- description
- # CHAPTER 126. The Life-Buoy.
## Overview
This entity is a section of the novel "Moby-Dick; or, The Whale," titled "CHAPTER 126. The Life-Buoy." It spans lines 19926 to 20065 of the source file.
## Context
This chapter is part of the novel "Moby-Dick; or, The Whale," which was extracted from the file "[moby_dick.txt](arke:01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6)". The novel is included in the "[Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW)" collection. This chapter follows "[CHAPTER 125. The Log and Line.](arke:01KG8AMC1GPC7C7G7V676VG20Y)" and precedes "[CHAPTER 127. The Deck.](arke:01KG8AMC195SH3592XGBVFS5YW)". It is also noted as being "in" the chapter "[BOOK III. (_Duodecimo_), CHAPTER III. (_Mealy-mouthed Porpoise_)](arke:01KG8AK83BA227D6NY5BT040FM)".
## Contents
This section details the events following a sailor's fall from the masthead and subsequent drowning. Despite the immediate drop of a life-buoy, the cask, having shrunk from the sun, fills with water and sinks, taking the sailor with it. The crew interprets this event, along with eerie cries heard the previous night, as a portent. The chapter then describes the carpenter's task of converting Queequeg's coffin into a new life-buoy, a task he undertakes with a mixture of resignation and dark humor, reflecting on the paradoxical nature of life and death.
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- 2026-01-30T20:51:15.483Z
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- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- CHAPTER 126. The Life-Buoy.
- end_line
- 20065
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:29.272Z
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- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 19926
- text
- null
- title
- CHAPTER 126. The Life-Buoy.