The

The Welcome back, everyone to one thousand one classic short stories and tales.

This is your host, John Haggadorn.

And today we bring you Herman Melville's The Chase,

which is actually an excerpt from his best-selling work, Moby Dick.

In the 1800s, whale oil was a necessity of life.

Whale oil kept lanterns lit at night, and whale meat, skin, blubber, and organs provided

an important source of protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals.

Whale Billine was woven into baskets and used as fishing line. Whale bones were used for toolmaking

and carving. Today, we have discovered new sources which don't require whales. But when Herman Melville

wrote Moby Dick in 1851, young men were signing

up in droves for adventure and hard work on ships heading out of ports like Nantucket,

Martha's Vineyard, New London, and Providence. Whaling was dangerous work, and some of them

never returned from the long voyages. We'll take our sponsor break before

the narrative begins, so that we can deliver the story uninterrupted. And now, The Chase,

by Herman Melville. That night, in the mid-watch, when the old man, as his wonted intervals, stepped forth from

the scuttle at which he leaned, and went to his pivot-hole. He suddenly thrust out his face

fiercely, snuffing up the sea air as a sagacious ship's-dog will, in drawing nigh to some

barbarous isle. He declared that a whale must be near. Soon that peculiar odor,

sometimes to a great distance given forth by the living sperm whale, was palpable to all the watch,

nor was any mariner surprised when, after inspecting the compass, and then the dog vein,

and then ascertaining the precise bearing of the odor as nearly as possible.

...