Nathaniel Palmer
Nathaniel Brown Palmer (
1799 -
1877) was a
seal hunter, explorer, sailing captain, and ship designer. He was born in
Stonington, Connecticut. During the 1810s the skins of
Antarctic Ocean seals were highly valued as items for trade with
China. As a skilled and fearless seal hunter, the
teenaged Palmer achieved his first command at the age of only 19. His vessel was a diminutive
sloop named the
Hero, only 47 feet (14 meters) in length.
Palmer steered southward in sloop
Hero at the beginning of the Antarctic summer of 1820-1821. Aggressively searching for new
seal rookeries south of
Cape Horn, on November 17, 1820, young "Captain Nat" and his men became the first Americans to discover the
Antarctic Peninsula. Palmer was the captain of the third vessel, the
Hero, to sight the continent of
Antarctica, after much larger ships skippered by
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and
Edward Bransfield earlier in 1820. Palmer also helped discover the nearby
South Orkney Islands archipelago.
After concluding a successful sealing career, Palmer, still in the prime of life, switched his attention to the captaining of fast sailing ships for the transportation of express freight. In this new role, the Connecticut captain traveled many of the world's principal sailing routes. Observing the strengths and weaknesses of the ocean-going sailing ships of his time, Palmer suggested and designed improvements to their
hulls and
rigging. The improvements made Palmer a co-developer of the mid-1800s
clipper ship.
Palmer closed his seagoing career and established himself in his hometown of Stonington as a successful owner of clipper ships sailed by others. He died in 1877, aged 78.
Palmer Land, part of the Antarctic Peninsula, was named in his honor.
The Antarctic science and research program operated by the
U.S. government continues to recall Palmer's role as a co-discoverer of Antarctica.
Palmer Station, located in the seal islands that Palmer explored, and the Antarctic icebreaker
RV Nathaniel B. Palmer are named after Captain Palmer. In addition, the explorer's Stonington, Connecticut home is now a museum.
History of Antarctica*
Account of Nathaniel Palmer's sighting of Antarctica
