Pequod (Moby-Dick) 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, after the initial chapters, takes place almost entirely aboard the ship during a three-year whaling expedition in the Atlantic, Indian and South Pacific oceans. Most of the characters in the novel are part of "Pequod"s crew, including the narrator Ishmael. Ishmael encounters the ship after he arrives in Nantucket and learns of three ships that are about to leave on three-year cruises. Tasked by
Whaling in Japan whale populations in coastal Asia out of Japan's EEZ were collapsed by Japanese modern industrial whaling. For further information about status of whale species largely affected by Japanese whaling, see "Wildlife of China". There are 17 different whale species in the Antarctic and many species of whales migrate south to take advantage of food. This is the reason why most of whaling ships come to the Antarctica every year for hunting. Factory ships were not used by Japan until the 1930s. As whale catches diminished in coastal waters, Japan looked to Antarctica. Toyo Hogei K.K. purchased the Norwegian factory ship,