Moby-Dick Questions Ch. 54: This is the longest chapter in the book

This is the longest chapter in the book and the only one Melville published separately, before Moby-Dick.  How does the story come to Ishmael?  What information regarding Ishmael’s fate do you discover here?  Where did the incident aboard the Town-Ho take place and when?  What other major event in the novel took place at the same time and in the same location?  How would you compare the captain of the Town-Ho with the characters aboard the Pequod?  Who is he most like?  How does the Town-Ho story relate to the crew and events on the Pequod?  Recall Bulkington from page 17 and chs. 3 and 23; who on the Town-Ho is he most like?