Edmund Fanning

This article is about the explorer. For the colonial administrator, see Edmund Fanning (colonial administrator).
Edmund Fanning
Born(1769-07-16)July 16, 1769
Stonington, Connecticut
DiedApril 23, 1841(1841-04-23) (aged 71)
New York City
Resting placeRobinson Burying Ground, Stonington, Connecticut
OccupationsSea captain, merchant
Known forDiscovered Fanning, Washington, and Palmyra Islands
Notable workVoyages Round the World, 1792-1832; Voyages to the South Seas
SpouseSarah Sheffield
Children3


Edmund Fanning (July 16, 1769 – April 23, 1841) was an American explorer and sea captain, known as the "Pathfinder of the Pacific."

Life

Born in Stonington in the British Crown Colony of Connecticut to Gilbert and Huldah Fanning, [1][2] from nearby Groton he went to sea as a cabin boy at the age of 14, and by the age of 24 was captain of a West Indian brig in which he visited the South Pacific for the first time.[3]

A successful trader, Fanning made a fortune in the China trade, killing seals in the South Pacific and exchanging their skins in China for silks, spices, and tea; which he in turn sold in New York City. As master of the Betsey in 1797–1798, he discovered three South Pacific Islands — Fanning, Washington, and Palmyra — which are collectively known as the Fanning Islands. (Fanning Island, today known as Tabuaeran, is part of Kiribati, while Palmyra, claimed by the Hawaiian Government in 1862 and owned for many years by a Hawaiian family, was purchased in 2000 by the Nature Conservancy for an ongoing study of global warming and its effect on coral reefs.)

When he discovered Palmyra Atoll, Fanning was sleeping and the ship was in command of the first mate. Fanning awoke three times in the night, and he took this as a premonition, ordering the first mate to heave to. In the morning, the ship resumed its travel and reached the reef of Palmyra in less than a mile. Had the ship continued its course at night, the entire crew might have perished. [4][5]

Acting for American investors, Fanning was agent for more than 70 commercial expeditions and voyages. His partnership Fanning & Coles built the ship Tonquin in 1807, sailed her around the world several times and sold her for $37,000 to John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company. Later the Tonquin was burned by Indians in the northwest. In 1829 he was instrumental in sending out the first American naval exploring expedition and was greatly responsible for Congress's authorizing of the Wilkes Expedition. Fanning's memoirs, Voyages Around the World, were published in 1833. Another book, Voyages to the South Seas, followed in 1838.[6] Edmund Fanning died in New York City.

Honours

Cape Fanning in Antarctica and Fanning Ridge on South Georgia Island are named after Edmund Fanning.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ Brooks, Walter Frederic (1905). History of the Fanning Family. Vol. 1. Worcester, Mass.: Privately printed. pp. 255–256.
  2. ^ Edmund Fanning in the Connecticut, U.S., Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection). Accessed via ancestry.com, 19 Feb 2021.
  3. ^ Brooks, Walter Frederic (1905). History of the Fanning Family. Vol. 2. Worcester, Mass.: Privately printed. pp. 739–757.
  4. ^ Fanning, Edmund (1833). Voyages Round the World, 1792-1832. New York: Collins & Hannay. pp. 228–236.
  5. ^ Fate, March 1953, Premonition of Danger, by H.F. Thomas in Connecticut Circle; see also Invisible Horizons, by Vincent H. Gaddis, Ace Books, Inc., 1965.
  6. ^ Fanning, Edmund (1838). Voyages to the South Seas. New York: William H. Vermilye.
  7. ^ Cape Fanning. SCAR Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
  8. ^ Fanning Ridge. Archived 2018-05-23 at the Wayback Machine Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey

Further reading

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