this way. Pamilican is a dreadful place – there is no fresh water on it, for one, but the fishing is lucrative enough for them to just barely subsist. Severin describes a lunchtime transaction involving a handful of tiny, multi-colored reef fish that are carefully cleaned and grilled – think of five guys eating eight goldfish. Or the little kids dipping a broken plastic bottle on a string into the briny trickle at the bottom of a ruined well in order to get a bucket full of non-potable brackish water they give to the minuscule pigs found here and there, tethered together with ropes through their ears (perhaps a bucketful after a day’s worth of dipping). This is dreadful stuff, despite the fact the islanders are close enough to civilization to be somewhat dialed in to the rest of the world – they use motors sometimes, and currency. And they gamble a lot, cockfighting, mostly, which Severin describes in depressing detail. But I’d gamble a lot too if I had to dive after manta rays with a hand-held hook or struggle all day for bucketful of water I couldn’t even drink. Or I’d leave. Or kill myself.
The best part of the book is towards the end, when Severin spends several weeks with the Lamalera islanders – the Lamalera islanders are the last native sperm whale hunters and Severin tells their story without any “noble savage” rhetoric. They live in abject poverty on a tiny, somewhat barren island in Indonesia, and they do things entirely the old-fashioned way – with sewn-together boats and hand-forged harpoons. There’s nary an outboard motor or store-bought rope to be found. Although they do use harpoons, they are so light (bamboo shafts) that the harpooner, much like the Pamilacan islanders, usually dives off the boat with his harpoon to give the thing enough weight to pierce the whale’s skin. Everything is very, very basic. As Severin tells it, the Lamalera islanders ain’t got nothing but their whales (and the occasional shark, ray, and teensy-weensy flying fish). They are in real peril, half starved, paddle their boats really, really hard, and use crappy tools. The slaughter of the whales is indeed heartbreaking, but for the first time ever I came to understand the whole “bond” between hunter and hunted…or I understand it as much as I ever will. The Lamalera whalers have songs, rituals and superstitions that do not appear to have been muddled around by the pieties and cliches that you see in movies about buffaloes and Native Americans (for instance). Some of their whale myths and songs even seem to convey a twinge of regret or bad conscience over killing the whales (or perhaps I’m sentimentalizing the situation). The way the kill is taken, divided up and otherwise dealt with show a level of cultural cohesiveness that I think is very rare in the world today, even among peoples living far from civilization. Thanks to Severin’s account, I wound up being very impressed by these people, by their industry, suffering and overall humanity. And so, as much as I’m a save-the-whales guy, I think the Lamalera islanders should be allowed to continue their ways (which won’t last much longer anyway – the youngsters are leaving the island for better opportunities further up the Indonesian archipelago). There’s a million-plus sperm whales in the world (according to Severin – Wikipedia says a couple hundred thousand). The Lamalerans take around a dozen a year, 25 in a good year, 3 in a bad one. I want to mention too that Severin does a fine job describing the animals he encounters (often dead or dying animals). His sympathy for the hunters he is with is in uncomfortable balance with the sympathy he feels for the animals they kill. He struck me as being a kind of old-fashioned nature lover, before the PC set in.
The pursuit of a story lead to an unintentionally funny bit towards the end. Since Severin is constantly on the hunt for white whale stories, he asks a lot of white whale questions. The Lamalerans pick up on this and, big surprise, the white whale stories he hears start coming in fast and furious. Towards the end I think there is an entire fleet of them cruising off shore (but, you know, ten years ago or so). Amusingly, Severin reports these tales without much by way of skepticism. To his credit, this might be a testament to his respect for the people he meets on his travels.
This being said, despite being a travel book, In Search of Moby Dick was quite good. My one major specific complaint (rather than my genre complaints noted above) is the rather pumped up “reason” behind it, the whole “search for the white whale” business. I’m certain there are white sperm whales out there – they are albinos and they are rare, rare enough for old sailor’s tales and Polynesian creation myths, etc. Mystery solved. But Severin, no doubt bending to the implacable will of editors who insist that every non-fiction book has to have some kind of a whodunnit suspense aspect tacked on to it insisted that Severin add cliff-hangers throughout. All sorts of books are written this way these days. It’s a plague.
