The Author

Herman Melville was born to a merchant New York family in 1819.  Melville began his seafaring adventures in 1839 and sailed the Atlantic and the South Seas.  In his mid-20's Melville began to write about his experiences at sea and his short works gained him notable attention from the public and literary world.  When Moby Dick was published in 1851, few critics recognized its brilliance and by 1855 Melville began to lose confidence in his abilities as a writer.  
Melville secured a stable income working as a customs inspector on the New York City docks once he concluded that he was not able to support himself or his family with his writing.
Melville died in relative obscurity in 1891 at the age of 72.


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