{"id":"01KG8AP7453H6P355M62NQPXKM","cid":"bafkreihiodgfmvpy7xpysp3vc6iyhnk2dsszg4zcjxmgqrt2p5dvmvhpzu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9620,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:30.768Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":9579,"text":"superiority in the English whalemen does really consist, it would be\r\nhard to say, seeing that the Yankees in one day, collectively, kill\r\nmore whales than all the English, collectively, in ten years. But this\r\nis a harmless little foible in the English whale-hunters, which the\r\nNantucketer does not take much to heart; probably, because he knows\r\nthat he has a few foibles himself.\r\n\r\nSo, then, we see that of all ships separately sailing the sea, the\r\nwhalers have most reason to be sociable—and they are so. Whereas, some\r\nmerchant ships crossing each other’s wake in the mid-Atlantic, will\r\noftentimes pass on without so much as a single word of recognition,\r\nmutually cutting each other on the high seas, like a brace of dandies\r\nin Broadway; and all the time indulging, perhaps, in finical criticism\r\nupon each other’s rig. As for Men-of-War, when they chance to meet at\r\nsea, they first go through such a string of silly bowings and\r\nscrapings, such a ducking of ensigns, that there does not seem to be\r\nmuch right-down hearty good-will and brotherly love about it at all. As\r\ntouching Slave-ships meeting, why, they are in such a prodigious hurry,\r\nthey run away from each other as soon as possible. And as for Pirates,\r\nwhen they chance to cross each other’s cross-bones, the first hail\r\nis—“How many skulls?”—the same way that whalers hail—“How many\r\nbarrels?” And that question once answered, pirates straightway steer\r\napart, for they are infernal villains on both sides, and don’t like to\r\nsee overmuch of each other’s villanous likenesses.\r\n\r\nBut look at the godly, honest, unostentatious, hospitable, sociable,\r\nfree-and-easy whaler! What does the whaler do when she meets another\r\nwhaler in any sort of decent weather? She has a “_Gam_,” a thing so\r\nutterly unknown to all other ships that they never heard of the name\r\neven; and if by chance they should hear of it, they only grin at it,\r\nand repeat gamesome stuff about “spouters” and “blubber-boilers,” and\r\nsuch like pretty exclamations. Why it is that all Merchant-seamen, and\r\nalso all Pirates and Man-of-War’s men, and Slave-ship sailors, cherish\r\nsuch a scornful feeling towards Whale-ships; this is a question it\r\nwould be hard to answer. Because, in the case of pirates, say, I should\r\nlike to know whether that profession of theirs has any peculiar glory\r\nabout it. It sometimes ends in uncommon elevation, indeed; but only at\r\nthe gallows. And besides, when a man is elevated in that odd fashion,\r\nhe has no proper foundation for his superior altitude. Hence, I\r\nconclude, that in boasting himself to be high lifted above a whaleman,\r\nin that assertion the pirate has no solid basis to stand on.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8ANJ16TPKHY71JBK84S4FA","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AP745GDQ7861N4KSEFCVQ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:35.365Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:47.158Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}