THE VOYAGE OF THE HURON AND THE HUNTRESS 



As might be expected, the first fleet of American sealers sailed from Ston- 

 ington in May, 1820. These were the brig Frederick, commanded by Captain 

 Benjamin Pendleton, and the brig's tender, the schooner Freegift, under Cap- 

 tain Thomas Dunbar, a Westerly, R.I., man. According to the "Marine 

 Columns" of contemporary newspapers the Frederick sailed first on May 18, 

 1820, and the schooner followed two days later. Their rendezvous was to be 

 the Falkland Islands.^^ 



Thomas Stevens of Deep River, Conn., who has made a special study of 

 sealing out of Stonington, believes that the Hersilia arrived at Stonington on 

 May 21, 1820, in time to pass on the valuable information that only she pos- 

 sessed to Captain Dunbar before the Freegift sailed.^^ Subsequently, states 

 Mr. Stevens, the supercargo, William A. Fanning, organized the balance of 

 this first fleet with his father. Captain Edmund Fanning. In view of the fact 

 that Byers (in his letter to General Parker), intimated that Captain James P. 

 Sheflield had offered to sail again in his employ, this seems to indicate that a 

 subsequent conference with the Fannings (father and son) and other Stoning- 

 ton sealing masters must have decided the organization of their own fleet of 

 three more vessels to supplement the Frederick and her tender, the Freegift. 

 The theory that the Hersilia arrived just before the Freegift sailed is an inter- 

 esting one, and could have happened. Unquestionably, the Frederick and 

 Freegift were the first two Stonington sealers to sail for the 1820—21 season. 

 Then two other Stonington fleets were organized, one of which joined forces 

 with the Frederick and Freegift, with Captain Pendleton of the former as 

 their leader, and a second fleet of three vessels under Captain Alexander Clark. 



Captain Benjamin Pendleton of the Frederick was a veteran sealer. In 1815, 

 he had sailed as first mate on the ship Volunteer of New York, with Captain 

 Edmund Fanning of Stonington in command, the vessel being owned principally 

 by James Byers. In 1817, Captain Pendleton assumed his first command, the 

 brig Jane Maria, tender to the ship Sea Fox, Captain Edmund Fanning. These 

 were also James Byers' vessels. It was Pendleton who had taken out the first 

 Stonington-based sealing vessel — the Frederick — in 1818, the managing owners 

 being Captain Fanning and his son, William. Succeeding Pendleton in charge 

 of the Jane Maria for Byers had been Captain James P. Sheffield, who was 

 then assuming his first command. The Jane Maria was subsequently com- 

 manded by Captain Robert Johnson. Thus, we see how closely knit were the 

 masters of the sealing fleets at this time. The Frederick' s first voyage had been 

 one of great success. Captain Pendleton returning in November, 1819, with 

 28,000 skins obtained off the west coast of South America which were sold for 

 $21,378.00.23 



In August, 1820, the three other vessels of this first Stonington fleet (to be 

 designated hereafter as the Fanning fleet), sailed for the South Shetlands via 

 the Falklands. These were the brig Hersilia, with Captain Sheffield again in 



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