In Chapter 133: The Chase–First Day, Ahab sights Moby Dick at the same time as all three lookouts, and yet claims the doubloon for himself, robbing Tashtego of a victory that all aboard the pequad were motivated to claim from the start of the voyage: 

“‘I saw him almost that same instant, sir, that Captain Ahab did, and I cried out,’ said Tashtego. ‘Not the same instant; not the same—no, the doubloon is mine, Fate reserved the doubloon for me. I only; none of ye could have raised the White Whale first(p.595).” 

This comes as no surprise, as at this time Ishmael has gone over the concept of Fast-Fish loose fish and the seedy legal territory of ownership. Ahab has weaponized the promise of the doubloon as treasure, as a promise of wealth and accomplishment, and after having taken advantage of the labor and loyalty of the men on board, shown again that no one matters aboard the pequad, no one own the right to ownership, but him.

At the same time, this moment in which Ahab made a pact with the men on board, which he himself dishonored, is a call to the way the United States has a history of using agreements as a way to take advantage of Indigenous American tribes, and disregard treaties in favor of capitalism and industry. This isn’t a new occurance, a man in power taking advantage of the people he has made promise too, and Melville is reminding his readers of our nation founded on lies and land grants.

Besides Ahab has no need for the promise of wealth, when what he means is to become legend, and the men on the ship are not men, but a means to an end in killing Moby Dick, and attaining his glory. He reminds them once again of their place as he pursues the whale, and with it death, threatening his men: the first thing that but offers to jump from this boat I stand in, that thing I harpoon. Ye are not other men, but my arms and my legs; and so obey me.— Where’s the whale? gone down again.”

Following this vein of thought, Melville using the Pequod as a means to talk about the nation state discusses the foundations of American history, and our legacy, one frought with the bodies of sacrificial lambs, or of those deemed expendable or standing in the way of the government and manifest destiny.