Sure he could write about whales, but could Melville write about accounting?

Then, just when you think "Moby-Dick" is about to become a collection of some of the most striking and beautiful essays ever written - one of the whalemen spots a whale, and they lower the boats, and Moby-Dick becomes an incredible story of action - which Melville narrates with such skill and precision, such deft and strange observation, as Stubb's whaleboat pursues the whale, the whale dives, they wait, Stubb smokes his inevitable pipe, what a great device!, and then they're closer and, hard as it is to believe, the whale doesn't stand a chance - Tashtogg (?) hits him with the lance and then the powder him with blows - blood's flowing everywhere, and the little whaleboats get knocked about - the whole thing is incredble, hard to believe, and then you wonder what the hell are they going to do with the whale, but of course Melville will explain that, too, in great detail. What great material - it's amazing more didn't write about it, but just a we have only a few soldiers who can write well about war, how many whalemen could also write?, and the whole industry had only a short life - we're so lucky that Melville went to sea. Thought it's apparent that Melville could write well about any profession, right? As a joke, you might say: could he have written about accounting? Answer: Yes. Bartleby the Scrivener, qv. But in whaling/Moby-Dick he found the perfect vehicle for his style, his temperament, his imagination - though it is clearly a novel well ahead of its time, as noted previously, it is amazing that it almost died in obscurity - how could at least some readers not have seen its greatness?