Not P but Moby-Dick (106)

[Mike Jing]

>From Chapter 133:

At that preluding moment, ere the boat was yet snapped, Ahab, the first to
perceive the whale’s intent, by the crafty upraising of his head, a
movement that loosed his hold for the time; at that moment his hand had
made one final effort to push the boat out of the bite.

In "by the crafty upraising of his head, a movement that loosed his hold
for the time", the two "his" refer to the whale, is that correct?