Chapters 43-44 Summary

As the crew stands in a cordon passing buckets to fill the scuttlebutt one of the men says he believes he hears a noise coming from the after-hold. The man reports he believes another strange man not yet seen on deck is on board the ship. He believes the captain is aware of the stowaway, he says.

Ahab sits in his cabin studying nautical charts and logbooks, trying to chart the path of the sperm whale. This is not a one-time event, Ishmael says, but something that takes place nearly every evening. Ishmael reports that it is not as useless a task as it may seem, many men have been able to successfully chart the migratory patterns of the whales based on food sources, etc. In fact, Ishmael says that when moving from source of food to source of food, this...