We learn more about sailing customs of the time in these chapters. Of equal interest are the continuing insights into the characters of Ahab and Ishmael. But first we must understand the definition of a "gam."
In the chapter of that name, Ishmael explains that a gam is a "social meeting of two (or more) ships, generally on a cruising ground." The crews visit each other, the two captains on one ship and the chief mates on the other. Newspapers might be passed from the ship most recently in port. Likewise, the outward-bound vessel might have letters for some of the other ship's crew. In exchange, the ship longer at sea reports its sightings of whales. The area around the Cape of Good Hope is populated by more ships than any other similar region in the world, we are told, and the American whalers especially enjoy a good gam. An exception is Ahab who is interested only in the answer to one question: "Hast seen the White Whale?" The Pequod meets several other whalers on its journey halfway around the world; the monomaniacal Ahab has only the one interest in each. But he does allow a gam with the Town-Ho, which has seen the whale.
