Strachan, together with James Mitchell, a Scottish insurance broker living in London, owned the 160-ton brig , an American-built ship taken during the War of 1812 and re-fitted for sealing. News of the discovery of the South Shetland Islands had just broken, and Weddell suggested that fortunes might be made in the new sealing grounds. His first voyage as the captain of the "Jane" took him to the Falkland Islands and further south. He returned with the holds full, and the voyage was so profitable that Strachan and Mitchell had a second ship, the "Beaufoy", built.