In honor of Herman Melville's birthday (August 1), there is an annual Moby-Dick Marathon at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, on the decks of the
Charles W. Morgan, the only surviving 19th century American wooden whaling vessel.
If you're there for the marathon, you get to sleep aboard deck!
At noon on July 31, a reenactor dressed as Melville recites the first chapter. Then people take turns reading each chapter. Some veterans are attached to particular chapters; they read those every year. One of my friends writes down which chapters he reads each year, as his goal is to eventually have read every single one out loud. You also get fun bookmarks!
I also got a photo with him the next day
This event goes on all day and all night. You don't have to stay on board the entire time. Last year, my friends and I bailed to get a delicious seafood dinner (and ice cream!) in Mystic. But we returned for the long night's haul. My intention was to pull my weight during the wee hours of the night, but no, I conked out quickly. My friends apparently just pushed me to the side of the inflatable mattress when they were catching quick naps.
A reluctant early morning wake up for my friend Mr. J
So, an interesting feature of this event is that even though it's a 24-hour long marathon, it only takes 22.5 hours to read the whole book. Mystic staff members fill in the gaps through the morning of August 1 by doing demonstrations of how to work the ship.
From the "how-to-lower-a-boat" demonstration
More tourists start coming on board as it gets closer to noon. Finally, the reenactor shows back up again and recites the Epilogue. And then, there's cake! The Mystic website makes sure to point out that it's "
a great, white cake."
Mmmm, call me delicious!
Pro-tip: They have both chocolate and vanilla. Because I'm a greedy little grummit, I made sure to get a slice of each.
Unfortunately because the marathon ends on a workday, I can't make it this year. But I'll be watching snippets of it on Mystic's live feed, and you should too!
