OR, THE LOST SEALERS
The Sea Lions, published in 1849, is the story of privations suffered by Captain Roswell Gardiner and his crew as they journey to the icy wastes of the Antarctic in search of a fabled island of seals. This was Cooper’s last sea story and (as with his last wilderness romance, The Oak Openings) it combines its vivid and thrilling depiction of the difficulties of exploration in barren areas with deeply religious concerns – namely the conflicting ideals of Unitarian and Trinitarian Christianity, represented respectively by Gardiner and his fiancée Mary.