Despite the corny “search,” this is really a well-written and intelligently organized book with little by way of waste and unnecessary authorial posturing. I couldn’t believe how tight the prose often was – he’s almost as good as Jon Krakauer. During the chase scenes (whales, sharks, rays), I couldn’t put the book down. Reading landscape and action (or combat) descriptions can be either tedious or confusing, and Severin was neither. Here’s the layout: Severin hops about the Pacific, looking for white whales and peppering his narrative with quotes from 19th century whaling authorities (Melville, mostly, or Melville’s sources, and the Essex wreck survivors). This blending of travel and literature is well done. The places Severin goes depressed the hell out of me – he perhaps conveys poverty better than anyone I’ve ever encountered, which made for some uncomfortable reading for well-insulated me.
The stories are astonishing. There is an island in the Philippines called Pamilacan where the last of the “whale jumpers” dwell. Whale jumpers don’t use harpoons – harpoons get lost too easily and are considered a luxury. Instead, a guy jumps off the boat with a hook and hand-delivers the barb. Then the rest of the crew gets drug around by the whale until it is exhausted, they gradually jab it to death, just like the Nantucket whalemen of the 1800s. These days whales are not (legally) hunted anymore of Pamilacan, but they still go after giant rays this way. Pamilican is a dreadful place – there is no fresh water on it, for one, but the fishing is lucrative enough for them to just barely subsist. Severin describes a lunchtime transaction involving a handful of tiny, multi-colored reef fish that are carefully cleaned and grilled – think of five guys eating eight goldfish. Or the little kids dipping a broken plastic bottle on a string into the briny trickle at the bottom of a ruined well in order to get a bucket full of non-potable brackish water they give to the minuscule pigs found here and there, tethered together with ropes through their ears (perhaps a bucketful after a day’s worth of dipping). This is dreadful stuff, despite the fact the islanders are close enough to civilization to be somewhat dialed in to the rest of the world – they use motors sometimes, and currency. And they gamble a lot, cockfighting, mostly, which Severin describes in depressing detail. But I’d gamble a lot too if I had to dive after manta rays with a hand-held hook or struggle all day for bucketful of water I couldn’t even drink. Or I’d leave. Or kill myself.
The best part of the book is towards the end, when Severin spends several weeks with the Lamalera islanders – the Lamalera islanders are the last native sperm whale hunters and Severin tells their story without any “noble savage” rhetoric. They live in abject poverty on a tiny, somewhat barren island in Indonesia, and they do things entirely the old-fashioned way – with sewn-together boats and hand-forged harpoons. There’s nary an outboard motor or store-bought rope to be found. Although they do use harpoons, they are so light (bamboo shafts) that the harpooner, much like the Pamilacan islanders, usually dives off the boat with his harpoon to give the thing enough weight to pierce the whale’s skin. Everything is very, very basic. As Severin tells it, the Lamalera islanders ain’t got nothing but their whales (and the occasional shark, ray, and teensy-weensy flying fish). They are in real peril, half starved, paddle their boats really, really hard, and use crappy tools. The slaughter of the whales is indeed heartbreaking, but for the first time ever I came to understand the whole “bond” between hunter and hunted…or I understand it as much as I ever will. The Lamalera whalers have songs, rituals and superstitions that do not appear to have been muddled around by the pieties and cliches that you see in movies about buffaloes and Native Americans (for instance). Some of their whale myths and songs even seem to convey a twinge of regret or bad conscience over killing the whales (or perhaps I’m sentimentalizing the situation). The way the kill is taken, divided up and otherwise dealt with show a level of cultural cohesiveness that I think is very rare in the world today, even among peoples living far from civilization. Thanks to Severin’s account, I wound up being very impressed by these people, by their industry, suffering and overall humanity. And so, as much as I’m a save-the-whales guy, I think the Lamalera islanders should be allowed to continue their ways (which won’t last much longer anyway – the youngsters are leaving the island for better opportunities further up the Indonesian archipelago). There’s a million-plus sperm whales in the world (according to Severin – Wikipedia says a couple hundred thousand). The Lamalerans take around a dozen a year, 25 in a good year, 3 in a bad one. I want to mention too that Severin does a fine job describing the animals he encounters (often dead or dying animals). His sympathy for the hunters he is with is in uncomfortable balance with the sympathy he feels for the animals they kill. He struck me as being a kind of old-fashioned nature lover, before the PC set in.
