Chapters 116-118 Summary

The crew of the Pequod kills four whales. Three of them are close enough to be brought to the ship that day while the third requires Ahab's boat to stay with the corpse through the night. During this time, Fedallah dreams of hearses and tells Ahab of the dream. Before Ahab dies, Fedallah says, he will see one hearse not made by human hands and another made from American wood. Fedallah also predicts he will die before Ahab and that hemp is the only article that can kill Ahab.

Ishmael describes Ahab's practice of using the height of the sun to determine at which latitude the boat was located. Ahab followed this practice daily until one day he became frustrated with it. In the view of all the crew, Ahab dashed the apparatus upon the deck of the ship, vowing never...