{"id":"01KG8AP5XYZWYN8JAXSEWMQD41","cid":"bafkreif2w3pbw7xkqybfljdw76l2cqlx5huuizmwl4gyevrozakyrc46xe","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":13962,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:30.771Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":13914,"text":"feet, and standing in a diagonal row, simultaneously pointed their\r\nbarbs; and darted over the head of the German harpooneer, their three\r\nNantucket irons entered the whale. Blinding vapors of foam and\r\nwhite-fire! The three boats, in the first fury of the whale’s headlong\r\nrush, bumped the German’s aside with such force, that both Derick and\r\nhis baffled harpooneer were spilled out, and sailed over by the three\r\nflying keels.\r\n\r\n“Don’t be afraid, my butter-boxes,” cried Stubb, casting a passing\r\nglance upon them as he shot by; “ye’ll be picked up presently—all\r\nright—I saw some sharks astern—St. Bernard’s dogs, you know—relieve\r\ndistressed travellers. Hurrah! this is the way to sail now. Every keel\r\na sunbeam! Hurrah!—Here we go like three tin kettles at the tail of a\r\nmad cougar! This puts me in mind of fastening to an elephant in a\r\ntilbury on a plain—makes the wheel-spokes fly, boys, when you fasten to\r\nhim that way; and there’s danger of being pitched out too, when you\r\nstrike a hill. Hurrah! this is the way a fellow feels when he’s going\r\nto Davy Jones—all a rush down an endless inclined plane! Hurrah! this\r\nwhale carries the everlasting mail!”\r\n\r\nBut the monster’s run was a brief one. Giving a sudden gasp, he\r\ntumultuously sounded. With a grating rush, the three lines flew round\r\nthe loggerheads with such a force as to gouge deep grooves in them;\r\nwhile so fearful were the harpooneers that this rapid sounding would\r\nsoon exhaust the lines, that using all their dexterous might, they\r\ncaught repeated smoking turns with the rope to hold on; till at\r\nlast—owing to the perpendicular strain from the lead-lined chocks of\r\nthe boats, whence the three ropes went straight down into the blue—the\r\ngunwales of the bows were almost even with the water, while the three\r\nsterns tilted high in the air. And the whale soon ceasing to sound, for\r\nsome time they remained in that attitude, fearful of expending more\r\nline, though the position was a little ticklish. But though boats have\r\nbeen taken down and lost in this way, yet it is this “holding on,” as\r\nit is called; this hooking up by the sharp barbs of his live flesh from\r\nthe back; this it is that often torments the Leviathan into soon rising\r\nagain to meet the sharp lance of his foes. Yet not to speak of the\r\nperil of the thing, it is to be doubted whether this course is always\r\nthe best; for it is but reasonable to presume, that the longer the\r\nstricken whale stays under water, the more he is exhausted. Because,\r\nowing to the enormous surface of him—in a full grown sperm whale\r\nsomething less than 2000 square feet—the pressure of the water is\r\nimmense. We all know what an astonishing atmospheric weight we\r\nourselves stand up under; even here, above-ground, in the air; how\r\nvast, then, the burden of a whale, bearing on his back a column of two\r\nhundred fathoms of ocean! It must at least equal the weight of fifty\r\natmospheres. One whaleman has estimated it at the weight of twenty\r\nline-of-battle ships, with all their guns, and stores, and men on\r\nboard.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AM941CJW7PJZQ3TCBVZ3M","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AP5XZ6Y179T5GAT000Y7Q","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AP5XY5WXY0YS4VV2ZGW9D","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:34.142Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:51.380Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}