The whaling ship sunk by Moby Dick in the novel’s final chase is the Pequod. Captain Ahab turns the ship’s commercial voyage into a relentless pursuit of the white whale that previously took his leg.
During the climactic encounter, Moby Dick destroys Ahab’s boats, kills or scatters members of the crew, and then rams the Pequod. The ship sinks, taking Ahab and nearly everyone aboard with it. Ishmael survives by clinging to Queequeg’s coffin until the Rachel finds him.
The Rachel is a common source of confusion because it is present near the ending and rescues Ishmael; it is not the ship destroyed by Moby Dick. The Samuel Enderby and Jeroboam are other whaling ships encountered earlier in the voyage. The Pequod’s destruction also completes the novel’s central tragedy: Ahab’s private obsession annihilates the vessel and crew under his command.