The Cruise of the Cachalot
Publisher: J.H. Sears and Company
Published: 1927
Place of publication: New York
Number of pages: 318
Subjects: Whales; Whaling; Sailing Ships
Genres: Historical; Non Fiction; Maritime
First sentence: "At the age of eighteen, after a sea experience of six years from the time when I dodged about London streets, a ragged Arab, with wits sharpened by the constant fight for food, I found myself roaming the streets of New Bedford, Massachusetts.  How I came to be there, of all places in the world, does not concern this story at all."
Description: Bullen describes his life and experiences on a voyage of the whaleship Cachalot.  In the Indian Ocean near the island of Sumatra, he describes a moonlight struggle between a giant squid or kraken with a sperm whale intent on consuming it.  Consider this sampling of sentences in the passage:  "At about eleven p.m., I was leaning over the lee rail, gazing steadily at the bright surface of the sea, where the intense radiance of the tropical moon made a broad path like a pavement of burnished silver... suddenly I was started to my feet with an exclamation, and stared with all my might at the strangest sight I ever saw... There was a violent commotion in the sea right where the moon's rays were concentrated... a very large sperm whale was locked in deadly conflict with a cuttlefish, or squid, almost as large as himself, whose interminable tentacles seemed to enlace the whole of his great body.... all around the combatants were numerous sharks, like jackals round a lion, ready to share the feast, and apparently assisting in the destruction of the huge cephalopod...."
Table of contents: title: Outward Bound; title: Preparing for Action; title: Fishing Begins