9 8 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
which we have definite information was due to the initia- 
tive of Mr. Edmund Fanning, who had before that time 
been in South Georgia and formed theories as to the 
proximity of land to the south based on the drifting of 
the ice. He had also read of Gerritsz’s reported discov- 
ery and resolved that the matter was worthy of being put 
to the test; moreover, he knew of the cruise of Captain 
Swain of Nantucket in those waters, and he also knew 
a great deal more than he set down as to the doings of 
earlier sealers. Anyhow, in July, 1819, the Hersilia sailed 
from Stonington under the command of James P. Shef- 
field with W. A. Fanning as supercargo. They visited the 
Aurora islands, or some land which was taken for them, 
and sailing south to 63° discovered what they took to be 
the land of Dirk Gerritsz, naming several islands and land- 
ing on one at a place named Hersilia Cove in February, 
1820. If the latitude is correct these islands must have 
been members of the South Shetland group, and the Wil- 
liams and Hersilia must for a time have been very near 
neighbours though they did not sight each other. The 
Hersilia came home without delay bringing a quantity 
of sealskins, including those of the valuable southern 
fur-seal. There was a flutter of excitement at Stoning- 
ton, and energetic steps were taken to follow up this 
successful voyage. 
The southern summer of 1820-21 was a dark one for 
the fur-seals whose ancestors had basked upon the shores 
of the South Shetlands for untold centuries, following 
their quaint semi-civilised life and pursuing their pa- 
triarchal customs of war and love undisturbed by any 
being capable of contending with them. The sentry 
bulls saw, with the stolid unconcern of ignorance, the 
approach of a fleet of five sail ; certainly it was without 
