英语听书《白鲸记》第849期

所属教程:英语听书《白鲸记》

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2019年04月25日

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Chapter 101 The Decanter

第一百零一章圆酒瓶

Ere the English ship fades from sight be it set down here, that she hailed from London, and was named after the late Samuel Enderby, merchant of that city, the original of the famous whaling house of enderby and sons; a house which in my poor whaleman's opinion, comes not far behind the united royal houses of the Tudors and Bourbons, in point of real historical interest. How long, prior to the year of our Lord 1775, this great whaling house was in existence, my numerous fish-documents do not make plain; but in that year (1775) it fitted out the first English ships that ever regularly hunted the Sperm Whale; though for some score of years previous (ever since 1726) our valiant Coffins and Maceys of Nantucket and the Vineyard had in large fleets pursued the Leviathan, but only in the North and South Atlantic: not elsewhere. Be it distinctly recorded here, that the Nantucketers were the first among mankind to harpoon with civilized steel the great Sperm Whale; and that for half a century they were the only people of the whole globe who so harpooned him.

趁那艘英国船还遥遥在望的时候，这里不妨提一下，那艘船来自伦敦，并且以伦敦一个商人——已故的撒母耳·恩德比，也就是著名的恩德比父子捕鲸公司的创始人——为名；就我这捕鲸人的微薄的见识，以历史考据的观点说来，这个公司的开设时期，大约并不迟于都铎和波旁联合王朝的时代。不过，在公元一七七五年之前，这个大捕鲸公司究竟已经开了多久，我虽然查考了许多捕鱼文献还是弄不明白：但是，在那一年（一七七五年），正是第一批正式猎捕抹香鲸的英国船只整装出发的一年；虽然大约在几十年前（自一七二六年以来），我们英勇的南塔开特的科芬族和维恩耶特的梅西族的船只早已成群结队地追击过了大鲸（只限于南北大西洋一带，还没有到过别的地方）。因此，这里必须明确地记录下来，南塔开特人是人类中首先以文明的武器去打击大抹香鲸的人；而且在整整半个世纪中，他们就是全球中这样打击过抹香鲸的唯一的民族。

In 1778, a fine ship, the Amelia, fitted out for the express purpose, and at the sole charge of the vigorous Enderbys, boldly rounded Cape Horn, and was the first among the nations to lower a whale-boat of any sort in the great South Sea.

一七七八年，有一艘叫做阿美利亚的漂亮的船，目标鲜明地整装出发，而且是在刚勇的恩德比家的独家经营下，勇敢地环绕了合恩角，成为世界各国在南海放下第一只小艇的船只。