Moby Dick (Classic Drama) recap

Ishmael befriends the harpooner Queequeg and joins the Pequod, commanded by the scarred Captain Ahab. Ahab reveals that he intends to hunt Moby Dick, the white whale that took his leg, and bends the crew to his private revenge despite first mate Starbuck's objections. The ship hunts other whales and gathers warnings from vessels that have encountered Moby Dick. Pip is psychologically broken after being left alone at sea, Queequeg survives an illness for which he orders a coffin, and Fedallah gives Ahab a prophecy that the captain mistakes for protection from death. Ahab refuses to help the Rachel search for its captain's missing son and begins a three-day chase. Moby Dick destroys the boats and rams the Pequod. A harpoon line drags Ahab to his death, and the ship sinks with the crew. Ishmael alone survives, floating on Queequeg's coffin until the Rachel rescues him.

Ishmael goes to sea and befriends Queequeg, a Pacific Island harpooner whose generosity overcomes Ishmael's first alarm at his appearance and customs. They sign onto the Pequod, a Nantucket whaling ship commanded by the mysterious Captain Ahab. Once at sea, Ishmael meets the officers, including the responsible first mate Starbuck and the more easygoing Stubb and Flask. Ahab finally appears, visibly scarred and using a whale-bone leg. He gathers the sailors and announces that their true objective is Moby Dick, the enormous white sperm whale that took his leg. He offers a gold coin to the first lookout who sights it and binds the crew to his revenge. Starbuck argues that they were hired to hunt whales for profit, not to pursue an animal as though it were a moral enemy, but Ahab overrules him. A hidden boat crew led by the harpooner Fedallah emerges during the hunt, revealing how thoroughly Ahab planned his private mission before departure.

The Pequod hunts and processes ordinary whales while Ahab searches other ships for news of Moby Dick. Accounts from men who have survived the White Whale give him repeated reasons to abandon the chase, but he treats each warning as further confirmation of his purpose. When the cabin boy Pip is assigned to a whaleboat, fear makes him jump overboard. After he does so again, the crew continues after the whale and leaves him alone until another boat finds him. He returns psychologically broken and becomes closely attached to Ahab, whose flashes of sympathy do not alter the ship's course. Queequeg later falls gravely ill and orders a coffin, then unexpectedly recovers. The coffin is eventually adapted as a life buoy. Fedallah predicts strange signs that will precede Ahab's death and says that hemp will kill him. Ahab reads the prophecy as assurance that he cannot die at sea. Starbuck continues urging caution, but the captain rejects both moral appeals and dangerous omens.

As the Pequod approaches Moby Dick's waters, storms, damaged instruments, and reports of deaths fail to turn Ahab aside. The Rachel asks him to help search for a missing whaleboat carrying Captain Gardiner's son, but Ahab refuses to delay. He sights Moby Dick and pursues him for three days. The whale repeatedly smashes the hunting boats, and Fedallah is lost; his body later appears caught against the whale, fulfilling part of his warning. On the final day Moby Dick rams the Pequod itself. Ahab throws one last harpoon, but its line loops around him and pulls him into the sea. The ship sinks with Starbuck, Stubb, Flask, Queequeg, Pip, and the rest of the crew. Ishmael alone escapes the wreck. Queequeg's coffin rises as the life buoy and keeps him afloat until the Rachel, still searching for its own missing child, rescues him. He survives as the sole witness to the end of Ahab's voyage.

Ahab pursues Moby Dick for three days despite the destruction of his boats and the loss of Fedallah. On the final day, Fedallah's body is seen caught against the whale, fulfilling part of his prophecy. Moby Dick rams the Pequod and leaves it sinking. Ahab makes a last attempt to harpoon the whale, but the line catches him and drags him into the sea. Starbuck, Stubb, Flask, Queequeg, Pip, and the remaining sailors go down with the ship. Ishmael is the sole survivor. Queequeg's coffin, earlier converted into a life buoy, rises from the wreck and supports him until the Rachel finds him while continuing its search for Captain Gardiner's missing son. Ahab's refusal to value any claim above revenge has destroyed the ship, while Ishmael lives to preserve the crew's story.