CHAPTER VIII.
VOYAGES BY CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
Notwithstanding Strachey's explicit statement asserting the complete collapse of the Sagadahoc colony at the mouth of the Kennebec – a statement abundantly confirmed by other contemporary writers attempts have been made to give apparent support to vague surmisings that some of the colonists remained in the country.1 "However first promulgated by various persons, have been supported by sundry considerations with insistence and repetition. They have assumed a place in history and literature, have been frequently set before the public eye in the newspapers and been enforced on occasion in historical or public assemblies. It is believed they are quite widely diffused among reading people, and have been accepted partially, or fully, by many persons interested in the history of the locality, or the state".2
Especially has the effort been made to locate at Pemaquid, Popham colonists, who are said to have remained on the coast after the abandonment of Fort St. George. There is no evidence,
Footnotes.
1. The latest, perhaps, is in Herbert Edgar Holmes' Makers of Maine, Lewiston, Maine, 1912, p.149: "When the Popham colonists at the end of the year returned to England, they returned in the ship, Mary and John, and the Virginia of Sagadahoc' ! The ship, "Gift of God," with forty-five men, remained behind.
What became of these men and their ship is doubtful, but the weight of evidence tends to prove that they went to Pemaquid and Monhegan and became those scattered settlements of Englishmen along the coast of Maine." There is no evidence whatever that these men went to Pemaquid and Monhegan. The persistence of such statements that over- look well-established facts is one of the surprises of well-informed readers concerning our Colonial history.
2. Collection of the Maine Historical Society, Series II, 6, 64.
p.119
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
however, upon which such an attempt can be based with any show of reason. Not only is there positive testimony, which the sources of this part of our history abundantly furnish, that all the colonists connected with the Popham plantation at the time of its abandonment returned to England, but there is no evidence that there was any English occupation of Pemaquid following the breaking up of the settlement on the Kennebec. When, for example, it is said that French missionaries report English people at Pemaquid in 1608 and in 1609, a good illustration is furnished of the foundation upon which this claim of English occupation at Pemaquid at this time, is made to rest. The reference plainly is to the statement made by Father Biard, in his Relation, that the Indians told him "they drove away the English who wished to settle among them in 1608 and 1609". But the connection shows that Father Biard, in this statement, had in mind the Popham colony at the mouth of the Kennebec, whither he went with Biancourt in the Autumn of 1611. It is true that he makes a mistake in the date he gives and should have written 1607 and 1608, the dates of the Sagadahoc settlement; but the error is easily corrected by the reader, as Father Biard has no record of any visit to Pemaquid in his narrative of this trip. In the passage to which reference is made, he is recording what he learned from the Indians during his visit to Kennebec (Kinibequi) with Biancourt, allusion to which is made in the preceding chapter. Other statements, presented as a basis for Pemaquid settlement at this time are equally without foundation.
They are figments of the imagination only.1 Certainly if any one had known of English settlers on the Maine coast immediately following the return of the Popham colonists to England, it would have been Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who was so bitterly disappointed at the outcome of an enterprise into which
Footnote.1. For a clear and exhaustive statement concerning "Beginnings at Pemaquid" see a paper with that title, read before the Maine Historical Society, September 7, 1894, by Reverend H. O. Thayer, and printed in the Society's Collections, Series II, 6, 62-85; also The Sagadahoc Colony, Gorges Society, IV, 217-239.
p.120
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
he had put so much of heart and hope. His writings, however, lack even a hint of any such information.
Already, under the reign of King James I, the condition of affairs in England, was such as to awaken serious consideration among thoughtful men. Two letters of Gorges,1 written to Lord Salisbury in 1611, touch upon this unhappy condition. Matters connected with English commerce especially distressed Gorges, who, at Plymouth, was made familiar with the piratical assaults of English adventurers upon the vessels of London merchants in the English channel, and with the contempt with which these free-booters regarded both the King and the Government. Gorges also was distressed because of the very large number of men in the great cities and towns who were out of employment. Accordingly, with his thoughts still busy with reference to the opportunities for English expansion on this side of the sea, he ventured the suggestion to Cecil that in this unhappy state of affairs in the Kingdom, relief might be sought, as had been done before in the history of nations, by "the planting of colonies in barbarous and uninhabited parts of the world", to the great honor and happiness of all concerned.
