# Peter Coffin — Moby-Dick character guide

> Peter Coffin in Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** Peter, Coffin

**First appearance:** 0006-iii-the-spouter-inn

## Who they are

The landlord of the Spouter-Inn in New Bedford, who assigns Ishmael to share a bed with Queequeg.

## In the story

### [II: The Carpetbag](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/ii-the-carpetbag)

Mentioned as the proprietor of the Spouter-Inn, his name noted as ominously common in Nantucket.

### [III: The Spouter-Inn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/iii-the-spouter-inn)

The landlord of the Spouter-Inn, who arranges for Ishmael to share a bed with Queequeg and humorously planes a bench for him.

### [Breakfast](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/v-breakfast)

The 'grinning landlord' who calls everyone to breakfast ('Grub, ho!'), having previously joked with Ishmael about his bedfellow.

### [XIII: Wheelbarrow](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/xiii-wheelbarrow)

Mentioned as the landlord whose earlier 'cock and bull stories' about Queequeg had initially alarmed Ishmael.

### [Chowder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/xv-chowder)

Mentioned as the landlord of the Spouter-Inn who recommended the Try Pots and gave confusing directions.

### [Cetology](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/xxxii-cetology)

Mentioned in a speculative anecdote about the Narwhale's horn being used as an ice-piercer.

### [XCII: Ambergris](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/xcii-ambergris)

Referenced as a Nantucket-born captain who was examined by the English House of Commons on the subject of ambergris in 1791.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/characters/peter_coffin
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/characters