Burdick, Christopher

Christopher Burdick commanded the schooner Huntress during the United States sealing voyage, 1820-1822, sailing from Nantucket in August 1820. Huntress met Huron, commanded by John Davis, at the Falkland Islands before sailing together to the South Shetland Islands, where they anchored at Yankee Harbour, Greenwich Island, and met up with five vessels from the United States sealing voyage (from Stonington), 1820-1821 (leader Benjamin Pendleton). In February 1821, Davis and Burdick, in separate voyages, took the shallop Cecilia to the Hughes Bay area. Davis landed on the Antarctic Peninsula on 7 February 1821, the first documented landing on the continent, reporting a large stretch of coast, but no sealing grounds. Later in the same month, Burdick also recorded sighting the continent. In March 1821, Huntress sailed from the South Shetland Islands for Patagonia, returning Nantucket in June. After the expedition, Burdick entered the coasting trade. On a voyage to Tampico, Mexico in 1831, he contracted yellow fever and died at that port.