148 
31 A BINE MA 31 31 A LS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 
that there were left on the island at least five hundred thousand seals. Subse- 
quently, there were taken from the island but little short of one million skins. 
The seal fishery was extensively prosecuted for many years by our countrymen. 
The sealing fleet on the coast of Chile alone, in 1801, amounted to thirty vessels, 
many of which were ships of the larger class, and nearly all were under the Amer- 
ican flag. Up to the present day, American vessels are the pioneers in the most 
remote and unexplored regions, wherever the migratory animals are to be found in 
sufficient numbers to induce that class of our seamen who are fond of a sportsman's 
life, in addition to that of sea- faring, to embark in the enterprise. 
In the midst of the Crimean War, an enterprising firm in New London, Con- 
necticut, fitted out a clipper bark, which was officered and manned expressly for a 
edge Captain Whetten had of the manner of doing 
business with these people, and the great assist- 
ance he could afford, being conversant in all 
their intricate trade, and in the purchasing of 
silks and other articles for the New York mar- 
ket, as our homeward cargo, were certainly such 
arguments as were well calculated to increase 
the confidence of success in the contemplated 
•voyage. This was an opportunity not to be left 
uninrproved ; and to one naturally possessed of 
an ambitious and aspiring mind, with a strong 
attachment to a seaman's profession, increased 
as it had been, since my first visit to the South 
Seas, by a perusal of the voyages of such cir- 
cumnavigators as Drake, Byron, Anson, Bougan- 
ville, Cook, and others, the hope of being able 
to add some new discoveries to the knowledge 
already in the possession of man relating to 
those seas, and the no less flattering hope of 
realizing a fortune should the enterprise be well 
conducted and successful in its termination, were 
sufficient to bind me to exert myself in bringing 
about this desired voyage. Eveiy view was en- 
couraging; but funds were necessary, and to 
raise these without delay, I applied to that up- 
right and liberal merchant, Mr. Elias Nexsen, 
with whom also to consult and advise uj>on the 
best means of securing the early fitting -out and 
sailing of the enterprise. To the information 
and encouragement given by Captain "Whetten, 
was added my own strong confidence in its 
practicability, and the flattering results that such 
an adventure held forth. The plan met with 
his entire approval, and after some conversation 
with Captain "Whetten, on 'Change that day, in 
the afternoon of the same he made the offer of 
his brig, the Betsey, then in port. She was 
New York built, a little short of one hundred 
tons, and an excellent vessel of her class. ' If 
she will answer,' said he, ' I will put her into 
the business, and at whatever price, upon a mi- 
nute inspection, her value shall be ascertained 
to be, I will take the one -half in the adventure 
of the vessel, and her outfits.' I was unable," 
adds the captain, "to take more than one -eighth 
myself, but the remaining three were, by the 
evening of the same day, taken by other friends, 
and thus the whole amount required to insure 
the sailing of the vessel was made up. An in- 
ventory was taken, agreeably to the understand- 
ing at the. commencement, by which the value 
of the vessel was ascertained, and made satis- 
factory to all concerned. In less than a month 
from the time the enterprise was first enter- 
tained, the Betsey sailed from New York, to stop 
at New Haven (the native place of Mr. Caleb 
Brintnall, the first officer, a great disciplinarian), 
and afterward at Stonington, to obtain and com- 
plete her complement of men, in all twenty- 
seven ; for it had been concluded to be the 
