{"id":"01KFNR88AAXRVS91SSWGCGVBR5","cid":"bafkreihhjzfuhwy73gsfbbjjortfpfmlwvd2o7cuxhz3lg5grtwpk4hmau","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8529,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.429Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":8471,"text":"cabin!” Lionel then goes on to impute the shock to an earthquake, and\r\nseems to substantiate the imputation by stating that a great\r\nearthquake, somewhere about that time, did actually do great mischief\r\nalong the Spanish land. But I should not much wonder if, in the\r\ndarkness of that early hour of the morning, the shock was after all\r\ncaused by an unseen whale vertically bumping the hull from beneath.\r\n\r\nI might proceed with several more examples, one way or another known to\r\nme, of the great power and malice at times of the sperm whale. In more\r\nthan one instance, he has been known, not only to chase the assailing\r\nboats back to their ships, but to pursue the ship itself, and long\r\nwithstand all the lances hurled at him from its decks. The English ship\r\nPusie Hall can tell a story on that head; and, as for his strength, let\r\nme say, that there have been examples where the lines attached to a\r\nrunning sperm whale have, in a calm, been transferred to the ship, and\r\nsecured there; the whale towing her great hull through the water, as a\r\nhorse walks off with a cart. Again, it is very often observed that, if\r\nthe sperm whale, once struck, is allowed time to rally, he then acts,\r\nnot so often with blind rage, as with wilful, deliberate designs of\r\ndestruction to his pursuers; nor is it without conveying some eloquent\r\nindication of his character, that upon being attacked he will\r\nfrequently open his mouth, and retain it in that dread expansion for\r\nseveral consecutive minutes. But I must be content with only one more\r\nand a concluding illustration; a remarkable and most significant one,\r\nby which you will not fail to see, that not only is the most marvellous\r\nevent in this book corroborated by plain facts of the present day, but\r\nthat these marvels (like all marvels) are mere repetitions of the ages;\r\nso that for the millionth time we say amen with Solomon—Verily there is\r\nnothing new under the sun.\r\n\r\nIn the sixth Christian century lived Procopius, a Christian magistrate\r\nof Constantinople, in the days when Justinian was Emperor and\r\nBelisarius general. As many know, he wrote the history of his own\r\ntimes, a work every way of uncommon value. By the best authorities, he\r\nhas always been considered a most trustworthy and unexaggerating\r\nhistorian, except in some one or two particulars, not at all affecting\r\nthe matter presently to be mentioned.\r\n\r\nNow, in this history of his, Procopius mentions that, during the term\r\nof his prefecture at Constantinople, a great sea-monster was captured\r\nin the neighboring Propontis, or Sea of Marmora, after having destroyed\r\nvessels at intervals in those waters for a period of more than fifty\r\nyears. A fact thus set down in substantial history cannot easily be\r\ngainsaid. Nor is there any reason it should be. Of what precise species\r\nthis sea-monster was, is not mentioned. But as he destroyed ships, as\r\nwell as for other reasons, he must have been a whale; and I am strongly\r\ninclined to think a sperm whale. And I will tell you why. For a long\r\ntime I fancied that the sperm whale had been always unknown in the\r\nMediterranean and the deep waters connecting with it. Even now I am\r\ncertain that those seas are not, and perhaps never can be, in the\r\npresent constitution of things, a place for his habitual gregarious\r\nresort. But further investigations have recently proved to me, that in\r\nmodern times there have been isolated instances of the presence of the\r\nsperm whale in the Mediterranean. I am told, on good authority, that on\r\nthe Barbary coast, a Commodore Davis of the British navy found the\r\nskeleton of a sperm whale. Now, as a vessel of war readily passes\r\nthrough the Dardanelles, hence a sperm whale could, by the same route,\r\npass out of the Mediterranean into the Propontis.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"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":"01KFNR88EMNC6RQW2QMX1HK24E","peer_label":"Chunk 6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR887D51ADR152SBDEY1ZW","peer_label":"Chunk 4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.889Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:16.512Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}