Seamen's Bethel - 100 Years - New Bedford, MA
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 41° 38.105 W 070° 55.411
19T E 339788 N 4611048
This plaque indicates the Seamen's Bethel was established in 1880 and Wikipedia indicates construction was completed in 1882.
Waymark Code: WMKFFX
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 04/06/2014
Views: 3
This plaque is inside Seamen's Bethel in New Bedford. referred to as the "Whaleman's Chapel" in a scene from Moby Dick. It has a relief of the chapel and reads:
"SEAMEN'S BETHEL
THE 'WHALEMEN'S CHAPEL'
OF MELVILLE'S MOBY DICK
THIS TABLET PLACED
BY THE NEW BEDFORD
PORT SOCIETY
TO COMMEMORATE
ITS ONE HUNDREDTH
ANNIVERSARY
1880 - 1980"
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"Built by the New Bedford Port Society, it was completed on May 2, 1832. It is a contributing property to the New Bedford Historic District, a National Historic Landmark.
The Seamen's Bethel was specifically constructed for the many sailors who called New Bedford their home port (mostly whalers), who considered it a matter of tradition that one visited the chapel before setting sail.
The bethel was immortalized in Herman Melville's epic whaling tome, Moby-Dick, as the "Whaleman's Chapel" in a scene where a fire-and-brimstone sermon is given from a bow-shaped pulpit.
The pulpit was a Melville invention, but a replica of the one described in the book was added to the chapel in 1961. Other changes were made when the structure was repaired after a fire in 1866. The names of New Bedford whalers killed, and later all area fishermen, are noted on the walls of the bethel. Also noted is the pew that Melville sat in when he visited in 1840."