Pequod (Moby-Dick)

The Pequod is the fictional 19th century Nantucket whaleship that appears in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by American author Herman Melville. The Pequod and her crew, commanded by Captain Ahab, figure prominently in the story, which after the initial chapters takes place nearly entirely aboard the ship during a long three-year whaling expedition in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. Most of the characters in the novel are part of the crew of the ship, including the narrator Ishmael.

Descriptions of the ship appear throughout the novel, with certain chapters devoted more specifically to the working of the ship and its crew. The depiction of life aboard the ship, although fictionalized, was based on Melville's own experiences in whaling (specifically aboard the Achushnet in the 1840s) and thus can be taken in many ways as representative of mid-19th century Nantucket whaling. The ship is ostensibly named for the Algonquian-speaking Pequot tribe of Native Americans who inhabited New England along Long Island Sound during the 17th century but who were annihilated during the Pequot War, "now extinct as the ancient Medes" (Ch. XVI). The reference to a doomed tribe highlights the fate of the ship and its crew in the novel. Melville somewhat based the story of the ship's ill-fated struggle with a sperm whale and its subsequent demise on that of the real-life whaleship Essex.

Depictions of the ship from the novel

The ship is first encountered by Ishmael in Chapter XVI...
Read More