{"id":"01KFNR89TAD0THZS2Y0QGNABC4","cid":"bafkreihze4jmeft4a3thelclgfsteic3j33iii7zzpptyyc5lrtpu5giem","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11171,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.720Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 0","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":11118,"text":"CHAPTER 60. The Line.\r\n\r\nWith reference to the whaling scene shortly to be described, as well as\r\nfor the better understanding of all similar scenes elsewhere presented,\r\nI have here to speak of the magical, sometimes horrible whale-line.\r\n\r\nThe line originally used in the fishery was of the best hemp, slightly\r\nvapored with tar, not impregnated with it, as in the case of ordinary\r\nropes; for while tar, as ordinarily used, makes the hemp more pliable\r\nto the rope-maker, and also renders the rope itself more convenient to\r\nthe sailor for common ship use; yet, not only would the ordinary\r\nquantity too much stiffen the whale-line for the close coiling to which\r\nit must be subjected; but as most seamen are beginning to learn, tar in\r\ngeneral by no means adds to the rope’s durability or strength, however\r\nmuch it may give it compactness and gloss.\r\n\r\nOf late years the Manilla rope has in the American fishery almost\r\nentirely superseded hemp as a material for whale-lines; for, though not\r\nso durable as hemp, it is stronger, and far more soft and elastic; and\r\nI will add (since there is an æsthetics in all things), is much more\r\nhandsome and becoming to the boat, than hemp. Hemp is a dusky, dark\r\nfellow, a sort of Indian; but Manilla is as a golden-haired Circassian\r\nto behold.\r\n\r\nThe whale-line is only two-thirds of an inch in thickness. At first\r\nsight, you would not think it so strong as it really is. By experiment\r\nits one and fifty yarns will each suspend a weight of one hundred and\r\ntwenty pounds; so that the whole rope will bear a strain nearly equal\r\nto three tons. In length, the common sperm whale-line measures\r\nsomething over two hundred fathoms. Towards the stern of the boat it is\r\nspirally coiled away in the tub, not like the worm-pipe of a still\r\nthough, but so as to form one round, cheese-shaped mass of densely\r\nbedded “sheaves,” or layers of concentric spiralizations, without any\r\nhollow but the “heart,” or minute vertical tube formed at the axis of\r\nthe cheese. As the least tangle or kink in the coiling would, in\r\nrunning out, infallibly take somebody’s arm, leg, or entire body off,\r\nthe utmost precaution is used in stowing the line in its tub. Some\r\nharpooneers will consume almost an entire morning in this business,\r\ncarrying the line high aloft and then reeving it downwards through a\r\nblock towards the tub, so as in the act of coiling to free it from all\r\npossible wrinkles and twists.\r\n\r\nIn the English boats two tubs are used instead of one; the same line\r\nbeing continuously coiled in both tubs. There is some advantage in\r\nthis; because these twin-tubs being so small they fit more readily into\r\nthe boat, and do not strain it so much; whereas, the American tub,\r\nnearly three feet in diameter and of proportionate depth, makes a\r\nrather bulky freight for a craft whose planks are but one half-inch in\r\nthickness; for the bottom of the whale-boat is like critical ice, which\r\nwill bear up a considerable distributed weight, but not very much of a\r\nconcentrated one. When the painted canvas cover is clapped on the\r\nAmerican line-tub, the boat looks as if it were pulling off with a\r\nprodigious great wedding-cake to present to the whales.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 0"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84GKB4MQ2YHQR7JV12KA","peer_label":"60","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84GKB4MQ2YHQR7JV12KA","peer_label":"60","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":"01KFNR89XH74FYVP7AFG5AC1D6","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:05.351Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:16.518Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}