Redburn, His first Voyage: "Truth is in things and not in the mind"

Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1st, 1819 the third of eight children. At age 7 he contracted scarlet fever which was to permanently diminish his eyesight. By 12 his Father, bankrupted by a failed fur business with the embargo's of the 1812 war with England, died. The family was left penniless. He was briefly able to attend again the Albany Academy from October 1836 to March 1837, where he studied the classics. After a failed stint as a surveyor he signed on to go to sea...