Born and raised in New York, Herman Melvill, later changed to Melville, was one of the children born to Maria and Allan. Being a well-educated boy, Herman attended school as a child, and when he became a teen, he attended Albany Academy. Being only thirteen years old when his father died, Herman had to get a job in order to help provide for his family. When he was eighteen, he moved out to Massachusetts to become a school teacher, but it did not take long for him to realize that this was not an enjoyable career for him. Moving back to New York shortly thereafter, he became a crew member on a merchant ship that sailed from the states to London. Herman left the merchant sailing and in 1841, he began working on the whaling ship the Acushnet. When
