Captain Ahab was a character in Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick.

He was described by Captain Jean-Luc Picard to Lily Sloane: "Ahab spent years, hunting the white whale that crippled him. A quest for vengeance. But in the end it destroyed him, and his ship." Lily Sloane had cited Ahab as a metaphor for Picard's obsessive behavior concerning the Borg - though when a cooled-down Picard, realizing she was right, quoted the book, Sloane admitted she had never read it. (Star Trek: First Contact)

When Qatai invited The Doctor to join him on his quest hunting the telepathic pitcher plant, The Doctor declined, stating that he wouldn't want to be an Ishmael to Qatai's Ahab. (VOY: "Bliss")