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
Carthaginian (ship) delivered to San Diego later that year. After advertising its availability, Thompson sold the ship to the Mirisch Company, which was filming "Hawaii". Thompson held an option to be the first to repurchase the ship after filming was completed. Under Mirisch, it was fitted with square rigging to modify its appearance as a 19th-century whaling ship in San Pedro for scenes in the 1966 film "Hawaii". The refit was performed under the supervision of noted vintage sailing ship experts Alan Villiers (who served as captain), Ken Reynard (mate), Karl Kortum, and Bill Bartz, who then sailed the ship to Hawaii.