CHAPTER XXV 
THE AMERICAN (WEDDELL) QUADRANT 
(From Greenwich to 00° West) 
THE geographical evolution of this quadrant 
began through an accidental discovery by a British 
trading ship, and was carried on by American 
sealers, a body of adventurous seamen whose 
pursuits and inclinations have led them to unknown 
seas, and resulted in polar discoveries which would 
have crowned with honor professional explorers. 
The advantages of the Pacific Ocean as a fishing 
ground appealed early to Americans, five whalers 
entering it in 1791. Worth, in the Beaver, the 
first arrival, was ordered out of Lima and forbidden 
the coast by the Spanish authorities. Some did 
their fishing in the stormy seas of Tierra del Fuego, 
establishing their base on the northwest island, 
Desolation; others frequented the Falklands. 
The later named group was visited for sealing in 
1815, as American ships returned the following 
summer laden with sea-elephant oil. The first 
clearances for the South Sandwich Islands, noted 
by Starbuck, were in 1819, the Equator and Balaena, 
of New Bedford, probably the first whalers to visit 
these islands. 
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