{"id":"01KJNXJQW674BP3D1JJSWQ8AAX","cid":"bafkreic2licgj45ns5sos7ikad5wjdlwl52wnsthksgt5hyezcvvcdstm4","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":271575,"char_start":263597,"chunk_index":37,"chunk_total":178,"estimated_tokens":1995,"source_file_key":"moby-dick","text":"Quaker by descent. He was a long, earnest man, and though born on an\r\nicy coast, seemed well adapted to endure hot latitudes, his flesh being\r\nhard as twice-baked biscuit. Transported to the Indies, his live blood\r\nwould not spoil like bottled ale. He must have been born in some time\r\nof general drought and famine, or upon one of those fast days for which\r\nhis state is famous. Only some thirty arid summers had he seen; those\r\nsummers had dried up all his physical superfluousness. But this, his\r\nthinness, so to speak, seemed no more the token of wasting anxieties\r\nand cares, than it seemed the indication of any bodily blight. It was\r\nmerely the condensation of the man. He was by no means ill-looking;\r\nquite the contrary. His pure tight skin was an excellent fit; and\r\nclosely wrapped up in it, and embalmed with inner health and strength,\r\nlike a revivified Egyptian, this Starbuck seemed prepared to endure for\r\nlong ages to come, and to endure always, as now; for be it Polar snow\r\nor torrid sun, like a patent chronometer, his interior vitality was\r\nwarranted to do well in all climates. Looking into his eyes, you seemed\r\nto see there the yet lingering images of those thousand-fold perils he\r\nhad calmly confronted through life. A staid, steadfast man, whose life\r\nfor the most part was a telling pantomime of action, and not a tame\r\nchapter of sounds. Yet, for all his hardy sobriety and fortitude, there\r\nwere certain qualities in him which at times affected, and in some\r\ncases seemed well nigh to overbalance all the rest. Uncommonly\r\nconscientious for a seaman, and endued with a deep natural reverence,\r\nthe wild watery loneliness of his life did therefore strongly incline\r\nhim to superstition; but to that sort of superstition, which in some\r\norganizations seems rather to spring, somehow, from intelligence than\r\nfrom ignorance. Outward portents and inward presentiments were his. And\r\nif at times these things bent the welded iron of his soul, much more\r\ndid his far-away domestic memories of his young Cape wife and child,\r\ntend to bend him still more from the original ruggedness of his nature,\r\nand open him still further to those latent influences which, in some\r\nhonest-hearted men, restrain the gush of dare-devil daring, so often\r\nevinced by others in the more perilous vicissitudes of the fishery. “I\r\nwill have no man in my boat,” said Starbuck, “who is not afraid of a\r\nwhale.” By this, he seemed to mean, not only that the most reliable and\r\nuseful courage was that which arises from the fair estimation of the\r\nencountered peril, but that an utterly fearless man is a far more\r\ndangerous comrade than a coward.\r\n\r\n“Aye, aye,” said Stubb, the second mate, “Starbuck, there, is as\r\ncareful a man as you’ll find anywhere in this fishery.” But we shall\r\nere long see what that word “careful” precisely means when used by a\r\nman like Stubb, or almost any other whale hunter.\r\n\r\nStarbuck was no crusader after perils; in him courage was not a\r\nsentiment; but a thing simply useful to him, and always at hand upon\r\nall mortally practical occasions. Besides, he thought, perhaps, that in\r\nthis business of whaling, courage was one of the great staple outfits\r\nof the ship, like her beef and her bread, and not to be foolishly\r\nwasted. Wherefore he had no fancy for lowering for whales after\r\nsun-down; nor for persisting in fighting a fish that too much persisted\r\nin fighting him. For, thought Starbuck, I am here in this critical\r\nocean to kill whales for my living, and not to be killed by them for\r\ntheirs; and that hundreds of men had been so killed Starbuck well knew.\r\nWhat doom was his own father’s? Where, in the bottomless deeps, could\r\nhe find the torn limbs of his brother?\r\n\r\nWith memories like these in him, and, moreover, given to a certain\r\nsuperstitiousness, as has been said; the courage of this Starbuck which\r\ncould, nevertheless, still flourish, must indeed have been extreme. But\r\nit was not in reasonable nature that a man so organized, and with such\r\nterrible experiences and remembrances as he had; it was not in nature\r\nthat these things should fail in latently engendering an element in\r\nhim, which, under suitable circumstances, would break out from its\r\nconfinement, and burn all his courage up. And brave as he might be, it\r\nwas that sort of bravery chiefly, visible in some intrepid men, which,\r\nwhile generally abiding firm in the conflict with seas, or winds, or\r\nwhales, or any of the ordinary irrational horrors of the world, yet\r\ncannot withstand those more terrific, because more spiritual terrors,\r\nwhich sometimes menace you from the concentrating brow of an enraged\r\nand mighty man.\r\n\r\nBut were the coming narrative to reveal in any instance, the complete\r\nabasement of poor Starbuck’s fortitude, scarce might I have the heart\r\nto write it; for it is a thing most sorrowful, nay shocking, to expose\r\nthe fall of valour in the soul. Men may seem detestable as joint\r\nstock-companies and nations; knaves, fools, and murderers there may be;\r\nmen may have mean and meagre faces; but man, in the ideal, is so noble\r\nand so sparkling, such a grand and glowing creature, that over any\r\nignominious blemish in him all his fellows should run to throw their\r\ncostliest robes. That immaculate manliness we feel within ourselves, so\r\nfar within us, that it remains intact though all the outer character\r\nseem gone; bleeds with keenest anguish at the undraped spectacle of a\r\nvalor-ruined man. Nor can piety itself, at such a shameful sight,\r\ncompletely stifle her upbraidings against the permitting stars. But\r\nthis august dignity I treat of, is not the dignity of kings and robes,\r\nbut that abounding dignity which has no robed investiture. Thou shalt\r\nsee it shining in the arm that wields a pick or drives a spike; that\r\ndemocratic dignity which, on all hands, radiates without end from God;\r\nHimself! The great God absolute! The centre and circumference of all\r\ndemocracy! His omnipresence, our divine equality!