CHAPTER V.
ADDED ENDEAVORS AND EXPLORATIONS.
WILLIAM PARKER & THOMAS LOVE.
In the added attention given to English colonization as the result of Waymouth's successful expedition, there was a stirring of private interests as well as those of a public nature. Before Popham and the men in agreement with him had received the royal charter for which they asked, and which gave them authority to take possession of the country between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude, thus shutthing out private enterprise, certain merchants of Plymouth, England, William Parker, Thomas Love, - came and William Morgan, had entered into an agreement with Captain George Waymouth "to carry them with their shipping, and provisions" to Virginia, "there to fish, traffic, and to do what else shall be fitting for a merchant voyage". These Plymouth merchants lost no time in their effort thus to seize the opportunity for securing profitable returns in a business venture. For some reason, however, this agreement was almost immediately annulled, evidently because of another and more liberal arrangement on the part of Waymouth; for October 30, 1605, he entered into a formal agreement with Sir John Zouche of Codnor, in Derbyshire, "for and concerning a voyage intended to be made unto the land commonly called by the name of Virginia upon the continent of America."1
On the part of Sir John, it was agreed that at his own cost he should set forth two ships fitted and furnished with "all necessaries of victual, provision, munition and two hundred able and sufficient men; that is to say, of such trades and arts as are fitting for a plantation and colony, before the last day of April, next." Sir John also agreed to pay to Captain Waymouth within twenty-
Footnote.
1. This agreement will be found in Alexander Brown's Genesis of the United States, I, 33-35.
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one days a hundred pounds "lawful English money....in consideration of his 'travell' and pains to be taken in and about the said voyage and for his own charge defraying". Sir John furthermore agreed to allow the merchants of Plymouth, England, whose contract with Captain Waymouth had just been annulled, liberty "to make their trade for what commodities soever without any hindrance or disturbance on his part, or any of his followers under his command, for the space of one whole year now next coming, and not after". It was also agreed that Sir John Zouche, "being Chief Commander", should give to Waymouth, "the next place of command under himself as well at sea as at land."
Manifestly the purpose that lay at the foundation of this agreement was the English occupation and possession of that part of the American coast, which Waymouth had visited and explored. How this territory was to be appropriated is indicated in the closing paragraph of the agreement on the part of Sir John, which was as follows:
"Item, if it so please God to prosper and bless the said intended voyage and the actions of the same, that thereby the land aforesaid shall be inhabited with our English nation, and according to 'Polliticque' estate of Government proportion of land be allotted to such as shall be transported thither to inhabit; that then, after the said Sir John Zouche shall have made his choice and assumed into his possession in manner of inheritance such quantity of land as he, the said Sir John, shall think good; then he, the said Captain George Waymouth and his assigns, shall and may make his or their own choice of land for his or their possession and plantation; to hold the same in tenure of him, the said Sir John, as 'Lord Paramount'; which said land so by the said Captain Waymouth to be chosen shall descend to his heirs or assigns, or shall be upon reasonable considerations to his or their uses employed or disposed."
On Waymouth's part the agreement was that with his "best endeavor, council and advice", he should aid Sir John in the fitting out of the expedition; that he should be ready to go with him in the voyage "at such time as is limited or before, unless
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THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
hindered by sickness or other such visitation"; that on the arrival of the expedition he should assist in the planting of the colony, work of fortification, and whatever else should be thought fitting by Sir John; and finally, that he should not aid, "by person or direction to any other in or for the said pretended land or voyage without the consent or allowance of the said Sir John". One of the witnesses to this agreement was James Rosier, who worte the Relation of Waymouth's voyage.
