Ch. 3: Saint Bob

Robert Saint was the Rachel's carpenter and, like John Little in Robin Hood, had his names reversed, in his case, in a doubly ironic way. John Little became 'Little John' simply because of his large size and the waggish humor of his mates. Robert Saint became Saint Bob because the men of the Rachel who all had 'mouths like sailors'...not surprisingly!...mocked his mild mannered way of speaking that reflected the fact that he was, to put it simply, a Christian who did not shy away from acknowledging his beliefs but did not find it necessary to be spiritually pugilistic with his fellow travelers. The double irony was that he really was 'a saint' based on his beliefs, not in the Catholic sense of the phrase, but in the same way as those addressed by Paul in his letters.

Now, if Saint Bob had wanted to get physically pugilistic, he certainly had the equipment with which to hold his own. Years of working with hand tools under the rigorous conditions aboard ship had made his hands not only scarred from numerous run-ins with sharp tools and splinters, but enlarged and hardened so it seemed he might drive nails without the use of a hammer if it were necessary. He had eyes that indicated that he was not to be taken lightly when it came to things he considered of a serious nature, yet when jollity was in his spirit, he could bring anything from a smile to a guffaw to his audience. His build was slightly above that nondescript category 'medium,' being of average height for a time when those who worked 'tween decks were to be 5'7" or less.

He had patched together ships and made things of wood for the better part of 30 years from the time he apprenticed as carpenter's mate in the Age of Andrew Jackson up until the present War with Mexico in which whalers took no part, obviously, which became the training ground for many men who would live to be Civil War generals. The American fleet was never one in which he sought to work his trade, being almost non-existent in those days, but merchant marine and whaling ships had been his home for many years. There was almost nothing he could not do with wood, from whittling toys for children when he was ashore between voyages to replacing the main mast on the Rachel when necessary.

This was the man Ishmael met on a warmish day in the Pacific after a few days rest from his more than traumatic adventure with the white whale and the men of the Pequod. Captain Gardiner, who ran his ship a bit more informally and with more of a fatherly demeanor than autocratic Ahab ruled the Pequod, took Ishmael to meet Saint Bob, indicating to both that he would be Bob's apprentice. When they shook hands, Ishmael was impressed not only with the power he felt, but the genuine warmth of greeting from a fellow with whom he would not only become a friend, but later on, a brother.