Cast Down Your Bucket
Posted by Tom dewey on January 27, 2002
Not exactly a phrase, but in one
of his novels, Melville relates a story of a sailing ship signaling to Melville's
narrator that
they were out of drinking water. Melville's skipper signals
back to "cast down your bucket." They are off the coast of
South America in
the vicinity of the the Amazon and Melville's skipper knows that the river extends
for miles into the
Atlantic. The other skipper is either unfamiliar with the
terrain or inexperienced. He can't understand that there is
potable water
under his keel.
Anybody know which novel this scene appears?
- Cast Down Your Bucket Bruce Kahl 01/27/02
- Cast Down Your Bucket tom dewey 01/27/02