But his suggestion, if it found support in Cecil, evidently found little support elsewhere, and the country continued to drift on and on into a still deplorable condition.
Between 1608 and 1614, no evidence whatever is found in authoritative sources that there were English colonists on the coast of Maine, and they afford only glimpses - provokingly faint glimpses - of English vessels. In the Brief Relation of the Discovery and Plantation of New England, prepared by the "President and Council for the affairs of New England" and published in 1622, after a reference to the breaking up of the Popham colony in 1608, and the return of "the whole company" to England, and the discouragement that followed so that "there was no more speech of settling any other plantation in those parts for a long time after", it is added: "Only Sir Francis Popham, having the
Footnote. 1. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, III, 171-176.
p.121
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
CAPTAIN HENRY HARLEY
and
The Indian, Epenow, of Martha's Vineyard.
ships and provisions which remained of the company, and supplying what was necessary for his purpose, sent divers times to the coasts for trade and fishing".1. Gorges makes mention of a voyage made by Capt. Henry Harley to the New England coast about this time; and he adds that Harley was "one of the plantation sent over by the Lord Chief Justice", in other words, a member of the Popham Colony - it is difficult to think of him as Master of a vessel in New England waters and not making his way to the coast of Maine. On his return, Captain Harley called on Sir Ferdinando at Plymouth, bringing with him an Indian whose name was Epenow,2 a native of the Island at Capawick, or, Martha's Vineyard. "At the time, this new savage came to me", writes Gorges, "I had recovered Assacumet, one of the natives I sent with Captain Chalownes (Challons) in his unhappy employment"2 This Indian, Assacumet, will be recognized as one of
Footnotes:
1. Baxter, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, I, 207.
2. Gorges says he was "a person of goodly nature, strong and well proportioned", and that he was "taken upon the main with some 29 others by a ship of London, that endeavored to sell them as slaves in Spain; but being understood that they were Americans, and found to be unapt for their uses, they would not meddle with them, this being one of them they refused. How Captain Harley came to be possessed of this savage, I know not, but I understood by others how he had been showed in London for a wonder". Gorges, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, II, 20. Some writers mention Epenow as one of the Indians captured by Hunt; but as Epenow was placed by Gorges on Hobson's vessel, which sailed from England in June, 1614 (Briefe Narrative, II, 22), he could not have been included in Hunt's captives, as Hunt had not, at that time, captured the Indians he took to Spain.
TISQUANTUM, A CAPE COD INDIAN.
SQUANTO.
Tisquantum, a Cape Cod Indian, was probably captured by the same party that captured Epenow. He is mentioned in Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation under the name of Squanto. The Pilgrims came to know him through Samoset, as one who could speak better English than himself.
He taught the Pilgrims corn planting and befriended them in many ways. In recording Squanto's death in 1622, Bradford says (History of Plymouth's Plantation, 155) that he desired "the governor to pray for him that he might go the the Englishmen's God in Heaven, and bequeathed sundry of his things to sundry of his English friends, as remembrances of his love, of whom they had great loss".
Footnote.
2. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, II, 22.
p.122
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
those captured by George Waymouth in 1605 and taken to England. He accompanied Challons in the voyage of 1606, and with him and the rest of his company, was captured and taken to Spain.
CAPTAIN JOHN BARLEE.
CAPTAIN NICHOLSON HOBSON.
