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- # Thirdly:
## Overview
This subsection, titled "Thirdly:", is part of Chapter 45 of "Moby Dick; or, The Whale." It is a textual segment extracted from the file `moby_dick.txt` and belongs to the larger collection "Melville Complete Works." The text recounts an anecdote involving a Commodore and a sperm whale.
## Context
This subsection is situated within [Chapter 45. The Affidavit.](arke:01KG8AM7BAM0HY3MVSS1XZFHJB), which is part of the larger work [Moby Dick; or, The Whale](arke:01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6). The entire work is organized under the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. This section follows the subsection titled [Secondly:](arke:01KG8ANJ17G6CF8GXM74GXMHM6) and precedes the next subsection.
## Contents
The text details an encounter between an American Commodore and a sperm whale approximately eighteen to twenty years prior to the narration. The Commodore, initially skeptical of the strength attributed to whales, had a ship damaged by a sperm whale after dismissing the claims of whaling captains. The anecdote serves to illustrate the formidable power of the sperm whale, drawing a parallel to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.
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- Thirdly:
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- Thirdly: Some eighteen or twenty years ago Commodore J——, then
commanding an American sloop-of-war of the first class, happened to be
dining with a party of whaling captains, on board a Nantucket ship in
the harbor of Oahu, Sandwich Islands. Conversation turning upon whales,
the Commodore was pleased to be sceptical touching the amazing strength
ascribed to them by the professional gentlemen present. He peremptorily
denied for example, that any whale could so smite his stout
sloop-of-war as to cause her to leak so much as a thimbleful. Very
good; but there is more coming. Some weeks after, the Commodore set
sail in this impregnable craft for Valparaiso. But he was stopped on
the way by a portly sperm whale, that begged a few moments’
confidential business with him. That business consisted in fetching the
Commodore’s craft such a thwack, that with all his pumps going he made
straight for the nearest port to heave down and repair. I am not
superstitious, but I consider the Commodore’s interview with that whale
as providential. Was not Saul of Tarsus converted from unbelief by a
similar fright? I tell you, the sperm whale will stand no nonsense.
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