Pequod (Moby-Dick) the ship's affairs to these two." Peleg served as first mate under Ahab on "Pequod" before obtaining his own command, and is responsible for all her whalebone embellishments. The depiction of life aboard the ship was based on Melville's own experiences in whaling (specifically aboard the "Acushnet" in the 1840s) and thus can be taken in many ways as representative of mid-19th-century Nantucket whaling. Pequod (Moby-Dick) Pequod is a fictional 19th-century Nantucket whaling ship that appears in the 1851 novel "Moby-Dick" by American author Herman Melville. "Pequod" and her crew, commanded by Captain Ahab, are central to the story, which,
Comte de Paris (ship) Comte de Paris (ship) The Comte de Paris was a French sailing ship bound for Akaroa, New Zealand, in 1840. The purpose of the voyage was to develop a French colony in the South Island of New Zealand. The voyage was led by the Commissioner of the King of France, Captain Charles François Lavaud, who was to represent the French in New Zealand until a governor arrived. Jean-François Langlois was a commander of the French whaling ship "Cachalot". He frequently sailed off the coasts of New Zealand and Australia, capturing 45 whales between 1837 and 1839. Approximately 60 French whaling