The ship Pequod in the book Moby Dick encounters many ships along its voyage. The ships leave a foreshadowing image and warnings awaiting Ahab, captain of the Pequod, if he continues his pursuit of Moby Dick. Three ships that the Pequod encounters and receives warnings from are the Albatross, the Jeroboam, and the Delight. These warnings given by these ships eventually turn out to be fatal to Captain Ahab and the Pequod.
First, the Albatross gave its warning to the Pequod in a silent manner. The Albatross was far away from home and looked as if it was in great need of repair. When Ahab says, "Ship ahoy! Have ye seen the White Whale (202), the captain of the Albatross drops his reply horn in shock into the ocean. In addition, the school of fish that was swimming around the Pequod moved to swim around the Albatross showing a sign of desertion. In addition, like most whaling ships do, the captain of one of the ships did not go over to other ship to exchange conversation and other things. By observing these occurrences, it shows that the Albatross came across Moby Dick and almost didn't make it back safely, warning Captain Ahab that this could happen to his ship as well.
Next, the Jeroboam was another example of a ship to give out its warning to the Pequod, but this time, its was a verbal warning. The captain, Mayhew, refuses to come aboard the Pequod because of an epidemic upon his own ship. When Captain Ahab asks if they have spotted Moby Dick, Captain Mayhew replies, "Think, think of thy whale-boat, stoven and sunk! Beware of the horrible tail! (261), he then proceeds into telling a story of how their ship spotted Moby Dick, they chased after him, and how one of the crew members, Macey, is killed, but their ship is untouched by the White Whale. Gabriel, also aboard the Jeroboam, is believed by his crew to have predicted that accident. Captain Ahab then tells his plans of going after Moby Dick to