{"id":"01KG8AKWJJJM653CQ5CXZ1NJ1A","cid":"bafkreide7uc2spgapt667cjnv5ml3pch6ztppr235h7fu6uq6q7cpjc4lq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3851,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":3789,"text":"But it is always thus. If you read of St. Peter’s, they say, and then\r\ngo and visit it, ten to one, you account it a dwarf compared to your\r\nhigh-raised ideal. And, doubtless, Jonah himself must have been\r\ndisappointed when he looked up to the domed midriff surmounting the\r\nwhale’s belly, and surveyed the ribbed pillars around him. A pretty\r\nlarge belly, to be sure, thought he, but not so big as it might have\r\nbeen.\r\n\r\nOn the next day, the fog lifted; and by noon, we found ourselves\r\nsailing through fleets of fishermen at anchor. They were very small\r\ncraft; and when I beheld them, I perceived the force of that sailor\r\nsaying, intended to illustrate restricted quarters, or being _on the\r\nlimits. It is like a fisherman’s walk,_ say they, _three steps and\r\noverboard._\r\n\r\nLying right in the track of the multitudinous ships crossing the ocean\r\nbetween England and America, these little vessels are sometimes run\r\ndown, and obliterated from the face of the waters; the cry of the\r\nsailors ceasing with the last whirl of the whirlpool that closes over\r\ntheir craft. Their sad fate is frequently the result of their own\r\nremissness in keeping a good look-out by day, and not having their\r\nlamps trimmed, like the wise virgins, by night.\r\n\r\nAs I shall not make mention of the Grand Banks on our homeward-bound\r\npassage, I may as well here relate, that on our return, we approached\r\nthem in the night; and by way of making sure of our whereabouts, the\r\ndeep-sea-lead was heaved. The line attached is generally upward of\r\nthree hundred fathoms in length; and the lead itself, weighing some\r\nforty or fifty pounds, has a hole in the lower end, in which, previous\r\nto sounding, some tallow is thrust, that it may bring up the soil at\r\nthe bottom, for the captain to inspect. This is called “arming” the\r\nlead.\r\n\r\nWe “hove” our deep-sea-line by night, and the operation was very\r\ninteresting, at least to me. In the first place, the vessel’s heading\r\nwas stopt; then, coiled away in a tub, like a whale-rope, the line was\r\nplaced toward the after part of the quarter-deck; and one of the\r\nsailors carried the lead outside of the ship, away along to the end of\r\nthe jib-boom, and at the word of command, far ahead and overboard it\r\nwent, with a plunge; scraping by the side, till it came to the stern,\r\nwhen the line ran out of the tub like light.\r\n\r\nWhen we came to haul _it_ up, I was astonished at the force necessary\r\nto perform the work. The whole watch pulled at the line, which was rove\r\nthrough a block in the mizzen-rigging, as if we were hauling up a fat\r\nporpoise. When the lead came in sight, I was all eagerness to examine\r\nthe tallow, and get a peep at a specimen of the bottom of the sea; but\r\nthe sailors did not seem to be much interested by it, calling me a fool\r\nfor wanting to preserve a few grains of the sand.\r\n\r\nI had almost forgotten to make mention of the Gulf Stream, in which we\r\nfound ourselves previous to crossing the Banks. The fact of our being\r\nin it was proved by the captain in person, who superintended the\r\ndrawing of a bucket of salt water, in which he dipped his thermometer.\r\nIn the absence of the Gulf-weed, this is the general test; for the\r\ntemperature of this current is eight degrees higher than that of the\r\nocean, and the temperature of the ocean is twenty degrees higher than\r\nthat of the Grand Banks. And it is to this remarkable difference of\r\ntemperature, for which there can be no equilibrium, that many seamen\r\nimpute the fogs on the coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland; but why\r\nthere should always be such ugly weather in the Gulf, is something that\r\nI do not know has ever been accounted for.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQSBS1VE96043NTJQRCA","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKWJD0B6ZM5R6250B5J72","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKWJJ0AT7NR6SSCSGVNQD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.026Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.792Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}