The ''Hero'' was a tiny sloop, just 44 tons and 47 feet long, captained by 21-year-old Nathaniel Palmer of

Stonington, Connecticut The town of Stonington is located in New London County, Connecticut in the state's southeastern corner. It includes the borough of Stonington (borough), Connecticut, Stonington, the villages of Pawcatuck, Connecticut, Pawcatuck, Lords Point, and W ...

, 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 The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

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. In honor of Palmer's ''Hero'', US National Science Foundation named a research ship for her, ''

RV Hero RV ''Hero'' was a research vessel that operated in Antarctica for the National Science Foundation between 1968 and 1984, after which she was laid up until she sank in 2017. Career ''Hero'', named after the sloop that Nathaniel Palmer sailed ...

''. The new ''Hero'' was a diesel-driven, 125-foot ship, equipped with sails also, which was built for doing research in the waters of the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

, from her port at Palmer Station. She was launched from Harvey F. Gamage shipyard in

South Bristol, Maine South Bristol is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,127 at the 2020 census. A fishing and resort area, South Bristol includes the villages of Walpole and Christmas Cove, the latter on Rutherford Island. The tow ...

, on March 28, 1968, and sank in 2017.

References

Individual sailing vessels Sloops Ships built in South Bristol, Maine {{Ship-stub