Mocha Dick: The Story Of The Real-Life Whale That Inspired "Moby Dick"

Sperm Whale (or Cachalot)

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_whale

"The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator."

Cetology of Moby Dick
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetology_of_Moby-Dick

Mocha Dick: The Story of the Real-Life Whale That Inspired Moby-Dick, Illustrated

In May of 1839, Herman Melville found himself riveted by an article in the New York monthly magazine The Knickerbocker about a "renowned monster, who had come off victorious in a hundred fights with his pursuers" – a formidable albino whale named Mocha Dick, who had been terrorizing whaling ships with unprecedented ferocity for ne arly half a century. Twelve years later, the beast was immortalized in Melville'sMoby-Dick, a commercial failure in the author's lifetime that went on to be celebrated as one of the Great American Novels and is among the greatest books of all time.

Now, five years after self-taught artist Matt Kish illustrated every page of Moby-Dick, children's book author Brian Heinz and artist Randall Enos tell the story of the original white whale behind Melville's masterpiece in Mocha Dick: The Legend and the Fury(public library) – a captivating picture-book "biography" of the monster-turned-literary-legend, from how human aggression turned the "peaceful giant" into a ferocious beast to his first recorded attack near the South American island of Mocha off the coast of Chile to the final, fatal harpoon blow.

Suddenly, the whale burst through the waves, his jaws gnashing in the foam. One sweep of his flukes hurled the craft high into the air, spilling the crew into the sea. Twenty-six pairs of teeth as long as a man's hand clamped down on the boat. The huge head shook savagely until only splinters remained. Then the whale disappeared in the twilight. The remaining boats plucked up their comrades and rowed briskly to their whaler. Some men sat stone-faced. Some shook.

Randall's gorgeous linocut collage illustrations, to which the screen does no justice whatsoever, lend Heinz's lyrical narrative dimension and magic that render the end result utterly enchanting.

Mocha Dick is an absolute treat from cover to cover. Complement it with Moby-Dick in Pictures and Debbie Millman's handmade homage to the Melville classic.