Following the commercial and critical success of Typee Herman Melville continued his series of South Sea adventure-romances with Omoo. Named after the Polynesian term for a rover or someone who roams from island to island Omoo chronicles the tumultuous events aboard a South Sea whaling vessel and is based on Melville's personal experiences as a crew member on a ship sailing the Pacific. From recruiting among the natives for sailors to handling deserters and even mutiny Melville gives a first-person account of life as a sailor during the nineteenth century filled with colorful characters and vivid descriptions of the far-flung locales of Polynesia.