Hero (sloop)

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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.{{cite book|last=Cutler|first=Carl C.|title=Greyhounds of the Sea|location=New York|publisher=Halcyon Books|date=1930|edition=reprint}}{{cite book|last=Jennings|first=John|title=Clipper Ship Days: The Golden Age of American Sailing Ships|url=https://archive.org/details/clippershipdaysg00jenn|url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=Random House|year=1952|pages=[https://archive.org/details/clippershipdaysg00jenn/page/66 66-75]}}

In honor of Palmer's Hero, US National Science Foundation named a research ship for her, RV Hero. 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, from her port at Palmer Station.{{cite journal|url=https://www.palmerstation.com/hero/newship.html|title=Hero: A New Antarctic Research Ship Adjunct to Palmer Station Permits Diversified Research Program|journal=Antarctic Journal|date=May–June 1968}} She was launched from Harvey F. Gamage shipyard in South Bristol, Maine, on March 28, 1968,{{cite journal|url=https://www.palmerstation.com/hero/launch.html|title=The Launching of Hero|journal=Antarctic Journal|date=May–June 1968}} and sank in 2017.{{cite news| url=http://www.chinookobserver.com/co/local-news/20170307/hero-sinks | title=Hero sinks | newspaper=Chinook Observer | date=March 7, 2017 | accessdate=March 9, 2017}}