Ah, Melville the whaling innovator! The separation between harpooneer (whale fixer) and lancer (whale killer) is a cause of low profit, since the fixer often misses the target due to exhaustion from having to row. Therefore Melville proposes that:
all this is both foolish and unnecessary. The headsman should stay in the bows from first to last; he should both dart the harpoon and the lance, and no rowing whatever should be expected of him.
