A white whale breaching through stormy ocean waves under moonlight

    Herman Melville · 1851

    Moby Dick

    or, The Whale

    Read the complete, unabridged text of one of the greatest novels ever written — free, forever, in the public domain.

    Chapters

    All 135 chapters & the Epilogue

    Character GuideRelationship MapChapter TimelineReading ProgressReading Plan

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