捕鯨繩

With reference to the whaling scene shortly to be described, as well as for the better understanding of all similar scenes elsewhere presented, I have here to speak of the magical, sometimes horrible whale-line.

為了接下來即將描述的捕鯨場景，也為了更好地理解別處呈現的一切類似場景，我在此得談一談那條「魔法般的、有時可怖的捕鯨繩」。

The line originally used in the fishery was of the best hemp, slightly vapored with tar, not impregnated with it, as in the case of ordinary ropes... yet, not only would the ordinary quantity too much stiffen the whale-line for the close coiling to which it must be subjected; but as most seamen are beginning to learn, tar in general by no means adds to the rope’s durability or strength, however much it may give it compactness and gloss.

漁業原本使用的繩，是用上等大麻製的，只略略燻過焦油、而非像普通繩那樣浸透焦油；因為焦油雖如常用那樣能使大麻對製繩匠更柔順、也使繩本身更便於水手作一般船上之用——然而，常用的那個焦油量不僅會把捕鯨繩弄得太硬、不利於它必須承受的緊密盤繞；而且如多數水手漸漸懂得的，焦油整體上絕不增添繩的耐久或強度，無論它多麼能賦予繩緊實與光澤。

Of late years the Manilla rope has in the American fishery almost entirely superseded hemp as a material for whale-lines; for, though not so durable as hemp, it is stronger, and far more soft and elastic; and I will add (since there is an æsthetics in all things), is much more handsome and becoming to the boat, than hemp. Hemp is a dusky, dark fellow, a sort of Indian; but Manilla is as a golden-haired Circassian to behold.

近年來，馬尼拉麻繩在美國漁業中幾乎完全取代了大麻、作為捕鯨繩的材料；因為它雖不如大麻耐久，卻更強韌、且柔軟而有彈性得多；而且我要補一句（既然萬物皆有一種美學）——它比大麻俊美得多、也更襯這小艇。大麻是個黝黑陰沉的傢伙，像個印度人；馬尼拉麻看來則像個金髮的切爾克斯美人。

The whale-line is only two-thirds of an inch in thickness. ...so that the whole rope will bear a strain nearly equal to three tons. ...Towards the stern of the boat it is spirally coiled away in the tub... so as to form one round, cheese-shaped mass of densely bedded “sheaves,” or layers of concentric spiralizations... As the least tangle or kink in the coiling would, in running out, infallibly take somebody’s arm, leg, or entire body off, the utmost precaution is used in stowing the line in its tub. Some harpooneers will consume almost an entire morning in this business...

捕鯨繩只有三分之二吋粗。乍看你不會以為它有實際上那麼強。經實驗，它那 51 股每股都能吊起 120 磅的重量；所以整條繩能承受近三噸的張力。論長度，普通的抹香鯨繩量起來有兩百多噚。在船尾那端，它螺旋地盤繞收進桶裡——倒不像蒸餾器的蛇形管，而是繞成一個圓的、乳酪狀的團塊，由密密層疊的「束層」、即同心螺旋的層所構成，除了那個叫「心」的、在乳酪軸心形成的細小垂直孔之外，沒有任何中空。因為盤繞中哪怕最微小的一點纏結或扭折（kink），在放繩時都會萬無一失地把某人的手臂、腿、或整個身體扯掉，所以收繩入桶時用上了最大的謹慎。有些標槍手會在這件事上耗掉幾乎一整個上午，把繩高高舉起、再穿過一個滑車向下引入桶中，好在盤繞的過程中讓它擺脫一切可能的皺褶與扭曲。

In the English boats two tubs are used instead of one... whereas, the American tub, nearly three feet in diameter and of proportionate depth, makes a rather bulky freight for a craft whose planks are but one half-inch in thickness... When the painted canvas cover is clapped on the American line-tub, the boat looks as if it were pulling off with a prodigious great wedding-cake to present to the whales.

英國小艇用兩個桶而非一個；同一條繩連續地盤在兩個桶裡。這有些好處：因為這對「孿生桶」這麼小，更容易放進艇裡、不那麼壓艇；而美國的桶近三呎直徑、深度也相稱，對一艘船板僅半吋厚的小艇而言，是相當笨重的一件貨——因為捕鯨小艇的底，就像臨界的薄冰：能撐起相當分量的「分散」重量，卻撐不起多少「集中」的重量。當那彩繪帆布蓋啪地扣上美國的繩桶時，這小艇看來就像是要划著一個碩大無比的結婚蛋糕、去獻給眾鯨。

Both ends of the line are exposed; the lower end terminating in an eye-splice or loop... This arrangement of the lower end is necessary on two accounts. First: In order to facilitate the fastening to it of an additional line from a neighboring boat... the whale of course is shifted like a mug of ale, as it were, from the one boat to the other... Second: This arrangement is indispensable for common safety’s sake; for were the lower end of the line in any way attached to the boat... the doomed boat would infallibly be dragged down after him into the profundity of the sea; and in that case no town-crier would ever find her again.

繩的兩端都外露；下端終於一個「眼環（eye-splice）」或繩圈，從桶底沿桶側上來、懸在桶緣上、與一切完全脫離。下端這樣安排有兩個必要的理由。第一：為了便於把鄰艇的一條續繩接上去——萬一中標的鯨潛得太深、眼看要把原本繫在標槍上的整條繩都拖走時。這種情況下，那鯨當然就像「一杯麥酒」似地，從這艘艇被轉交到那艘艇；不過第一艘艇總在近旁待命、協助它的夥伴艇。第二：這樣的安排為了共同的安全也是不可或缺的；因為若繩的下端以任何方式繫在艇上，而那鯨隨即——如牠有時會做的——在冒煙的一分鐘內幾乎把繩拉到盡頭，牠也不會就此停下，那艘註定完蛋的艇便會萬無一失地被牠拖入海的深淵；那樣的話，再沒有任何報訊人（town-crier）能再找到她了。

Before lowering the boat for the chase, the upper end of the line is taken aft from the tub, and passing round the loggerhead there, is again carried forward the entire length of the boat, resting crosswise upon the loom or handle of every man’s oar... where a wooden pin or skewer the size of a common quill, prevents it from slipping out. From the chocks it hangs in a slight festoon over the bows... and is then attached to the short-warp—the rope which is immediately connected with the harpoon; but previous to that connexion, the short-warp goes through sundry mystifications too tedious to detail.

