{"id":"01KG8AMBF5XP2FY8KHFM6ZSH91","cid":"bafkreig7yljdy6cuwzn6ktojxyo23r4baygrek6piz3mccdu7krabgsrwq","type":"section","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER 120. The Deck Towards the End of the First Night Watch.\n\n## Overview\nThis entity is a section of text from the novel \"Moby-Dick; or, The Whale.\" Titled \"CHAPTER 120. The Deck Towards the End of the First Night Watch.\", it spans lines 19442 to 19468 of the source file.\n\n## Context\nThis section is part of the novel \"Moby-Dick; or, The Whale,\" which was extracted from the file \"[moby_dick.txt](arke:01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6)\" and is included in the \"[Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW)\" collection. It follows \"[CHAPTER 119. The Candles.](arke:01KG8AMBF5GKHB25HMZ0GD3C3B)\" and precedes \"[CHAPTER 121. Midnight.—The Forecastle Bulwarks.](arke:01KG8AMBF553SA7FE3XN6YK2AW)\". The chapter it belongs to is \"[BOOK III. (_Duodecimo_), CHAPTER III. (_Mealy-mouthed Porpoise_)](arke:01KG8AK83BA227D6NY5BT040FM)\".\n\n## Contents\nThis section depicts a dialogue between Ahab and Starbuck on the deck of the Pequod towards the end of the first night watch. Starbuck reports that the main-top-sail yard needs to be sent down due to the band working loose and the lee lift being half-stranded. Ahab, however, orders that nothing be struck, but everything lashed, expressing his determination to sail through the rising wind. He uses metaphorical language, referring to his \"brain-truck\" and the \"cloud-scud,\" and likens the storm's noise to a \"noisy malady\" requiring medicine. The dialogue highlights Ahab's defiant and almost reckless attitude towards the storm.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:51:14.502Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER 120. The Deck Towards the End of the First Night Watch.","end_line":19468,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.272Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER 120. The Deck Towards the End of the First Night Watch.","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":19442,"text":"CHAPTER 120. The Deck Towards the End of the First Night Watch.\r\n\r\n_Ahab standing by the helm. Starbuck approaching him._\r\n\r\n“We must send down the main-top-sail yard, sir. The band is working\r\nloose and the lee lift is half-stranded. Shall I strike it, sir?”\r\n\r\n“Strike nothing; lash it. If I had sky-sail poles, I’d sway them up\r\nnow.”\r\n\r\n“Sir!—in God’s name!—sir?”\r\n\r\n“Well.”\r\n\r\n“The anchors are working, sir. Shall I get them inboard?”\r\n\r\n“Strike nothing, and stir nothing, but lash everything. The wind rises,\r\nbut it has not got up to my table-lands yet. Quick, and see to it.—By\r\nmasts and keels! he takes me for the hunch-backed skipper of some\r\ncoasting smack. Send down my main-top-sail yard! Ho, gluepots! Loftiest\r\ntrucks were made for wildest winds, and this brain-truck of mine now\r\nsails amid the cloud-scud. Shall I strike that? Oh, none but cowards\r\nsend down their brain-trucks in tempest time. What a hooroosh aloft\r\nthere! I would e’en take it for sublime, did I not know that the colic\r\nis a noisy malady. Oh, take medicine, take medicine!”\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER 120. The Deck Towards the End of the First Night Watch."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AK83BA227D6NY5BT040FM","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMBF5GKHB25HMZ0GD3C3B","peer_type":"section","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMBF553SA7FE3XN6YK2AW","peer_type":"section","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:34.277Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:51:14.781Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}