{"id":"01KFNR887RWET6AWA81RNC8W1Z","cid":"bafkreignym37l55edwemzvnlsl5urbgifligv4h3hhegzcpex2lvt6w2ui","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8258,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.427Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 0","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":8213,"text":"CHAPTER 45. The Affidavit.\r\n\r\nSo far as what there may be of a narrative in this book; and, indeed,\r\nas indirectly touching one or two very interesting and curious\r\nparticulars in the habits of sperm whales, the foregoing chapter, in\r\nits earlier part, is as important a one as will be found in this\r\nvolume; but the leading matter of it requires to be still further and\r\nmore familiarly enlarged upon, in order to be adequately understood,\r\nand moreover to take away any incredulity which a profound ignorance of\r\nthe entire subject may induce in some minds, as to the natural verity\r\nof the main points of this affair.\r\n\r\nI care not to perform this part of my task methodically; but shall be\r\ncontent to produce the desired impression by separate citations of\r\nitems, practically or reliably known to me as a whaleman; and from\r\nthese citations, I take it—the conclusion aimed at will naturally\r\nfollow of itself.\r\n\r\nFirst: I have personally known three instances where a whale, after\r\nreceiving a harpoon, has effected a complete escape; and, after an\r\ninterval (in one instance of three years), has been again struck by the\r\nsame hand, and slain; when the two irons, both marked by the same\r\nprivate cypher, have been taken from the body. In the instance where\r\nthree years intervened between the flinging of the two harpoons; and I\r\nthink it may have been something more than that; the man who darted\r\nthem happening, in the interval, to go in a trading ship on a voyage to\r\nAfrica, went ashore there, joined a discovery party, and penetrated far\r\ninto the interior, where he travelled for a period of nearly two years,\r\noften endangered by serpents, savages, tigers, poisonous miasmas, with\r\nall the other common perils incident to wandering in the heart of\r\nunknown regions. Meanwhile, the whale he had struck must also have been\r\non its travels; no doubt it had thrice circumnavigated the globe,\r\nbrushing with its flanks all the coasts of Africa; but to no purpose.\r\nThis man and this whale again came together, and the one vanquished the\r\nother. I say I, myself, have known three instances similar to this;\r\nthat is in two of them I saw the whales struck; and, upon the second\r\nattack, saw the two irons with the respective marks cut in them,\r\nafterwards taken from the dead fish. In the three-year instance, it so\r\nfell out that I was in the boat both times, first and last, and the\r\nlast time distinctly recognised a peculiar sort of huge mole under the\r\nwhale’s eye, which I had observed there three years previous. I say\r\nthree years, but I am pretty sure it was more than that. Here are three\r\ninstances, then, which I personally know the truth of; but I have heard\r\nof many other instances from persons whose veracity in the matter there\r\nis no good ground to impeach.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 0"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84CAYPVDAGJP9WFFMPME","peer_label":"45","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84CAYPVDAGJP9WFFMPME","peer_label":"45","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":"01KFNR889HTTE2AXPP702BYXGT","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.761Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:16.553Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}