In the first engraving a noble Sperm Whale is depicted in full majesty of might, just risen beneath the boat from the profundities of the ocean, and bearing high in the. air upon his back the terrific wreck of the stoven planks. The prow of the boat is partially unbroken, and is drawn just balancing upon the monster's spine; and standing in that prow, for that one single incomputable flash of time, you behold an oarsman, half shrouded by the incensed boiling spout of the whale, and in the act of leaping, as if from a precipice. The action of the whole thing is wonderfully good and true. The half-emptied line-tub floats on the whitened sea; the wooden poles of the spilled harpoons obliquely bob in it; the heads of the swimming crew are scattered about the whale in contrasting expressions of affright; while in the black stormy distance the ship is bearing down upon the scene. Serious fault might be found with the anatomical details of this whale, but let that pass; since, for the life of me, I could not draw so good a one.
在第一幅版画中，一条给刻划得气势磅礴的硕大的抹香鲸，正从深渊似的海洋中的小艇底下冒出来高高地耸入空际，背上还搁有一些惨遭失事的小艇残板。小艇的艇头那未被冲碎的部分，却被拖曳得刚好跟这巨物的脊骨相平；而在那种千钧一发的时分中，还可以看到一个桨手站在船头上，身子一半被那条鲸的缭绕翻腾的喷水遮住，仿佛正要从悬崖上跳下来。整个情节非常逼真动人。那只漂泛在白蒙蒙的海上的、还有半桶绳索的绳索桶；那些摔下来的东倒西歪的、在水里漂动着的标枪木柄；那些四散在大鲸周围、神色显得非常惊惶失措、在水里游来漂去的水手的头颅；而在那险恶的暴风雨的远处，有一艘大船正朝着出事地点冲了过来。虽然在这条大鲸的细小的构造上，还可以找出一些严重的错误来，可是马虎点吧，因为，老实说，我也画不出这样优美的画。
In the second engraving, the boat is in the act of drawing alongside the barnacled flank of a large running Right Whale, that rolls his black weedy bulk in the sea like some mossy rock-slide from the Patagonian cliffs. His jets are erect, full, and black like soot; so that from so abounding a smoke in the chimney, you would think there must be a brave supper cooking in the great bowels below.
在第二幅版画中，那只小艇正朝着那条向前直冲的大露脊鲸的粘腻腻的侧腹划拢去，它那在海里滚动着的杂草似的黑色的躯干，活象一块从巴塔哥尼亚峭壁上滚下来的长满苔藓的滑岩石。它喷水笔直，浑厚，黑如烟炱，所以，打从烟囱里冒出了这么密集的乌烟，直教人以为，在它那大内脏里面，一定是在煮一顿豪华的晚餐。