Herman Melville

Herman Melville was born on August 1, 1819 in New York City, New York, USA.

Went to sea in his youth, as a cabin boy aboard the whaler 'Acushnet' (1841-42). He deserted his ship at the Marquesas Islands and lived among cannibals. Boarded the Australian whaler 'Lucy Ann' and left at Papeete, for a while becoming a beachcomber. Returned to the U.S. signed on as a seaman aboard the frigate 'United States' (1843-44). His early book "Typee" (1846) is based on these experiences.

Children: Malcolm Melville, born February 16 1849; Stanwix Melville, born October 22 1851; Elizabeth Melville, born 1853; and Frances Melville, born March 2 1855.

American poet and novelist, whose best-known work, "Moby Dick" (1851), became basis for several films.

Worked as a customs inspector on New York docks from 1866 to 1885.

He was a writer, known for The Enigma of Benito Cereno, Moby Dick and The Sea Beast (1926). He was married to Elizabeth Shaw.

The ubiquitous cartoon character "Nude Dude", who advertised the eponymous brand of truss in comic books and men's magazines in the 1950s, was based on a linocut portrait of Herman Melville from the cover-art of his 1849 novel "Redburn". The complete title of the autobiographical bildungsroman cum adventure tale, published in two volumes in 1849, was "Redburn: His First Voyage, Being the Sailor-Boy, Confessions and Reminiscences of the Son-of-a-Gentleman, In the Merchant Service".

Pictured on a 20¢ US commemorative postage stamp issued in his honor, 1 August 1984.

"Moby Dick" at the Lookingglass Theatre Company with The Actors Gymnasium in Chicago, Illinois was awarded the 2015 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Large Play Production.