After questioning Captain Palmer about himself, his vessel, and the land he had discovered, and incidentally remarking that he himself had been two years upon a voyage of discovery, the commander asked to see Captain Palmer’s chart and log-book. These were sent for on board the Hero while an elaborate luncheon was being served, and were afterwards carefully examined. The commander then rose from his seat and placing his hand in a parental manner upon the young captain’s head, delivered quite an oration: “I name the land you have discovered ‘Palmer Land’ in your honor; but what will my august master say, and what will he think of my cruising for two years in search of land that has been discovered by a boy, in a sloop but little larger than the launch of my frigate?� Captain Palmer was unable to offer any information on this point, but he thanked his host for the honor conferred upon him, and for his kindness and hospitality, remaining somewhat non-committal in his opinion as to the old gentleman’s qualifications as an explorer.
It may be mentioned that upon all charts this portion of the Antarctic Continent is laid down as “Palmer Land,� also that some twenty years elapsed before it was rediscovered by the British explorer, Sir James Ross, in command of the famous Erebus and Terror expedition.
Captain Palmer next took command of the schooner Cadet, owned by Borrows & Spooner, of New York, on board of which he made a number of voyages to the Spanish Main. In 1826 he took the brig Tampico to Carthagena, and upon his return he married a daughter of Major Paul Babcock and sister of Captain David S. Babcock, afterwards famous as commander of the clipper ships Sword-Fish and Young America, and subsequently President of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co. Captain Palmer then took the brig Francis on several voyages to Europe, and in 1829 was in command of the brig Anawan, exploring new sealing-grounds among the islands about Cape Horn. In 1833 he took command of the New Orleans packet ship Huntsville, and then of the Hibernia, Garrick, and Siddons. In 1842 and the years following, as we have seen, he commanded the clippers Paul Jones, Houqua, Samuel Russell, and Oriental, and in 1850 retired from the sea.
At this time he was well known, not only among his neighbors and friends at Stonington, but in the great seaports of Europe and China as “Captain Nat,� and many of those who talked about what he had said and what he had done were apparently unaware that he possessed any other name. It is pleasant to reflect that the neighboring seaport of Bristol has perpetuated the title in one who is respected and beloved, not more for his genius than for his modesty and reserve.
It was, of course, impossible for a man of Captain Palmer’s earnest temperament and varied activities to lead a life of pleasure and idleness, so one of the first things that he did upon his retirement was to take the auxiliary steamship United States from New York to Bremen where she was sold. When some of his friends rallied him, asking whether he considered this giving up the sea, Captain Palmer replied, “Well, I really don’t know how you can call a trip like this going to sea.�
For many years Captain Palmer was the confidential adviser of A. A. Low & Brother in all matters relating to their ships, which occupied a considerable portion of his time, and while he was a seaman par excellence, he also possessed other accomplishments. He had much knowledge of the design and construction of ships, and many of his suggestions were embodied in the Houqua, Samuel Russell, Oriental, and other ships subsequently owned by the Lows. He was also a fine all-round sportsman, being a skilful yachtsman, excellent shot, and truthful fisherman. Altogether, he owned some fifteen yachts, and he was one of the earliest members of the New York Yacht Club, joining on June 7, 1845. The beautiful schooner Juliet, of seventy tons, designed by himself, was the last yacht owned by him. On board of her he sailed, summer after summer, upon the pleasant waters of the New England coast that he had known from boyhood and loved so well.
Captain Palmer stood fully six feet, and was a man of great physical strength and endurance. He was an active member of the Currituck Club, and at the age of seventy-six, on his annual cruise to the Thimble Islands for duck shooting, few of the party of much younger men held so steady a gun, or could endure the fatigue and exposure for which he seemed to care nothing. Though rugged in appearance, his roughness was all on the outside; his heart was filled with kindness and sympathy for the joys and sorrows of others. His brother, Captain Alexander Palmer, a seaman only less famous than himself, once said: “My home is here in Stonington, but Nat’s home is the world.� Captain Palmer was deeply though not vainly religious, and was long a warden of Calvary Episcopal Church at Stonington.
In 1876 he accompanied his nephew, Nathaniel B. Palmer, his brother Alexander’s eldest son, who was in feeble health, to Santa Barbara, but as the invalid derived no benefit there, they went for the sea voyage to China on board the clipper ship Mary Whitridge. At Hong-kong, Captain Palmer received an ovation, for, while few of his old friends there were still alive, those who were left had good memories. On the return voyage to San Francisco on the steamship City of Pekin, Captain Palmer’s nephew died when the vessel was but one day out. This was a terrible blow to Captain Palmer, from which he never recovered. On arriving at San Francisco he was confined to his bed, and although he received every care, he died there on June 21, 1877, in his seventy-eighth year. At the close of a glorious summer day, the remains of the devoted uncle and nephew were laid at rest in the churchyard at Stonington, by the hands of those who had known and loved them well.
Captain Palmer was a fine type of the American merchant seaman of that period, and I have thought it worth while to trace the leading events of his life, because he always seemed to me to be the father of American clipper-ship captains. Probably no one ever brought up so many young men who afterward became successful shipmasters, while his character and example were an inspiration to many who never sailed with him. It is indicative of the broad and far-reaching sympathies of Captain Palmer’s life, that not only a part of the Antarctic Continent bears his name—an enduring monument to his memory—but that A. A. Low & Brother named one of their finest clipper ships, the N. B. Palmer, and the famous schooner-yacht Palmer, owned for many years by Rutherfurd Stuyvesant, was also named for him. Few men in private life have had part of a continent, a clipper ship, and yacht named for them.