New Bedford’s latest piece of public art will honor its legacy as the Whaling City: a statue of “Moby-Dick” author Herman Melville.

The city kicked off its annual “Moby-Dick” marathon weekend by unveiling the winner of its Melville statue design contest— an eight-foot bronze statue of the writer surrounded by a swirling sea, titled “Melville and Jonah’s Journey” by sculptor Stefanie Rocknack.

Rocknack’s proposal was chosen from a pool of 41 submissions and pays homage to the Seamen’s Bethel’s cameo in Chapter 9 of “Moby-Dick,” where the narrator Ishmael attends a sermon about the Biblical figure, Jonah at the historic New Bedford chapel.

See more at wpri.com.