Eld was born in Cedar Hill, New Haven, Connecticut, on June 2, 1814,[1] and lived in the area now known as View Street, but when it started becoming more populated he removed his house and relocated.
Charles Wilkes in 1838 and 1842 in search of the Antarctic continent, which Eld first descried and called out land from the crosstree of the sloop Peacock on January 16, 1840.
[3] Eld kept journals and sketch books of the Wilkes Expedition, accompanied by letters, reports and orders, documenting his personal and professional life.
[5][6] Henry Eld died at sea on board U. S. ship of war Ohio on March 12, 1850, bound home from Rio de Janeiro after a 3+1⁄2-year cruise.
A Sailor's Poem written in memory of Henry Eld's passing in 1854:[7] "...thrice had weary sickness laid him low Upon the troubled couch of feverish pain — And days and nights of anguish measured slow Their length upon the prostrate sufferer's chain; Yet oft bright visions to his heart would come..."