Beginings, Moby Dick-wise

[Juan Cires Martinez]

I'm reading Moby Dick right now, and when the ship finally gets to sea,
at the end of a chapter titled Merry Christmas, I read:

   a screaming gull flew overhead; the two hulls wildly rolled; we gave
   three heavy-hearted cheers, and blindly plunged like fate into the
   lone Atlantic.

   [End of chapter]

Screaming and flying in Christmas time, when fateful ships depart...

Saludos, Juan.