Stubb

Stubb, a native of Cape Cod, serves as second mate aboard the Pequod and commands one of her three whale-boats. He is a man of paradoxical character: tough and competent in the grueling work of whaling, yet possessed of an almost preternatural calm that borders on indifference to danger. Where other men might falter in the shadow of death, Stubb hums old songs and maintains his ease. His inseparable pipe—smoked throughout the day and night in an endless succession—is his trademark and, by Melville's account, perhaps the secret to his equanimity. Stubb views even the most imminent crisis of a whale-chase as a pleasant arrangement, his crew invited guests to dinner rather than potential victims. He is meticulous about the comfort of his boat, fussing over its arrangement like an old stage-driver proud of his box, yet in the very death-lock of the fight he handles his lance without a tremor. His good humor and lack of reverence toward the leviathans he hunts sets him apart from the superstitious awe many whalemen harbor; he is a practical, worldly sailor who takes perils as they come, and who in the end seems to believe that whatever comes after death is merely another order to be obeyed without question.