FOREWORD. 



Persistent inquiry for the volume of her father's famous 

 old whaling stories, "The Gam", now long out of print, 

 has led Miss Eobbins to believe that a new edition would 

 be welcome in New Bedford and, indeed, wherever there is 

 interest in the most picturesque industry of the Atlantic 

 coast. 



It is particularly appropriate that Miss Eobbins should 

 get out the fresh edition, not only because Captain Charles 

 H. Eobbins was her father, but because she belongs in 

 such a singular sense to the old whaling days, having been 

 born on board the Bark Thomas Pope, on one of her long 

 voyages. Geographically, Miss Eobbins would be hard put 

 to it to name her birthplace. But ask her in seaman's 

 latitude and longitude and she can tell to a degree ! 



The rousing old stories of whale-chasing raise many a 

 question in the minds of the reader which the former 

 volume did not attempt to answer. It has seemed worth 

 while to round out the story prepared from Captain Bob- 

 bins' yarns and from his old log with some history of the 

 rise and fall of the fascinating industry of whaling. To 

 this new matter has been added a -set of superb pictures, 

 reproductions from photographs taken from the life — 

 and death — of the sperm whale, which will make this edi- 

 tion a distinct contribution to the scanty literature of 

 whaling. 



In the former edition all explanation of the odd title, 

 THE GAM, was deferred to a chapter way over toward 

 the back of the book. And as the words must have a 



