Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

How it opens

The pale Usher—threadbare in coat, heart, body, and brain; I see him now. He was ever dusting his old lexicons and grammars, with a queer handkerchief, mockingly embellished with all the gay flags of all the known nations of the world. He loved to dust his old grammars; it somehow mildly reminded him of his mortality.…

Details

• AuthorHerman Melville
• SourceProject Gutenberg #2701
• Length215,306 words · 14h 21m of reading
• Chapters134
• DictionaryIncluded
• CopyrightPublic domain in the United States
• Source checked2026-08-21

Contents

134 chapters

Recovered from the original source text, so you can open the book at any of them.

1. 01CHAPTER 1. Loomings.
2. 02CHAPTER 2. The Carpet-Bag.
3. 03CHAPTER 3. The Spouter-Inn.
4. 04CHAPTER 4. The Counterpane.
5. 05CHAPTER 5. Breakfast.
6. 06CHAPTER 6. The Street.
7. 07CHAPTER 7. The Chapel.
8. 08CHAPTER 8. The Pulpit.
9. 09CHAPTER 9. The Sermon.
10. 10CHAPTER 10. A Bosom Friend.
11. 11CHAPTER 11. Nightgown.
12. 12CHAPTER 12. Biographical.
13. 13CHAPTER 13. Wheelbarrow.
14. 14CHAPTER 14. Nantucket.
15. 15CHAPTER 15. Chowder.
16. 16CHAPTER 16. The Ship.
17. 17CHAPTER 17. The Ramadan.
18. 18CHAPTER 18. His Mark.
19. 19CHAPTER 19. The Prophet.
20. 20CHAPTER 20. All Astir.
21. 21CHAPTER 21. Going Aboard.
22. 22CHAPTER 22. Merry Christmas.
23. 23CHAPTER 23. The Lee Shore.
24. 24CHAPTER 24. The Advocate.
25. 25CHAPTER 25. Postscript.
26. 26CHAPTER 26. Knights and Squires.
27. 27CHAPTER 27. Knights and Squires.
28. 28CHAPTER 28. Ahab.
29. 29CHAPTER 29. Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb.
30. 30CHAPTER 30. The Pipe.
31. 31CHAPTER 31. Queen Mab.
32. 32CHAPTER 32. Cetology.
33. 33CHAPTER 33. The Specksnyder.
34. 34CHAPTER 34. The Cabin-Table.
35. 35CHAPTER 35. The Mast-Head.
36. 36CHAPTER 36. The Quarter-Deck.
37. 37CHAPTER 37. Sunset.
38. 38CHAPTER 38. Dusk.
39. 39CHAPTER 39. First Night-Watch.
40. 40CHAPTER 40. Midnight, Forecastle.
41. 41CHAPTER 41. Moby Dick.
42. 42CHAPTER 42. The Whiteness of the Whale.
43. 43CHAPTER 43. Hark!
44. 44CHAPTER 44. The Chart.
45. 45CHAPTER 45. The Affidavit.
46. 46CHAPTER 46. Surmises.
47. 47CHAPTER 47. The Mat-Maker.
48. 48CHAPTER 48. The First Lowering.
49. 49CHAPTER 49. The Hyena.
50. 50CHAPTER 50. Ahab’s Boat and Crew. Fedallah.
51. 51CHAPTER 51. The Spirit-Spout.
52. 52CHAPTER 52. The Albatross.
53. 53CHAPTER 53. The Gam.
54. 54CHAPTER 54. The Town-Ho’s Story.
55. 55CHAPTER 55. Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales.
56. 56CHAPTER 56. Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes.
57. 57CHAPTER 57. Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars.
58. 58CHAPTER 58. Brit.
59. 59CHAPTER 59. Squid.
60. 60CHAPTER 60. The Line.
61. 61CHAPTER 61. Stubb Kills a Whale.
62. 62CHAPTER 62. The Dart.
63. 63CHAPTER 63. The Crotch.
64. 64CHAPTER 64. Stubb’s Supper.
