### Clue: Early on, a harpooner and boy? (4)
### Answer: AHAB 
 ### Explanation: Definition: Early on, a harpooner and boy?
First letters ('early on') of '**A** **H**arpooner **A**nd **B**oy'. In *Moby Dick*, Captain AHAB of the Pequod first took to sea at the age of 18 as a boy-harpooner. A first-rate &lit.