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
Whaling in Norway ultimately failed as a result of economic depression and the collapsing world market for whale oil. Encouraged by Andresen, another Norwegian whaler, Christen Christensen, sent the "Vesterlide" to San Pedro, captained by his own son, to hunt blue whales in the Bay of Corcovado. Christensen also financially backed another whaling company, Sociedad Ballenera y Pescadora, which was operated by H.C. Korsholm in Valdivia. Unfortunately, the returns were inadequate and both companies were liquidated by 1913. Recently, the Norwegian whaling industry has met increasing difficulties because of falling demand and weak recruitment. Norwegian anti-whaling groups seem to prefer to hold a