The+Pequod


 * The History of the Name [|Pequod]**

Major John Mason was the lead commanding officer of the Puritan militia that attacked the [|Pequot fort]in 1637. According to other historical documents, the Puritans attacked the fort in retribution for the killing of a Puritan by three Pequot Indians. During this time, battles, skirmishes and atrocities between the Indians and the English settlers occurred periodically. Some historians writing about this attack suspect that the Puritans were motivated more by the fact that the Pequots controlled valuable access to the sea and fishing, which would be the area leading to and around Mystic, Connecticutt. Herman Melville briefly mentions the destruction of the Pequots as an allusion to the name of Ahab's ship, the **//Pequod//**. Melville, as some others before him in both the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as during his own time, spelled the tribe's name //**Pequod**.// **//Pequoit//** is another spelling seen in historical writings. In short, spelling was not standardized. The following essay is Major Mason's description of the expedition to the Pequot fort and the subsequent Puritan attack, which led to the destruction of the tribe. Major Mason's details of the destruction add impact to Melville's choice of names for the ship. http://www.pthompson.addr.com/moby/mason.htm