Who was queequeg in Moby Dick?

He get very sick on board the boat and would not allow anyone to help him.

It's really unfortunate that this answer is what comes up first, because it's incorrect. Q. doesn't die of his illness, but rises from his bed of pain and goes back to work. He does die when the Pequod sinks; his coffin, repurposed as a lifebuoy, is what saves Ishmael from following his bff to a watery grave.