KAPITEL 53. The Gam.
This chapter explores the custom of “gamming” – the social meetings between whaling vessels at sea. It opens with an examination of why Captain Ahab refused to board another whaler despite apparently having the opportunity, before delving into the broader context of whaling vessel customs and the unique social practices that distinguish whalemen from other maritime professions.
Ahab’s Refusal to Board
The official reason given for Ahab’s decision not to board the whaler they had spoken was the threatening weather. However, the text suggests that even favorable conditions might not have induced him to visit, based on his subsequent conduct in similar situations. The true motivation appears to be that Ahab only sought association with other captains when he could extract useful information relevant to his singular obsession with hunting the white whale. He had no interest in mere social interaction unless it served his purpose.
Whaler Meeting Customs
Drawing a parallel between encounters in wilderness areas on land and meetings on the open sea, Melville argues that whaling vessels have the most natural reason to be sociable of all ships sailing separately. Just as travelers crossing the Pine Barrens or Salisbury Plain would exchange salutations and news, ships meeting at remote locations like Fanning’s Island or the King’s Mills would not merely hail each other but would come into close, friendly contact. This is especially expected when vessels share the same home port and their captains, officers, and crew members know each other personally, giving them shared domestic matters to discuss.
News Exchange at Sea
The practical benefits of these maritime meetings extend beyond mere socializing. Ships bound outward might carry letters or at least newspapers with more recent dates than the blurred files aboard long-cruising vessels. In return, the outbound ship would receive the latest whaling intelligence about their destination grounds – information of utmost importance. Even when two ships have been equally long absent from home, they may exchange letters transferred from other vessels they encountered, along with current whaling news, all contributing to the agreeable social interaction that characterizes these meetings.
English and American Whalers
Though Americans and English share a language, meetings between their whaling vessels occur relatively infrequently, and when they do, a certain shyness often exists between them. The English are described as rather reserved, while Americans don’t fancy that quality in others. The English whalers sometimes affect metropolitan superiority over American counterparts, regarding Nantucketers as provincial sea-peasants. Yet Melville notes that this alleged superiority is hard to justify, since Yankee whalers collectively kill more whales in one day than all English whalers combined accomplish in ten years. The Nantucketer takes this minor foible in stride, knowing he has his own imperfections.
Contrast with Other Vessels
Other types of vessels display strikingly different behavior at sea. Merchant ships often pass each other without any word of recognition, cutting each other like fashionable dandies in Broadway and perhaps criticizing each other’s rigging. Men-of-War perform elaborate ceremonies of bowing, scraping, and ensign-ducking that lack genuine good-will. Slave-ships are in such haste they flee from each other. Pirates, when meeting, ask “how many skulls?” in the same spirit that whalers ask “how many barrels?” – but after this exchange, they immediately steer apart, having no desire to see much of each other’s villainous likenesses.
Definition of Gam
The word “Gam” appears in no dictionaries – Dr. Johnson never knew it, and Noah Webster’s ark does not hold it – yet it has been in constant use among approximately fifteen thousand American whalers for many years. Melville provides a formal definition: a social meeting of two or more whaleships, generally on a cruising-ground, during which the vessels exchange hails, then exchange visits by boat crews, with the two captains remaining aboard one ship while the two chief mates remain aboard the other.
Gamming Protocol
When two whalers meet in decent weather, they arrange a gam – a practice utterly unknown to other ships, which would only mock the term if they heard it. The complete process involves both vessels coming alongside, exchanging formal salutations, then sending boat crews to visit the other ship. The captains from both vessels meet on one ship while the chief mates gather on the other, allowing for extended social interaction and the exchange of news, letters, and whaling intelligence.
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