The First American Sealers in the - , ^ / Antarctic 1812 - 1819 and The First Voyage of The Brig Hersilia, of Stonington, Conn., 1819 - 1820 Prepared by: _ 3 0231 00289 Preface By a special arrangement, Mr. Thomas A„ Stevens, of Deep River, Conn., was engaged to prepare this report on "The first American sealers in the Antaractic, 1812-1819.. .st He has been interested in the early American sealers for many years, (since 1935) an<3- had- served, 19*4-7-19^9; as managing director of the Marine Historical Association at Mystic, Conn. This report thus becomes chronologically the first in the current series of somewhat more than twenty-five studies of expeditions and operations in the Antarc- tic regions conducted by Americans, from the days of the first American sealers down to the present time. There is some unavoidable covering of the same ground as in two re- ports prepared by Lieutenant Richard D. Kane; (l) a special report entitled "The earliest American sealers in the Antarctic"; and (2) a report in the original scheduled series entitled "The voyage of the Hersilia, 1819-20". Copies of both reports were made available to Mr. Stevens, Mr. Stevens' contribution relating to the Hersilia lies in its supplementing Lieutenant Kane's report on that voyage, in his presentation of evidence in support of his own statement: The significance of this voyage of the Hersilia lies in the fact that not only was this the first United States vessel to ar- rive at the South Shetlands, but it was also the first vessel of any nation to coast along the southern shores of the South Shet- lands and enter Bransfield Strait from the south a full two weeks before Capt. Bransfield penetrated from the north the strait which now bears his name. A few of Mr. Stevens' quotations from early newspapers and other publications have been replaced by citations to identical passages in •V .. .1. •.,:.. v Lieutenant Kane's report first cited above. Lieutenant Kane conferred with Mr. Stevens in Deep River, Conn., in December 1953 and again in March 195^ • May ll)., 195V S. ¥. Boggs I„ SOURCES Bibliography 1. Annales Maritimes et Coloniales, Deuxieme Partie, Paris, 1821. 2. Barnard, Charles H„: A Narrative of the Sufferings and Adventures of Captain Charles H. Barnard, in, A Voyage Pound the World, during the years, 1812, 1813, 1814, 1815 & 1816...., printed for the author toy J. Lindon, New York, 1829. 3. Blunt, Edmund: Blunt's Coast Pilot, various editions, G. W. Blunt, New York. Burney, James: History of the Voyages and Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean, James Burney, London, 1803-1816. 5. Byers, James: Manuscript letters from James Byers to Brigadier General Daniel Parker dated August 25 and September 1820, National Archives of the United States, Records of the Depart- ment of State, Miscellaneous Letters August-October 1820. 6. Clark, Howard A.: "The Antarctic Fur-Seal and Sea Elephant Industry", The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States, Section V, Vol. 2, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1887. pp. bOO-k-67, 7- Cook, James: A Voyage towards the South Pole and Round the World, third edition, printed for W, Strahan and T. Cadell, London, 1779. 8. Fanning, Edmund: Voyages Round the World, Collins and Hannay, New York, 1833. 9. Fanning, Edmund and William A., Papers of: American Geographical Society, New York. 10. Gaceta de Buenos Aires (1810-1821), Vol. 6, Anos 1820 a 1821, No. 162, March 1, 1820, Buenos Aires, 1915. 11. Hall, Basil: Extracts from a Journal, written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico in the years 1820, 1821, 1822 by Captain Basil Hall, A. Constable & Co., Edinburgh, 1824. 12. Manuscript logbooks at Nantucket and New Bedford, Mass. and at Mystic and New Haven, Conn. 13. Mill, Hugh Robert: The Siege of the South Pole, Alston Rivers, Ltd., London, 1905 1*+. Morrell, Benjamin: A Narrative of Four Voyages, J. & J. Harper, New York, 1832. 15. Moulton, Williams A Concise Extract, from the Sea Journal of William Moulton, written on Board the Onico, in a voyage from the port of New London in Connecticut to Staten Land in the South Sea.,., in the years 1799-180^, printed for the author at Utica, l8o4. 16. Newspapers of Baltimore, New York, and New England of the early nine- teenth century, especially the years 1819-1822. 17. Palmer, Nathaniel B. and Alexander S., Papers ofj Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington. Also from descendents of N. B. and A. S. Palmer„ 18. Starbuck, Alexander: ,History of the American Whale Fishery from its Earliest Inception to the year 1876, Alexander Starbuck, Waltham, Mass., I878. 19. Stevens, Thomas A.? Miscellaneous manuscript material, notes, etc. 20. United States Custom House records: ports of Boston, New Bedford, and Salem, Mass.5 New Haven and New London, Conn.j and New York City. (Records of arrivals, clearances, crew lists, registers, sea letters, etc.) CONTENTS Page Preface . i I. Sources .................... ii Part I. The First American Sealers in the Antarctic, 1812-1819 • • 1 A. Early American Sealers ................ 