Moby-Dick Ch. 15: Chowder

Summary

The Moss anchors late in the evening. Ishmael and Queequeg go ashore for supper and a bed. Peter Coffin at the Spouter-Inn sent them to his cousin's hotel, the Try Pots, famous for chowder.

Peter's directions were confusing. They were supposed to pass a yellow warehouse, then a white church, then turn a corner. Queequeg and Ishmael argued about which side was starboard and larboard. They got lost in the dark until they found a sign they could not miss: two huge black pots hanging from a mast that looked like a gallows.

Ishmael gets nervous. His innkeeper was named Coffin. The chapel had tombstones. Now he sees gallows horns, one for each of them. But Mrs. Hussey appears under a red lamp. She is scolding a man in a purple shirt. She seats them and asks only one question: "Clam or Cod?"

Ishmael jokes about a cold clam. She hears the word clam and yells "clam for two" to the kitchen. A wonderful hot clam chowder arrives. Ishmael likes it so much he shouts "cod" at the kitchen door. Soon they get cod chowder too.

The Try Pots is completely fish-themed. Chowder boils all day. The yard is paved with clam shells. Mrs. Hussey wears a necklace of cod bones. Even the milk tastes fishy because the owner's cow eats fish scraps and walks with cod heads on its feet.

At bedtime Mrs. Hussey stops Queequeg and takes his harpoon. A whaler named young Stiggs came home from a bad voyage with only three barrels of oil. He died in her back room with the harpoon in his side. Since then, no weapons upstairs. She will keep Queequeg's harpoon until morning.

She asks clam or cod for breakfast. Ishmael says both, and adds smoked herring for variety.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Reading House Rules Behind Hospitality

Generous food and strict boundaries often come from the same host who survived someone else's disaster. The Try Pots landlady serves two magnificent chowders, then stops Queequeg on the stairs because Stiggs died in her back room with a harpoon in his side.

Before you treat a boarding-house limit as insult, ask what story turned it into policy and decide whether the bed is worth the trade.

Coming Up in Chapter 16

Fed and bedded on Nantucket, Ishmael must finally find a ship. Tomorrow he walks the docks to meet the Pequod and the men who will own his next three years at sea. Yojo orders Ishmael to choose the ship alone while Queequeg keeps a fasting day with his god in their room, tomahawk pipe and sacrificial shavings behind a shut door.

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Original text

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Chapter 15

Chowder

Chowder. It was quite late in the evening when the little Moss came snugly to anchor, and Queequeg and I went ashore; so we could attend to no business that day, at least none but a supper and a bed. The landlord of the Spouter-Inn had recommended us to his cousin Hosea Hussey of the Try Pots, whom he asserted to be the proprietor of one of the best kept hotels in all Nantucket, and moreover he had assured us that Cousin Hosea, as he called him, was famous for his chowders. In short, he plainly hinted that we could…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

10 minutes

Feeding vs. Forbidden

List one place that welcomed you generously (food, lodging, access) and one thing you could not bring or do there because of a past incident. Write whether the rule felt fair once you knew the story.

Consider:

•What disaster or near-miss likely created the rule?
•Did you comply without argument or push back?
•Would you set the same boundary if you were the host?

Journaling Prompt

Write about a house rule that annoyed you until you learned why it existed.

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Chowder

Summary