Which Pequod officer is the third mate in Moby-Dick?

Which Pequod officer is the third mate in Moby-Dick? The answer is Flask. He is the youngest-ranking of the Pequod’s three principal mates, following Starbuck as chief mate and Stubb as second mate.

Flask is described as a short, sturdy sailor from Tisbury on Martha’s Vineyard. The crew nicknames him “King-Post,” comparing his compact, powerful build to a short piece of structural timber used to brace ships. Unlike the cautious Starbuck, Flask is notably aggressive toward whales and treats whaling as a personal contest.

Each mate is paired with a harpooneer in the ship’s “knights and squires” arrangement. Starbuck works with Queequeg, Stubb with Tashtego, and Flask with Daggoo, the enormous African harpooneer. Their contrasting sizes make Flask and Daggoo one of the novel’s memorable pairings.

Readers sometimes select Stubb because he is the more prominent second mate, or Peleg because he is associated with the Pequod’s command. Neither is correct: Flask is specifically identified as the third mate.