In August, 1607, Captain John Barlee wrote to Secretary Cecil, in England, enclosing in his letter, a list of Challon's prisoners at Seville, and urged him to use his influence in the recovery of two savages, Manedo (Maneddo) and Sassacomett (Saffacomoit)1. Doubtless there was delay in the matter, and it may have been several years before Saffacomoit arrived at Plymouth. His return, however, whether sooner or later, quickened Gorges' interest in American matters, and in June, 1614,2 he despatched a vessel under Captain Nicholson Hobson to the New England coast - the company including three Indians: "Epenow, Assacomet and Wanape", who were to be used as pilots after the vessel's arrival at its destination.
But the voyage, apparently directed primarily to Martha's Vineyard (where, it would seem, the adventurers were to search for a gold mine), was a failure and Gorges, after telling briefly the story, recorded his added disappointment in connection with this new enterprise in these words: "Thus were my hopes of that particular made void and frustrate, and they returned without doing more, though otherwise ordered how to spend that summer to good purpose".3
HOBSON.
Search for the gold mine might prove a failure, but fishing on the coast of Maine had promise of success and in his supplemental orders doubtless Gorges directed Hobson to make his way thither.
ASSACOMET.
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH.
Assacomet probably returned to England with Hobson, though he is not again mentioned. At this time a picturesque figure appeaared on the Maine coast in the person of Captain John Smith, who says4 that "in
Footnotes.
1. Thayer, Sagadahoc Colony, 164.
2. Baxter, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, II, 23.
3. Ib, II, 25. A somewhat different account appears in The Discovery and Plantation of New England, published by the President and Council for New England in 1622. Baxter, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, I. 209, 210. See also, Captain John Smith's "A Description of New England: Veazie reprint of edition of 1616, Boston, 1865, 67, 68.
4. A Description of New England, Veazie reprint, 19.
p.123
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
Captain John Smith and Others.
MONAHIGGON ISLAND
The first appearance in print of the name New England. And, the first time appears the Indian name of
MONHEGAN ISLAND. (which Waymouth renamed "St. George's Island".)
month of April, 1614, with two ships from London", he "chanced to arrive in New England, with two ships from London", he "chanced to to arrive in New England, a part of America, at the isle of Monahiggon in 43-1/2 of northerly latitude". In this record is found the first appearance in print of the designation New England. And here, also, appears for the first time, the Indian name of Monhegan Island, which Waymouth named "St. George's Island".1
Captain Smith became interested in new world enterprises after many adventures in European countries.2 This, he records, was two years before the departure of the Jamestown colonists, who left England December 19, 1606, and whom he accompanied. He was a member of the first Virginia council, and was elected president of the colony in 1608. This office he held until he was arrested in September, 1609, and sent to England "to answer to some misdemeanors", probably as the result of factional conditions in the colony, which Smith, doubtless, had a share in creating. He remained in England until 1614; and though he was not again identified with affairs in Virginia, he seems to have so
Footnotes.
1. Rosier's Relation of Waymouth's Voyage to the Coast of Maine in 1605, Gorges Society, 1887, 1838.
2. These are recounted by himself in True Travels, Adventures and Observations of Captain John Smith, in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Replublished in Richmond, Virginia, in 1819, from the London edition of 1629. Smith's trustworthiness as a historian has been strongly assailed during the past half century by some writers, especially by Alexander Brown in his Genesis of the United States, Boston, 1890, II, 1006-1010. "Smith's position in our early history", he says, "is a remarkable illustration of the maxim, 'I care not who fights the battles, so I write the dispatches'"; and he adds, "He was certainly incapable of writing correct history when he was personally interested". On the other hand the article on Captain John Smith in the 1911 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica is exceedingly favorable to him, and defends him against the charge of untrustworthiness. The writer is inclined to think that the truth is not on the one side or the other, but between the two.
Smith died in the house of Sir Samuel SALTONSTALL.
Insert: Source: Bond's Watertown - p.415 - Sir Richard Saltonstall, the son of Sir Samuel Saltonstall and the grandson of Gilbert Saltonstall, Esq., of Yorkshire, England, was the 1st named associate of the six original Patentees of Massachusetts, and one of the first Assistants.
