THE VOYAGE OF THE HURON AND THE HUNTRESS 



won the honor of being the first American sealers in the Antarctic South Shet- 

 lands. 



All of the information merely supplemented the actual report of Captain 

 Sheffield. James Byers and his associates were shrewd merchants. They had 

 been engaged in sealing many years and knew what the new rookeries meant — 

 fortunes ready-made. Further than that, they had some good men and good 

 ships available. Of the fleet they dispatched, as well as the vessels sent by 

 merchants from Salem, Boston and Nantucket, more will be given in the pages 

 which follow. 



It is of importance to point out that Byers was well aware of the dangers 

 of fighting between the rival sealers. He wrote General Parker in Washington: 

 "If the British Government send any armed vessels they will not, I think, like 

 to approach the high latitudes till about December. We Yankees you know 

 do not fear cold weather. There is not the least doubt in my mind that but the 

 British will attempt to drive our vessels from the Islands. Not by open hostility 

 but by blustering and threats. The vessels from this quarter all went out armed 

 (for their own safety) against pirates and robbers of any other description. 

 . . . any difficulty however of this nature would very much Injure the voyage and 

 would be prevented by the presence of an American Ship of War. . . ."^® 



Byers was seeking U.S. Navy protection. The South American Revolution 

 was then raging and both British and American frigates were on the west coast 

 of South America. But neither Great Britain nor the United States sent a naval 

 vessel into the South Shetland area. 



It was a familiar story to the sealers. For over a quarter century they had been 

 accustomed to depend only on their own resources, and the subsequent events 

 in the South Shetlands were merely the following of the same pattern. Byers 

 armed one of his vessels with nine-pounders.^*^ His prophecy as to threats and 

 blustering was all too true, as subsequent events were to prove. 



[13] 



