It cannot be ignored the multicultural aspect of the crew of the Pequod–a ship named after a once great Algonkian nation, with thousands of people, now with less than 1000–but whom alongside other New England tribal nations, populated the whaling industry with skilled men who ranged in trade from deckhands to sea captains, ship owners and proprietors.  The main crew of the Pequod mentions the four officers, Captain Ahab, First Mate, Starbuck, Second Mate, Stubb, and Third Mate, Flask all hailing from the financial capital of the industry–New England- and specifically from Cape Cod and the Islands.  These four men are contrasted with the heart and soul of the ship the harpooneers, Queequeg, from the South Pacific, Tashtego, from the Aquinnah (Gay Head) Wampanoag Nation of Martha’s Vineyard, Daggoo, from the Western Coast of Africa and the lesser mentioned Fedallah, a “Parsi.”  Other characters are not given much background with regard to their nationalities or ethnicities with the exception of Pip, a Black cabin boy, and Fleece, a Black cook.  It can be surmised that when ethnicity is not mentioned, that the characters are White–as Melville is.  Many whale ships sailing out of the ports of New Bedford, New London and Nantucket, as well as around the world had multicultural crews.  Melville mentions the various sailors from around the world in chapter 40, Midnight, Forecastle.  These sailors hail from Nantucket, the Netherlands, France, Iceland, Maltese, Sicily, Long Island, the Azores, China, Aquinnah, Tahiti, Portugal and other locations (138-143).

New Bedford, MA, a port city had many men shipping in and out of it for the purposes of whaling.  Native Hawaiians, Portuguese, Cape Verdeans, Irish and Englishmen, among others came into port and stayed here, while Wampanoags, Yankees, African Americans shipped out from their homes and landed abroad–at times jumping ship in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Argentina, the Cook Islands and Hawaii.  My husband’s Hawaiian ancestors came into the port of New Bedford, while his Wampanoag ancestors and relatives jumped ship in Aotearoa.

I thought Melville displays the cultural dichotomy well in Chapter 34, The Cabin-Table: “In strange contrast to the hardly tolerable constraint and nameless invisible domineering of the captain’s table, was the entire care-free license and ease, the almost frantic democracy of those inferior fellows the harpooneers” (123).  He first describes the formal protocol and discomfort between the officers and the Captain at mealtime who don’t speak a word to each other (although this may be by virtue of Ahab being there and his fragile state of mind), but then refers to the lighthearted joking shared by the harpooneers. In a way, this makes the harpooneers, who are considered “savages” by Ishmael, to be more human, warm and welcoming than that of the demeanor of the officers.

I am still fleshing out this concept for my essay, and may incorporate the concept of the “noble savage,” at the time Melville was writing.  Melville goes into such detail about Ishmael’s experience on the whale ship, that it is most certainly reflective of his own experiences, and that includes his time spent with other men of different cultural backgrounds as his own.

I included a photo of the Charles W. Morgan.  The last surviving wooden ship of the whaling industry.  The Morgan was crewed by many men of varying backgrounds, including my Aquinnah family.  I visited it in port in New Bedford in July 2014.