A very interesting detail about the nature of Whaling Ships is presented in Melville’s novel. In chapter twenty six and twenty seven Melville describes the crew of the ship. He writes that the crew is a mix of races and cultures that retain their native attributes due to the nature of tolerance found amongst whaling captains. Melville goes on to compare the nature of the whaling industry’s population with the nature of other labor intensive industries found in the United States. The general layout of all these industries, according to Melville, is that they are all composed of a racial hierarchy (at least this idea of racial hierarchy is constructed through my own personal reading). This hierarchy is generally that any position of power or authority is held by a white man that is American born. The lower hierarch is composed of people of nations, both foreign and domestic. Melville does not just plainly state this nature of the ship and its reflection in other aspects of American culture. He presents it by vividly describing the officers of the ship and their personal “squires”. The comparisons of these characters to figures of knights and squires are the first descriptive aspects of this chapter that really caught my interest. By first describing the officers and their harpooners as these famed characters of fables and poetry bring along with it a well-known structure of a chain-of-command and a strong connotation of nobility amongst these characters. Like the fabled characters that fought dragons for damsels these men hunt “leviathans” for the benefit of man. As Melville describes these characters in this chapter he purposely presents each of them in a very structured manner. The first mate being from New Bedford is very significant. Since New Bedford at the time of this novel is the most prosperous of all cities due to whaling, the Pequod’s first mate being from New Bedford clearly represents that. As he continues to list off the officers Melville’s also list off the most prominent regions in America, for the sailing culture. Cape Cod being the home of the second mate and Martha’s Vineyard being the home of the third mate is representative of where the best sailors originate from. At least in Melville’s mind. The harpooner’s origins are also significant in representing where the labor forces of America have originated from. Since Queequeg is native to South America, he represents the exploitation of South American natives by colonist. Daggoo represents the immense labor from African slaves, represented through his physical nature and the gold in his ears (representing the wealth gained from slavery). Tashtego represents the exploitation of Northern Native Americans. Being from a native tribe that is known for making excellent harpoons but is still pushed to a far corner of the island of Martha’s Vineyard, he represents the gift of knowledge that natives presented to the European colonist, yet they were met with exclusion and dearth from the European societies.