What is the prize you get for marathoning Moby Dick?

February 28, 2020 12:43 PM

The New Bedford Whaling Museum hosts an Annual Moby-Dick Marathon. At the end of the weekend, "the few hardy souls who brave the voyage by staying awake through all 136 chapters of the great American epic receive a prize when the marathon comes to an end on Sunday." What is that prize?
posted by DynamiteToast to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

I have attended the marathon five or six times over the last ten years, so I *should* totally know this. Sadly, I haven't always stayed until the prizes were handed out at the end. This year I know it was a gift bag from the museum. I don't know what was in the bag. The real prize is, of course, being able to say you stayed awake for 24+ hours of Melville, in addition to the friends you made along the way,.
posted by bobot at 1:22 PM on February 28, 2020

I scrolled through the Whaling Museum's Facebook feed but was unable to find any mention of what the prize was. However, I did find on their feed a link to this write-up by one of the attendees which also does not have any mention of a prize. I suspect that no prize was awarded this year. The only clues I have to possible prize sources might come from the list of sponsors that the museum thanks: "Reynolds DeWalt Allan Smith & Company, CPAs, Empire Loan Fiber Optic Center Vineyard Wind BayCoast Bank Hampton Inn by Hilton New Bedford/Fairhaven and to our friends and partners at culture*park, Moby Dick Brewing Co. Freestones Quahog Republic Destination Soups and Friendly Donuts". But, no solid evidence yet of what the actual prize would have been.
posted by mhum at 1:25 PM on February 28, 2020

Oh, also, as a result of scrolling through the museum's FB feed, I get the impression that they seem like friendly and responsive folks. I suspect that if you just asked them straight-up, you might get your answer.
posted by mhum at 1:26 PM on February 28, 2020

I emailed them. Their response: "Each year, our prizes vary. Sometimes they are specific items from our inventory/store and others it's branded Moby Dick Marathon merchandise." If you want to know what the 2020 prize was, drop an email to the library address on the website.
posted by jessamyn at 1:27 PM on February 28, 2020

It ought to be a replica of the Pequod in a bottle.
posted by mareli at 2:28 PM on February 28, 2020

Tolstoy and Joyce audiobooks. It'll be like a pie-eating contest, where the prize is more pie.
posted by spacewrench at 3:06 PM on February 28, 2020

I take every opportunity to let interested people know this: the New Bedford Moby Dick marathon is not the oldest, nor IMO the coolest, Moby Dick Marathon. That honor belongs to Mystic Seaport's, which happens on Melville's birthday, and in which participants stay overnight on the last wooden whaleship in the world (a real one; NB's is a half-scale model).
posted by Miko at 6:30 AM on February 29, 2020

the New Bedford Moby Dick marathon is not the oldest, nor IMO the coolest, Moby Dick Marathon.

Yes, but will you be able to sing "The Ribs and Terrors of the Whale" from the choir loft in the honest to Bog Seamen's Bethel?

That being said, any opportunity to see and board Mystic's Charles R. Morgan is worth it. Spending the night would be swell, for sound sleepers anyway.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 10:23 PM on February 29, 2020

Yes, but will you be able to sing "The Ribs and Terrors of the Whale" from the choir loft in the honest to Bog Seamen's Bethel?

Yeah, that is pretty cool. That church, the whole NB landscape, is amazing.

All I can say is that you will have the opportunity to sing "Rolling Down to Old Maui" and various hauling chanteys while you help haul an actual whaleboat back up to the ship, and/or raise sails.

Why choose, do both.
posted by Miko at 6:37 AM on March 1, 2020

I asked on Twitter after this question was posted but only got a response today.

For those who stayed up all night and had their #mobydickmarathon passport stamped accordingly, we gave away a gift bag full of Moby-Dick-inspired merchandise worth more than $50.
posted by bondcliff at 8:23 AM on March 3, 2020

Knowing museum gift shops, I think that probably translates to a collection of shop stock like note cards, paperbacks, keychains, little stuffies and the like.
posted by Miko at 9:55 AM on March 3, 2020