65. 65CHAPTER 65. The Whale as a Dish.
66. 66CHAPTER 66. The Shark Massacre.
67. 67CHAPTER 67. Cutting In.
68. 68CHAPTER 68. The Blanket.
69. 69CHAPTER 69. The Funeral.
70. 70CHAPTER 70. The Sphynx.
71. 71CHAPTER 71. The Jeroboam’s Story.
72. 72CHAPTER 72. The Monkey-Rope.
73. 73CHAPTER 73. Stubb and Flask kill a Right Whale; and Then Have a Talk over Him.
74. 74CHAPTER 74. The Sperm Whale’s Head—Contrasted View.
75. 75CHAPTER 75. The Right Whale’s Head—Contrasted View.
76. 76CHAPTER 76. The Battering-Ram.
77. 77CHAPTER 77. The Great Heidelburgh Tun.
78. 78CHAPTER 78. Cistern and Buckets.
79. 79CHAPTER 79. The Prairie.
80. 80CHAPTER 80. The Nut.
81. 81CHAPTER 81. The Pequod Meets The Virgin.
82. 82CHAPTER 82. The Honor and Glory of Whaling.
83. 83CHAPTER 83. Jonah Historically Regarded.
84. 84CHAPTER 84. Pitchpoling.
85. 85CHAPTER 85. The Fountain.
86. 86CHAPTER 86. The Tail.
87. 87CHAPTER 87. The Grand Armada.
88. 88CHAPTER 88. Schools and Schoolmasters.
89. 89CHAPTER 89. Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish.
90. 90CHAPTER 90. Heads or Tails.
91. 91CHAPTER 91. The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud.
92. 92CHAPTER 92. Ambergris.
93. 93CHAPTER 93. The Castaway.
94. 94CHAPTER 94. A Squeeze of the Hand.
95. 95CHAPTER 95. The Cassock.
96. 96CHAPTER 96. The Try-Works.
97. 97CHAPTER 97. The Lamp.
98. 98CHAPTER 98. Stowing Down and Clearing Up.
99. 99CHAPTER 99. The Doubloon.
100. 100CHAPTER 100. Leg and Arm.
101. 101CHAPTER 101. The Decanter.
102. 102CHAPTER 102. A Bower in the Arsacides.
103. 103CHAPTER 103. Measurement of The Whale’s Skeleton.
104. 104CHAPTER 104. The Fossil Whale.
105. 105CHAPTER 106. Ahab’s Leg.
106. 106CHAPTER 107. The Carpenter.
107. 107CHAPTER 108. Ahab and the Carpenter.
108. 108CHAPTER 109. Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin.
109. 109CHAPTER 110. Queequeg in His Coffin.
110. 110CHAPTER 111. The Pacific.
111. 111CHAPTER 112. The Blacksmith.
112. 112CHAPTER 113. The Forge.
113. 113CHAPTER 114. The Gilder.
114. 114CHAPTER 115. The Pequod Meets The Bachelor.
115. 115CHAPTER 116. The Dying Whale.
116. 116CHAPTER 117. The Whale Watch.
117. 117CHAPTER 118. The Quadrant.
118. 118CHAPTER 119. The Candles.
119. 119CHAPTER 121. Midnight.—The Forecastle Bulwarks.
120. 120CHAPTER 122. Midnight Aloft.—Thunder and Lightning.
121. 121CHAPTER 123. The Musket.
122. 122CHAPTER 124. The Needle.
123. 123CHAPTER 125. The Log and Line.
124. 124CHAPTER 126. The Life-Buoy.
125. 125CHAPTER 127. The Deck.
126. 126CHAPTER 128. The Pequod Meets The Rachel.
127. 127CHAPTER 129. The Cabin.
128. 128CHAPTER 130. The Hat.
129. 129CHAPTER 131. The Pequod Meets The Delight.
130. 130CHAPTER 132. The Symphony.
131. 131CHAPTER 133. The Chase—First Day.
132. 132CHAPTER 134. The Chase—Second Day.
133. 133CHAPTER 135. The Chase.—Third Day.
134. 134Epilogue

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