{"id":"01KFNR89MRNWC3ZK3G499QFGN7","cid":"bafkreie6nfqmrjfcpdqy3mipwqhlsh6eravrgwnhnc4si3cvulyl7lbc6a","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":14414,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.758Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 22","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":14356,"text":"via the Cape of Good Hope was advanced as a signal magnification of the\r\ngeneral miracle. And so it was. Besides, to this day, the highly\r\nenlightened Turks devoutly believe in the historical story of Jonah.\r\nAnd some three centuries ago, an English traveller in old Harris’s\r\nVoyages, speaks of a Turkish Mosque built in honor of Jonah, in which\r\nMosque was a miraculous lamp that burnt without any oil.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 84. Pitchpoling.\r\n\r\nTo make them run easily and swiftly, the axles of carriages are\r\nanointed; and for much the same purpose, some whalers perform an\r\nanalogous operation upon their boat; they grease the bottom. Nor is it\r\nto be doubted that as such a procedure can do no harm, it may possibly\r\nbe of no contemptible advantage; considering that oil and water are\r\nhostile; that oil is a sliding thing, and that the object in view is to\r\nmake the boat slide bravely. Queequeg believed strongly in anointing\r\nhis boat, and one morning not long after the German ship Jungfrau\r\ndisappeared, took more than customary pains in that occupation;\r\ncrawling under its bottom, where it hung over the side, and rubbing in\r\nthe unctuousness as though diligently seeking to insure a crop of hair\r\nfrom the craft’s bald keel. He seemed to be working in obedience to\r\nsome particular presentiment. Nor did it remain unwarranted by the\r\nevent.\r\n\r\nTowards noon whales were raised; but so soon as the ship sailed down to\r\nthem, they turned and fled with swift precipitancy; a disordered\r\nflight, as of Cleopatra’s barges from Actium.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, the boats pursued, and Stubb’s was foremost. By great\r\nexertion, Tashtego at last succeeded in planting one iron; but the\r\nstricken whale, without at all sounding, still continued his horizontal\r\nflight, with added fleetness. Such unintermitted strainings upon the\r\nplanted iron must sooner or later inevitably extract it. It became\r\nimperative to lance the flying whale, or be content to lose him. But to\r\nhaul the boat up to his flank was impossible, he swam so fast and\r\nfurious. What then remained?\r\n\r\nOf all the wondrous devices and dexterities, the sleights of hand and\r\ncountless subtleties, to which the veteran whaleman is so often forced,\r\nnone exceed that fine manœuvre with the lance called pitchpoling. Small\r\nsword, or broad sword, in all its exercises boasts nothing like it. It\r\nis only indispensable with an inveterate running whale; its grand fact\r\nand feature is the wonderful distance to which the long lance is\r\naccurately darted from a violently rocking, jerking boat, under extreme\r\nheadway. Steel and wood included, the entire spear is some ten or\r\ntwelve feet in length; the staff is much slighter than that of the\r\nharpoon, and also of a lighter material—pine. It is furnished with a\r\nsmall rope called a warp, of considerable length, by which it can be\r\nhauled back to the hand after darting.\r\n\r\nBut before going further, it is important to mention here, that though\r\nthe harpoon may be pitchpoled in the same way with the lance, yet it is\r\nseldom done; and when done, is still less frequently successful, on\r\naccount of the greater weight and inferior length of the harpoon as\r\ncompared with the lance, which in effect become serious drawbacks. As a\r\ngeneral thing, therefore, you must first get fast to a whale, before\r\nany pitchpoling comes into play.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 22"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84AAHSNQ4BFJ0ASPHB53","peer_label":"76","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84AAHSNQ4BFJ0ASPHB53","peer_label":"76","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":"01KFNR89PCHY0K22GDWR80KQA8","peer_label":"Chunk 23","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR89NQSHHBVW0ZB8Y74CT6","peer_label":"Chunk 21","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:05.150Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:17.639Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}