Chapter 89 - Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

by Herman Melville

Comprehension Quiz: Chapter 89 - Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish

What is a "Fast-Fish" according to the whaling laws described in Chapter 89?

  • A whale swimming at top speed to escape harpooners
  • A whale connected to an occupied ship or boat by any controllable medium
  • A whale that has been killed and is sinking to the ocean floor
  • A whale that has been spotted first by a ship’s lookout

What was the only nation to enact a formal written whaling code into law?

  • England, by decree of the Admiralty Court in 1688
  • Holland, by decree of the States-General in 1695
  • The United States, through the Nantucket Whaling Acts of 1710
  • Denmark, through the Copenhagen Maritime Convention of 1702

To what does Ishmael compare the brevity of American whaling law?

  • The Ten Commandments engraved on stone tablets by Moses
  • Laws small enough to be engraved on a Queen Anne’s farthing or a harpoon barb
  • The Magna Carta’s original draft of only two sentences
  • A ship captain’s logbook entry summarized in three words

In the English whale-trover case, why did the plaintiffs abandon their whale?

  • The whale dove too deep for their harpoon lines to reach
  • They were forced to forsake their lines and boat to save their lives
  • A rival ship threatened them with cannons and forced them to retreat
  • A storm carried the dead whale far from their ship overnight

What analogy did Mr. Erskine use to defend the crew that captured the disputed whale?

  • He compared the whale to stolen treasure found at sea, which belongs to the finder
  • He compared the abandoned whale to an abandoned wife in a matrimonial case
  • He compared the whale to a stray horse that wanders onto another man’s property
  • He compared whaling law to the ancient Roman law of salvage rights

How did Lord Ellenborough rule on the disputed boat in the whale-trover case?

  • He awarded the boat to the defendants along with the whale
  • He awarded the boat to the plaintiffs because they abandoned it only to save their lives
  • He ruled the boat should be sold and proceeds split between both parties
  • He declared the boat to be government property under admiralty law

According to Ishmael, what are the Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish principles fundamentally?

  • Obsolete maritime customs with no modern relevance
  • The fundamentals of all human jurisprudence
  • Uniquely American innovations in property law
  • Religious doctrines derived from biblical parables about fishing

Which of the following does Ishmael NOT cite as an example of a Fast-Fish?

  • Russian serfs and Republican slaves held as property
  • Ireland under the control of England ("John Bull")
  • America in 1492 when Columbus arrived and planted the Spanish flag
  • The Archbishop of Savesoul’s income of 100,000 pounds

What does Ishmael call "Brother Jonathan" in Chapter 89?

  • A rival whaling captain from a competing Nantucket ship
  • A personification of the United States, described as an "apostolic lancer"
  • The defense attorney in the English whale-trover case
  • A biblical figure whose story parallels the whaling laws

What comparison does Ishmael make about the Temple of the Law?

  • He compares it to a whale ship that requires an entire crew to operate
  • He compares it to the Temple of the Philistines, which had but two props to stand on
  • He compares it to a Nantucket meetinghouse built on shifting sands
  • He compares it to Solomon’s Temple, magnificent but ultimately destroyed

What familiar saying does Ishmael invoke and then expand upon?

  • "Finders keepers, losers weepers" applies to all maritime salvage
  • "Possession is half of the law"—and often possession is the whole of the law
  • "Might makes right" has governed human affairs since ancient times
  • "To the victor belong the spoils" is the true law of whaling

What does the chapter’s final question—"What are you, reader, but a Loose-Fish and a Fast-Fish, too?"—suggest?

  • That every reader should take up whaling as a worthy profession
  • That every person is simultaneously bound by obligations and free to be claimed anew
  • That readers must choose between a life of freedom or a life of servitude
  • That the laws of whaling do not truly apply to people on land

What legal reference does Ishmael say American whaling law surpasses in "terse comprehensiveness"?

  • The British Admiralty Code and the French Napoleonic Code combined
  • Justinian’s Pandects and the By-laws of the Chinese Society for the Suppression of Meddling
  • The Magna Carta and the United States Constitution combined
  • The Code of Hammurabi and the Talmudic laws of the ancient Hebrews

Which of the following does Ishmael list as a Loose-Fish?

  • The widow’s last mite seized by a rapacious landlord
  • The Duke of Dunder’s hereditary towns and hamlets
  • The Rights of Man and the Liberties of the World
  • The Archbishop of Savesoul’s annual income of 100,000 pounds

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