Queequeg catches a chill and then a fever, “crawling about amid that dampness and slime” as he helps remove the casks from the hold. He loses weight and seems near death. Having seen canoe coffins in Nantucket that reminded him of those used on his native isle, the harpooner asks the ship’s carpenter to shape him one. Trying the coffin for size, he is pleased with it but suddenly recalls some unnamed duty left undone ashore and decides to recover. Queequeg uses the coffin for a sea chest.
