Captain Ahab Captain Ahab Captain Ahab is a fictional character and the main protagonist in Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick" (1851). He is the monomaniacal captain of the whaling ship "Pequod". On a previous voyage, the white whale Moby Dick bit off Ahab's leg, and he now wears a prosthetic leg made out of whalebone. The whaling voyage of the "Pequod" ends up as a hunt for revenge on the whale, as Ahab forces the crew members to support his fanatical mission. When Moby Dick is finally sighted, Ahab's hatred robs him of all caution, and the whale drags Ahab to the bottom of
Moby-Dick (opera) weathered the storm. From afar, Gardiner, captain of the "Rachel", another whaling vessel, pleads for help to search for his 12-year-old son who was lost in the storm. Ahab refuses. Pip replies to Gardiner of the "Pequod"'s own lost boy, then cuts himself. Ahab's clothes are stained with Pip's blood. Ahab orders the ship to sail on, leaving Gardiner behind. Ahab ponders the heartless God who devastates so many lives and baptizes his new harpoon with Pip's blood. Below deck, Greenhorn sees Queequeg's newly built coffin and contemplates the state of the ship and crew. On deck, Ahab and Starbuck