"Ishmael is hilarious:" Least Terrible's attempt to explain the joke

I think Chapter 48, "The First Lowering," is my favorite chapter yet (excluding the chapters near the beginning which usher in the Ishmael/Queequeg bromance). I mean, it's the Pequod's -- and Ishmael's -- first encounter with actual whales; you see all four whaling boats lowered into the water and launched toward their quarry; you get an energetic description of the first, second and third mates' respective styles of motivating their oarsmen; you get an Ishmael's-eye view of what it's like to row, row, row, not knowing how close you are to the whale until the harpooner stands up and the boat seems to run aground on something; you get the capsizing of Ishmael's boat and the soggy, overnight wait for the Pequod to find him and his companions; and then you get the Pequod materializing out of the fog and crushing Ishmael's little boat as all hands spring into the sea.

And most hilariously, you get Ishmael's pointed questioning about just how standard this experience is. (Actually, this takes place in the next chapter, "The [aforementioned] Hyena." Ishmael had manned Starbuck's boat, after all, and Starbuck has the reputation of being the most conservative and cautious of mariners. Drenched and shivering, Ishmael wrings out his coat, straightens himself, and then, with an air of wounded dignity, formally questions Queequeg and each mate in turn. I particularly like the question he directs to second mate Mr. Stubb, as Stubb placidly smokes his pipe:

"Mr. Stubb, I think I have heard you say that of all whalemen you ever met, our chief mate, Mr. Starbuck, is by far the most careful and prudent. I suppose then, that going plump on a flying whale with your sail set in a foggy squall is the height of a whaleman's discretion?"

Mr. Stubb answers in the affirmative, and Ishmael decides, then and there, to write up his will.

But the whole thing is funny. I'm not doing it justice here ... okay, here's the longish passage that ends with his decision to tidy his affairs:

"Considering, therefore, that squalls and capsizings in the water and consequent bivouacks on the deep, were matters of common occurrence in this kind of life; considering that at the superlatively critical instant of going on to the whale I must resign my life into the hands of him who steered the boat -- oftentimes a fellow who at that very moment is in his impetuousness upon the point of scuttling the craft with his own frantic stampings; considering that the particular disaster to our own particular boat was chiefly to be imputed to Starbuck's driving on to his whale almost in the teeth of a squall, and considering that Starbuck, notwithstanding, was famous for his great heedfulness in the fishery; considering that I belonged to this uncommonly prudent Starbuck's boat; and finally considering in what a devil's chase I was implicated, touching the White Whale: taking all things together, I say, I thought I might as well go below and make a rough draft of my will. 'Queequeg,' said I, 'come along, you shall be my lawyer, executor, and legatee'."

That's all one sentence! Except for the aside to Queequeg, anyhow.

At this point, Melville gives the humor another turn of the screw, though, as Ishmael confesses that sailors really like writing their wills. It's something they do all the time, and Ishmael himself relishes this opportunity to tinker further with his own document. And afterwards, he describes the placid sort of high he achieves upon completion of this task:

"I looked round me tranquilly and contentedly, like a quiet ghost with a clean conscience sitting inside the bars of a snug family vault."

And just because I like it, and because it is a perfect transition to the alliteration post below, I leave you with the sentence which comes next, and which concludes the chapter:

"Now then, thought I, unconsciously rolling up the sleeves of my frock, here goes for a cool, collected dive at death and destruction, and the devil fetch the hindmost."