Smith's Description of New England is certainly a work for which we owe to him grateful remembrance. He had his faults, but he had also his excellences. He died in London, in the house of Sir Samuel Saltonstall, June 21, 1631 and was buried in St. Sepulchre's Church, on the south side of the choir, where an elaborate epitaph still records his deeds in eulogistic lines. The original monument, however was destroyed by fire in 1661.
p.124
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
far made good his defense against the Virginia charges as to secure general confidence in England, so that some London merchants furnished him with two vessels for a venture to the territory assigned to the North Virginia Colony.1
One object of the voyage, he says, "was there to take whales and make trials of a mine of gold and copper. If these failed, fish and furs", he added, "was then our refuge." Evidently, in his preparation for the undertaking, Captain Smith had interviewed his predecessors in voyages to the New England coast, and doubtless had obtained from them reports of whales in American waters, and suggestions as to the possibility of discovering mines of gold and copper. But he knew that other fisheries than the whale fishery had proved remunerative, as also had fur-trading with the Indians. Accordingly, he felt reasonably confident that in his prosecution of the enterprise he was warranted in looking for such returns as would satisfy the London adventurers. He acted wisely, therefore, in broadening the scope of his intended operations.
The fitness of Monhegan as a favorable location for the prosecution of such an undertaking was doubtless suggested to him
Indians, Dohoday and Tantum - Dehamda.
Footnote.
1. In his General Historie, II, 206, Smith mentions two Indians in connection with his voyage of 1614, Dohoday, "one of their greatest Lords, who had lived long in England", and another called Tantum, whom he says, "I carried with me from England and set on shore at Cape Cod". The first, doubtless, is to be identified with Tahanedo, mentioned by Rosier in his list of the five Indians captured by Waymouth in 1605 (Rosier's Relation, Gorges Society reprint, 161) and takes to England; also mentioned by Gorges as Dehamda (Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, II, 14). He was returned with Pring in 1606, and was visited by the Popham colonists in 1607.
Indians, Tantum & Tisquantum.
Monhegan.
Footnotes, continued. Rosier designates him as Sagamo or Commander", and Smith here calls him "one of their greatest lords". But if we are to identify Tantum with Tisquantum (Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, I, 104) he certainly was not one of the Indians treacherously seized by Hunt after Smith left Monhegan for England, as Smith says he set him "on shore at Cape Cod"; and this he must have done before Hunt's capture of the Indians, if Smith has correctly recorded his disposal of Tantum, inasmuch as it is hardly supportable that having landed on Cape Cod, the Indian hurried back to Monhegan in time to fall into Hunt's hands, and so was carried by him to Malaga.
p.125
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
before he left England; and on his arrival there, if not before, whale fishing was attempted, but without success. "We found this whale fishing a costly conclusion", he said. "We saw many, and spent much time in chasing them, but could not kill any: they being a kind of Inbartes, and not the whale that yeilds fins and oil as we expected". The search for gold and copper also wa snot attended with success. How the search came to have a place in the proposed objects of the voyage, Captain Smith relates: "For our gold, it was rather the master's (Hunts) device to get a voyage that projected it, than any knowledge he had at all of any such matter".
But invaluable time was consumed in these endeavors. There was "long lingering about the whole", says Captain Smith. The best opportunity for obtaining furs from the Indians, and for coast fishing, "were past ere we perceived it", he adds, "we, thinking that their seasons served at all times; but we found it otherwise, for by the midst of June, the fishing failed. Yet in July and August, some was taken, but not sufficient to defray so great a charge as our stay required. Of dry fish, we made about 40,000, or corfish1 about 7,000".2
MONHEGAN HARBOR.
Monhegan harbor, in which Captain Smith found anchorage for his vessels, must have represented a busy scene during that summmer of 1614. It was a scened that became a familiar one on the Maine coast.
Without doubt others, in previous years, had erected stages there and dried their fish; but now, for the first time, the parties are known and it is not difficult to reproduce in imagination, the fishermen on the harbor beach and the stages on the grassy slopes not far away; while between the beach and the stages, were scattered here and there boats, cordage, canvas and the various articles or any kind or another connected with fishing interests.
