Benjamin Morrell (July 5, 1795 – c. 1839) was an American sea captain, explorer and trader who made a number of voyages, mainly to the Atlantic, the Southern Ocean and the Pacific Islands. In a ghost-written memoir, A Narrative of Four Voyages, which describes his sea-going life between 1823 and 1832, Morrell included numerous claims of discovery and achievement, many of which have been disputed by geographers and historians, and in some cases have been proven false. He ended his career as a fugitive, having wrecked his ship and misappropriated parts of the salvaged cargo.
Morrell had an eventful early career, running away to sea at the age of 17 and being twice captured and imprisoned by the British during the War of 1812. He subsequently sailed before the mast for several years before being appointed as chief mate, and later as captain, of the New York sealer Wasp. In 1823, he took Wasp for an extended voyage into subantarctic waters, and on his return made unsubstantiated claims to have travelled beyond 70°S and to have sighted new coastlines in the area now known as the Weddell Sea. His subsequent voyages mainly centered on the Pacific, where he attempted to develop trading relations with the indigenous populations. Although Morrell wrote of the enormous potential wealth to be obtained from the Pacific trade, his endeavours were, in the main, commercially unprofitable.
Despite his reputation among his contemporaries for untruth and fantasy, Morrell has been defended by some later commentators who, while questioning his general reliability, maintain that not all his life was fraud and exaggeration. They believe that aside from the bombast and boastful tone of the account that carries his name, there is evidence that he carried out useful work, such as his discovery of large-scale guano deposits which led to the development of a full-scale industry. He is believed to have died in 1838 or 1839, in Mozambique; there is, however, evidence to suggest that this death might have been staged, and that he lived on in exile, possibly in South America.
BenjaminMorrell (July 5, 1795 – c. 1839) was an American sea captain, explorer and trader who made a number of voyages, mainly to the Atlantic, the Southern...
at the extreme end of the Earth. The alternative name Morrell Island is after BenjaminMorrell, an American explorer and whaling captain. It was espied...
Morrell (1878–1968), a Deputy Master of Trinity House BenjaminMorrell (c. 1795–1838 or 1839?), American sealing captain and explorer Bill Morrell (1893-1975)...
Barbara. ISBN 1-57607-422-6. Morrell, Benjamin (1832). A Narrative of Four Voyages ... etc. New York: J & J Harper. BenjaminMorrell. Preston, Diana (1999)...
Greenland, sometimes known as Morrell's Land, was an appearance of land recorded by the American captain BenjaminMorrell of the schooner Wasp in March...
expedition to arrive at the island was American BenjaminMorrell and his seal hunting ship Wasp. Morrell, by his own account, found the island without difficulty...
Committee in 1971 for BenjaminMorrell, a sealer of Stonington, Connecticut, who visited the island in the Wasp in 1823. "Morrell Point". Geographic Names...
Mary Folger (née Morrell (Morrel/Morrill/Morrills/Morill); c. 1620–1704) was the maternal grandmother of Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father of the United...
Captain BenjaminMorrell, who was a distant cousin, and became his second wife. They had a first son (born between 1825 and 1828) whom Morrell looked after...
1667, to Peter Folger, a miller and schoolteacher, and his wife, Mary Morrell Folger, a former indentured servant. Mary Folger came from a Puritan family...
reduced, and the island might return to its 'pre-human' state. In 1825, BenjaminMorrell reported finding green sea turtles nesting on Clipperton, but later...
Harald Horntvedt. The reef was named by the Norwegians after Captain BenjaminMorrell, an American sealer who visited the northwest side of Bouvetøya in...
Joseff John Morrell (born 3 January 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a central-midfielder for EFL League One club Portsmouth and the Wales...
South Greenland 1823 Unknown odd island near Antarctica, which captain BenjaminMorrell of the ship Wasp saw while traveling north from Antarctica. He thought...
Castillo (1541), Miguel Pinto (1772), Alexander von Humboldt (1811), BenjaminMorrell (1825), Sir Edward Belcher (1839) who made the first botanical collections...
Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 is signed. March 19 – American explorer BenjaminMorrell departs Antarctica after a voyage later plagued by claims of fraud...
He also drew from A Narrative of Four Voyages (1832), an account by BenjaminMorrell that became a bestseller. A Narrative of Four Voyages may have given...
Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Namibia. Morrell (1832), p.294. References Morrell, Benjamin (1832). A Narrative of Four Voyages...etc. New York:...
showed that the supposed "New South Greenland", reportedly seen by BenjaminMorrell in 1823, did not exist. Morale had meanwhile collapsed, and by the...
Weddell's honour in 1900. Also in 1823, the American sealing captain BenjaminMorrell claimed to have seen land some 10–12° east of the sea's actual eastern...
at this time, a record that will hold until 1841. March 15 – Sailor BenjaminMorrell erroneously reports the existence of the island of New South Greenland...
promulgates the Spanish Constitution of 1812. 1824 – American explorer BenjaminMorrell departed Antarctica after a voyage later plagued by claims of fraud...
– Maine is admitted as the twenty-third U.S. state. 1823 – Sailor BenjaminMorrell erroneously reported the existence of the island of New South Greenland...
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