Two days after the signing of this agreement, the Guy Fawkes gunpowder plot, which was to have been consummated on the assembling of Parliament, November 5th, was made known to King James. The arrest, trial and execution of those connected with the plot followed, and for the time attracted public attention to such an extent, that the plans and purposes of Sir John Zouche and Captain could have received little attention.1
But that which of itself was sufficient to bring to naught the agreement between the two was the Royal Charter2 granted on April 10, 1606, to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hakluyt, Thomas Hanham3, Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, George Popham and others, incorporating two companies for the purpose of promoting English colonization "in that part of America, commonly called, 'Virginia'"
This Charter, prepared in its first draft by Sir Johnb Popham as is supposed, was granted on petition; but the petition has not come down to us, and its date and its signers are unknown. As some time would be required for the work of drawing up the Charter, as well as for its consideration by the various officers of the crown to whom it was submitted for examination, the Petition was probably presented to King
Footnote.
1. Sir John Zouche, notwithstanding his present failure, did not lose his interest in English enterprises in the new world. In 1631, he received an appointment on "the commission for the better plantation of Virginia", and in 1634 he went to Virginia to visit his son and daughter, who were living there".
2. Genesis of the United States, II, 46-63.
3. The "h" in the name was adopted from the time of Sir John Hanham, oldest son of Thomas & Penelope (Popham) Hanham, and brother of Captain Thomas Hanham.
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ADDED ENDEAVORS AND EXPLORATIONS.
as early as the last quarter of 1605. The petition for the territory "situate, lying and being all along the seacoast" between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude, "and in the mainland between, together with the islands thereunto adjacent, or within one hundred miles of the coast thereof". The petitioners asked to be divided into two colonies or companies, the one, consisting of certain knights, gentlemen, merchants and other adventurers of London and vicinity, who wished to establish their plantation in some fit place between the thirty-fourth and fortieth degrees of north latitude, was generally known as the London Company; the other, consisting of sundry Knights, gentlemen, merchants and other adventurers of Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and other places, who wished to establish their plantation in some fit place between the 38th and 45th degrees of north latitude, was generally known as the Plymouth Company.
In the Charter, the first colony was granted the territory between the thirty-fourth and forty-first degrees, also fifty miles south of this location, while to the second colony, was granted the territory between the 38th and the 45th degrees, also fifty miles farther north. This overlapping of limits in grants of territory in the new world was not a matter of unfrequent occurrence, as an examination of later Grants shows. In the Charter, however, this wholesome provision was added. "That the plantation and habitation of such of the said colonies, as shall last plant themselves as aforesaid, shall not be made within one hundred like English miles of the other of them, that first began to make their plantation as aforesaid." Furthermore, no others of the King's subjects were permitted to "plant or inhabit behind or on the backside of them, without the express license or consent of the Council of the Colony, thereunto in writing first had and obtained."
Although Sir John Popham's name does not occur in the Charter, it is well known that he was one of the most active of those engaged in the movement for obtaining it. Evidently he saw very clearly the importance of government control in opening to English
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THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
colonization the vast territory of the new world, only glimpses of which had been obtained by the expeditions of Ralegh in the south, and those of Gosnold, Pring and Waymouth in the north. Private plantations had not been successful and Sir John Popham, and those who agreed with him, had good reasons for their belief that public plantations had the best prospect of success. The Popham idea prevailed, and brought to an end private enterprises on the part of English adventurers like Sir John Zouche, who were ready to seize and to hold as much of American territory as they could secure.
CAPT. CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT AND CAPT. BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD.
An expedition fitted out under this Charter for the establishment of the "first colony in Virginia", sailed from London in three vessels on December 20, 1606, with Captain Christopher Newport as commander of the voyage, and Captain Bartholomew Gosnold as vice-Admiral. But Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Sir John Popham and those in the territory discovered by Waymouth, evidently deemed it a wiser course to engage in added exploration before colonization. Gorges seems to have been the inspiring spirit in this movement.
THE SHIP, RICHARD.
Sailed from England, Aug 12, 1606.
Henry Challons, Captain & Nicholas Hines, Master & John Stoneman, Pilot.
A vessel, the Richard, of Plymouth, England, was secured for the voyage, and under the command of Henry Challons, as Captain, with Nicholas Hine as Master, and John Stoneman as pilot, the ship, Richard sailed from Plymouth harbor, England August 12, 1606.1 The vessel was a small one, registering only 55 tons or thereabouts. In it were twenty-nine Englishmen and two of the five Indians captured
Footnote.
