American writer Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick in 1851 but it took decades before finally it was regarded as a great American novel, and worthy of its place amongst the greatest texts of humankind. It recounts the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of a whaling ship seeking vengeance on Moby Dick, the white whale that had bitten off Ahab's leg on a previous voyage. "The Encantadas or Enchanted Isles" are a series of "sketches," or short prose works, about the Galapagos Islands. They are primarily written from Melville's own experience sailing around the islands.