Whaling Museum seeks help for marathon

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) -- The New Bedford Whaling Museum is seeking the help of Herman Melville fans around the world to ensure that the 17th annual Moby-Dick Marathon goes on as planned.

The museum in the past has used a federal grant to help finance the event every January, but that funding has been lost.

So museum science director Robert Rocha Jr. sent out a letter this month to previous supporters and participants in the marathon asking for donations.

So far about $600 has been raised. Museum officials tells The Standard-Times ( http://bit.ly/WxNzM5 ) it costs about $5,000 for the event. A few bucks from each person would do the trick.

The marathon involves volunteers reading portions of the book about man versus whale cover to cover without stopping. The reading takes about 24 hours.