1 B. Announced Discovery of "New South Britain" (South Shetlands) ....... ^ C. References to American Sealers in the Antarctic prior to 1820 ... .............. 10 D. Later Statements Regarding Possible Visits to the South Shetlands Prior to 1819 ........... E. Chronological Record of any known sealing voyages from the United States beginning with the year 18.12 17 Part II. Voyage of the Brig Hersilia of Stonington, Conn., 1819-1820 ..................... 30 A. Significance of the first Hersilia voyage . 30 B. Background of the Hersilia's voyage, 1819-1820 .... 31 C. Documentation for the voyage ............. 33 D. Personnel of the Brig Hersilia „ 3^ E. Plan of the Voyage .................. 35 F. The Log Book of the Hersilia ............. G. The Voyage of the Hersilia .............. Appendices ............................ 56 A. Extract from Boston Daily Advertiser, Sept. 27, 1820 . 56 B. E. Fanning letter from New England Palladium & Commercial Advertiser} Boston, Dec. 5, 1820 .... 57 C. Extracts from letters by James Byers . ...... 60 PART I THE FIRST AMERICAN SEALERS IN THE ANTARCTIC, 1812-1819 A. Early American Sealers Actual knowledge that land existed south of Cape Horn first came to public notice in the United States in the year 1820. Prior to that date any reference to the possibility that uncharted lands might be found in high southern latitudes was not readily available to the merchant mariner. Several ancient charts of the area did show the possible existence of an icy land in the vicinity of sixty-four degrees south latitude. The com- paratively recent publication of Burney's Voyages (History of the Voyages and Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean, James Burney, London 1803-1816) brought to current notice the fact that this possible land had been placed on the old charts as the result of a voyage supposedly made to the area in 1599 by Dirck Gherritz in the Dutch ship Blijde Bootschap (Good or Blythe, Tidings). The narrative of this voyage to- gether with those of other early south sea voyages certainly hinted the possibility of land unknown, yet the reports and observations of the celebrated Captain James Cook (A Voyage towards the South Pole and Round the World, third.ed., London 1779) of the British Navy precluded any further immediate search under British government sponsorship for land in that area. Captain Cook did not discover the continent which he believed existed and which he so diligently searched for in Antaractic waters, yet his reports made public soon after his return to England were the inspiration that led to the development of a new type of discoverer, the merchant explorer. His reports that "Seals existed in abundance at South Georgia and other places" soon prompted whaling ship operators to ventures in combined whaling and sealing voyages. By 1795 American seal- ing vessels were operating in large numbers in the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and all around the South American coast. Round the world voyages were becoming an accomplished fact from New York, New Haven, Nantucket, Salem and other ports engaged in the sealing business. Returns show that many of these round-the-world voyages in the seal- ing trade produced a tremendous profit to those who made the venture. An area found by a sealing vessel which was inhabited by an abundance of fur seals was the equivalent of discovering a gold mine of the highest grade, for the tremendous slaughter of these animals to obtain their fur pelts soon exhausted the supply in locations where many vessels were operating. Thus, from almost the beginning of this industry in the south seas, secrecy of operation, became the principal stock in trade of the American sealer. In many instances the captain and mate of a vessel were the only ones on board who were aware of the vessel's destination or geographical loca- tion. In some cases the crew was pledged to secrecy, for in the case of the sealing explorer, the vessel was manned by carefully chosen seamen who would share in the returns to an extent unknown to the ordinary sea- man. This manner of operation produced a type of explorer-mariner un- paralleled in maritime history. Those who became the highest skilled in the industry at its peak, operated fleets of vessels with each vessel of the fleet chosen for a particular purpose. Rendezvous and mail ex- change locations were established in remote places of the world in order that vessels under the control of the same managing owner could obtain and exchange vital information pertaining to the discovery of any new sealing grounds in any part of the world. Small craft of less than fifty tons burthen ventured into waters feared by naval commanders of the world's greatest maritime nations.