UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Hester Blum, associate professor of English at Penn State, will join the captain and crew of the world's last surviving 19th-century whaleship, the Charles W. Morgan, as a 38th Voyager during the ship’s historic voyage this summer. A scholar who studies writer Herman Melville and oceanic American studies, she is interested in the moments when nautical communities become literary communities, whether through shared reading, storytelling, performance or writing.
During the voyage, nearly 80 people, dubbed 38th Voyagers, will participate in an unprecedented public-history event. During one leg of the voyage, each 38th Voyager will take part in their own unique project using the Morgan as a focal point for their discoveries. The 38th Voyagers come from across the world and a wide variety of backgrounds including artists, historians, scientists, journalists, teachers, musicians, scholars and descendants of whaling crews. Once back on shore, each 38th Voyager will submit a personal work that embodies their experience. These works may be incorporated into a coming exhibit at Mystic Seaport, Connecticut.
''It is a great thrill to be sailing out of New Bedford, the port from which Herman Melville first launched his own whaling voyage, and the port from which the Morgan herself originally departed,'' said Blum.