James Fenimore Cooper 
The Sea Lions [EPUB ebook] 
or, The Lost Sealers

Unique Elements

• Historical Context: About the Author


• Historical Context: Timeline


• Commentaries


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The Sea Lions; Or, The Lost Sealers, is an adventure sea tale from the well-known American author JAMES FENIMORE COOPER (1789-1851), best known as the author of the Leatherstocking Tales.

The Sea Lions; Or, The Lost Sealers,  is a historical novel by American author JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, published in 1849 in the UNITED STATES. It was one of several sea novels, inspired by the author’s own experience as a sailor. Cooper was a pioneer of nautical fiction. In his sea novels, Cooper used his direct knowledge of ships and sailors to present a truer picture of life on the sea.

The plot of ‘The Sea Lions’ revolves around the struggles of two sealers stranded in the Antarctic ice. The novel was inspired by the writings of explorers such as Charles Wilkes, author or ‘Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition of the Years 1838-1842.’ The book was reviewed for ‘The Literary World’ by Herman Melville, who praised the novel’s action and adventure: ‘Upon the whole, we warmly recommend the ‘Sea Lions;’ and even those who more for fashion’s sake than anything else, have of late joined in decrying our national novelist, will in this last work, perhaps, recognize one of his happiest.’

‘It was about midday, when the two Sea Lions opened their canvass, at the same moment, and prepared to quit Sealer’s Land. All hands were on board, every article was shipped for which there was room, and nothing remained that denoted the former presence of man on that dreary island, but the deserted house, and three or four piles of cord-wood, that had grown on Shelter Island and Martha’s Vineyard, and which was now abandoned on the rocks of the antarctic circle.’



• Originally published in 1849


• Historical fiction, Sea tale

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