While sailing south of the Azores, Walter Thompson, a boy aboard the Platina, spotted an alleged 90-foot white whale from the masthead.
[3] After tracking it down in a whaleboat with a small crew, Amos, using a darting gun, struck the white sperm whale and killed it with a bomb lance.
Melville described Tashtego as follows: "an unmixed Indian from Gay Head, the most westerly promontory of Martha's Vineyard, where there still exists the last remnant of a village of red men, which has long supplied the neighboring island of Nantucket with many of her most daring harpooneers.
In 1956, Reader's Digest published an article written by Max Eastman titled: 'I Killed "Moby Dick"' in its June issue.
'Suddenly,' Smalley says, 'his whole head broke water, the line jerked so it took all of us to hold it, and the air was filled with heavy roar, as thick red blood gushed from his spout-hole.'
Amos further described how when Moshup took leave of Aquinnah, he dug a secret tunnel from the cliffs to Witch Pond, so his pet white whale could seek safety and refuge.
[2] According to Manning, a tradition continues that when fog is seen over Witch Pond or felt in the air, Wampanoag's say that the White Whale is spouting her plume.