Which island did Herman Melville jump ship to in 1842?

Herman Melville jumped ship to Nuku Hiva in 1842.

Nuku Hiva is one of the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific. After sailing aboard the Acushnet, Melville and his shipmate Richard Tobias Greene, nicknamed Toby, left the vessel at Nuku Hiva Bay during the summer of 1842. Melville’s departure was not the end of his maritime adventures; it began a wandering period among several Pacific islands.

Melville stayed in or near the Taipi Valley, an experience he later transformed into his first book, Typee, published in 1846. The book blended firsthand memories with imaginative reconstruction, and its portrayal of island life made Melville briefly famous as the author who had lived among “cannibals.”

Nuku Hiva should not be confused with Tahiti, where Melville later traveled after leaving the Australian whaler Lucy Ann. He also visited or worked around Eimeo, Moorea, and the Hawaiian Islands. These travels supplied material for both Typee and its sequel, Omoo, and strongly shaped the young writer’s view of authority, cultural difference, and life outside the United States.