Hannah Palmer’s nephew discovers Antarctica.

A 11-258        Hannah Palmer’s nephew discovers Antarctica.

 

Connecticut PSB ran a short history on Stonington last night.  Right after the 1814 defense against the British they have a brief detail of Captain Nathaniel Palmer.

“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, Palmer achieved his first command at the early age of 21. His vessel, a diminutive sloop named the Hero, was only 47 feet (14 m) in length. Palmer steered southward in the Hero at the beginning of the Antarctic summer of 1820–1821. Aggressively searching for new seal rookeries south of Cape Horn, on 17 November 1820, Palmer and his men became the first Americans and the third group of people to discover the Antarctic Peninsula. Larger ships skippered by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Edward Bransfield had reported sighting land earlier in 1820. Along with English sealer George Powell, Palmer also co-discovered the nearby South Orkney Islands archipelago.”   From Wiwipedia 5/2/2014

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Palmer for more.

Nathaniel Palmer (474) b. 8 Aug 1799, son of. Nathaniel Palmer (357) b. 15 Dec 1768, son of. Nathaniel Palmer (242) b. 20 April 1740, son of. Nathaniel Palmer (139) b. 11 Oct 1707, son of. Ichabod Palmer (33) b. 2 Sep 1677, son of Dea. Gershon Palmer (12), son of Walter Palmer.  Walter Palmer’s daughter, Hannah Palmer Hewitt was sister to Deacon Gershon Palmer and wife of Captain Thomas Hewitt.