The pursuit of a story lead to an unintentionally funny bit towards the end. Since Severin is constantly on the hunt for white whale stories, he asks a lot of white whale questions. The Lamalerans pick up on this and, big surprise, the white whale stories he hears start coming in fast and furious. Towards the end I think there is an entire fleet of them cruising off shore (but, you know, ten years ago or so). Amusingly, Severin reports these tales without much by way of skepticism. To his credit, this might be a testament to his respect for the people he meets on his travels.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 3, 2016
They don't write books like this any more as adventurer/explorer Tim Severin sets out on a quest to find the elusive white whale made famous in Melville's classic 'Moby Dick.' Although the great white whale feature prominently in both the title and sub-title it is not the main focus of the book, the quest and the whale hunters of current times are. This book is a travelogue that takes the reader to a handful of South Pacific islands that still hunt whale with hand-held harpoons in rickety craft but it also contains anthropology and cultural observations that add to the reading experience and bring the various islanders to life. This is travel writing in it's purest form, where the world traveled to is the star - both it's people and their way of life - and not bogged down by some existential, self discovery. The writer approaches his subjects with a journalistic eye keeping his opinions to himself and letting the world around him tell the tale. This made the book much more enjoyable to me.
I had to knock off one star from the book though because this learned man makes a grade school mistake; he refers to whales constantly as fish when they are mammals. This ate at me a little, an Oxford educated man belonging to the Royal Geographic Society should know the difference and it made for some confusing reading. Also the quest remained unfilled. He never finds the White Whale although there are plenty of anecdotal evidence to support the claims of it's existence but much like Captain Ahab the writer is doomed to fail in his pursuits and the White whale wins once again.
I had to knock off one star from the book though because this learned man makes a grade school mistake; he refers to whales constantly as fish when they are mammals. This ate at me a little, an Oxford educated man belonging to the Royal Geographic Society should know the difference and it made for some confusing reading. Also the quest remained unfilled. He never finds the White Whale although there are plenty of anecdotal evidence to support the claims of it's existence but much like Captain Ahab the writer is doomed to fail in his pursuits and the White whale wins once again.
August 22, 2019
Tim Severin, writer and filmmaker, made a name for himself in the late 1970s by sailing a leather boat across the North Atlantic. That feat of endurance and seamanship was to demonstrate, à la Thor Heyerdahl, that a 6th century Irish monk, St. Brendan, could have indeed made his legendary seven-year voyage to and from America.
Since then Severin has retraced other celebrated voyages: Sinbad, Ulysses, Jason and the Argonauts. To show that the ancient Chinese (like the Irish) could have reached America he coaxed a bamboo raft most of the way across the North Pacific. He used a replica 19th century prahu to retrace the explorations of Alfred Wallace through the Moluccas. It was, perhaps, in the wake of Darwin’s contemporary that Severin heard about some of the exploits of the region’s indigenous fishermen.
In Search of Moby Dick is subtitled “Quest for the White Whale” but it is soon apparent that Severin was also looking for other fish. On Pamilacan, a small island in the southern Philippines, the fishermen showed him how they leap into the sea holding a massive iron hook and stick it into an eight tonne whale shark. They use the same technique to catch manta rays and, until recently, regularly performed the trick on 12 to 20 tonne Bryde’s whales. The hook jumpers have enough respect for the tail and jaws of an angry sperm whale to leave that species well alone, but the men of Lamalera, at the eastern end of Flores, north-west of Timor, regularly paddle out to sea to match their wits and small craft against the might of the leviathan. When not hunting whales they go after the smaller fry of hammerhead sharks and manta rays.
Having seen and described his share of blood in the water, Severin retires from the chase, somewhat virtuously refraining from further participation. But he understands, and he would have the rest of us understand, that when these Filipino and Indonesian fishermen are not blessed with fairly regular catches then they and their impoverished communities go hungry.
