Moby Dick Coin Moby Dick Coin Known in the numismatic world as a "Moby Dick Coin", the Ecuadorian 8 Escudos doubloon, minted in Quito, Ecuador, between 1838 and 1843, is the one ounce of gold "sixteen dollar piece" Captain Ahab nails to the mast of the "Pequod", promising it to the first man who "raises" Moby-Dick. The coin is first mentioned in Herman Melville's novel "Moby-Dick", in Chapter 36 "The Quarter Deck" and later at length in Chapter 99 "The Doubloon". It is often confused as a Spanish doubloon, but this coin was not struck by the Spanish crown or endorsed by the
Cetology of Moby-Dick which Melville generically calls porpoises. Melville also lists "a rabble of uncertain, fugitive half-fabulous whales" of which he knew only by name and not experience. These were the Bottlenose Whale, Junk Whale, Pudding-Headed Whale, Cape Whale, Leading Whale, Cannon Whale, Scragg Whale, Coppered Whale, Elephant Whale, Iceberg Whale, Quog Whale, and Blue Whale. Their lack of description makes it difficult to know exactly which taxonomically correct whales these names might refer, if any. He notes that should any of them be caught and classified they could be easily incorporated into his system. Cetology of Moby-Dick The cetology of Moby-Dick is