Pequod (Moby-Dick) the ship's affairs to these two." Peleg served as first mate under Ahab on "Pequod" before obtaining his own command, and is responsible for all her whalebone embellishments. The depiction of life aboard the ship was based on Melville's own experiences in whaling (specifically aboard the "Acushnet" in the 1840s) and thus can be taken in many ways as representative of mid-19th-century Nantucket whaling. Pequod (Moby-Dick) Pequod is a fictional 19th-century Nantucket whaling ship that appears in the 1851 novel "Moby-Dick" by American author Herman Melville. "Pequod" and her crew, commanded by Captain Ahab, are central to the story, which,
Anti-whaling whose members also happened to be employed butchering whales, harassed the demonstrators. The activist group had not managed to arrange for a large mother-ship to support their Zodiacs as they chased whalers tens of miles out into shark filled waters in small inflatable boats carrying loads of excess fuel. The whaling company even brought the media out on its own boats after several days of prepping the reporters and explaining the benefits of whaling. When the activists attempted to get between the whalers and their targets the gunners fired over the Zodiacs resulting in several close calls for their crews.