Complete and unabridged, with 57 full-page plates by Philip James de Loutherbourg, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg and Edvard Munch. A year aboard an American frigate told by a common sailor - the floggings, the surgeon, the food, the class system between decks. Melville had served that year himself, and the book has long been credited with helping Congress abolish flogging in the navy in 1850. This edition binds 57 plates of maritime painting with the text, among them Turner, Aivazovsky and Stanfield, alongside three restored and coloured illustrations.