captain ahab is one of the characters of all time.
he’s full of hubris. he’s an amputee. he said he’d punch the sun. he once was in a coma for three days straight. he was prophecized to lose his leg and in response decided to make his own prophecy that he would kill the thing that did it. he would fight god. he’s in love with his first mate who he also threatened at gunpoint. he used the same gun as a cane. he tells his second mate to go fuck himself. he was sent back out to sea immediately after losing his leg without the chance to heal. he chooses to go on whalehunts instead of staying on the ship despite having no reason to as the captain, something that is doubly dangerous for him on account of the whole leg thing. he once was in a deadly swordfight with a spaniard. his method of encouraging his oarsmen is to swear at them profusely, which was censored by ishmael for the good christian audience. he spent one (1) night with his wife after marrying her and then immediately fucked back off to sea. he’s an orphan, and this is the least tragic thing about him. he’s named after an evil biblical king. his best friend is a persian stowaway who tells him how he’s going to die. he hears he’s going to die by rope and immediately assumes it’ll be the gallows, ignoring the fact that he’s on a ship full of ropes, and also being surprisingly chill with the concept of himself being sentenced to capital punishment. like yeah, that sounds like something i’d do. having gay sex with his first mate WOULD fix him AND the entire plot of the story. he adopts the cabin boy for funsies. allowing himself human connection with the cabin boy WOULD fix him and the story, and he acknowledges this out loud while actively avoiding it. he worships fire. he was even gay.
This is my six-times great-grandfather’s signature.
It reads
Hezekiah Starbuck This journal Book Bought (at?) Boston in the year of our Lord one thousan Seven hundred And Sevente
It’s the first page of a whaling journal Hezekiah kept aboard the Sea Flower in 1770. Not sure what his position on the ship was, but I have the date and the ship’s name so probably I can find out. Also, there’s a goddamn spreadsheet in the back, so that might help. (I’m sure this is standard for this kind of book but I did have a real moment of “Now I know where I get it.”)
Hezekiah (in this case, Hez Sr., father of my ancestor Hezekiah II) was the last of my line to ship from Nantucket. He eventually moved to North Carolina and from there the family were no longer sailors as far as I know. Hez II died in Iowa and there’s not a lot of ocean in Iowa.
what if ahab got to be a little cosmic horror? as a treat? (more art from a few months ago because i’m so good at posting)
(ID: several black and white ink drawings of ahab from moby dick.
the first image is a full body drawing, and shows him hunched over wiping ink that’s spilling out of his mouth from his face while holding a harpoon. his eyes are cast in shadow, but what we can see of his expression is dangerous and angry. his form fades into shadow at the bottom of his coat. from the shadowy coat, both his live leg in a boot and his whalebone prosthetic leg are seen, as well as several squid tentacles protruding. there is a silhouette of the full squid behind him, and it melds with his form — it becomes unclear whether the tentacles are coming from Ahab or from the squid.
the second image has two bust drawings of ahab. most of his face is still in shadow, but he is looking at the viewer with a snarl, and we can still see ink stains spilling from his nose and mouth down his chin and onto his coat. the shadows and his snarl deepen in the second drawing. sideways handwriting on the side of the image reads “God help thee, old man; thy thoughts have created a creature in thee.”
the third image is a drawing of both squid-Ahab and starbuck, both from the waist up. they are embracing, ahab with a firm hand on starbuck’s upper arm, and leaning into each other, almost kissing. ahab is smiling mischievously, and starbuck’s face is in a reverent smile. the black ink is dripping from both their mouths down their chins. tentacles are pulling starbuck closer to ahab. behind ahab is a sketchy halo.
ahab has forgone his coat and is wearing a collared shirt and waistcoat. starbuck is wearing a dark blazer.
the fourth image is a pencil sketch of Ahab in profile, grinning, with tentacles and dripping ink drawn in front of him.)