AMERICAN SEALERS 
$9 
fear or suspicion, for the intruders found they could 
butcher the unresisting beasts without any preliminary 
trouble of hunting or stalking. Nor were the Americans 
alone, British enterprise was equally ready to profit by 
the new discovery, and there is little doubt that at least 
as many ships flew the red ensign as the stars and stripes 
that summer amongst the southern isles. The killing 
of seals, perhaps from the total ignorance of the victims 
of the threatened fate, perhaps from the almost human 
family afifection they display, perhaps from the pathos 
of their innocent eyes, seems nearer murder than any 
other form of butchery or sport, and the first assault 
upon such a tribe of creatures is really painful to think 
about. Harrowing tales are told by the seal-slayers 
themselves, some of whom, if their narratives are to be 
trusted, spent a large part of their sea-time in shedding 
“ manly tears ” over the ordinary risks of their calling ; 
but we need not dwell upon scenes to which our readers 
will not have time to become hardened, and the tragedy 
of the fur-seal may be left to form a dark but unobtrusive 
background to the lighter features of this period of dis- 
covery. 
The five American vessels were the brig Frederick 
under the command of Benjamin Pendleton, in charge of 
the fleet; the brig Plersilia again under James P. Shef- 
field ; the schooners Express and Free Gift and the forty- 
ton cutter Hero, whose skipper was Nathaniel B. Palmer. 
They found headquarters in Yankee Plarbour, Decep- 
tion Island, in 63° S., a cove in the remarkable natural 
harbour formed by the sea invading the central hollow of 
a huge volcanic crater, a portion of the side of which had 
broken down. The island, in fact, is a mere ring of 
volcanic rock rising from deep water to a great height 
