Captain Ahab isn't actually a captain but instead a professor in the marine biology department. He does, however, answer to "captain" instead of "professor", and will never call the captain of the ship he is currently on the captain.
Ahab is obsessed with the white whale in that he's been trying to put a GPS tracker on it for years but it always fails someway. Moby Dick is such a distinctive whale, and he really really wants to study it, but it just keeps getting away or moving at the last moment so that the suction cup gps doesn't stick...
The Pequod is a research vessel owned by Ahab's university, Starbuck is the actual captain, but is called the first mate by Ahab because.. Ahab is Ahab. So, the others started calling him that, too.
Ishmael is also a marine biologist by trade however because of his controvertial opinion (whales are fish! most species we consider fish aren't that closely related anyways! it's a description of ecological, not genetic, importance! so whales should be considered fish, too!) he has been largely shunned/considered of no importance in the scientific community. He teaches biology at a highschool instead.
Ishmael is also a trans man. That is also canon to Herman's novel but I need to underline it here bc naming yourself basically "Is-male" is such a funny joke.
Ishmael signs himself up for a research cruise under the guise of not being a biologist but a simple sailor - this ruse is discovered incredibly quickly (it only takes one infodump).
Pip is one of those brilliant kids who skip 5 grades. He's 16 and in the final year of writing his bachelor's thesis. Ahab is his supervisor.
Queequeg is the ship's chief engineer, making him 3rd most important person on the ship (after the captain and first mate; source: my childhood bff's father was one) and also making him a lot of money. The university's usual chief engineer was unavailable and Ishmael was hyped to get his hubby on the same expedition as him.
Speaking of, Ishmael and Queequeg met at a motel in Vegas, got high, cuddled all night, and then got married the next day.
Queequeg usually works on all sort of ships, spending a couple months home with Ishmael and then doing engineering for the next couple months away on the sea.
Tashtego is working on his master's in marine biology and unfortunatelly Ahab's his supervisor same as Pip except Ahab loves Pip's ideas but hates Tashtego's
Daggoo is on a scientific exchange from a university from his home country, he's just a researcher (as in, doesn't study or teach)
Fedallah is there even though he's like. Completely unrelated to marine biology. He's like a professional olympic-level archer but Ahab forged his papers to bring him aboard so that he can finally put that tracker on the Moby Dick.
The rest of the crew are a combo of researchers and regular sailor folk who are, y'know, needed for the ship to function as a ship.
Pip falls into the ocean multiple times while trying to take samples but is saved quickly every time. They just force him to essentially wear buoy marker attached to him at all times in case he was submerged and unseen.
