In chapter 115, the Pequod gets an interesting interaction with the ship called “The Bachelor.” This ship is characterized as joyous and lucky—as they have an abundance of materials and spoils from whaling as they return home. This ship is particularly important in this moment because it is meant to contrast against the mood of the Pequod. Whereas the Bachelor has been able to fulfill its purpose as a whaling ship, the Pequod has yet to achieve their goal in killing the White whale. The Pequod is still bound by their mission, in contrast to the Bachelor who is sailing for home. In this scene, the ship they encounter is meant to be a representation of freedom, hence the name “The Bachelor.” A Bachelor, by definition, is someone who has not been married and is therefore “free” or available, in regard to dating. In the context of whaling, the Bachelor ship represents freedom in the sense that they are not bound by a particular mission—they achieved their goals, and they get to go home.
And thus, while the one ship went cheerily before the breeze, the other stubbornly fought against it; and so the two vessels parted; the crew of the Pequod looking with grave, lingering glances towards the receding Bachelor; but the Bachelor’s men never heeding their gaze for the lively revelry they were in.” (538).
In this moment, we witness the fleeting freedom of the Bachelor and the longingness of the crew. However, unlike the Bachelor, they are bound by Ahab’s continued obsession that prohibits them from the same type of freedom. The captain of the Bachelor even beckons Ahab to board his ship, yet Ahab rejects this, insisting on hunting the whale and asking the other captain if he’s seen it. Despite this generous offer, Ahab is blinded by his pursuit, and rejects this offer, and in a sense, he metaphorically forgoing freedom of any kind—imprisoning himself in his mad obsession. He doesn’t want freedom; he wants the White Whale by any means necessary. The brief encounter with the Bachelor shows us the current sanity of the current characters. With the crew slowly sinking into despair and their captain quickly descending into madness.
You’re so right to read the scene as you do and to see it is important. I wonder if you might zoom out a bit to proffer an interpretation of what the scene means, beyond the characters in it. In other words, is this about alternative realities or other possible choices? Does the presence of the scene prompt the reader to side with Starbucks in his questioning– and possible mutiny– of Ahab? What do you think is the relevance of all of this?
Something I’ve been paying attention to throughout the book is these meetings with other whale ships as they usually seem to serve as a glimpse into a different outcome. Most of these ships are not doomed by an obsessive monomaniacal captain, so whenever we have these interactions we see what it might be like without one. The ships they encounter in this week’s section also seem to progressively get more somber and depressing as they get closer to the whale. First they meet the jovial Bachelor, but the crew of the Pequod can only look on “with grave, lingering glances” at a jolly, homeward-bound craft. Their meetings with the Rachel and the Delight are posed more as warnings since they aren’t in the same celebratory mood as the Bachelor. I especially like the final comment from the Delight: “in vain, oh, ye strangers, ye fly our sad burial; ye but turn us your taffrail to show us your coffin!” (588). This scene is the opposite of the Pequod’s crew looking on at the Bachelor, as we have those of the Delight in mourning watching as another ship goes to meet a similar fate they just escaped.