{"id":"01KFNR89SBEW3BGN5NAZ53Q1SV","cid":"bafkreiblndxycvip5vom7oye5harsskxzwyz6t3dkluroqynylprr7edae","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11019,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.718Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":10979,"text":"of the full awfulness of the sea which aboriginally belongs to it.\r\n\r\nThe first boat we read of, floated on an ocean, that with Portuguese\r\nvengeance had whelmed a whole world without leaving so much as a widow.\r\nThat same ocean rolls now; that same ocean destroyed the wrecked ships\r\nof last year. Yea, foolish mortals, Noah’s flood is not yet subsided;\r\ntwo thirds of the fair world it yet covers.\r\n\r\nWherein differ the sea and the land, that a miracle upon one is not a\r\nmiracle upon the other? Preternatural terrors rested upon the Hebrews,\r\nwhen under the feet of Korah and his company the live ground opened and\r\nswallowed them up for ever; yet not a modern sun ever sets, but in\r\nprecisely the same manner the live sea swallows up ships and crews.\r\n\r\nBut not only is the sea such a foe to man who is an alien to it, but it\r\nis also a fiend to its own off-spring; worse than the Persian host who\r\nmurdered his own guests; sparing not the creatures which itself hath\r\nspawned. Like a savage tigress that tossing in the jungle overlays her\r\nown cubs, so the sea dashes even the mightiest whales against the\r\nrocks, and leaves them there side by side with the split wrecks of\r\nships. No mercy, no power but its own controls it. Panting and snorting\r\nlike a mad battle steed that has lost its rider, the masterless ocean\r\noverruns the globe.\r\n\r\nConsider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures\r\nglide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously\r\nhidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish\r\nbrilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the\r\ndainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once\r\nmore, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey\r\nupon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began.\r\n\r\nConsider all this; and then turn to this green, gentle, and most docile\r\nearth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a\r\nstrange analogy to something in yourself? For as this appalling ocean\r\nsurrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one\r\ninsular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the\r\nhorrors of the half known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that\r\nisle, thou canst never return!\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR849QWYF79X5WZM19CPPA","peer_label":"58","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR849QWYF79X5WZM19CPPA","peer_label":"58","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":"01KFNR88A5RKQAZN5HNEH8CN33","peer_label":"Chunk 0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:05.564Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:18.908Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}