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
Whaling in Japan "Steve Irwin", Paul Watson, claimed to have been hit in the chest by a bullet from a Japanese whaling ship crewmember, and a piece of metal was found lodged into his bullet-proof vest he was wearing at the time. However, the Japanese government has denied the incident, but admitted that the whalers launched "noise balls", described as "loud explosive deterrent devices". On February 7, 2009, the MV "Steve Irwin" and the "Yushin Maru No. 2" collided as the Japanese vessel was attempting to transfer a whale. Both sides claimed the other had been at fault. In 2008, two Greenpeace anti-whaling