Captains Courageous II: Match Quiz

Answer: Captain Ahab

"Moby-Dick; or, The Whale" was written by Herman Melville and published in 1851. Moby Dick was a white sperm whale which had bitten off Ahab's leg at the knee. The novel tells the story of Ahab's maniacal hunt for revenge against the whale aboard his ship, the "Pequod." Nicknamed "Old Thunder," Ahab's first name is never revealed.

The whale Moby Dick was inspired by an actual albino sperm whale known as Mocha Dick, which was most often sighted off the coast of Peru or Chile.

The end of the novel is based on the destruction of the whaler "Essex" by a sperm whale in 1820.

Answer: Merrill Stubing

"The Love Boat" was a romance sitcom featuring several story lines in each episode, using different guest stars each week along with six regular characters who made up the crew. Gavin McLeod was the captain, Merrill Stubing. The first seven seasons also included Bernie Kopell as Dr. Bricker, Fred Grandy as Purser "Gopher" Smith, Ted Lange as the bartender Isaac Washington, and Lauren Tewes as Cruise Director Julie McCoy.

Answer: Hendrick Van der Decken

The theme of the Flying Dutchman originated in 17th-Century nautical lore about a ghost ship that wandered the Seven Seas. The name Hendrick Van der Decken was introduced in 1821 in the first written version of the ghost ship story, printed in "Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine."

In 1855 Washington Irving published a version of the "Flying Dutchman" story entitled "The Flying Dutchman on Tappan Sea", using Ramhout van Dam as the captain's name.

Some feel that "Flying Dutchman" refers to the ship's captain, rather than the ship itself, as is the case with Richard Wagner's 1843 opera, in which the captain goes unnamed. Variations on the captain's name also include Vanderdecken and Van Straaten.

Answer: Philip Francis Queeg

Although the captain of the USS "Caine" in Herman Wouk's novel "The Caine Mutiny" and its film and drama adaptations, Queeg was technically not a captain, but a Lieutenant Commander. Nonetheless, he fits the general definition of a "captain," since he commanded a naval vessel.

Humphrey Bogart received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Lt. Commander Queeg in the 1954 film version of "The Caine Mutiny."

The actor Michael Caine (Maurice Mickelwhite) has said that he adopted "Caine" for his stage name from the inspiration of Bogart's role in the film.

Answer: Captain Nemo

Captain Nemo is an antihero created by Jules Verne and is the protagonist in two novels, 1870's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and 1874's "The Mysterious Island." Nemo, whose name means "Nobody", is the son of an Indian Rajah and even identifies himself as Prince Dakkar, but, like Captain Ahab in Melville's "Moby Dick," is not given a first name by his author.

The "Nautilus" is a submarine built by Nemo. When the USA built its first nuclear-powered submarine, it was also named the "Nautilus."

Answer: Captain Pugwash

Captain Pugwash is a fictional pirate and star of a children's series on British television first shown in 1957. A later color series appeared in 1974 and an animated series in 1998. The captain's full name is Horatio Pugwash and his ship is the "Black Pig." His chief adversary is Cut-Throat Jake, captain of the "Flying Dustman." Captain Pugwash's first-ever appearances was in a comic strip in 1950.

Answer: Cap'n Crunch

Cap'n Crunch is a corn-based cereal manufactured by Quaker Oats. Its mascot is a cartoon character named Cap'n Crunch, and is not really an entertainment figure unless one includes cereal commercials as a form of entertainment. Nonetheless, Quaker Oats has given the character the full name of Horatio Magellan Crunch and identifies his ship as the "Guppy."

Wikipedia's Cap'n Crunch page identifies 28 variations on the original cereal.

Answer: Jean-Luc Picard

Jean-Luc Picard, played on the TV series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" by English-born actor Patrick Stewart, is the captain of the USS "Enterprise" (NC 1701-D).

The Picard character has also been portrayed by David Birkin (as a younger man), Tom Hardy in 2002's "Star Trek: Nemesis" (as a younger clone), and Marcus Nash (also as a younger man).

While the original "Star Trek" television series only lasted three years (1966-69), "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had a run of seven years (1987-94). Later "Star Trek" series included "Deep Space Nine," which also ran for seven years (1993-99), "Voyager," which also lasted seven seasons (1995-2001), and "Enterprise," which lasted five seasons from 2001 through 2005).

Answer: Marko Aleksandrovich Ramius

"The Hunt for Red October" was the first novel by Tom Clancy. In it, Soviet submarine captain Ramius wishes to turn the sub over to the United States. The character Ramius was Lithuanian.

In 1990 the book was made into a movie starring Sean Connery as Ramius. It was nominated for three Oscars at the 63rd Academy Awards, winning for Best Sound Editing. Connery was nominated for Best Actor at the British Academy Film Awards.

Answer: Captain Ralls

John Wayne played the role of Captain Ralls in the 1948 adventure film "Wake of the Red Witch." The film was based on the novel of the same name by Garland Roark. "Red Witch," a Literary Guild selection published in 1946, was Roark's first novel, followed by "Fair Wind to Java," the first two of 15 nautical adventure novels published between 1946 and 1967.