Moby-Dick Chapter 27 Summary

Summary

The chapter introduces Stubb and Flask, the Pequod’s second and third mates, and then explains the harpooneers who serve as their squires. Stubb is a carefree Cape Cod man, unflappable even in the most dangerous moments of the chase; his temperament is attributed partly to constant pipe-smoking and a habit of taking death with amused indifference. Flask, from Tisbury in Martha’s Vineyard, is short, stout, and combative toward whales, treating them like personal rivals to be destroyed and viewing the voyage largely as a prolonged joke. The chapter situates these two against Starbuck, the chief mate, who has already chosen Queequeg as his harpooneer.

The narrator sets out the pairing of mates with their harpooneers: Starbuck with Queequeg, Stubb with Tashtego, and Flask with Daggoo. Tashtego is a Gay-Header Indian from Gay Head, described with lithe strength and proud warrior features, his harpoon substituting for ancestral arrows. Daggoo is a towering African “negro-savage,” imposing and dignified, whose size makes his mate Flask appear diminutive—hence the nickname King-Post for Flask and the image of Daggoo as imperial and martial. The chapter broadens from these portraits to a note on the Pequod’s multinational crew—“Isolatoes” from many islands and coasts—observing that while officers are often Americans, the common seamen come from the Azores, Shetlands, and various islands, lending the ship its global, heterogeneous character. The narrator closes with a brief, elegiac aside about Pip, the boy of Alabama, foreshadowed as a distinct presence on the forecastle.

Key events

1. Detailed portrait of Stubb, the second mate, and his easy-going fearlessness.
2. Portrait of Flask, the third mate, pugnacious and contemptuous of whales.
3. Explanation of mates-as-headsmen and the analogy to knights and lancers.
4. Pairings: Starbuck–Queequeg, Stubb–Tashtego, Flask–Daggoo introduced.
5. Descriptions of Tashtego and Daggoo as stout harpooneers.
6. General note on the Pequod’s multinational crew and ‘Isolatoes.’
7. Brief, elegiac mention of Pip as a distinct forecastle figure.

Analysis

This chapter functions as a concentrated character gallery that establishes the shipboard hierarchy and social texture of the Pequod. By aligning each mate with a single harpooneer and using the medieval image of knights and squires, the narrator frames whaling as ritualized combat and emphasizes bonds of intimacy and dependency between officers and harpooneers. Stubb and Flask are drawn with tonal contrast: Stubb’s philosophical, pipe-fueled nonchalance offsets Flask’s hot-headed aggressiveness, suggesting different ethical and emotional responses to the violence of whaling. The vivid descriptions of Tashtego and Daggoo locate physical difference as social role—both are valorized muscular figures whose bodies enact the ship’s labor. The chapter also widens the novel’s social lens: the Pequod is a microcosm of global seafaring labor, populated by “Isolatoes” whose diverse origins underscore themes of cosmopolitanism and displacement.

Narratively, the chapter mixes irony, taxonomy, and ethnographic detail; this stylistic blend both entertains and signals Melville’s interest in classification and spectacle. Symbolically, the knight/squire motif elevates the hunt to chivalric terms while simultaneously exposing its brutality in domestic, even comic scenes (Stubb’s pipe, Flask’s “King-Post” nickname). The brief aside about Pip introduces a melancholic note, hinting at individual human stories amid the collective enterprise of the ship.

Important quotes

“Stubb was the second mate.”

NarratorOpens the chapter with a concise identification that launches Stubb’s detailed portrait.

“For, when Stubb dressed, instead of first putting his legs into his trowsers, he put his pipe into his mouth.”

NarratorIllustrates Stubb’s defining habit and the comic, habitual quality of his temperament.

“They called him King-Post on board of the Pequod;”

NarratorExplains Flask’s nickname and evokes his stout, bracing role relative to his harpooneer Daggoo.

Characters in Chapter 27

• Stubb
• Flask
• Starbuck
• Queequeg
• Tashtego
• Daggoo
• Pip
• Ahab
• Old Ahab
• Black Little Pip