The plot of the novel is largely based on a real case that happened with the American whaling ship Essex. The vessel with a displacement of 238 tons left for fishing from a port in Massachusetts in 1819. For nearly a year and a half, the crew beat the whales in the South Pacific until one large (estimated to be about 26 meters long with a normal size of about 20 meters) put an end to it. On November 20, 1820, in the Pacific Ocean, a whaling ship was rammed several times by a giant whale.
The novel is also based on Melville's own experience in whaling - in 1840 he sailed as a cabin boy on the whaling ship Akushnet, on which he spent more than a year and a half. Some of his then acquaintances ended up on the pages of the novel as characters, for example, Melvin Bradford, one of the co-owners of "Akushnet", was shown in the novel under the name of Bildad, co-owner of "Pequod"