Installers have been working this week to place a new statue of famed “Moby-Dick” author Herman Melville outside the Seamen’s Bethel in downtown New Bedford.
Melville visited the chapel before sailing on the voyage that would inspire “Moby-Dick.”
The bronze statue depicts Melville standing with swirls of seawater at his feet and three whale ribs emerging from the water.
Sculptor Stefanie Rocknak is known for the Edgar Allan Poe statue in Boston, among others.
Her design for New Bedford is titled “Melville and Jonah’s Journey.”
The name refers to the sermon on Jonah and the Whale in the Whaleman’s Chapel scene in “Moby-Dick.”
In the scene, Father Mapple says God wanted Jonah to “preach the truth to the face of falsehood.”
The city is planning to unveil and dedicate the Melville statue Aug. 14 at 11 a.m.
