Hero (sloop)

The Hero was a tiny sloop, just 44 tons and 47 feet long, captained by 21-year-old Nathaniel Palmer of Stonington, Connecticut, and manned by a crew of four additional men ranging in age from 16 to 31. It was in the Hero that Palmer, in search of as-yet-unknown seal-hunting prospects, stumbled upon Deception Island (in November 1820) and, soon afterward, first sighted the snow-clad mountains of the Antarctic coastline to the south-southeast. Palmer would soon afterward relay his signal discovery to a Russian exploration fleet, which had been sent to the distant southern waters by Alexander I of Russia.

Sources

• Cutler, Carl C. Greyhounds of the Sea, New York: Halcyon Books, 1930 reprint edition.
• Jennings, John. Clipper Ship Days: The Golden Age of American Sailing Ships, New York: Random House, 1952, pp. 66-75.