1 An account of Challons' voyage, first printed in Purchas's Pilgrimes IV, 1832-1837, was reprinted in Brown's Genesis of the United States, I, 127-139. Another account entitled The Relation of Daniel Tucker, Merchant, being employed by divers adventurers of Plymouth to go as factor of a ship bound for Florida, written by himself the 4th day of February, 1606, has a place among the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House. It was enclosed in a letter, sent at the time to Cecil by Gorges, and is included in the documents printed in the third volume of Baxter's "Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his has followed Stoneman's more extended, and apparently more carefully prepared, narrative, which in a few particulars differs from that by Tucker.
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ADDED ENDEAVORS AND EXPLORATIONS.
adventured by Waymouth, namely "Maneddo and Assacomoit", or, as recorded by Rosier in his Relation, "Maneddo and Saffacomoit".
Why Waymouth was not placed in command of the ship, Richard, does not appear in the accounts of the voyage that have come down to us. That he was ready to undertake such an expedition is made evident by the agreement into which he entered with Sir John Zouche. In all probability, his agreement to serve Sir John, in his endeavor to turn Waymouth's discoveries to personal advantage, brought him into disfavor with those who were interested in the northern colony.
Gorges says he gave Challons instruction to take a northerly course as high as the latitude of Cape Breton, until the main land was sighted, and that then he was to sail southward, following the coast until, from the Indians who were with him, he was told that he had reached that part of the American coast "they were assigned unto." Challons, on the contrary, paid no attention to his instructions and, following the course of earlier voyagers, generally, made the Canary Islands the starting point of his expedition. This course could not have been taken because of contrary winds, inasmuch as Stoneman, in his narrative of the voyage, makes no mention of such winds until after the Canary Islands were reached.
But leaving those islands, contrary winds baffled them. For six weeks they were driven in a southerly direction, and the voyagers found themselves at the end of that time at the Island of Saint Lucia, one of the Lesser Antilles, twenty-nine degrees out of their way. After a delay of three days at that port, the ship, Richard, was started northward. But there was further delay at Porto Rico, where "the captain went ashore for the recovery of his health, while the company took in water and such other provisions as they had use of, expending some time there, hunting after such things as best pleased themselves." At length, leaving Porto Rico and proceeding northward one hundred and eighty leagues, Challons encountered a severe storm which continued ten days. At its close, "in a thick fog of mist and rain", he found himself surrounded by eight Spanish ships, which bore
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THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
Maine Indian, Assacomoit wounded by the Spanish.
down upon the ship (Richard) and compelled her surrender. Among the wounded in Challon's company was Assacomoit,1 one of the two Indians the ship, Richard, was bearing homeward. Challons and his men, including the Indians, were taken to Spain as captives. Some of them, at length were liberated, some escaped from prison, and others sickened and died.2 Gorges says, "The affliction of the captain and his company put the Lord Chief Justice Popham to charge, and myself to trouble in procuring their liberties, which was not suddenly obtained". So ended the Challons' ill-fated expedion from which Gorges had expected so much.3
Another vessel, fitted out by Sir John Popham for the purpose of co-operating with the ship, Richard, in the exploration of the coast visited by Waymouth, left England not long after the Challons' departure. Of the vessel, Thomas Hanham4 was the commander, and
Footnotes:
1. Gorges, in his Briefe Narration, at the opening of Chapter XII, says he "recovered Assacomoit" from Spanish captivity.
2. Thayer, The Sagadahoc Colony, p.11, says: "Stoneman was questioned closely respecting the Virginia coast and offered large wages to draw maps. His sturdy loyal refusal remanded him to prison, and when, later enlarged on parole he learned he was in danger of the rack to extort the desired information, he made escape, and by the way if Lisbon he reached Cornwall, England on November 26, 1607; sixteen months after embarkation at Plymouth." Challons was not released until the following May.
