On the third morning the whale is not in sight, and Ahab decides he has oversailed it. The harpoons it tows gave it the start, so the whale is chasing him. For an hour the doubloon goes begging. He puts the Pequod about through her own wake. Starbuck, coiling the brace, says they are steering for the open jaw and that obeying Ahab may mean disobeying God.
From the mast-head Ahab finally sees the spout and meets Moby Dick forehead to forehead for the third time. He remembers the Parsee: the pilot should go before him and still be seen again. He stops Starbuck at the lowering, says some ships sail and are afterwards missing, and asks for the mate's hand because he is old and feels like a single crested wave. Starbuck weeps and tells him to go not. He throws the arm off.
A hawk rips the red flag from the main-truck and carries it off. Sharks, the first seen since the whale was raised, bite Ahab's oar-blades and follow that boat alone. The whale rises trailing yesterday's irons, flails the mates' boats, and shows the Parsee lashed to his back, eyes on Ahab. Ahab calls that corpse the promised hearse and asks where the second hearse is. He sends the mates to repair and chases on. Starbuck shouts from the rail that the whale is not seeking him.
The line snaps on the next dart. Moby Dick turns from the boat to the ship and smites the starboard bow. Ahab names the Pequod the second hearse, American wood. The whale surfaces beside him. He hurls the last harpoon, stoops to clear the line, and is caught round the neck and shot out of the boat. The ship sinks with Tashtego still nailing the flag, a sky-hawk pinned under the hammer and dragged down with it. The sea closes.
Ishmael, dropped astern when the boat tossed three men, floats after the vortex has calmed. A coffin life-buoy bursts up beside him. Sharks pass with shut mouths. On the second day the Rachel, still searching for her missing children, picks up another orphan.
