Ahab's Boat and Crew. Fedallah — Moby-Dick

Stubb tells Flask he would never go into a whaleboat with only one leg. He calls Ahab a wonderful old man for doing it anyway.

Flask says losing a leg at the hip would truly disable a man. But Ahab still has one knee and part of the other. Stubb jokes that he has never seen Ahab kneel.

Whalemen often debate whether a captain should risk his own life in the hunt. Ahab's case is stranger because he is already maimed. Yet he insists on entering a boat himself.

The ship owners never would have approved giving Ahab his own regular whaleboat and five extra men. So Ahab prepared in secret. He never asked permission.

Crew members had already noticed odd work. Ahab made thole-pins with his own hands. He added extra sheathing to protect the boat from his ivory leg. He shaped a thigh board so his knee could brace against the bow when darting.

Most sailors thought he was getting ready for the final chase of Moby Dick. They did not guess he already planned a hidden crew.

Once Fedallah's men joined the ship, the wonder faded. Strange castaways often appear on whalers, and the crew accepts them.

But Fedallah himself stayed a mystery. No one knew where he came from or what power he held over Ahab.