Moby Dick, also known as The Whale, is a novel first published in 1851 by American author Herman Melville. The story tells the adventures of the sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael believes he has signed onto a routine commission aboard a normal whaling vessel, but soon learns that Captain Ahab is searching for one specific whale, Moby Dick, a great white sperm whale infamous for his size and ability to destroy the whalers that hunt him. Captain Ahab's wooden leg is the result of his first encounter with the whale, when he lost both leg and ship. He is determined to get his revenge. As the novel draws to a conclusion, the Pequod encounters the whaling ship Rachel. The Rachel's captain asks Ahab to help him in a search and rescue effort for his whaling crew that went missing the day before¿and the captain's son is among the missing. But when Ahab learns that the crew disappeared while tangling with Moby Dick, he refuses to assist in the rescue in order to hunt down Moby Dick himself. The final encounter ends tragically. Ishmael alone survives, using his friend Queequeg's coffin as a flotation device until he is ironically rescued by the Rachel, which has continued to search for its missing crew. This publication of Moby Dick is part of the Qualitas Classics Fireside Series, where pure, ageless classics are presented in clean, easy to read reprints. For a complete list of titles, see: http://www.libraryoftheclassics.com