The fellowship of the craft is the driving force of seamen and their voyages, it is so important to have unwavering trust, unhindered response to command, and complete teamwork to properly run a ship, but perhaps it also just as important to that productivity; living in such isolation, to have a secure emotional backing. .
The fellowship, while not always thought of, is truly the most important part of a successful journey. It is the voyages foundation; taken for granted and usually the last thing standing, but if it falls apart, so does everything built upon it. Moby Dick's maniacal Captain Ahab understands the importance of the fellowship and uses it to bind the crew to him and his goals. He sees that their loyalty or the lack of it will make or break his one goal, to exact revenge on Moby Dick. His need for entire unity is proven when, upon gaining the backing of the crew he knows he must go further still, to win over, or at least bind the one fly in his ointment, Starbuck. "Ye who are now made parties to this indissoluble league. Ha, Starbuck! But the deed is done! Yon ratifying sun now waits to sit upon it. Drink, ye harpooners! Drink and swear, ye men that man the deathful whaleboat's bow-Death to Moby Dick!" (Melville, pg. 164) Even when faced with certain death at the hand of Ahab's obsession, the crew follows the orders given, as they were bound by the fellowship and previously taken oaths to do so. In Youth, Joseph Conrad uses comedy to explain the fellowship, it's importance and how difficult it is to break down. After the Judea finally, literally blows up, the shock drives the captain temporarily insane, to the point that he cannot recognize the event, noting nothing past the mysterious disappearance of the cabin table, and "do you know what he wanted next? Well, he wanted to trim the yards. Very placidly, and as if lost in thought, he insisted on having the foreyard squared.