Knights and Squires — Moby-Dick

This chapter continues Knights and Squires. It introduces Stubb, the second mate from Cape Cod.

Stubb is easygoing and hard to scare. In the middle of a deadly whale fight, he works calmly, like a carpenter on a normal job. He hums old songs while the whale fights beside him. Long habit has made danger feel ordinary to him.

His pipe may explain his mood. He lights one pipe after another. He even puts the pipe in his mouth before he puts on his pants. Ishmael jokes that tobacco smoke works like medicine against the sadness in the air.

Next comes Flask, the third mate. He is short, strong, and always ready to fight. He treats huge whales like big rats you can corner with time and effort. A three-year trip around Cape Horn feels like a joke to him. The crew calls him King-Post because he is short and square and strong.

Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask each command one of the Pequod's whaleboats. Melville compares them to knights. Each mate has a harpooneer as his squire, who hands him fresh lances in battle.

Queequeg already serves Starbuck. Tashtego, a Native American hunter from Martha's Vineyard, serves Stubb. Daggoo, a tall African man with gold hoops in his ears, towers beside little Flask.

Then Ishmael looks at the whole crew. Most officers are American-born, but many sailors come from other countries. He says Americans supply the brains and the rest of the world supplies the muscles.

He calls the men Isolatoes. Each man lives on his own separate island of identity. Yet they are joined together on one ship, sailing with Captain Ahab toward a deadly mission.

The chapter ends with Pip, a poor boy from Alabama, playing a tambourine on the forecastle. Ishmael says people will call him a coward here, but a hero somewhere else.