Between Filipino hook jumpers and Indonesian whalers, Severin takes his readers on a short visit to Tonga. There he encountered an old Polynesian harpooner, a latter day Queequeg, and his successor, as it were, a handsome young Tongan whale-watching guide. This excursion into the more traditional territory of Herman Melville and Moby Dick, while providing some insight into the historical and social background of Melville’s characters, did little to assist Severin in his search for the white whale. The modern Polynesians had not encountered such a beast, “nor even heard of one”.
Yet white whales do exist. Apart from the relatively small Beluga (“white one” in Russian), it is known that bull sperm whales can age with a greyish-white about their heads. Mocha Dick, the original upon which Melville based his fighting whale, was said to have been “as white as wool”. Everywhere, Serverin asked about sightings of white whales. On Pamilacan he was told of a white whale shark larger than any specimen known to science. The fishermen also spoke of the “bursahon”, a giant white manta ray, far too large to even contemplate catching — besides, such folly would bring bad luck.
But it was in the Indonesian archipelago, from the people of Lamalera, that he finally heard about a Moby Dick: a belligerent, white sperm whale. A very large animal, it more than once came to the aid of its harpooned fellows. It was said to have attacked whalers’ boats, smashing or swamping them with its tail. The locals believed this creature, which has a certain mythic status, appears whenever their Christian community suffers some disharmony. Wisely, Severin did not delve too deeply into this aspect. Whatever the mystic trappings attached to the white whale, Severin has no reason to doubt that at least one Moby Dick really is patrolling the seas.
Long may he reign.
Since then Severin has retraced other celebrated voyages: Sinbad, Ulysses, Jason and the Argonauts. To show that the ancient Chinese (like the Irish) could have reached America he coaxed a bamboo raft most of the way across the North Pacific. He used a replica 19th century prahu to retrace the explorations of Alfred Wallace through the Moluccas. It was, perhaps, in the wake of Darwin’s contemporary that Severin heard about some of the exploits of the region’s indigenous fishermen.
In Search of Moby Dick is subtitled “Quest for the White Whale” but it is soon apparent that Severin was also looking for other fish. On Pamilacan, a small island in the southern Philippines, the fishermen showed him how they leap into the sea holding a massive iron hook and stick it into an eight tonne whale shark. They use the same technique to catch manta rays and, until recently, regularly performed the trick on 12 to 20 tonne Bryde’s whales. The hook jumpers have enough respect for the tail and jaws of an angry sperm whale to leave that species well alone, but the men of Lamalera, at the eastern end of Flores, north-west of Timor, regularly paddle out to sea to match their wits and small craft against the might of the leviathan. When not hunting whales they go after the smaller fry of hammerhead sharks and manta rays.
Having seen and described his share of blood in the water, Severin retires from the chase, somewhat virtuously refraining from further participation. But he understands, and he would have the rest of us understand, that when these Filipino and Indonesian fishermen are not blessed with fairly regular catches then they and their impoverished communities go hungry.
Between Filipino hook jumpers and Indonesian whalers, Severin takes his readers on a short visit to Tonga. There he encountered an old Polynesian harpooner, a latter day Queequeg, and his successor, as it were, a handsome young Tongan whale-watching guide. This excursion into the more traditional territory of Herman Melville and Moby Dick, while providing some insight into the historical and social background of Melville’s characters, did little to assist Severin in his search for the white whale. The modern Polynesians had not encountered such a beast, “nor even heard of one”.
Yet white whales do exist. Apart from the relatively small Beluga (“white one” in Russian), it is known that bull sperm whales can age with a greyish-white about their heads. Mocha Dick, the original upon which Melville based his fighting whale, was said to have been “as white as wool”. Everywhere, Serverin asked about sightings of white whales. On Pamilacan he was told of a white whale shark larger than any specimen known to science. The fishermen also spoke of the “bursahon”, a giant white manta ray, far too large to even contemplate catching — besides, such folly would bring bad luck.
