Moby Dick (Part 2) Video

Ishmael continues to recount his adventures aboard the Pequod, where Captain Ahab’s search for Moby Dick has escalated to a maniacal obsession.

Following the Pequod’s successful attack on a right whale, the ship meets the Jungfrau (or Virgin), a German ship in desperate need of oil. The ships compete for a large whale, which the Pequod successfully defeats. However, the whale carcass begins to sink as the crew attempts to secure it, forcing the Pequod to abandon it. Soon after, the Pequod encounters a large group of sperm whales. Although the crew injures several of them, they only capture one.

Soon, Stubb concocts a plan to swindle the next ship that they meet for its ambergris, a valuable substance derived from sperm whales and used in perfume. When the Pequod encounters a French ship called the Bouton-de-Rose (or Rosebud), Stubb convinces its crew that the whales the Rosebud is towing are useless and could damage their ship. But when the Rosebud leaves the whales behind, the Pequod seizes one of them for its ambergris.

Days after encountering the Rosebud, Pippin, a young black man on the ship, becomes frightened while pursuing a whale and jumps from the boat, entangling himself in the line. This forces the men to cut the whale loose, and Stubb chastises Pippin, also called Pip, for his cowardice, warning him that he will be left at sea if he jumps again. When Pip does so, Stubb stays true to his word. A nearby boat saves Pip, but the boy is driven mad by the ordeal.

Next, Ishmael embarks on a description of how whale blubber is harvested and preserved by squeezing it into liquid. All morning, Ishmael squeezes the blubber with his mates, losing himself in the process as he gropes not only the blubber but the other mens’ hands. At the same time, Ahab threatens Starbuck with violence, warning him that there is but one god on Earth—and one captain of the Pequod.

Later, the Pequod encounters an English ship called the Samuel Enderby. Ahab meets Boomer, its Captain, who lost his arm to an encounter with Moby Dick. Boomer feels fortunate to have survived the battle and joins the chorus of voices warning Ahab against pursuing the beast. Meanwhile, Queequeg falls ill and seems close to death, prompting the ship’s carpenter to build him a coffin. But Queequeg recovers, and the coffin is repurposed as a life saver.

Soon, Ahab asks Perth, the ship’s blacksmith, to forge a harpoon that he can use to kill Moby Dick. Ahab, howling at the devil, baptizes the harpoon in the blood of his pagan harpooners. After a gam with the Bachelor, a ship whose captain denies the existence of Moby Dick, the crew kills four more whales.

Meanwhile, Fedallah prophecizes that Ahab will meet his end after seeing two hearses, one of which will be built from American wood, and that Ahab will be killed by hemp rope. Ahab interprets this as evidence that he cannot die at sea, where there are neither hearses nor hangings. Lastly, Fedallah predicts that he will die just before Ahab.

Eventually, the ship must decide between an easy route and a difficult one that may lead it to Moby Dick. Ahab opts for the latter, encountering a typhoon that interferes with the ship’s compass. Aggravated, Starbuck considers shooting Ahab in his sleep but cannot bring himself to do so. Soon after the storm subsides, one of the Pequod’s sailors falls overboard.

Ahab offers his cabin to the raving Pip, who becomes the captain’s unlikely companion. Later, the Pequod encounters a ship called the Rachel. Its captain, Gardiner, knows Ahab and requests his help with the search for Gardiner’s son, who is lost at sea. But Ahab refuses, excited by the news that Moby Dick is nearby. Ahab soon comes upon the Delight, whose recent battle with Moby Dick has nearly destroyed it—and which Ahab sees as a kind of hearse.

Possessed by his search for the white whale, Ahab laments his decision to spend his life on the high seas. At last, Ahab comes upon the elusive Moby Dick, who destroys Ahab’s harpoon boat. The next day, Moby Dick attacks again, despite a successful harpooning. During this second encounter, Moby Dick breaks Ahab’s ivory leg. Fedallah becomes tangled in the harpoon line and drowns. Starbuck scolds Ahab for pursuing the whale, but Ahab maintains that it is “immutably decreed.”

On the third day, Ahab manages to stab Moby Dick with his harpoon, but the whale tips over Ahab’s small boat again. In the struggle, the whale also rams the Pequod, causing it to start sinking. In a seemingly suicidal act, Ahab throws his harpoon at Moby Dick but entangles himself in the rope and goes down with his enemy. Only Ishmael survives this final attack, as he is rescued by the Rachel, whose captain continues the search for his missing son, only to find a different orphan.