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Nathaniel Brown Palmer (8 August 1799 – 21 June 1877) was an American seal hunter
Seal hunting

Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of Pinniped for their Pelage, blubber, and meat; as well as to ensure the population does not reach levels that would threaten other species....
, explorer, sailing captain, and ship designer. He was born in Stonington, Connecticut
Stonington, Connecticut

The New England town of Stonington is in New London County, Connecticut, Connecticut in the southeastern corner of that U.S. state. It includes the borough of Stonington , Connecticut, the villages of Pawcatuck, Connecticut, Quiambaug, Lords Point, Wequetequock, the eastern half of the village of Mystic, Connecticut , and Old Mystic....
.

During the 1810s the skins of Antarctic Ocean seals were highly valued as items for trade with China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. As a skilled and fearless seal hunter, Palmer achieved his first command at the early age of 21. His vessel, a diminutive sloop
Sloop

A sloop is a sailboat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter . A sloop's fore-triangle is smaller than a cutter's, and a sloop usually bends only one headsail, though this distinction is not definitive....
 named the Hero, was only 47 feet (14 m) in length.






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Nathaniel Brown Palmer (8 August 1799 – 21 June 1877) was an American seal hunter
Seal hunting

Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of Pinniped for their Pelage, blubber, and meat; as well as to ensure the population does not reach levels that would threaten other species....
, explorer, sailing captain, and ship designer. He was born in Stonington, Connecticut
Stonington, Connecticut

The New England town of Stonington is in New London County, Connecticut, Connecticut in the southeastern corner of that U.S. state. It includes the borough of Stonington , Connecticut, the villages of Pawcatuck, Connecticut, Quiambaug, Lords Point, Wequetequock, the eastern half of the village of Mystic, Connecticut , and Old Mystic....
.

During the 1810s the skins of Antarctic Ocean seals were highly valued as items for trade with China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. As a skilled and fearless seal hunter, Palmer achieved his first command at the early age of 21. His vessel, a diminutive sloop
Sloop

A sloop is a sailboat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter . A sloop's fore-triangle is smaller than a cutter's, and a sloop usually bends only one headsail, though this distinction is not definitive....
 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
Pinniped

Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae ....
 rookeries
Rookery

A rookery is a colony of breeding animals.The term is applied to the nesting place of birds, such as crows and Rook , the source of the term....
 south of Cape Horn
Cape Horn

Cape Horn island is the southernmost Headlands and bays of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile.Cape Horn is widely considered to be the most southerly point of South America, and marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage; for many years it was a major milestone on the clipper route, by which sailing ships carried tr...
, on 17 November 1820, young "Captain Nat" and his men became the first Americans to discover the Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctic Peninsula

The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica. It extends from a line between Cape Adams and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands....
. After much larger ships skippered by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen

Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen served as a naval officer of the Russian Empire and commanded the second Russian expedition to circumnavigation the globe....
 and Edward Bransfield
Edward Bransfield

Edward Bransfield was a master in the Royal Navy and arguably the discoverer of the continent of Antarctica....
 reported sighting land earlier in 1820, Palmer was the captain of the third vessel, the Hero, to sight the continent of Antarctica
Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
, and actually set foot on land. Palmer also helped discover the nearby South Orkney Islands
South Orkney Islands

The South Orkney Islands are a group of List of antarctic and sub-antarctic islands in the Southern Ocean. The Orkneys have been part of the British Antarctic Territory since 1962, and prior to this the islands were a Falkland 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
Hull (watercraft)

A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. It is a central concept in floating vessels as it provides the buoyancy that keeps the vessel from sinking....
 and rigging
Rigging

Rigging is, on sailboats and sailing ships, the collection of apparatus through which the force of the wind is transferred to the ship in order to propel it forward....
. The improvements made Palmer a co-developer of the mid-1800s clipper ship.

Palmer closed his sailing 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
Palmer Land

Palmer Land is that portion of the Antarctic Peninsula which lies south of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This application of Palmer Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names and UK-APC, in which the name Antarctic Peninsula was approved for the major peninsula of Antarctica, and...
, part of the Antarctic Peninsula, as well as the Palmer Archipelago
Palmer Archipelago

Palmer Archipelago, lso known as Antarctic Archipelago, Archipi?lago Palmer, Antarktiske Arkipel or Palmer Inseln, is a group of islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula of the British Antarctic Territory....
, were named in his honor.

The Antarctic science and research program operated by the U.S. government
Federal government of the United States

The Federal Government of the United States is the central current reigning United States governmental body, established by the United States Constitution....
 continues to recall Palmer's role in the exploration of the Antarctic area. Palmer Station
Palmer Station

File:Palmer Station .JPGFile:PalmerFromGlaciar.JPGFile:PALMERPENGUINB.JPGPalmer Station, on Anvers Island, is Antarctica only U.S. station north of the Antarctic Circle....
, located in the seal islands that Palmer explored, and the Antarctic icebreaker RV Nathaniel B. Palmer
Nathaniel B. Palmer (icebreaker)

The Nathaniel B. Palmer is an icebreaker research ship in the service of the United States National Science Foundation. It is tasked with extended scientific missions in the Antarctic....
 are named after Captain Palmer. His home in Stonington, the Capt. Nathaniel B. Palmer House
Capt. Nathaniel B. Palmer House

Capt. Nathaniel B. Palmer House is a historic house in Stonington, Connecticut that was the home of Nathaniel Palmer . Palmer was a seal hunter and a pioneering Antarctic explorer....
, was declared a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark is a building, :wiktionary:site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States for its historical significance....
 in 1996.

See also

History of Antarctica
History of Antarctica

The history of Antarctica emerges from early Western theories of a vast continent, known as Terra Australis, believed to exist in the far south of the globe....


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