Herman Melville's masterpiece Moby-Dick was published in 1851 to little critical acclaim. It is the story of the wandering sailor Ishmael's voyage on the whaling ship Pequod, which is commanded by Captain Ahab. The Captain is inexorably obsessed with the Great White Whale who destroyed his boat and took his leg. This is what the book is ostensibly about, and with its long descriptions of whales, whaling, stringing one's harpoon, and a muddled plot, it has confounded readers since its publication