Timor Tom or Old Tom is a sperm whale from the 19th century, referenced in

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are ''Moby-Dick'' (1851); ''Typee'' (1846), a rom ...

's ''

Moby-Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...

''. The only reference in the book is: Ombay may reference the island of

Pantar Pantar ( id, Pulau Pantar) is the second largest island in the Indonesian Alor Archipelago, after Alor. To the east is the island of Alor and other small islands in the archipelago; to the west is the Alor Strait, which separates it from the S ...

, across the

Ombai Strait Ombai Strait ( id, Selat Ombai, pt, Estreito de Ombai, tet, Estreitu Ombai) is an international strait in Southeast Asia. It separates the Alor Archipelago from the islands of Wetar, Atauro, and Timor in the Lesser Sunda Islands. The strai ...

from

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, also ...

. Dr. Lawrence Blair in his TV program ''Myths Magic and Monsters'', suggests that Timor Tom was a gigantic albino sperm whale, who did not flee whalers, but attacked them and drowned many of them instead. Timor Tom, known by other names such as Timor Jack and Timor Tim, was an enormous white whale who engaged in battles with English whalers during the early 1800s in the vicinity of the small islands of Oriental Sonde, specifically Lamalera in the Coral Triangle. This extraordinary creature held a significant connection with the traditional sperm whalers of Lamalera, who are considered one of the oldest in the world. In their beliefs, white sperm whales served as both guardians of boats and ships, as well as overseers of their construction and conception. Thomas Beale regarded Timor Tim as "the protagonist of numerous peculiar tales."

References

Individual sperm whales Moby-Dick Maritime folklore {{whale-stub

See also

References