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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the sea promises a fresh start, but gives you hard work, bitter men and shattered dreams?
Wellingborough Redburn leaves a family fallen on hard times and signs aboard the Highlander, bound from New York to Liverpool. He wants adventure and a place of his own. As the lowest-ranking boy aboard, he faces scant pay, cold weather and Jackson, a sickly sailor who rules through fear.
Liverpool offers no simple escape. With his father's old guidebook in hand, Redburn explores a city that refuses to match his expectations. Harry Bolton brings charm and the lure of a riskier world. In Herman Melville's sea novel, an older narrator looks back on the boy whose hopes meet the harsh facts of working life.
What you’ll discover
- A boy among sailors Step aboard the Highlander, where Redburn's dreams meet the demands of daily work.
- Fear beneath the sails Meet Jackson, whose failing body does nothing to soften his hold over the crew.
- A guidebook and a city Walk Liverpool with Redburn as his father's book meets streets full of misery.
- Charm with a risk Encounter Harry Bolton, whose polished manners draw Redburn toward a glittering, uncertain world.
- Innocence seen with humor Discover a coming-of-age story that looks back at youthful illusions with a smile.
Who will love it
Readers who love sea stories, coming-of-age tales and sharp humor will enjoy this book, as will anyone curious about life aboard a merchant ship and how a proud boy meets the real world.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Pictures make the sea look glorious
- Borrowed grandeur costs him money
- Fear gives a bully power
- The sea tests a boy's nerve
- His father's guidebook cannot guide him
- Pity must become practical help
- Harry's charm hides an unreadable danger
- Hardship brings quarrels and comfort
- Humor and pity shape the voyage
Who’s who
- Wellingborough RedburnA poor, proud boy from a Hudson River village who ships as a sailor to see the world and soon learns how hard it is.
- JacksonA thin, yellow, coughing sailor whose cold eye and bitter tongue rule the forecastle, though he is the sickest man aboard.
- Captain RigaThe smooth, smiling master of the Highlander, courteous in port, cruel and shabby at sea, and careful with his money.
- Harry BoltonA delicate young man from Bury St. Edmunds who has squandered his fortune and hopes to start again in America.
- Max the DutchmanA red-haired old sailor, vain and fiery, who treats Redburn better than the rest and keeps a wife in two ports.
- CarloAn Italian boy with a street organ who sails to America to seek his fortune and plays for the whole ship.
- Mr. JonesThe kindly but foolish friend of Redburn's brother who finds him the ship and spoils his chance of an advance.
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Redburn. His First Voyage
by Herman Melville · 1849
A penniless boy in a patched shooting jacket signs on as the lowest hand of a ship bound for Liverpool.
Challenging5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“The greatest seer and poet of the sea for me is Melville.”
In short
What does a boy expect from the sea? Wellingborough Redburn expects glory.
Redburn. His First Voyage at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h 40 min6 h 5 min fast, 9 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 109,600 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1849by Herman Melville
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Sea dreams grow from newspapers and a glass ship
Redburn's wish to go to sea grows from childhood memories and dreams of foreign places. He grows up in a village on the Hudson River, short of money after his father's bankruptcy and death. He longs to be a traveler whom people stare at in the street.
He reads old newspapers for the ship advertisements. A coppered brig bound for Bremen seems to him a poem, and every word suggests silks and sunburned captains. His father told of towering waves, and French engravings of warships hang in the dining room.
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Details
- First published
- 1849
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 8 h 45 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Melville, Herman. Redburn. His First Voyage. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/redburn-his-first-voyage.
Melville, H. (2026). Redburn. His first voyage. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/redburn-his-first-voyage (Original work published 1849)
Melville, Herman. Redburn. His First Voyage. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/redburn-his-first-voyage.
@book{melville2026redburn,
author = {Melville, Herman},
title = {Redburn. His First Voyage},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/redburn-his-first-voyage},
note = {First published 1849}
}
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What is Redburn by Herman Melville about?
A poor, sheltered boy named Wellingborough Redburn ships as a sailor from New York to Liverpool and back. He faces bullying shipmates, a false captain, the poverty of Liverpool, a strange trip to London, and a crowded emigrant crossing.
Is Redburn based on a true story?
It is a novel, but Melville drew on his own experience. As a young man he sailed on a merchant ship to Liverpool, and many scenes and impressions come from that voyage, though the characters and events are shaped as fiction.
Who is Jackson in Redburn?
Jackson is a thin, yellow, coughing sailor in the forecastle who rules the crew by fear. He boasts of slave ships and plague ports, and Redburn both fears and pities him as a bitter, wasted man.
The author
Herman Melville
1819–1891 · American novelist and poet
Herman Melville (1819–1891) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He was born and died in New York City and also lived in Massachusetts. He published Moby-Dick in 1851, Pierre in 1852, and The Confidence-Man in 1857. His unfinished Billy Budd was published after his death, in 1924.
“Poor people fare very poorly when they try to seem rich.”
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