During the voyage, the Pequod met another whaler, the Town-Ho. The two ships lay alongside and traded news.
A sailor from the Town-Ho began telling them about something that had happened aboard his ship not long ago.
An Unjust Whipping
That ship had an arrogant mate. He drove a strong, proud sailor into a corner over some small matter and whipped him unjustly.
The whipped sailor did not fight back on the spot. He only gave this warning.
“If you strike me, I will kill you.” (Chapter 54)
Revenge, Bided in Hiding
He hid himself for a while, waiting for his moment. Tension aboard the ship grew, at one point coming close to outright mutiny.
In the end the dispute was barely patched over through other sailors stepping in. On the surface, the mate and the sailor each returned to their posts.
At That Exact Moment
Not long after the dispute was settled, a whale appeared. The boats were lowered to chase it.
By chance, it was the mate’s own boat that the whale destroyed. He was killed on the spot.
Chance, or Repayment
The Town-Ho’s sailors, he said, kept talking about this long after. No one could say for certain whether it was mere chance, or the world paying back a wronged man in its own way.
Ishmael’s group listened quietly. No one was quick to offer an answer.
Today, The Whale’s Name
Ishmael later learned that the whale that struck the Town-Ho that day was none other than Moby Dick.
Once he knew that, the story carried a different weight for him. The question between chance and justice was no longer unrelated to the ship he himself now sailed on.