Galápagos Islands: Approaching the Galápagos

1) Approaching the Galápagos
Off the Galápagos Islands, June 12-15, 1845

A) Joab’s Intentions
The morning after the gam with the Julia, Captain Joab reaffirms his intentions to call at the Galápagos Islands. Not only does Joab have a well-known fondness for “terrapin” steaks and turtle soup, he would rather have Rachel’s child born on terra firma than delivered at sea. Whether or not Joab and Rachel have reconciled, he understands that shipboard conditions are too unpredictable to guarantee a smooth delivery.

Post Office Bay
Joab informs the officers that he plans to stop at Post Office Bay, a mail-drop on Charles Island used to transfer letters to homeward bound-vessels—“Tell the men to have their letters ready, and to write KINGSPORT above the seal.” Experienced hands tell the greenhorns to boast of their successes, and to leave aside anything that would startle their loved ones. Zimri Folger and Isaac Townshend offer their letter-writing services to illiterate sailors, usually charging a plug of tobacco or a tot of rum. (Beckett and Redburn may also lend assistance.) Completed letters are passed to the officer of the watch and placed in a mailbag fastened beneath the midship shelter. Any character writing a letter home is allowed to recover 1 Sanity point—if they have friends and family to receive the letter, of course!

B) Fair Weather
The next few days are smooth sailing. The weather is fair, the winds are friendly, and the currents are surprisingly predictable. Still, this doesn’t stop the men from grumbling! Few sailors enjoy visiting the “Galleypaguses,” and every experienced tar knows that turpining is hard work. Owen Love expresses surprise that Joab is willing to spend a few weeks away from the hunt, but acknowledges the captain’s weakness for terrapin—“Your man loves a good saddleback, he does! A naked mermaid couldn’t keep ol’ Jerry from Mocha Dick, but fresh turpin? Ach! Death to Mocha Dick—on a full stomach that is!” If it’s widely suspected that Joab is the father of Rachel’s child, a more sensitive sailor adds, “B’ys, it ain’t the turpins, it’s the lass. The Old Man don’t want the bairn to arrive on rough seas, does he?”

Inexperienced sailors are regaled with colorful yarns about the Encantadas: how wicked captains are transformed into tortoises, how piles of firewood conceal scorpions the size of dinner plates, how black “dragons” hunt greenhorns and drag them to their lairs for dinner. (“Not for dinner, Quentin, as dinner, har har har!”) The size of the average tortoise gradually increases from a realistic 150-400 pounds to a full ton—“You know that big bloody cask in the hold? We could paint her up like a lady terrapin, really attract the big boys!” As the islands grow closer, seabirds begin to harass the ship for scraps, including gray albatrosses and stormy petrels, which the sailors call “Mother Cary’s chickens.” Dolphins become more common, and soon blue-footed boobies appear.

White Leviathan, Chapter 4—Galápagos Islands
[Back to Chapter 4: Encounters | White Leviathan TOC | Forward to Encounter 2, Hood Island]

Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 14 August 2023
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]