{"id":"01KFNR86YHPADVN2177QB1CWWS","cid":"bafkreiafmzd4lnnnv6oussolklboksw7pnlcetuzqkvwhnf4d5i3mvjsqm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4606,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:01.921Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 0","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":4545,"text":"CHAPTER 22. Merry Christmas.\r\n\r\nAt length, towards noon, upon the final dismissal of the ship’s\r\nriggers, and after the Pequod had been hauled out from the wharf, and\r\nafter the ever-thoughtful Charity had come off in a whale-boat, with\r\nher last gift—a night-cap for Stubb, the second mate, her\r\nbrother-in-law, and a spare Bible for the steward—after all this, the\r\ntwo Captains, Peleg and Bildad, issued from the cabin, and turning to\r\nthe chief mate, Peleg said:\r\n\r\n“Now, Mr. Starbuck, are you sure everything is right? Captain Ahab is\r\nall ready—just spoke to him—nothing more to be got from shore, eh?\r\nWell, call all hands, then. Muster ’em aft here—blast ’em!”\r\n\r\n“No need of profane words, however great the hurry, Peleg,” said\r\nBildad, “but away with thee, friend Starbuck, and do our bidding.”\r\n\r\nHow now! Here upon the very point of starting for the voyage, Captain\r\nPeleg and Captain Bildad were going it with a high hand on the\r\nquarter-deck, just as if they were to be joint-commanders at sea, as\r\nwell as to all appearances in port. And, as for Captain Ahab, no sign\r\nof him was yet to be seen; only, they said he was in the cabin. But\r\nthen, the idea was, that his presence was by no means necessary in\r\ngetting the ship under weigh, and steering her well out to sea. Indeed,\r\nas that was not at all his proper business, but the pilot’s; and as he\r\nwas not yet completely recovered—so they said—therefore, Captain Ahab\r\nstayed below. And all this seemed natural enough; especially as in the\r\nmerchant service many captains never show themselves on deck for a\r\nconsiderable time after heaving up the anchor, but remain over the\r\ncabin table, having a farewell merry-making with their shore friends,\r\nbefore they quit the ship for good with the pilot.\r\n\r\nBut there was not much chance to think over the matter, for Captain\r\nPeleg was now all alive. He seemed to do most of the talking and\r\ncommanding, and not Bildad.\r\n\r\n“Aft here, ye sons of bachelors,” he cried, as the sailors lingered at\r\nthe main-mast. “Mr. Starbuck, drive ’em aft.”\r\n\r\n“Strike the tent there!”—was the next order. As I hinted before, this\r\nwhalebone marquee was never pitched except in port; and on board the\r\nPequod, for thirty years, the order to strike the tent was well known\r\nto be the next thing to heaving up the anchor.\r\n\r\n“Man the capstan! Blood and thunder!—jump!”—was the next command, and\r\nthe crew sprang for the handspikes.\r\n\r\nNow in getting under weigh, the station generally occupied by the pilot\r\nis the forward part of the ship. And here Bildad, who, with Peleg, be\r\nit known, in addition to his other officers, was one of the licensed\r\npilots of the port—he being suspected to have got himself made a pilot\r\nin order to save the Nantucket pilot-fee to all the ships he was\r\nconcerned in, for he never piloted any other craft—Bildad, I say, might\r\nnow be seen actively engaged in looking over the bows for the\r\napproaching anchor, and at intervals singing what seemed a dismal stave\r\nof psalmody, to cheer the hands at the windlass, who roared forth some\r\nsort of a chorus about the girls in Booble Alley, with hearty good\r\nwill. Nevertheless, not three days previous, Bildad had told them that\r\nno profane songs would be allowed on board the Pequod, particularly in\r\ngetting under weigh; and Charity, his sister, had placed a small choice\r\ncopy of Watts in each seaman’s berth.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 0"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84A7SGVHFZY55X2KTD94","peer_label":"22","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84A7SGVHFZY55X2KTD94","peer_label":"22","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":"01KFNR86YNG8BT7GM3YAC2KV1T","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:02.538Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:15.082Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}