3. Gorges, in a letter to Challons, dated Plymouth, England, March 13, 1607, wrote: "I rest satisfied for your part of the proceedings of the voyage".
4. Little has come down to us concerning this associate with Pring in the voyage of 1606. As Sir John Popham's oldest daughter, Penelope, married a Thomas Hanham, Thayer (Sagadahoc Colony, 145.) inclines to the view that the Chief Justice "selected his trusy son-in-law to be the controlling agent" in the expedition. Alexander Brown thought it probable that the Hanham of Pring's voyage was a son of the same name (Genesis of the United States, II, 909. It is now known that such was the fact, as the Thomas Hanham who married Penelope Popham, died August 30, 1593, had a son, Thomas Hanham, of Wimborne Minster, who married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Robert Broughton of County Somerset, England. To him the Dorset History (III, 232) makes reference as follows: "Thomas Hanham, Esquire, the 2nd son of Thomas last mentioned, was one of the members of the Long Parliament that attended (continued, footnotes, p.59)
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ADDED ENDEAVORS AND EXPLORATIONS.
Martin Pring, who commanded the expedition of 1603, was Master. Gorges makes no mention of Hanham in his reference to the voyage, and it is evident that his position was a nominal one as a representative of Sir John Popham, the chief promoter of the expedition.
Unfortunately we have no record of this voyage. That a Relation was prepared by Hanham is learned from Purchas,1 who mentions such a narrative. Purchas had a copy of it about the year 1624. Possibly it may have come into his possession with the Hakluyt papers, which were placed in his hands after Hakluyt's death. Why he did not publish the record in his Pilgrimes, it is difficult to conjecture on account of the significance of the voyage from its connection with the fitting out of the Popham colony. Purchas might well have ommitted many another narrative in orderto give place to this. Although we have no record of the date of Pring's departur for the King at Oxford, and subscribed the letter for peace to the Earl of Essex. In a grant of land in North America, made to him (the reference is to the Charter of April 10, 1606, authorizing two companies for colonizing North America) with Lord Chief Justice Popham, Sir Thomas Gorges, etc., he is styled Thomas Hanham, Esq., and also Captain Hanham. He was buried in Wimborne Minster, where is his monument." Unfortunately (probably because of a comparatively recent restoration of the edifice), this memorial of Captain Hanham is no longer to be seen. The 1868 edition of the Dorset History, however, contains the inscription of the Memorial as printed in an earlier edition, with the statement that formerly, at the upper end of the south aisle of the Minster, was an altar tomb of gray marble. The inscription follows:
GRAY MARBLE TOMB OF THOMAS HANHAM-INSCRIPTION.
"Here lyeth the body of Thomas Hanham, late of Dean's Court, England, second son of Thomas Hanham, Sergeant at Law and of Penelope, his wife, the daughter of Sir John Popham, Kt., Lord Chief Justice of England, who departed this life the 1st day of August in the 76th year of his age, Anno D. Ni, 1652".
Accordingly, Captain Thomas Hanham was abouot thirty years of age at the time of the voyage of 1606. The second son of Captain Thomas Hanham, and also named Thomas Hanham, died June 17, 1650. A mural monument of white marble, erected by Margaret, "his loving and sad widow", and containing "his portraiture and her own, intending if God so please to be interred by him" (History, III, 218), has come down to us and is now at the west end of the north aisle of the nave of Wimborne Minster.
Footnote.
1. Pilgrimes, Ed. of 1624, IV, 1837.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
BY Henry S. Burrage, DD.
the coast of Maine, Gorges says1 that Pring's vessel followed the Richard "within two months". Probably Pring sailed from Bristol, and the voyage, as may be inferred from Challon's instructions, and what Gorges says conderning it, was a direct one to the American coast. St. George's harbor, the Pentecost harbor of Waymouth's anchorage in 1605, was doubtless the place of rendezvous agreed upon by Challons and Pring. Not to meet Challons there, or in the vicinity, was a matter of surprise and disappointment to those who followed him and expected to find the work of added exploration already well advanced. There may have been some little loss of time in searching for the co-operating vessel, but the favorable season for accomplishing satisfactory work was drawing to a close, and Hanham and Pring soon entered upon the task assigned to them. The coast was carefully examined,2 and the explorations made by Waymouth the year before were considerably extended. Especially was attention given to that part of the coast lying west of the territory of Waymouth's discoveries.
