Melville employs the literary device of irony while describing the gam with the fragrantly titled Bouton-de Rose. There is irony in the name of the ship, the biography of the captain, Stubb's exchange with the captain, and the nature of (versus the source of) ambergris. In each case, the circumstance reveals a surprise, often the opposite of what might be expected.
First, the ship is French, and its name evokes not only a certain continental air of romance but also, literally, a beautiful flower with an attractive fragrance. What the crew of the Pequod finds is a ship with two decaying whales attached, the foul odor so strong that the Rose-Bud is smelled even before it is seen. The captain is a novice seaman, on his first voyage, having worked as a cologne manufacturer previously. He should have cut these whales loose long ago — or never taken them.
