I feel a bit of a thicko asking this but I’m honestly confused. I was expecting Ahab and the whale to both perish together but that isn’t at all clear.
Ahab pierces the whale with a harpoon – and there’s no reason to think it will be more successful that all the other ones. The line catches him round the neck and strangles him and pull him out of the boat. The others in the boat look round and see the Pequod sinking rammed by the whale.
Does the whale swim away to live another day?