seated on the transom was what seemed to me a most uncommon and surprising figure. it turned out to be captain bildad, who along with captain peleg was one of the largest owners of the vessel; the other shares, as is sometimes the case in these ports, being held by a crowd of old annuitants; widows, fatherless children, and chancery wards; each owning about the value of a timber head, or a foot of plank, or a nail or two in the ship. people in nantucket invest their money in whaling vessels, the same way that you do yours in approved state stocks bringing in good interest.