{"id":"01KFNR86TKGTNFTK3Z0M8PHXEQ","cid":"bafkreici43c4hhaep5re764zlpsouh67wtzifq6c6jwxdmsphnndtih7oy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3390,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:01.908Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":3306,"text":"right-whale. Planted with their broad ends on the deck, a circle of\r\nthese slabs laced together, mutually sloped towards each other, and at\r\nthe apex united in a tufted point, where the loose hairy fibres waved\r\nto and fro like the top-knot on some old Pottowottamie Sachem’s head. A\r\ntriangular opening faced towards the bows of the ship, so that the\r\ninsider commanded a complete view forward.\r\n\r\nAnd half concealed in this queer tenement, I at length found one who by\r\nhis aspect seemed to have authority; and who, it being noon, and the\r\nship’s work suspended, was now enjoying respite from the burden of\r\ncommand. He was seated on an old-fashioned oaken chair, wriggling all\r\nover with curious carving; and the bottom of which was formed of a\r\nstout interlacing of the same elastic stuff of which the wigwam was\r\nconstructed.\r\n\r\nThere was nothing so very particular, perhaps, about the appearance of\r\nthe elderly man I saw; he was brown and brawny, like most old seamen,\r\nand heavily rolled up in blue pilot-cloth, cut in the Quaker style;\r\nonly there was a fine and almost microscopic net-work of the minutest\r\nwrinkles interlacing round his eyes, which must have arisen from his\r\ncontinual sailings in many hard gales, and always looking to\r\nwindward;—for this causes the muscles about the eyes to become pursed\r\ntogether. Such eye-wrinkles are very effectual in a scowl.\r\n\r\n“Is this the Captain of the Pequod?” said I, advancing to the door of\r\nthe tent.\r\n\r\n“Supposing it be the captain of the Pequod, what dost thou want of\r\nhim?” he demanded.\r\n\r\n“I was thinking of shipping.”\r\n\r\n“Thou wast, wast thou? I see thou art no Nantucketer—ever been in a\r\nstove boat?”\r\n\r\n“No, Sir, I never have.”\r\n\r\n“Dost know nothing at all about whaling, I dare say—eh?\r\n\r\n“Nothing, Sir; but I have no doubt I shall soon learn. I’ve been\r\nseveral voyages in the merchant service, and I think that—”\r\n\r\n“Merchant service be damned. Talk not that lingo to me. Dost see that\r\nleg?—I’ll take that leg away from thy stern, if ever thou talkest of\r\nthe marchant service to me again. Marchant service indeed! I suppose\r\nnow ye feel considerable proud of having served in those marchant\r\nships. But flukes! man, what makes thee want to go a whaling, eh?—it\r\nlooks a little suspicious, don’t it, eh?—Hast not been a pirate, hast\r\nthou?—Didst not rob thy last Captain, didst thou?—Dost not think of\r\nmurdering the officers when thou gettest to sea?”\r\n\r\nI protested my innocence of these things. I saw that under the mask of\r\nthese half humorous innuendoes, this old seaman, as an insulated\r\nQuakerish Nantucketer, was full of his insular prejudices, and rather\r\ndistrustful of all aliens, unless they hailed from Cape Cod or the\r\nVineyard.\r\n\r\n“But what takes thee a-whaling? I want to know that before I think of\r\nshipping ye.”\r\n\r\n“Well, sir, I want to see what whaling is. I want to see the world.”\r\n\r\n“Want to see what whaling is, eh? Have ye clapped eye on Captain Ahab?”\r\n\r\n“Who is Captain Ahab, sir?”\r\n\r\n“Aye, aye, I thought so. Captain Ahab is the Captain of this ship.”\r\n\r\n“I am mistaken then. I thought I was speaking to the Captain himself.”\r\n\r\n“Thou art speaking to Captain Peleg—that’s who ye are speaking to,\r\nyoung man. It belongs to me and Captain Bildad to see the Pequod fitted\r\nout for the voyage, and supplied with all her needs, including crew. We\r\nare part owners and agents. But as I was going to say, if thou wantest\r\nto know what whaling is, as thou tellest ye do, I can put ye in a way\r\nof finding it out before ye bind yourself to it, past backing out. Clap\r\neye on Captain Ahab, young man, and thou wilt find that he has only one\r\nleg.”\r\n\r\n“What do you mean, sir? Was the other one lost by a whale?”\r\n\r\n“Lost by a whale! Young man, come nearer to me: it was devoured, chewed\r\nup, crunched by the monstrousest parmacetty that ever chipped a\r\nboat!—ah, ah!”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR847Z5PK5KBJXR1EFBJCD","peer_label":"16","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR847Z5PK5KBJXR1EFBJCD","peer_label":"16","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR81RMVAX2BBMMBW51V97D","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR0H0Q791Y1SMZWEQ09FGV","peer_label":"Moby Dick","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KFNR8709RC20NNZP27Q35S71","peer_label":"Chunk 3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR8714N6N5BDFE99G25B12","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:02.479Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:14.963Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}