While the larger number of the men of the two vessels were employed in fishing, Smith himself, with eight or nine others who
Footnotes.
1. Corned fish.
2. Smith, Description of New England, Veazie reprint, 19, 20.
p.126
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
MONHEGAN.
"might best be spared", gave some attention of fur-trading with the Indians. "We ranged the coast both east and west much further", he says, "but eastwards our commodities were not esteemed, they were so near the French who affords them better; and right against, in the main, was a ship of Sir Francis Popham's, that had there, such aquaintance, having many years used only that port, that the most part there was had by him. And forty leagues westward, were two French ships, that had made there great voyage by trade, during the time we tried those conclusions, not knowing the coast nor the savages' habitations."
NEW HARBOR, PEMAQUID PENINSULA.
WAYMOUTH, 1605, MEETS THE PEMAQUID INDIANS.
CAPTAIN GILBERT AND SHIP, THE MARY & JOHN.
The Indian, Skidwarres.
The Indian, Nahanada.
Popham's ship evidently was at what is now known as New Harbor, on the eastern side of Pemaquid peninsula. The words, "right against, in the main", plainly point to the place. Here it was that Waymouth, in 1605, met the Pemaquid Indians, and came to the determination to capture some of them and take them to England.1 It was here that Captain Gilbert, of the ship, Mary and John, landed Skidwarres, when the Popham colonists came to Pentecost Harbor, two years later.2 Nothing could be more natural than that the Master of Sir Francis Popham's vessel should anchor there, or that he should secure "the most part" of the trade with the Pemaquid Indians, because of acquaintance with Nahanada, the Chief of that tribe, who had been in England, and kindly treated.
But Captain Smith did not confine his personal attention to the fur trade alone, he was a careful, busy observer and passing along the coast "from point to point, isle to isle, and harbor to harbor", he gathered materials for a map.2. Soundings were made and recorded. Rocks and landmarks were located. The map was not as perfect as he desired. The haste of other affairs prevented further details, but it was all that the circumstances allowed, "being sent", he writes, "more to get present commodities than than knowledge by disoveries for any future good - yet it
Footnotes.
1. Rosier's Relation, Gorges Society reprint, 129.
2. Thayer, Sagadahoc Colony, 57, note 78. 3. The map has often been reprinted. Alexander Brown reproduces it in his Genesis of the United States, II, 780. There is also a good reproduction of the map in the Veazie reprint of Smith's Description of New England.
p.127
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
will serve to direct any shall go that way to safe horbors and the savages' habitations".1
Captain Smith's 'Description' comprises the New England from Penobscot Bay to Cape Cod. It is full of valuable information giving the results of intelligent observation. The following is his account of his observations of the Maine coast from Penobscot Bay to the Piscataqua.
DESCRIPTION BY CAPTAIN SMITH.
"The most northern part I was at was the Bay of Penobscot, which is east and west, north and south, more than ten leagues; but such were my occasions, I was constrained to be satisfied of them. I found in the bay, that the river ran far up into the land, and was well inhabited with many people;2. but they were from their habitations, either fishing among the isles, or hunting the lakes and woods for deer and beavers. The Bay is full of great islands, of one, two, six, eight or then miles in length, which divides it into many fair and excellent good harbors. On the east of it the *Tarrantines, their mortal enemies, where, inhabit the French2 as they report that live with those people, as one nation or family.
Insert: The Tarratines
Source: History of Concord, Mass.
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth.
Nanapashement was the great king or sachem of these Indians. His principal place of residence was Medford, near Mystic pond. "His house was built on a large scaffold six feet high, and on the top of a hill. Not far off, he build a fort with palisades 30 or 40 feet high having but one entrance, over a bridge. This also served as the place of his burial, he having been killed about the year 1619 by the Tarrantines, a warlike tribe of eastern Indians at another fort which he had built about a mile off." He left a widow, Squaw Sachem and five children.