But it was in the Indonesian archipelago, from the people of Lamalera, that he finally heard about a Moby Dick: a belligerent, white sperm whale. A very large animal, it more than once came to the aid of its harpooned fellows. It was said to have attacked whalers’ boats, smashing or swamping them with its tail. The locals believed this creature, which has a certain mythic status, appears whenever their Christian community suffers some disharmony. Wisely, Severin did not delve too deeply into this aspect. Whatever the mystic trappings attached to the white whale, Severin has no reason to doubt that at least one Moby Dick really is patrolling the seas.
Long may he reign.
April 9, 2018
I wanted to love this book so much being a huge fan of the source material, Moby Dick. I found the first half of this book interesting but by the time I got to the third island I had checked out. I can't put my finger on why but it didn't do what the Voyage of St. Brenden did for me.
June 18, 2025
Very readable account of Tim Severin's quest to chase down 'The White Whale'. Does/did Moby Dick really exist?
Well, after visiting three significant whaling/harpooning/hooking communities in Pamilacan (Philippines), Tonga, and Lamalera (Indonesia), he concludes that the white whale is real enough, though he never gets to see it/one. In doing so, he learns a great deal about the way these fishing/whaling social groupings work, their economic and traditionist raison d'être, and their attitude to - respectful, reverential, grateful - to the whale sharks, manta rays and whales that they hunt.
There's a good deal of literary history in his exploration of Melville's researches into the sinking of the whaling ship Exeter in 1820 and of other accounts of whaling mostly in the Pacific. He also writes well about the communities he visits, often just telling their stories - and they are good storytellers - as well as describing their hunting practices, frequently accompanying them on their hunts. I specially liked his accounts of the 'kea', a senior whale that can often turn up at the scene of a hunt to assess the situation and intervene if it thinks it can make a difference to the fate of its harpooned fellow whales.
Very enjoyable, and no axe-grinding about whether whaling should be banned or not. He records and keeps out of that debate, focusing instead on the importance of the 'fishing' to the local way of life.
Well, after visiting three significant whaling/harpooning/hooking communities in Pamilacan (Philippines), Tonga, and Lamalera (Indonesia), he concludes that the white whale is real enough, though he never gets to see it/one. In doing so, he learns a great deal about the way these fishing/whaling social groupings work, their economic and traditionist raison d'être, and their attitude to - respectful, reverential, grateful - to the whale sharks, manta rays and whales that they hunt.
There's a good deal of literary history in his exploration of Melville's researches into the sinking of the whaling ship Exeter in 1820 and of other accounts of whaling mostly in the Pacific. He also writes well about the communities he visits, often just telling their stories - and they are good storytellers - as well as describing their hunting practices, frequently accompanying them on their hunts. I specially liked his accounts of the 'kea', a senior whale that can often turn up at the scene of a hunt to assess the situation and intervene if it thinks it can make a difference to the fate of its harpooned fellow whales.
Very enjoyable, and no axe-grinding about whether whaling should be banned or not. He records and keeps out of that debate, focusing instead on the importance of the 'fishing' to the local way of life.
May 28, 2019
The book starts out promising and creates great expectation of adventure with the reader, however we quickly end up in the weeds and have trouble understanding why we spent a whole section of the book with diving fisherman on a remote island in the Philippines. As well, there are glaring spelling mistakes. The author has such great potential as a writer if only he had a more diligent editor to keep him on point and focused.
October 11, 2023
Once again Tim Severin is on a mission to validate or destroy a legend. He journeys to Tongo to explore the culture and the connection to whale hunting. During his research, it is exposed how much Melville copied other authors' books. Severin also makes references to Melville's books, Typee and Omoo. I enjoy reading what he has discovered and how he has gone about it.
July 17, 2020
Have read several of Tim Severin’s books and I usually love them. I found this one quite boring and not as interesting as the others I have read. It felt disjointed and with less focus on the people and more on how they hunt it just didn’t keep my interest like his others.
July 22, 2018
Great writing. A fascinating subject.
July 13, 2022
Great true life adventure.
Read
July 17, 2022It was a good read delved into what's left of primitive whaling culture. Easy to read and interesting to read about other ways of life.
September 3, 2024
This book had been on my reading list for a long time. Sadly it did dissapoint. It was a bit hard to read and i could not keep my attention to the story.
September 27, 2025
A great resource read for anyone curious about Melville's classic tale.
