Herman Melville

Mardi Herman Melville

Mardi, and a Voyage Thither is the third book by American writer Herman Melville, first published in London in 1849. This edition includes the two volumes. The narrator of the story, a young American sailor, is picked up at Ravavai, a Pacific island, by a whaling vessel, the Arcturion. The voyage of the Arcturion is not a successful one, and when the ship begins to head for the cold climate of the Bay of Kamchatka, the young narrator and his special friend in the forecastle, Jarl, decide to leave the ship. Knowing the captain will not land them anywhere, they provision a small boat and in it escape from the ship under cover of darkness. Heading westward, the two men hope to reach some hospitable islands.