Captain George Pollard Jr. is a 28-year-old with his first command on the whaleship Essex. Pollard is skilled enough to command a whaleship, but he lacks the authoritarian "fishiness" required for a captain to succeed. He makes his decisions through democratic consensus with his two officers and ends up overriding his own instincts, which results in the ordeal of the Essex. Born on July 18, 1791.