{"id":"01KF7FPSB3MYHGF3Z0F8VZ3TAC","cid":"bafkreiercwg76257hvhboi6hgp4qo3jcgmcgx7ekxmx5p5uetc7yvmk7uq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":15288,"extracted_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:20.408Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 7","source_file":"01KESYVB66H8YEVTN88DWE9W8D","start_line":15219,"text":"circles began to swim in thickening clusters. Yes, the long calm was\r\ndeparting. A low advancing hum was soon heard; and then like to the\r\ntumultuous masses of block-ice when the great river Hudson breaks up in\r\nSpring, the entire host of whales came tumbling upon their inner\r\ncentre, as if to pile themselves up in one common mountain. Instantly\r\nStarbuck and Queequeg changed places; Starbuck taking the stern.\r\n\r\n“Oars! Oars!” he intensely whispered, seizing the helm—“gripe your\r\noars, and clutch your souls, now! My God, men, stand by! Shove him off,\r\nyou Queequeg—the whale there!—prick him!—hit him! Stand up—stand up,\r\nand stay so! Spring, men—pull, men; never mind their backs—scrape\r\nthem!—scrape away!”\r\n\r\nThe boat was now all but jammed between two vast black bulks, leaving a\r\nnarrow Dardanelles between their long lengths. But by desperate\r\nendeavor we at last shot into a temporary opening; then giving way\r\nrapidly, and at the same time earnestly watching for another outlet.\r\nAfter many similar hair-breadth escapes, we at last swiftly glided into\r\nwhat had just been one of the outer circles, but now crossed by random\r\nwhales, all violently making for one centre. This lucky salvation was\r\ncheaply purchased by the loss of Queequeg’s hat, who, while standing in\r\nthe bows to prick the fugitive whales, had his hat taken clean from his\r\nhead by the air-eddy made by the sudden tossing of a pair of broad\r\nflukes close by.\r\n\r\nRiotous and disordered as the universal commotion now was, it soon\r\nresolved itself into what seemed a systematic movement; for having\r\nclumped together at last in one dense body, they then renewed their\r\nonward flight with augmented fleetness. Further pursuit was useless;\r\nbut the boats still lingered in their wake to pick up what drugged\r\nwhales might be dropped astern, and likewise to secure one which Flask\r\nhad killed and waifed. The waif is a pennoned pole, two or three of\r\nwhich are carried by every boat; and which, when additional game is at\r\nhand, are inserted upright into the floating body of a dead whale, both\r\nto mark its place on the sea, and also as token of prior possession,\r\nshould the boats of any other ship draw near.\r\n\r\nThe result of this lowering was somewhat illustrative of that sagacious\r\nsaying in the Fishery,—the more whales the less fish. Of all the\r\ndrugged whales only one was captured. The rest contrived to escape for\r\nthe time, but only to be taken, as will hereafter be seen, by some\r\nother craft than the Pequod.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 88. Schools and Schoolmasters.\r\n\r\nThe previous chapter gave account of an immense body or herd of Sperm\r\nWhales, and there was also then given the probable cause inducing those\r\nvast aggregations.\r\n\r\nNow, though such great bodies are at times encountered, yet, as must\r\nhave been seen, even at the present day, small detached bands are\r\noccasionally observed, embracing from twenty to fifty individuals each.\r\nSuch bands are known as schools. They generally are of two sorts; those\r\ncomposed almost entirely of females, and those mustering none but young\r\nvigorous males, or bulls, as they are familiarly designated.\r\n\r\nIn cavalier attendance upon the school of females, you invariably see a\r\nmale of full grown magnitude, but not old; who, upon any alarm, evinces\r\nhis gallantry by falling in the rear and covering the flight of his\r\nladies. In truth, this gentleman is a luxurious Ottoman, swimming about\r\nover the watery world, surroundingly accompanied by all the solaces and\r\nendearments of the harem. The contrast between this Ottoman and his\r\nconcubines is striking; because, while he is always of the largest\r\nleviathanic proportions, the ladies, even at full growth, are not more\r\nthan one-third of the bulk of an average-sized male. They are\r\ncomparatively delicate, indeed; I dare say, not to exceed half a dozen\r\nyards round the waist. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied, that upon the\r\nwhole they are hereditarily entitled to _en bon point_.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 7"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KF7FPMFSMJT6NVJR448ANF6Z","peer_label":"Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KF7FPMFSMJT6NVJR448ANF6Z","peer_label":"Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KF7FPKDT5SHSH1ZQV6ABHQCA","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"book","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KESYJX0Z6XE0HWTS5N3SDG0B","peer_label":"The Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KF7FPSC7Y1V8C16SY9CJ24AX","peer_label":"Chunk 8","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KF7FPSDCZV1WH2Y5WC980QBM","peer_label":"Chunk 6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:20.787Z","ts":"2026-01-18T02:42:29.024Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KF7FCDA7SCSJ6A30TDPDSJQV"}}