下艇追獵之前，繩的上端先從桶裡取出、帶向船尾，繞過那兒的繫纜柱（loggerhead），再沿著小艇的全長帶回船首，橫擱在每個人的槳幹（loom）或槳柄上——划槳時磨蹭著他的手腕；它也穿過交錯坐在兩舷的眾人之間，一直到船首尖端那鉛製的槽口（chock）裡，那兒有一根普通羽毛桿粗細的木栓或木籤，防它滑出去。從那槽口起，它在船首垂成一道淺淺的花綵（festoon），然後再帶回艇內；在船首的「箱」上盤上約十到二十噚（稱為「箱繩」box-line）後，它繼續往稍後一點的船舷延伸，最後接到「短索（short-warp）」——也就是直接連著標槍的那段繩；不過在接上之前，這短索還得經過種種繁瑣得不值一述的「玄機處理」。

Thus the whale-line folds the whole boat in its complicated coils... All the oarsmen are involved in its perilous contortions; so that to the timid eye of the landsman, they seem as Indian jugglers, with the deadliest snakes sportively festooning their limbs. ...he cannot be thus circumstanced without a shudder that makes the very marrow in his bones to quiver in him like a shaken jelly. Yet habit—strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?... and, like the six burghers of Calais before King Edward, the six men composing the crew pull into the jaws of death, with a halter around every neck, as you may say.

於是，捕鯨繩以其複雜的盤繞把整艘小艇「摺疊」起來，幾乎朝每個方向扭結、蜿蜒地纏繞它。所有的槳手都被捲進它危險的扭曲之中；於是，在膽怯的陸地人眼中，他們彷彿是「玩著最致命毒蛇、任蛇嬉戲地纏綴自己四肢的印度雜耍人」。也沒有任何凡人婦人之子，初次坐進那些大麻的錯綜之中、一邊在槳上拼盡全力、一邊想到「任何一個未知的瞬間標槍就可能擲出、這一切可怖的扭曲就會像環狀的閃電般動起來」——而能不渾身一顫、顫得連骨髓都像被搖晃的果凍般在體內抖動。然而習慣——奇怪的東西啊！習慣有什麼是做不到的？——你在小艇那半吋白雪松木板上、當這般「吊在絞刑手的索套」中時所聽到的歡快談笑、更快活的玩笑、更妙的俏皮對答，比你在自家紅木桌邊聽到的還要更多。而且，就像愛德華王面前那「加萊的六位義民（burghers of Calais）」，組成這艇員的六個人，可說是「頸上各套著一條絞索、划進死亡的顎中」。

Perhaps a very little thought will now enable you to account for those repeated whaling disasters... of this man or that man being taken out of the boat by the line, and lost. For, when the line is darting out, to be seated then in the boat, is like being seated in the midst of the manifold whizzings of a steam-engine in full play... and only by a certain self-adjusting buoyancy and simultaneousness of volition and action, can you escape being made a Mazeppa of, and run away with where the all-seeing sun himself could never pierce you out.

也許只消一點點思索，你現在就能解釋那些一再發生的捕鯨慘劇了——偶爾被記載下來的那少數幾樁：這人或那人被繩拖出小艇、就此喪命。因為當繩飛射而出時還坐在艇中，就像坐在一台全速運轉的蒸汽機那千百道呼嘯之中，每一根飛轉的橫樑、軸、輪都擦著你。而且更糟——你無法在這些危險的核心靜止不動，因為艇像搖籃般晃動，你毫無預警地被拋向這邊那邊；唯有靠某種自我調節的浮力、以及意志與行動的同步，你才能逃過「被當成一個馬澤帕（Mazeppa）」——被拖到連那無所不見的太陽也永遠無法把你揪出來的地方。

Again: as the profound calm which only apparently precedes and prophesies of the storm, is perhaps more awful than the storm itself... so the graceful repose of the line, as it silently serpentines about the oarsmen before being brought into actual play—this is a thing which carries more of true terror than any other aspect of this dangerous affair. But why say more? All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a philosopher, though seated in the whale-boat, you would not at heart feel one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with a poker, and not a harpoon, by your side.

再者：那「看似只是先於並預示著風暴」的深沉的平靜，或許比風暴本身更可畏；因為，平靜其實不過是風暴的包裝與封套，把風暴含在它自身之中，正如那看似無害的步槍含著致命的火藥、子彈與爆炸；所以那繩優雅的安歇——在被真正用上之前，默默地蛇行於槳手之間的模樣——這件事所帶的真正的恐怖，比這樁危險勾當的任何其他面向都更多。但何必多說呢？眾生皆活在捕鯨繩的纏裹之中。人人生來頸上就套著一條絞索；可唯有當被死亡那迅疾、突然的轉折攫住時，凡人才意識到生命中那無聲的、微妙的、無所不在的危險。而你若是個哲學家，那麼，雖然坐在捕鯨小艇裡，你心底感到的恐怖，也不會比你坐在自家晚間的爐火前、身旁擱著一根撥火棒（而不是一柄標槍）時，多上一分一毫。