Father Mapple, an elderly but vigorous man of God, ascends to the pulpit by climbing a rope ladder like one used to mount a ship from a boat at sea. He was a harpooner in his youth, and he alludes to the imagery of seamen frequently in his sermon, referring to the congregation, for example, as his "shipmates." The pulpit itself is shaped like the prow of a ship and features a painting of a vessel battling a storm near a rocky coast, an angel of hope watching over it. The text for the sermon is the Old Testament's Book of Jonah, the story of Jonah and the whale.
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