{"id":"01KFNR8B7VECAXT2C5Q93DERW5","cid":"bafkreic76oxts4eq42rppk7ldge3raes4tridjg4yomm3nhxhxfs6seoui","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":16415,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:06.393Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 0","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":16355,"text":"CHAPTER 96. The Try-Works.\r\n\r\nBesides her hoisted boats, an American whaler is outwardly\r\ndistinguished by her try-works. She presents the curious anomaly of the\r\nmost solid masonry joining with oak and hemp in constituting the\r\ncompleted ship. It is as if from the open field a brick-kiln were\r\ntransported to her planks.\r\n\r\nThe try-works are planted between the foremast and mainmast, the most\r\nroomy part of the deck. The timbers beneath are of a peculiar strength,\r\nfitted to sustain the weight of an almost solid mass of brick and\r\nmortar, some ten feet by eight square, and five in height. The\r\nfoundation does not penetrate the deck, but the masonry is firmly\r\nsecured to the surface by ponderous knees of iron bracing it on all\r\nsides, and screwing it down to the timbers. On the flanks it is cased\r\nwith wood, and at top completely covered by a large, sloping, battened\r\nhatchway. Removing this hatch we expose the great try-pots, two in\r\nnumber, and each of several barrels’ capacity. When not in use, they\r\nare kept remarkably clean. Sometimes they are polished with soapstone\r\nand sand, till they shine within like silver punch-bowls. During the\r\nnight-watches some cynical old sailors will crawl into them and coil\r\nthemselves away there for a nap. While employed in polishing them—one\r\nman in each pot, side by side—many confidential communications are\r\ncarried on, over the iron lips. It is a place also for profound\r\nmathematical meditation. It was in the left hand try-pot of the Pequod,\r\nwith the soapstone diligently circling round me, that I was first\r\nindirectly struck by the remarkable fact, that in geometry all bodies\r\ngliding along the cycloid, my soapstone for example, will descend from\r\nany point in precisely the same time.\r\n\r\nRemoving the fire-board from the front of the try-works, the bare\r\nmasonry of that side is exposed, penetrated by the two iron mouths of\r\nthe furnaces, directly underneath the pots. These mouths are fitted\r\nwith heavy doors of iron. The intense heat of the fire is prevented\r\nfrom communicating itself to the deck, by means of a shallow reservoir\r\nextending under the entire inclosed surface of the works. By a tunnel\r\ninserted at the rear, this reservoir is kept replenished with water as\r\nfast as it evaporates. There are no external chimneys; they open direct\r\nfrom the rear wall. And here let us go back for a moment.\r\n\r\nIt was about nine o’clock at night that the Pequod’s try-works were\r\nfirst started on this present voyage. It belonged to Stubb to oversee\r\nthe business.\r\n\r\n“All ready there? Off hatch, then, and start her. You cook, fire the\r\nworks.” This was an easy thing, for the carpenter had been thrusting\r\nhis shavings into the furnace throughout the passage. Here be it said\r\nthat in a whaling voyage the first fire in the try-works has to be fed\r\nfor a time with wood. After that no wood is used, except as a means of\r\nquick ignition to the staple fuel. In a word, after being tried out,\r\nthe crisp, shrivelled blubber, now called scraps or fritters, still\r\ncontains considerable of its unctuous properties. These fritters feed\r\nthe flames. Like a plethoric burning martyr, or a self-consuming\r\nmisanthrope, once ignited, the whale supplies his own fuel and burns by\r\nhis own body. Would that he consumed his own smoke! for his smoke is\r\nhorrible to inhale, and inhale it you must, and not only that, but you\r\nmust live in it for the time. It has an unspeakable, wild, Hindoo odor\r\nabout it, such as may lurk in the vicinity of funereal pyres. It smells\r\nlike the left wing of the day of judgment; it is an argument for the\r\npit.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 0"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84CFR03P02A3NA9CBWP5","peer_label":"The Try-Works","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84CFR03P02A3NA9CBWP5","peer_label":"The Try-Works","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":"01KFNR8B9SYVW7D6PFWS7HMAKA","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:06.783Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:17.697Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}