{"id":"01KG8AMBF3JSM20N6JCQQ47GNP","cid":"bafkreicqu46gi7no6dpleqpzv6vjd6jln3k2bi33fyp6jbttwffgwbkuoi","type":"section","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER 117. The Whale Watch.\n## Overview\nThis is a section titled \"CHAPTER 117. The Whale Watch.\" from the novel *Moby-Dick; or, The Whale*, spanning lines 19030 to 19088 of the source file, [moby_dick.txt](arke:01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6). It is of the type \"section\".\n\n## Context\nThis section is part of [BOOK III. (_Duodecimo_), CHAPTER III. (_Mealy-mouthed Porpoise_)](arke:01KG8AK83BA227D6NY5BT040FM) from the novel *Moby-Dick; or, The Whale*, and is included in the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It is preceded by [CHAPTER 116. The Dying Whale.](arke:01KG8AMBF3C6FHG6W1GXHFDFMC) and followed by [CHAPTER 118. The Quadrant.](arke:01KG8AMBF5WRFGRY9PW889V5NY).\n\n## Contents\nThis section depicts a night scene following the slaying of four whales. It focuses on Ahab and the Parsee, who are awake in Ahab's boat beside one of the slain whales. The Parsee delivers a prophecy to Ahab, stating that neither hearse nor coffin can be Ahab's at sea until two hearses are seen, one not made by mortal hands and the other made of American wood. The Parsee also foretells that he will go before Ahab as his pilot, and that \"hemp only can kill thee,\" which Ahab interprets to mean he is immortal on land and sea. The section concludes with the coming of dawn and the crew's return to the ship with the dead whale.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:51:16.337Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER 117. The Whale Watch.","end_line":19088,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.272Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER 117. The Whale Watch.","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":19030,"text":"CHAPTER 117. The Whale Watch.\r\n\r\nThe four whales slain that evening had died wide apart; one, far to\r\nwindward; one, less distant, to leeward; one ahead; one astern. These\r\nlast three were brought alongside ere nightfall; but the windward one\r\ncould not be reached till morning; and the boat that had killed it lay\r\nby its side all night; and that boat was Ahab’s.\r\n\r\nThe waif-pole was thrust upright into the dead whale’s spout-hole; and\r\nthe lantern hanging from its top, cast a troubled flickering glare upon\r\nthe black, glossy back, and far out upon the midnight waves, which\r\ngently chafed the whale’s broad flank, like soft surf upon a beach.\r\n\r\nAhab and all his boat’s crew seemed asleep but the Parsee; who\r\ncrouching in the bow, sat watching the sharks, that spectrally played\r\nround the whale, and tapped the light cedar planks with their tails. A\r\nsound like the moaning in squadrons over Asphaltites of unforgiven\r\nghosts of Gomorrah, ran shuddering through the air.\r\n\r\nStarted from his slumbers, Ahab, face to face, saw the Parsee; and\r\nhooped round by the gloom of the night they seemed the last men in a\r\nflooded world. “I have dreamed it again,” said he.\r\n\r\n“Of the hearses? Have I not said, old man, that neither hearse nor\r\ncoffin can be thine?”\r\n\r\n“And who are hearsed that die on the sea?”\r\n\r\n“But I said, old man, that ere thou couldst die on this voyage, two\r\nhearses must verily be seen by thee on the sea; the first not made by\r\nmortal hands; and the visible wood of the last one must be grown in\r\nAmerica.”\r\n\r\n“Aye, aye! a strange sight that, Parsee:—a hearse and its plumes\r\nfloating over the ocean with the waves for the pall-bearers. Ha! Such a\r\nsight we shall not soon see.”\r\n\r\n“Believe it or not, thou canst not die till it be seen, old man.”\r\n\r\n“And what was that saying about thyself?”\r\n\r\n“Though it come to the last, I shall still go before thee thy pilot.”\r\n\r\n“And when thou art so gone before—if that ever befall—then ere I can\r\nfollow, thou must still appear to me, to pilot me still?—Was it not so?\r\nWell, then, did I believe all ye say, oh my pilot! I have here two\r\npledges that I shall yet slay Moby Dick and survive it.”\r\n\r\n“Take another pledge, old man,” said the Parsee, as his eyes lighted up\r\nlike fire-flies in the gloom—“Hemp only can kill thee.”\r\n\r\n“The gallows, ye mean.—I am immortal then, on land and on sea,” cried\r\nAhab, with a laugh of derision;—“Immortal on land and on sea!”\r\n\r\nBoth were silent again, as one man. The grey dawn came on, and the\r\nslumbering crew arose from the boat’s bottom, and ere noon the dead\r\nwhale was brought to the ship.\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER 117. The Whale Watch."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AK83BA227D6NY5BT040FM","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMBF3C6FHG6W1GXHFDFMC","peer_type":"section","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMBF5WRFGRY9PW889V5NY","peer_type":"section","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:34.275Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:51:16.516Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}