The troubled Spanish merchant and slave ship featured centrally in Herman Melville's maritime novella is named the San Dominick, though in the real-life historical accounts and primary records compiled by Captain Amasa Delano upon which the story is based, the actual vessel was named the Tryal. Melville chose the name San Dominick deliberately to evoke rich historical, religious, and thematic undertones, connecting the doomed ship's claustrophobic decks to deeper allegories regarding human bondage, divine judgment, and moral corruption.