This Week in History

November 14, 1851, Herman Melville’s classic American novel, Moby-Dick, was first published in the United States. The novel captures Melville’s real-life experiences aboard a whaling ship. Melville was a crew member aboard the whaling ship Acushnet, and departed from New Bedford, Massachusetts on January 3, 1841.

Melville was 21 years old when he signed on in December 1840, he never completed the journey with the ship. They sailed around Cape Horn and across the Pacific Ocean. Melville and another crew member deserted in July 1842 when the ship was stopped at Nuku Hiva, one of the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific.

Source(s): National Archives

Compiled by Bob Valen