406 niSTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



In his journal Captain Smith thus mentions the discovery : " After taking our departure from 

 Montevideo, nothing material occurred until I got into the latitude of Cape Horn, with a fair 

 wind to go to the westward, and steering S.SE. with the intention to make the island again, and 

 continuing this course for a few days, I, to my great satisfaction, discovered land on the 15th of 

 October, at 6 p. m., in latitude 62 30' south, and longitude 60 west. Arrived at Valparaiso 24th 

 of November, after a passage of sixty days from Montevideo."* 



In 1819, according to Captain Davidson, of Stonington, a brig was fitted at Buenos Ayres for 

 sealing in the new land. At this season the brig Hersilia, of Stonington, was cruising about in 

 search of seals, and had left Capt. Nath. Palmer and others of her crew at the Falklands while 

 the vessels went on a short trip about Cape Horn, to return to the Falklands for those left behind. 



In the mean time the Buenos Ayres brig put into the Falklands, and Captain Palmer, always 

 on the watch for information about new sealing grounds, was not slow in obtaining from the mate 

 of the brig definite knowledge of a new land where fur-seals could be captured by the thousands. 

 The brig went on her course, and Captain Palmer waited impatiently for the Hersilia, which at last 

 made her appearance, and very quickly prepared for the four days' sail to South Shetlands. It so 

 happened that they arrived at the new land at a time when the entire crew of the Buenos Ayres 

 brig were busy in the hold salting and stowing seal-skins. The newcomers were nevertheless 

 welcomed, and at once went to work to secure a share from the immense number of fur-seal on the 

 shores. It was now February, 1820, the season far advanced, and the Hersilia's supply of salt was 

 limited, so that only about eleven thousand of the choicest and richest skins could safely be taken, 

 though with her crew of twenty -four men fifty thousand skins might have been secured in a short 

 time. 



As they were anxious to report the discovery at Stonington, the Hersilia hastened home, and 

 from the sale of her cargo realized a large profit to her owners, though the skins were at this time 

 valued at only about $2 each. At Stonington there was now great activity among vessel owners 

 in preparation for the next season, and a fleet of nine sail was soon ready at this port, besides as 

 many more from other ports. The names of the vessels as remembered by Captain Davidson, who 

 was on the schooner Express, were the following : 



Brigs Frederick, Hersilia, Catherine, Emmeline, and Clothier ;t schooners Express and Free 

 Gift, with sloops Hero and Essex as tenders to the fleet, all hailing from Stonington. From 

 Nantucket there was the schooner Huntress ; New Haven sent the ship Huron; the brigs Charity 

 and Henry and schooners Wasp and Aurora sailed from New York, while Boston and Salem sent 

 the ship General Knox, the schooner Esther O'Kane, and one other vessel. This fleet of eighteen 

 vessels arrived at the South Shetlands late in the autumn of 1820. Besides the American 

 fleet there arrived ten English and two Russian sealing vessels, making a total fleet of 30 

 sealers, each anxious to secure a large cargo. As at South Georgia, so here, there was an indis- 

 criminate slaughter of the animals, and in a few weeks upwards of 250,000 skins were salted, of 

 which number the American fleet secured 150,000, while thousands of seals were killed and lost. 

 As a consequence, when vessels visited the same locality the next season not over 5,000 good 

 skins were taken. 



Weddell, in 1825, gives the following account of the South Shetland seal fishery: "The 

 quantity of [fur] seals taken off these islands, by vessels from different parts, during the 

 years 1821 and 1822 may be computed at 320,000, and the quantity of sea-elephant oil at 

 940 tons. This valuable animal, the fur-seal, might, by a law similar to that which restrains 



* Weddell's Voyages, p. 130. 



tTlio Clothier \vaswreckedontheShetlandH, and her "bones, '' says Captain Davidson, are still "bleaching on the 

 rock ." 