The Sagadahoc, now called the Kennebec, was found to be a larger and more important river than that which evoked so much admiration from the explorers on the ship, the Archangel. It also afforded much larger trade facilities with the Indians and on this account offered advantages for a settlement that ought not to be overlooked. Accordingly, the location of the river and directions with reference to its entrance were carefully noted.
Indeed all facts necessary in planning for the establishment of a colony in the explored territory were sought for and made available for use on the vessel's return to England.
Gorges implies that Pring was obliged to cut short his work of exploration by the approach of winter, and such seems to have been the fact. The vessel that bore the expedition hither left England about the first of October, and if ten weeks are allowed
Tahanedo, one of Waymouth's captured Indians.
Footnotes:
1. Letter to Challons, March 13, 1607.
2. In this work Hanham and Pring had the assistance of Dehamda (Rosier's Tahanedo), one of Waymouth's captured Indians, whom they brought with them and left in the country on their return.
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ADDED ENDEAVORS AND EXPLORATIONS.
for the voyage and subsequent examination of the coast, Hanham and Pring could not have set out on their return much before the close of the year. Their arrival in England was on an unknown date. It was a winter voyage, and there were doubtless storms and delays. But Port was at length reached - Bristol, England, probably - and Popham and those who were interested in the voyage were at once made acquainted with its encouraging results.
Gorges in his reference to it1 makes mention of Pring's "perfect discovery of all those rivers and harbors", which his report described: and he calls it "the most exact discovery" of the coast that had come into his hands. While he makes no mention of Hanham's connection with the expedition, he pays high tribute to Pring, whose services had proved so acceptable, and had achieved success so greatly desired. "His relation of the same", adds Gorges, "wrought such an impression in the Lord Chief Justice and us all, that were his associates, that notwithstanding our first disaster, we set up our resolutions to follow it with effect."2
Footnotes.
1. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, II,11.
2. Pring's later service was largely connected with the East Indies. In 1617, he was General of the East India fleet. In 1622, the Quarter Court of the Virginia Company made Captain Martin Pring a freeman of the company and gave him two shares of land in Virginia. Brown (Genesis of the United States, II, 973) considers it probable that Pring "died on his voyage to Virginia, or very soon after his return to England", probably in 1626, at the age of 46. His monument in St. Stephen's Church, Bristol, England, bears witness to the high esteem in which he was held by his fellow citizens. The following is the inscription which is recorded on the Memorial Tablet:
To the Pious Memorie of Martin Pringe, Merchant, sometyme Generall to the East Indies, and one of ye Fraternity of the Trinity House.
The living worth of this dead man was such
That this fayr Touch can give you but a Touch
Of his admired gifts; These quartered Arts,
Enriched his knowledge and ye spheare imparts;
His heart's true embleme where pure thoughts did move,
By a most sacred Influence from above.
Prudence and Fortitude are top this tombe,
Which in brave Pringe took up ye chiefest roome;
Hope, Time supporters showe that he did clyme
The highest pitch of Hope through not of Tyme.
Pg. 62
His painefull, skillfull travayles reacht as farre
As from the Artic to the Antartick starre;
He made himself a Shipp. Religion
His only compass, and the truth alone
His guiding cynosure: Faith was his sailes,
His anchour - Hope. A hope that never failes,
His freighte was Charitie, and his returne
A fruitful practice. In this fatal urne
His shipp's fayre buick is lodged, but ye rich ladinge
Is housed in Heaven. A heaven never fading.
Hic terris multum jactatus et undis. Salutis 1626
Obit anno Aetatis 46 |
