{"id":"01KG8ANJ173GKHF8ABPRVYYKWY","cid":"bafkreieyiq7c52fo3sy2ent3luyzkebglj65oytwzhqbyic4blk7z554rm","type":"subsection","properties":{"description":"# First:\n## Overview\nThis subsection, titled \"First:\", is an excerpt from a larger work, likely a book or manuscript. It is part of Chapter 45, \"The Affidavit,\" and was extracted from the file `moby_dick.txt` as part of the \"Melville Complete Works\" collection. The text details personal accounts of whale hunts, specifically focusing on instances where whales escaped after being harpooned, only to be recaptured later.\n\n## Context\nThis text is situated within Chapter 45, \"The Affidavit.\", of a larger work. It follows an \"Introduction\" and precedes a section titled \"Secondly:\". The content suggests it is part of a narrative that discusses whaling practices and the experiences of whalers. The file `moby_dick.txt` indicates that this excerpt is from Herman Melville's famous novel, *Moby Dick*.\n\n## Contents\nThe \"First:\" subsection recounts three specific instances known to the narrator where a whale, after being struck by a harpoon and escaping, was later successfully hunted and killed. In one notable case, three years elapsed between the initial harpooning and the final capture. The narrator emphasizes his personal knowledge of these events, even recalling a distinctive mole under a whale's eye that helped him identify it across the three-year interval. He also mentions hearing of other similar occurrences from reliable sources, underscoring the challenges and unpredictability of whaling.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:51:01.021Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"First:","end_line":8235,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:12.946Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"First:","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":8208,"text":"First: I have personally known three instances where a whale, after\r\nreceiving a harpoon, has effected a complete escape; and, after an\r\ninterval (in one instance of three years), has been again struck by the\r\nsame hand, and slain; when the two irons, both marked by the same\r\nprivate cypher, have been taken from the body. In the instance where\r\nthree years intervened between the flinging of the two harpoons; and I\r\nthink it may have been something more than that; the man who darted\r\nthem happening, in the interval, to go in a trading ship on a voyage to\r\nAfrica, went ashore there, joined a discovery party, and penetrated far\r\ninto the interior, where he travelled for a period of nearly two years,\r\noften endangered by serpents, savages, tigers, poisonous miasmas, with\r\nall the other common perils incident to wandering in the heart of\r\nunknown regions. Meanwhile, the whale he had struck must also have been\r\non its travels; no doubt it had thrice circumnavigated the globe,\r\nbrushing with its flanks all the coasts of Africa; but to no purpose.\r\nThis man and this whale again came together, and the one vanquished the\r\nother. I say I, myself, have known three instances similar to this;\r\nthat is in two of them I saw the whales struck; and, upon the second\r\nattack, saw the two irons with the respective marks cut in them,\r\nafterwards taken from the dead fish. In the three-year instance, it so\r\nfell out that I was in the boat both times, first and last, and the\r\nlast time distinctly recognised a peculiar sort of huge mole under the\r\nwhale’s eye, which I had observed there three years previous. I say\r\nthree years, but I am pretty sure it was more than that. Here are three\r\ninstances, then, which I personally know the truth of; but I have heard\r\nof many other instances from persons whose veracity in the matter there\r\nis no good ground to impeach.\r\n\r","title":"First:"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AM7BAM0HY3MVSS1XZFHJB","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8ANJ17P7H15KY06XDY7KZK","peer_type":"intro","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8ANJ17G6CF8GXM74GXMHM6","peer_type":"subsection","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:13.767Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:51:01.258Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}