Ishmael (Moby-Dick) morning Ishmael and Queequeg head for Nantucket. Ishmael signs up for a voyage on the whaler "Pequod", under Captain Ahab. Ahab is obsessed by the white whale, Moby Dick, who on a previous voyage has severed his leg. In his quest for revenge Ahab has lost all sense of responsibility, and when the whale sinks the ship, all crewmembers drown, with the exception of Ishmael: “And I only am escaped alone to tell thee” (Job) says the epigraph. Ishmael keeps himself afloat on a coffin until he is picked up by another whaling ship, the "Rachel". The name Ishmael is
Whaling in Norway the World War I stoppage, Blacksod continued for one good season but its station burned down in February 1922, ending whaling out of Ireland. In 1903, A/S Ørnen, established by Norwegian shipowner Christen Christensen of Sandefjord, sent an expedition to Svalbard to conduct whaling with a steam powered floating factory. Christensen's own shipyard fitted a small wooden steam ship for the task, the "Telegraf". Weather and the storage capacity of the ship limited the success of the expedition. A second ship, "Admiralen", was purchased for the following season. Competition increased and by 1905 as many as eight companies operated from