New Bedford has unveiled the winning design for a statue of “Moby-Dick” author Herman Melville, to be installed outside the Seamen’s Bethel.
A committee selected the design by sculptor Stephanie Rocknack from among 41 proposals.
It shows Melville standing calm and composed, with swirls of seawater at his feet and three whale ribs emerging from the water.
Rocknack calls the statue “Melville and Jonah’s Journey” in reference to Melville’s use, in “Moby-Dick,” of the story of Jonah and the whale.
A combination of public and private funds, including a contribution from The New Bedford Port Society, will pay for the statue. The Port Society maintains the Seamen’s Bethel, which inspired the Whaleman's Chapel in “Moby-Dick.”
The statue is expected to be installed in 12-15 months.
Parts of the 1851 novel of Ahab’s obsessive quest to kill the white whale are set in New Bedford.
Rocknack’s previous works include the Edgar Allan Poe statue in Boston. She is a professor of philosophy at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York.
