Chapter 131 Summary

The crew of the Pequod meet with another whaling vessel that has had an encounter with Moby Dick. The captain of the Delight reports that five men were killed during the encounter with the whale and their bodies never recovered. Another lies ready for a sea burial. Ahab commands the Pequod move forward before the body of the dead man is dropped overboard. As the captain of the Delight watches, he laughs as the Pequod sails away from the burial, yet a coffin hangs from its own taffrail.

Chapter 131 Analysis

Ishmael shares another story of the death and destruction the famed white whale is capable of performing. It can be inferred that Melvile wants to get the point across that one can't run from death. Even as Captain Ahab commands the crew to leave the Delight and not witness the sea burial, there...