Overview of the Gam
Chapter 53 of Moby-Dick pauses the narrative of the Pequod's voyage to define and celebrate one of the most distinctive customs of the American whaling industry: the gam. The chapter opens by explaining why Captain Ahab declined to board the whaler the Pequod had recently spoken. Ostensibly the rough weather discouraged a visit, but Ishmael reveals the deeper reason: Ahab refuses to socialize with any captain who cannot provide information about the White Whale. This antisocial behavior stands in stark contrast to the tradition Ishmael proceeds to describe at length.
Why Whalers Are the Most Sociable Ships
Ishmael argues that whaling vessels have more reason to be sociable than any other class of ship. Long absent from home, they carry letters and newspapers that may be months or years old, making every encounter a precious opportunity to exchange mail and intelligence about whale movements on the cruising grounds. He draws an analogy to strangers meeting in desolate places on land, such as the Pine Barrens of New York or Salisbury Plain in England, where even the most reserved traveler would stop to exchange news. At sea, with its "illimitable" emptiness, the impulse toward fellowship is even stronger, especially when the ships hail from the same port and the crews know each other personally.
Contrasts with Other Vessels
sharpens his portrait of whaling sociability by contrasting it with the behavior of other types of ships. Merchant vessels pass each other without a word, "like a brace of dandies in Broadway." Men-of-war engage in elaborate, empty formalities of flag-dipping and salutes that lack genuine warmth. Slave ships flee from one another as fast as possible. Pirates exchange only a grim tally of skulls before steering apart, mistrustful of each other's villainy. Against all of these, the "godly, honest, unostentatious, hospitable, sociable, free-and-easy whaler" stands out as the only ship that engages in the gam. Melville also notes a mild rivalry between English and American whalers, with the English affecting a "metropolitan superiority" that the Nantucketers dismiss with good humor, knowing they collectively kill far more whales.
Defining the Gam and Its Rituals
Ishmael provides a formal, dictionary-style definition: a gam is "a social meeting of two (or more) Whaleships, generally on a cruising-ground; when, after exchanging hails, they exchange visits by boats' crews, the two captains remaining, for the time, on board of one ship, and the two chief mates on the other." He laments that the word cannot be found in Dr. Johnson's dictionary or Noah Webster's, despite being in constant use among fifteen thousand American whalemen. The chapter closes with a vivid comic set piece describing the physical ordeal of a whaling captain during a gam: because the whaleboat has no stern seat and no tiller, the captain must stand upright in the rocking boat the entire time, wedged between oar and steering oar, his dignity requiring that he keep his hands in his trouser pockets rather than grab for support, even at the risk of toppling overboard.