Fast Fish

Late in the morning of the second day of the hunt "the scythed dorsal fin" of a swordfish approaches the Orca. Benchley devotes a paragraph to Quint's unsuccessful attempt to harpoon the fish and provides the reader with a description for future reference of how to throw an iron. The equipment is already rigged ("One harpoon dart was [...] attached to the throwing pole, and a line-covered barrel stood ready at the bow.") and so there is none of the frantic knot-tying ("Hooper, hurry it up now, tie it on ... Don't screw it up now.") that provides the movie's most thrilling sequence.

Quint positions himself at the end of the pulpit and uses the harpoon like a giant compass needle to signal to Hooper in which direction to turn the boat. Fearing that the swordfish will sound, they try to "creep up on the fish [ ... ] with the engine sound barely above a murmur." In the movie Quint employs the same primitive GPS - planted at the end of the pulpit like a ship's figurehead, shouting directions to Hooper ("Watch my arm! You see - watch my hand now! Follow me! Follow me!") - to put a second iron in the shark. Here, though, the chase is as swift and thrilling as a Nantucket sleighride.