| Ascending to the quarterdeck, he checked in with the man assigned the afternoon watch. |
| We know that in those days a ship was commanded from the quarterdeck at the ship's stern. |
| But just before 8 a.m., the 19-year old Marine bugler looked up from his watch post on the ship's quarterdeck to see Japanese planes overhead. |
| Weeks of training on the quarterdeck had firmed the muscles, but minds were too easily seduced by the proffered friendship. |
| He turned and continued his pacing along the windward side of the quarterdeck, easily adjusting his stride to the pitch and roll of the ship. |
| Inside a tent on the quarterdeck, Ishmael meets Captain Peleg, an elderly gruff man, who is one of the two owners of the ship. |
