{"id":"01KFNR89W0571FM70BBMSQ76SM","cid":"bafkreigr2rhri5y6ruuuc2s3nl75rwrdk3h2oldbkapghbxodscn2ruza4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":12455,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.734Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":12410,"text":"exclaimed—“That’s he! that’s he!—the long-togged scaramouch the\r\nTown-Ho’s company told us of!” Stubb here alluded to a strange story\r\ntold of the Jeroboam, and a certain man among her crew, some time\r\nprevious when the Pequod spoke the Town-Ho. According to this account\r\nand what was subsequently learned, it seemed that the scaramouch in\r\nquestion had gained a wonderful ascendency over almost everybody in the\r\nJeroboam. His story was this:\r\n\r\nHe had been originally nurtured among the crazy society of Neskyeuna\r\nShakers, where he had been a great prophet; in their cracked, secret\r\nmeetings having several times descended from heaven by the way of a\r\ntrap-door, announcing the speedy opening of the seventh vial, which he\r\ncarried in his vest-pocket; but, which, instead of containing\r\ngunpowder, was supposed to be charged with laudanum. A strange,\r\napostolic whim having seized him, he had left Neskyeuna for Nantucket,\r\nwhere, with that cunning peculiar to craziness, he assumed a steady,\r\ncommon-sense exterior, and offered himself as a green-hand candidate\r\nfor the Jeroboam’s whaling voyage. They engaged him; but straightway\r\nupon the ship’s getting out of sight of land, his insanity broke out in\r\na freshet. He announced himself as the archangel Gabriel, and commanded\r\nthe captain to jump overboard. He published his manifesto, whereby he\r\nset himself forth as the deliverer of the isles of the sea and\r\nvicar-general of all Oceanica. The unflinching earnestness with which\r\nhe declared these things;—the dark, daring play of his sleepless,\r\nexcited imagination, and all the preternatural terrors of real\r\ndelirium, united to invest this Gabriel in the minds of the majority of\r\nthe ignorant crew, with an atmosphere of sacredness. Moreover, they\r\nwere afraid of him. As such a man, however, was not of much practical\r\nuse in the ship, especially as he refused to work except when he\r\npleased, the incredulous captain would fain have been rid of him; but\r\napprised that that individual’s intention was to land him in the first\r\nconvenient port, the archangel forthwith opened all his seals and\r\nvials—devoting the ship and all hands to unconditional perdition, in\r\ncase this intention was carried out. So strongly did he work upon his\r\ndisciples among the crew, that at last in a body they went to the\r\ncaptain and told him if Gabriel was sent from the ship, not a man of\r\nthem would remain. He was therefore forced to relinquish his plan. Nor\r\nwould they permit Gabriel to be any way maltreated, say or do what he\r\nwould; so that it came to pass that Gabriel had the complete freedom of\r\nthe ship. The consequence of all this was, that the archangel cared\r\nlittle or nothing for the captain and mates; and since the epidemic had\r\nbroken out, he carried a higher hand than ever; declaring that the\r\nplague, as he called it, was at his sole command; nor should it be\r\nstayed but according to his good pleasure. The sailors, mostly poor\r\ndevils, cringed, and some of them fawned before him; in obedience to\r\nhis instructions, sometimes rendering him personal homage, as to a god.\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR849PPRB7Q4H6NXHN75A6","peer_label":"70","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR849PPRB7Q4H6NXHN75A6","peer_label":"70","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":"01KFNR89J62AXD51N1BBHZ1HJJ","peer_label":"Chunk 0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:05.463Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:20.048Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}