William Smith, a British merchant on board the ship Williams, was the first person to sight the South Shetland archipelago after being blown far off course while rounding Cape Horn, in February 1819. He returned at the beginning of the next summer, in October, and landed on King George Island, taking possession for King George III. News of his discovery had already swept through the maritime community in the Americas and Britain and several intrepid sealers had found the islands and their rich bounty of Antarctic Fur seals. The slaughter commenced. These earliest sealers made their cargoes very quickly for the seals crowded every available beach. Despite the phenomenal hazards involved, more and more sealers came, mostly American and British. By the summer of 1820-21, at least 44 sealing vessels were working at the South Shetlands, and the next summer that number had grown to at least 91! This is a shocking amount of activity, especially for modern visitors like ourselves who might see one other vessel every week or so.
By 1822 the animal at the center of this frenzy was almost completely extirpated from the islands, and the hunt collapsed. But the search for more seals drove some of the hardiest sealers off to discover more and more about the Antarctic peninsula region. Few of their records survive, as they were not keen to make their discoveries known to the competition. Despite the savagery of their conduct towards the hapless Fur seal, one cannot help but admire these brave seamen, working their wooden sailing vessels through the completely uncharted channels and bays of this archipelago. We hope to visit one of the beaches such men would have, and we'll be fortunate to see some Fur seals, as the species is recovering just now from the depredations of almost 200 years ago.
The Antarctic is about to start yielding it's treasures and mysteries to us; fortunately we are a different generation, one which is content with spiritual treasures rather than physical ones.
