{"id":"01KFNR88DWTT2YPDCE41520QSM","cid":"bafkreibjs7ur3vghx3q2fd3ipeq32f6ict66igomrp6s474mlhsyyla5ri","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9693,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.438Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":9649,"text":"Certainly, it needs a definition, and should be incorporated into the\r\nLexicon. With that view, let me learnedly define it.\r\n\r\nGAM. NOUN—_A social meeting of two_ (_or more_) _Whaleships, generally\r\non a cruising-ground; when, after exchanging hails, they exchange\r\nvisits by boats’ crews: the two captains remaining, for the time, on\r\nboard of one ship, and the two chief mates on the other._\r\n\r\nThere is another little item about Gamming which must not be forgotten\r\nhere. All professions have their own little peculiarities of detail; so\r\nhas the whale fishery. In a pirate, man-of-war, or slave ship, when the\r\ncaptain is rowed anywhere in his boat, he always sits in the stern\r\nsheets on a comfortable, sometimes cushioned seat there, and often\r\nsteers himself with a pretty little milliner’s tiller decorated with\r\ngay cords and ribbons. But the whale-boat has no seat astern, no sofa\r\nof that sort whatever, and no tiller at all. High times indeed, if\r\nwhaling captains were wheeled about the water on castors like gouty old\r\naldermen in patent chairs. And as for a tiller, the whale-boat never\r\nadmits of any such effeminacy; and therefore as in gamming a complete\r\nboat’s crew must leave the ship, and hence as the boat steerer or\r\nharpooneer is of the number, that subordinate is the steersman upon the\r\noccasion, and the captain, having no place to sit in, is pulled off to\r\nhis visit all standing like a pine tree. And often you will notice that\r\nbeing conscious of the eyes of the whole visible world resting on him\r\nfrom the sides of the two ships, this standing captain is all alive to\r\nthe importance of sustaining his dignity by maintaining his legs. Nor\r\nis this any very easy matter; for in his rear is the immense projecting\r\nsteering oar hitting him now and then in the small of his back, the\r\nafter-oar reciprocating by rapping his knees in front. He is thus\r\ncompletely wedged before and behind, and can only expand himself\r\nsideways by settling down on his stretched legs; but a sudden, violent\r\npitch of the boat will often go far to topple him, because length of\r\nfoundation is nothing without corresponding breadth. Merely make a\r\nspread angle of two poles, and you cannot stand them up. Then, again,\r\nit would never do in plain sight of the world’s riveted eyes, it would\r\nnever do, I say, for this straddling captain to be seen steadying\r\nhimself the slightest particle by catching hold of anything with his\r\nhands; indeed, as token of his entire, buoyant self-command, he\r\ngenerally carries his hands in his trowsers’ pockets; but perhaps being\r\ngenerally very large, heavy hands, he carries them there for ballast.\r\nNevertheless there have occurred instances, well authenticated ones\r\ntoo, where the captain has been known for an uncommonly critical moment\r\nor two, in a sudden squall say—to seize hold of the nearest oarsman’s\r\nhair, and hold on there like grim death.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84FFK0EXN6YH6QDP62GD","peer_label":"53","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84FFK0EXN6YH6QDP62GD","peer_label":"53","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR81RMVAX2BBMMBW51V97D","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR0H0Q791Y1SMZWEQ09FGV","peer_label":"Moby Dick","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KFNR88EGWVM4DGNZMBD8DQEV","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.116Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:19.031Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}