Chapter 1 - The Town-Ho's Story Summary

The narrator tells a sea story to a group of Spaniards—the events described transpired prior of the opening of the narrative. The unnamed narrator is a seaman aboard an unnamed commercial whaler (presumably the Pequod). The vessel encounters the Town-Ho, a whaler returning to port. The two ships exchange news at length, even exchanging a few crewmen for a period of time. Some of Town-Ho's harpooners converse at length with Tashtego, one of the narrator's ship's harpooners. The narrator speaks with several crewmen from the Town-Ho. The Town-Ho is crewed by only a handful of men, and very few of them are Caucasian.

The narrator pieces together the entire story of events leading up to the Town-Ho's situation. The ship had enjoyed a prosperous voyage and was full of sperm oil. Among the...