Chapter 58-60 Summary

After his brief detour, Ishmael returns to his talk of the voyage of the Pequod. The ship is now sailing northeast from the Crozetts through a sea covered with brit. This brit is the food of a Right Whale. As the men watch the whales from above, Ishmael comments they look more like huge rocks in the water than living beings. He comments that people do not look upon the creatures of the sea as they do upon dogs and horses. Although the feeling has waned somewhat, most people still consider sea creatures to be unsocial and repelling. Ishmael then equates the human soul and life to the differences in land and sea. He insinuates there is within the human soul places, like the sea, that are cold and unappealing.

In the following chapter, Ishmael notes that the mysterious whale's spout...