MECADDACUT & THE TARRANTINES.
And northwest of Penobscot is Mecaddacut, at the foot of a high mountain, a kind of a fortress against the Tarrantines adjoining to the high mountains of Penobscot, against whose feet doth beat the sea. But over all the land, islands or other impediments, you may well see them sixteen or eighteen leagues from
St. Sauveur on Mount Desert.
Footnotes:
1. Veazie reprint of Smith's Description of New England, 23.
2. The reference, of course, is to the Penobscot Indians.
3. This report can have no reference to a French settlement at Castine (called by the English, Penobscot, and by the French, Pentegoet) There were no Frenchmen residing there in 1613, for Father Biard, who had opportunities for receiving information from Indian sources, would have known it and have mentioned it. Moreover, Argall had no knowledge of French occupation there, or at any other place on the French coast in that year, except at St. Sauveur on Mount Desert.
PENOBSCOT BAY - 1614.
In his map-making in Penobscot Bay in 1614, Captain John Smith was at Castine. "The principal habitation northward we were at, was Penobscot", Description of New England, Veazie reprint, 26, - but he makes no mention of finding Frenchmen there. The report made to him conerning the French at the eastward doubtless had its foundation in some mention of the French colony at St. Sauveur, which was broken up by Argall in 1613.
p.128
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
Segocket - Nasconcus - Pemaquid and Sagadahock
and,
the Aumuckcawgen, Kinnebec and others.
Aucocisco.
their situation. Segocket is the next, then Nasconcus, Pemaquid and Sagadahock. Up the river, where was the Western plantation, are the Aumuckcawgen, Kinnebeck and divers others, where there are some corn fields. Along the river, forty or fifty miles, I saw nothing but great high cliffs of barren rocks overgrown with wood; but where the savages dwelt, there the ground is exceedingly fat and fertile. Westward of this river is the country of Aucocisco in the bottom of a large, deep bay, full of many great isles, which divide into many good harbors. Sowocotuck is the next, in the edge of a large, sandy bay, which hath many rocks and isles, but few good harbors but for barks, I yet know. But all this coast, to Penobscot, and as far as I could see eastward of it, is nothing but such high craggy cliffs, rocks and stony isles, that I wondered such great trees could grow upon so hard foundations. It is a country rather to affright than delight one.
And how to describe a more plain spectacle of desolation or more barren, I know not. Yet the sea there is the strangest fish pond I ever saw; and those barren isles so furnished with good woods, springs, fruits, fish and fowl, that it makes me think though, the coast be rocky and thus affrightable, the valleys, plains and interior parts may well, (notwithstanding) be very fertike.
NEW ENGLAND IS GREAT ENOUGH...
ACCOMINTICUS AND PASSATAQUACK.
But there is no kingdom so fertile hath not some part barren; and New England is great enough to make many kingdoms and countries, were it all inhabited. As you pass the coast still westward, Accominticus and Passataquack are two convenient harbors for small barks; and a good country, within their craggy cliffs".1
One has little difficulty in following the writer in this description of so large a part of the Maine coast. The obvious physical features of the country are mentioned in such a way as to be readily recognized.
Of course distances are estimates only, and are easily exaggerated in the narrative, as is illustrated not infrequently in the writings of the early voyagers upon the coast.
The Androscoggin (Aumuckcawgen) and the Kennebec, are
Footnote. 1. Smith, Description of New England, 41-43.
p.129
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
Old Orchard Bay (Inian name, Sowocotuck)
Casco Bay - (Indian name Anococisco).
