noon
But , with a full grown leviathan this is impossible ; for the sperm whale 's head embraces nearly one third of his entire bulk , and completely to suspend such a burden as that , even by the immense tackles of a whaler , this were as vain a thing as to attempt weighing a Dutch barn in jewellers ' scales . The Pequod 's whale being decapitated and the body stripped , the head was hoisted against the ship 's side -- about half way out of the sea , so that it might yet in great part be buoyed up by its native element . And there with the strained craft steeply leaning over to it , by reason of the enormous downward drag from the lower mast-head , and every yard-arm on that side projecting like a crane over the waves ; there , that blood-dripping head hung to the Pequod 's waist like the giant Holofernes 's from the girdle of Judith . When this last task was accomplished it was noon , and the seamen went below to their dinner . Silence reigned over the before tumultuous but now deserted deck . An intense copper calm , like a universal yellow lotus , was more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea . A short space elapsed , and up into this noiselessness came Ahab alone from his cabin .