February 14, 2012
This is an excellent read for anyone who ploughed through Moby Dick! In true Tim Severin style, he carried me through his quest for truth in myth and fiction and came up trumps in all ways. He has the ability to keep me engaged through everything he writes, keeps me in his vision, speaks to me in mind and heart.
I recommend his writing to anyone interested in adventure, particularly the sea-going sort. This landlubber was introduced to him through The Brendan Voyage, and I can heartily recommend that too.
Now I'm tempted to play with "...me hearty...!" That's the effect he had, taking me to sea with him. Curiously, ten minutes after finishing the book, I met a fellow-reader who would appreciate it, and I gave the book to him.
I recommend his writing to anyone interested in adventure, particularly the sea-going sort. This landlubber was introduced to him through The Brendan Voyage, and I can heartily recommend that too.
Now I'm tempted to play with "...me hearty...!" That's the effect he had, taking me to sea with him. Curiously, ten minutes after finishing the book, I met a fellow-reader who would appreciate it, and I gave the book to him.
January 26, 2017
This is an interesting exploration of the legend behind Moby Dick, namely a white whale that was capable of being Captain Ahab's protagonist.
Tim's narrative and journey retrace some of Herman Melville's steps and casts some doubts about the truth of Melville's life. Much of the whaling related information may have been borrowed from others.
His portrayal of some of the primitive communities surviving on whale and big-fish hunting were interesting. There was a good portrayal of the effort needed to hunt in this way, and the risks.
Be warned
The later stages of the book contain quite graphic descriptions of hunting, catching, killing and dis-membering whales, whale sharks and manta-rays. Whilst these appear to be honestly and factually told, some readers may find these sections upsetting.
Tim's narrative and journey retrace some of Herman Melville's steps and casts some doubts about the truth of Melville's life. Much of the whaling related information may have been borrowed from others.
His portrayal of some of the primitive communities surviving on whale and big-fish hunting were interesting. There was a good portrayal of the effort needed to hunt in this way, and the risks.
Be warned
The later stages of the book contain quite graphic descriptions of hunting, catching, killing and dis-membering whales, whale sharks and manta-rays. Whilst these appear to be honestly and factually told, some readers may find these sections upsetting.
Want to read
August 23, 2007I am about 1/3 way done with this one and I really have enjoyed it so far. I couldn't find the edition I have on this website but mine is dense with footnotes that take away from the original text. They explain things any native speaker of English would know or be able to figure out. But they do help with all those references Melville makes to the bible and mythology. As a poor old public school student I never had to read this book or any mythology. Oh well more for me to discover now!
June 5, 2013
I read this in fact before Moby Dick (as couldnt get copy from library for a while)... it was a great read, fast and interesting. i have read other Tim Severin books and he is such an accessible writer. Very interesting info on 'whale-jumping' by islanders in Malaysia and Philipines,fascinating people he meets and writing on landscapes and social behaviour and beliefs of the communities he meets, while looking for the 'white sperm whale'
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 17, 2012
I feel hoodwinked. A more appropriate title would have been HOW MY SUMMER VACATION CAN BE TENUOUSLY LINKED TO HERMAN MELVILLE. If he was in search of Moby Dick then he missed the boat. Less than a tenth of the book pertains to "the white whale". As a travelogue with an occasional literary aside it was well-written and if it had been packaged as such I would probably give it three stars.
June 22, 2009
Essentially a variation on the most despised-by-me and vomitously pretentious literary genre, the literary pilgrimage.
August 24, 2011
Although I wish there had been more about Melville, Severin's experiences in the remote South Pacific form nice pieces of anthropology.
February 7, 2013
A great book if you love travel literature. Amazing description of whale hunting and also dispelling myth about Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Good read
April 22, 2015
Read Moby Dick first, then this one, which brings Melville to life in a modern-day exploration of the white whale legend.
August 22, 2014
Excellent read. I have not read Moby Dick but still enjoyed this book. His descriptions of the whale hunters is great
February 7, 2015
Hm.. Just read 'Into the Heart of the Sea' by Nathaniel Philbrick. Probably suggest giving Moby Dick a miss too!
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