Two of Pentacles

Meaning: Balance (Wikipedia)

Depiction: In his whaling boat, Flask stands balanced on Daggoo's shoulders, Daggoo bracing him with one arm, as he scans the sea. He holds an oversized doubloon in one hand, Daggoo holds the other in his free hand.

Text: Chapter 48- The First Lowering

“I can’t see three seas off; tip us up an oar there, and let me on to that.”

Upon this, Daggoo, with either hand upon the gunwale to steady his way, swiftly slid aft, and then erecting himself volunteered his lofty shoulders for a pedestal.

“Good a mast-head as any, sir. Will you mount?”

“That I will, and thank ye very much, my fine fellow; only I wish you fifty feet taller.”

Cirq' ulation Locale (Belgium)

Comments:  To modern eyes, this scene may give the appearance of  racial and rank-based domination, but reading this passage, I don’t get the sense that Daggoo is debasing himself to carry Flask on his shoulders; the text reinforces this ("The bearer looked nobler than the rider.").  Rather, it appears to be a sort of workplace parlor trick that the short guy and the big guy have discovered and revel in doing. It’s “their thing,” so to speak- their own personal spin on whale-hunting that they're known for among their shipmates. In the Starz Encore version of Moby Dick, it’s established at the beginning that Daggoo and Flask have had a long-term friendly working relationship, which seems consistent with how they are portrayed in the book.

Alternate Depiction: I've been reading  Raymond Weaver's Herman Melville, Mariner and Mystic (1921),which includes a description of the crow's nest having two loops so that two sailors can watch from different sides. Instantly, what came to mind was Queequeg's resolution to "get into the same watch" with Ishmael back in Ch. 12, as well as the  fact that the two loops form the same infinity shape depicted on the card. So this card  could alternatively show Queequeg and Ishmael, those two opposites magnetically drawn to each other, standing on the crow's nest at opposite sides yet holding hands, a pentacle on each loop.