Moby-Dick Ch. 115: The Pequod Meets The Bachelor

Herman Melville

The Pequod Meets The Bachelor

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Summary

A few weeks after Ahab's harpoon was welded, a jolly ship called the Bachelor sails down before the wind. She is a Nantucket whaler heading home with her last cask of oil wedged in and her hatches bolted shut. Streamers fly from the mastheads. A whale jaw hangs from the bowsprit. Barrels of sperm oil are lashed everywhere, even in the tops. The crew jokes that everything on board is full of oil except the captain's pantaloons pockets, which he keeps empty to stick his hands in with smug pride.

Drums roar on the forecastle. Mates dance with Polynesian girls. Fiddlers play in a boat slung between the masts. The crew even tears down the try-works brick and throws it into the sea like they are pulling down a prison. Their captain stands on the quarter-deck, master of all the fun. On the Pequod Ahab stands shaggy and black with stubborn gloom. As the ships cross paths, one crew celebrates the past and the other dreads the future.

The Bachelor captain shouts come aboard and lifts a bottle. Ahab asks if he has seen the White Whale. The other man laughs and says he does not believe in Moby Dick. Ahab says he is too damned jolly and asks if he lost any men. The answer is only two islanders. Ahab mutters how familiar a fool is. He calls the Pequod an empty ship outward bound while the Bachelor is full and homeward. He orders all sail into the wind. The Pequod crew watch the party ship leave with grave eyes. Ahab pulls out a small vial of Nantucket sand and stares from the vial to the receding ship.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Naming Full-Ship vs Empty-Ship Missions

Contrast clarifies choices. The Bachelor fills every container with sperm and drums while Ahab calls himself an empty ship outward bound, too damned jolly at the invite, clutching Nantucket sand as homeward joy sails away.

Before you force your team to smile at a peer's parade, let grave lingering looks happen and say which cargo you are actually carrying, because full and empty are mission statements here, not luck.

Coming Up in Chapter 116

The day after the Bachelor passes, the Pequod catches a fair wind and kills four whales in one fight. At sunset Ahab watches one die as it slowly turns its head toward the sun in a last homage that deepens his gloom.

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Original text

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Chapter 115

The Pequod Meets The Bachelor

The Pequod Meets The Bachelor. And jolly enough were the sights and the sounds that came bearing down before the wind, some few weeks after Ahab’s harpoon had been welded. It was a Nantucket ship, the Bachelor, which had just wedged in her last cask of oil, and bolted down her bursting hatches; and now, in glad holiday apparel, was joyously, though somewhat vain-gloriously, sailing round among the widely-separated ships on the ground, previous to pointing her prow for home. The three men at her mast-head wore long streamers of narrow red bunting at their hats; from the stern, a…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

10 minutes

Full or Empty

When did a peer's full ship pass your empty outward-bound team?

Consider:

•Too jolly?
•Losses asked?
•Sand jar?

Journaling Prompt

Write about naming your cargo without faking the parade.

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The Pequod Meets The Bachelor

Summary