Passataquack (Piscataqua)
cleary noted. So also are Casco Bay (Ancocisco) and Old Orchard bay, under the Indian name Sowocotuck; together with Accominticus (Agamenticus, or York) and Passataquack (Piscatataqua). It has been doubted1 if Smith's map of New England, accompanying his Description, was drawn from his own surveys as he claims. However this may be, certainly there can be no doubt whatever, that the above description of the Maine coast is Smith's own work. We have the narratives of the earlier explorers upon the coast except that of Pring or Hanham in 1606; but as they were obliged to cut short their work of exploration by reason of the approach of winter, and were on the coast only four weeks, as is conjectured from all the available facts in the absence of dates, it is probable that they could not have made any such extended examination of the coast as that made by Captain Smith, especially as the explorations of Pring and Hanham determined the location of the Popham Colony at the mouth of the Kennebec - a work that in the short period available for exploration would necessarily be confined to that part of the Maine coast that is in the vicinity of the mouth of the Kennebec, where the settlement was made.
In his mention of "The Landmarks" Captain Smith, referring to the Islands, says: "The highest, or Sorico (is) in the bay of Penobscot; but the three isles and a rock of Matinnack are much further in the sea. Metinicus is also three plain isles and a rock, betwixt it and Monahigan; Monahigan is a round high isle; and close by it, Monanis, betwixt which is a small harbor where we ride. In Damerils Isles is such another. Sagadahock is known by the name Satquin, and four or five isles in the mouth. Smith's isles (Isle of Shoales) are a heap together, none near them, against Accominticus."2.
Monanis here has its first recorded mention, and in connection therewith, the location of Smith's two vessels during the summer
Footnotes.
1. Brown, Genesis of the United States, II, 780.
2. Description of New England, Veazie reprint, 46, 47.
p.130
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
FIRST MENTION OF DAMARISCOVE ISLANDS/DAMERIL'S ISLES.
HUMPHREY DAMERILL OF BOSTON.
of 1614 is definitely fixed. Here, also, we have the earliest mentionn of Damariscove Islands under the designation of Dameril's Isles.
Humphrey Damerill of Boston, dying about 1650, claimed to own a part or all of this Island.
INSERT - SAVAGE DICTIONARY
DAMERILL, HUMPHREY, Boston, a master mariner, apprais. of whose est. to be div. betw. wife and ch. was had 27 Apr. 1654. His wid. Sarah m. 15 Sept. 1654, John Hawkins. JOHN, Boston 1657, s. of the preced.
p.130
Continued.
Humphrey Damerill or another of that name, fishing on the coast, may have used its harbor and shore privileges several years before 1614. Damaris Cove, as a variation of the name, appears among the various references to the island found in the writings of that century pertaining to matters on the coast of Maine.1.
"THEM OF THE PENOBSCOT"
AUGOCISCO OR, MOUNT WASHINGTON.
In his further description of the country, after referring to the mountains - "them of the Penobscot" (the Union and Camden mountains), the "twinklinng mountain of Augocisco (Mount Washington), and the great mountain of Sasanou" (Agamenticus), all indicated on his map, Captain Smith makes mention of the various kinds of trees, birds, fishes, animals, etc., that had come under his observation in ranging the coast. He also enlarges here and there on "the main staple" fish, and alludes to the seasons favorable to fishing, calls attention to the fertility of the soil 2., and to the great value of its products and refers to many other matters indicating the suitableness of the country for plantation and development.
In fact, he was so favorably impressed with what he saw during his summer on the American coast, that he wrote:
I WOULD RATHER LIVE HERE THAN ANYWHERE.
"Of all the four parts of the world that I have yet seen not inhabited, could I have but means to transport a colony, I would rather live here than anywhere."3.
Footnotes.
1. In the words, "In Damerills isles is cuch another", the reference is to the unique harbor in the outer island of the group. Thayer, Maine Historical Society's Collections, Series II, 6, 80.
2. "The ground is so fertile, that questionless, it is capable of producing any grain, fruits or seeds you will sow or plant ... But it may be not every kind, to that perfection of delicacy; or some tender plants may miscarry, we have yet tried near the sea-side, than we find in the same height in Europe or Asia. Yet I made a garden upon the top of a rocky isle, four leagues from the main (Monhegan) in May, that grew so well as it served us for salads in June and July." - A Description of New England, Veazie reprint, 34, 35.