\r\n\r\nIf, then, to meanest mariners, and renegades and castaways, I shall\r\nhereafter ascribe high qualities, though dark; weave round them tragic\r\ngraces; if even the most mournful, perchance the most abased, among\r\nthem all, shall at times lift himself to the exalted mounts; if I shall\r\ntouch that workman’s arm with some ethereal light; if I shall spread a\r\nrainbow over his disastrous set of sun; then against all mortal critics\r\nbear me out in it, thou just Spirit of Equality, which hast spread one\r\nroyal mantle of humanity over all my kind! Bear me out in it, thou\r\ngreat democratic God! who didst not refuse to the swart convict,\r\nBunyan, the pale, poetic pearl; Thou who didst clothe with doubly\r\nhammered leaves of finest gold, the stumped and paupered arm of old\r\nCervantes; Thou who didst pick up Andrew Jackson from the pebbles; who\r\ndidst hurl him upon a war-horse; who didst thunder him higher than a\r\nthrone! Thou who, in all Thy mighty, earthly marchings, ever cullest\r\nThy selectest champions from the kingly commons; bear me out in it, O\r\nGod!\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 27. Knights and Squires.\r\n\r\nStubb was the second mate. He was a native of Cape Cod; and hence,\r\naccording to local usage, was called a Cape-Cod-man. A happy-go-lucky;\r\nneither craven nor valiant; taking perils as they came with an\r\nindifferent air; and while engaged in the most imminent crisis of the\r\nchase, toiling away, calm and collected as a journeyman joiner engaged\r\nfor the year. Good-humored, easy, and careless, he presided over his\r\nwhale-boat as if the most deadly encounter were but a dinner, and his\r\ncrew all invited guests. He was as particular about the comfortable\r\narrangement of his part of the boat, as an old stage-driver is about\r\nthe snugness of his box. When close to the whale, in the very\r\ndeath-lock of the fight, he handled his unpitying lance coolly and\r\noff-handedly, as a whistling tinker his hammer. He would hum over his\r\nold rigadig tunes while flank and flank with the most exasperated\r\nmonster."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJNXEDHZCC8DR4EPSQD0QP4P","peer_label":"moby-dick","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJNXECF9R1EZKS5Z7J8A8ZSB","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJNXKVYKWFDKYWNFAY5N9KE5","peer_label":"starbuck","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXKV7VCG1M1V2KKXZJD4A9","peer_label":"stubb","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM6CV5BE5PG01N0MSHZ9Z","peer_label":"lance","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"weapon","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM3ADY2Z9XRVY132JC611","peer_label":"whale-boat","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"vessel","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMT2228SYYAB610RDQZX7","peer_label":"whale","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"animal","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMJDN6SF456R1PEQHH04J","peer_label":"whaling business","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"industry","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMJE5YV26NG3JV4BM588Z","peer_label":"god moby dick","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMD176GQ175RBPAPDPD47","peer_label":"starbucks wife","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMK8H1NY0DKH888SGFDDT","peer_label":"starbucks father","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMTFW9E6GYPK4J1SW9NA3","peer_label":"starbucks brother","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMT9W49WQGB4D2542C1V6","peer_label":"starbucks child","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMV3H4DGHE0044BMWP2H8","peer_label":"spiritual terrors","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMD0R73X3P7505P98Z2M4","peer_label":"cape cod","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"place","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMWF8M2JG6VHKDNVXNG75","peer_label":"chapter 27 moby dick","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN91Z2SKSW5S540TG0S3N","peer_label":"deep natural reverence","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMX563Y0M1GDXZ2FQG5S8","peer_label":"all climates","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMY1XFQKMDTBCD58HRGC0","peer_label":"hot latitudes","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMJF321V0CM7AKBHWT9NM","peer_label":"bunyan","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMT8XZ54WAFF8ATMNTKD4","peer_label":"cervantes","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN93FYHEHZ8T81XCC2QR8","peer_label":"thousand-fold perils","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMT9X2D49Y0YSYMCPDCT5","peer_label":"andrew jackson","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMWWKWH3X6GVXC3VN5410","peer_label":"quaker","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXQ2BS666D2YX49BNSWCFT","peer_label":"superstition","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXQ2C736C4Z8CEQ558A50D","peer_label":"enraged and mighty man","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXZ5SC588DAK8Y89KSSS5F","peer_label":"knights and squires","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.462Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T00:01:15.654Z","ts":"2026-03-02T00:08:20.667Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}