Speculating Over Source of Whaling Ship’s Name

In “Myth of the Whale” (Oct. 31), you omitted the etymology of the ship’s name in Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick,” the Pequod. Melville derived the ship’s name from the Indian tribe, the Pequods or Pequots (there are several variant spellings).

The Puritans massacred the Pequots in 1636 and subsequently drove them into slavery, exile and almost to extinction. The Puritan commander who was responsible for the slaughter at Mystic, Conn., was Capt. John Mason, a direct ancestor of mine. Supposedly, this massacre inspired James Fenimore Cooper’s book “The Last of the Mohicans.” Why Melville opted to name his fated ship after a nearly extinct Indian tribe is cause for speculation.

ARCH MILLER

Arcadia