Finding Melville’s Whale: Chapter 18 – His Mark

Chapter 18 of Herman Melville’s classic – Moby Dick. Read along with us and discuss this chapter or the book as a whole in the comments.

His Mark

And so Ishmael and Queequeg board their ship
and meet their three-fold captain, but one third
of their holy host is missing, the ghost.

The captains demand a statement of faith.
Ishmael steps forward to testify that
Queequeg is of the brotherhood of man.

On the Pequod’s deck, Peleg examines
Queequeg, challenges the harpooner’s arm.
Leaping into a whaleboat, Queequeg hurls

his massive harpoon and strikes a tar spot
across the deck. Peleg needs nothing more.
So, in the register, he makes his mark.