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
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.