Ismael, tired of the troubles of life on land, decides to sign on as a sailor—but not on a merchant ship as usual, rather on a whaling vessel, accompanied by his faithful friend Queequeg. The two, despite the ominous warnings of the eccentric Elijah, choose Captain Ahab’s Pequod and his three officers—Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask—who are, despite themselves, subjugated by the captain’s monomaniacal obsession: to kill the white whale Moby Dick, who once tore off his leg.