James Byers Explained

James Byers was an American shipowner, merchant and sealer in New York, originally from Springfield, Massachusetts.^[1]

Byers sent a four-vessel sealing fleet to the South Shetland Islands in 1820-21. He also lobbied US Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and President James Monroe to send a warship and take possession of the islands, suggesting that the American sealers were prepared to establish a permanent settlement there.

Honor

Byers Peninsula on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands is named after James Byers.

References

• Alan Gurney, Below the Convergence: Voyages Toward Antarctica, 1699-1839, Penguin Books, New York, 1998

Notes and References

1. 1911 . The First American Discoveries in the Antarctic, 1819 . The American Historical Review . 16 . 4 . 794–798 . 10.2307/1835710 . 0002-8762.