{"product_id":"2940013296190","title":"FIGHTING THE WHALES","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAP.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I. IN TROUBLE, TO BEGIN WITH\u003cbr\u003e   II. AT SEA\u003cbr\u003e  III. OUR FIRST BATTLE\u003cbr\u003e   IV. \"CUTTING IN\" THE BLUBBER AND \"TRYING OUT\" THE OIL\u003cbr\u003e    V. A STORM, A MAN OVERBOARD, AND A RESCUE\u003cbr\u003e   VI. THE WHALE--FIGHTING BULLS, ETC.\u003cbr\u003e  VII. TOM'S WISDOM--ANOTHER GREAT BATTLE\u003cbr\u003e VIII. DEATH ON THE SEA\u003cbr\u003e   IX. NEWS FROM HOME--A GAM\u003cbr\u003e    X. RETURN HOME\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIN TROUBLE, TO BEGIN WITH\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere are few things in this world that have filled me with so much\u003cbr\u003eastonishment as the fact that man can kill a whale!  That a fish, more\u003cbr\u003ethan sixty feet long, and thirty feet round the body; with the bulk of\u003cbr\u003ethree hundred fat oxen rolled into one; with the strength of many\u003cbr\u003ehundreds of horses; able to swim at a rate that would carry it right\u003cbr\u003eround the world in twenty-three days; that can smash a boat to atoms\u003cbr\u003ewith one slap of its tail, and stave in the planks of a ship with one\u003cbr\u003eblow of its thick skull;--that such a monster can be caught and killed\u003cbr\u003eby man, is most wonderful to hear of, but I can tell from experience\u003cbr\u003ethat it is much more wonderful to see.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is a wise saying which I have often thought much upon.  It is\u003cbr\u003ethis: \"Knowledge is power\".  Man is but a feeble creature, and if he\u003cbr\u003ehad to depend on his own bodily strength alone he could make no head\u003cbr\u003eagainst even the ordinary brutes in this world.  But the knowledge\u003cbr\u003ewhich has been given to him by his Maker has clothed man with great\u003cbr\u003epower, so that he is more than a match for the fiercest beast in the\u003cbr\u003eforest, or the largest fish in the sea. Yet, with all his knowledge,\u003cbr\u003ewith all his experience, and all his power, the killing of a great old\u003cbr\u003esperm whale costs man a long, tough battle, sometimes it even costs him\u003cbr\u003ehis life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is a long time now since I took to fighting the whales.  I have been\u003cbr\u003eat it, man and boy, for nigh forty years, and many a wonderful sight\u003cbr\u003ehave I seen; many a desperate battle have I fought in the fisheries of\u003cbr\u003ethe North and South Seas.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSometimes, when I sit in the chimney-corner of a winter evening,\u003cbr\u003esmoking my pipe with my old messmate Tom Lokins, I stare into the fire\u003cbr\u003eand think of the days gone by till I forget where I am, and go on\u003cbr\u003ethinking so hard that the flames seem to turn into melting fires, and\u003cbr\u003ethe bars of the grate into dead fish, and the smoke into sails and\u003cbr\u003erigging, and I go to work cutting up the blubber and stirring the\u003cbr\u003eoil-pots, or pulling the bow-oar and driving the harpoon at such a\u003cbr\u003erate that I can't help giving a shout, which causes Tom to start and\u003cbr\u003ecry:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Hallo!  Bob\" (my name is Bob Ledbury, you see).  \"Hallo!  Bob, wot's\u003cbr\u003ethe matter?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo which I reply, \"Tom, can it all be true?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Can _wot_ be true?\" says he, with a stare of surprise--for Tom is\u003cbr\u003egetting into his dotage now.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47184212656368,"sku":"2940013296190","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013296190_p0.jpg?v=1763579371","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013296190","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}