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 Japan 2008, two crew members traveling on the MV "Steve Irwin" boarded the whaling ship "Yushin Maru 2" without permission and were subsequently detained on board the ship for a number of days. Japan claimed that four crew members on board a Japanese whaling ship in Antarctic waters were injured March 3, 2008, when the anti-whaling group threw butyric acid on board. Japan confirmed the later throwing of "flashbang" grenades onto the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship, MV "Steve Irwin" by their whaling factory ship, "Nisshin Maru". Japan also confirmed firing a "warning shot" into the air. The captain of the