The Diversity of the Crew on the Picoid

The crew of Moby Dick is more diverse probably than any historic whaling ship was. English tended to be the lingua franca, although there were many Cape Verdean sailors who would largely be speaking Portuguese. Mill made a very specific choice to make the harpooners these three racial archetypes. He refers to the crew of the Picoid as the meanest mariners, renegades and castaways that he's going to elevate for the world.