3. Ib., 28.
p.131
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
"A New England"
The summer passed - a summer that awakened in the adventurous spirit of Captain John Smith, bright visions of a New England, and the greater glory of the mother country by reason of England's expansion on this side of the sea. "Here, nature and liberty, he wrote, "afford us freely which in England we want, or it costeth us dearly"1. His mind aglow with this thought, and evidently with a purpose to impress it upon the hearts of his countrymen, Captain Smith sailed out of Monhegan harbor as summer drew to a close. The date of his sailing, he does not give, but he records the fact that he arrived in England "within six months" after his departure from the Downs",2 which was in the month of April. He landed at Plymouth, England, where he informed Gorges concerning his venture, and gave him such an enthusiastic report concerning the country and its capabilities, that Gorges interest in English colonization on the American coast was at once reawakened.3 Smith's report had the same effect upon other members of the Plymouth company. It was the general feeling of those interested in the territory of the northern colony that Captain John Smith was the man for the task to which the Popham colonists proved unequal; and forthwith, negotiations with him were opened with reference to a new colonial undertaking. "I was so encouraged and assured to have the managing their authority in those parts during my life, and such large promises", wrote Smith, "that I engaged myself to undertake it for them".4
Smith disposed of his cargo of fish readily. The other vessel, of which Thomas Hunt was Master, tarrying awhile longer at Monhegan, at length sailed for Spain, and the cargo was sold at Malaga, Spain. Before Hunt left the coast, however, thinking to make it difficult for Smith to accomplish his purpose to establish a colony there,5 he seized twenty-four Indians whom he had enticed on
Footnotes.
1. A Description of New England, Veazie reprint, 56.
2. General Historie, London edition of 1629, Richmond, Virginia, 1819, II, 176.
3. A Description of New England, Veazie reprint, 66.
4. General Historie, II, 177, 178. 5. Ib., II, 176.
p.132
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
HUNT'S TREACHERY - HE SOLD MAINE INDIANS AT MALAGA.
board his vessel, and on his arrival at Malaga, sold them "for little private gain". He received punishment, in part, however, for as Smith says, "this vile act kept him ever after from any more employment to those parts":1 but the prejudical effects of Hunt's treachery must have lingered long, embittering the Indians against the English and attaching them even more strongly than hitherto, to their French rivals.
Having made an agreement with the Plymouth company to take the leadership in planting an English colony on the American coast, Smith proceeded to London to report to the Adventurers at the metropolis, the results of their undertaking under his supervision. When on his arrival he announced his engagement with the Plymouth company, he found some who promised their assistand in this new enterprise; but there were others, and in all probability, those who had fitted out the two ships with which he had summered at Monhegan, who evidently thought that they had a prior claim to his services because of existing relations; and they offered him employment in a similar undertaking.
This added offer, Smith was obliged to decline, on account of the agreement he had concluded with the Plymouth company. "I find my refusal hath incurred some of their displeasure, whose favor and love I exceedingly desire, if I may honestly enjoy it", he wrote; but, he added, "though they do censure me as opposite to their proceedings, they shall yet still, in all my words and deeds, find it their error, not my fault, that occasions their dislike; for having engaged myself in this business to the west country, I had been dishonest to have broken my promise".2 These words
HUNT & HIS SALE OF INDIANS.
Footnotes.
1. General Historie, II, 176. The president and council for New England in A Brief Relation of the Discovery and Plantation of New England, state that Hunt sold "as many as he could get money for" and add: "But when it was understood from whence they were brought, the Friars of those parts took the rest from them, and kept them to be instructed in the Christian faith (Catholic); and so disappointed this unworthy fellow of the hopes of gain he conceived to make by this new and devilish project." Reprint in Baxter's "Sir Ferdinando Gorges and His Province of Maine", I, 210.
2. Ib., II, 179.
p.133
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
CAPTAIN MICHAEL COOPER.
FOUR SHIPS.
are exceedingly creditable to their author. The London adventurers pressed their case with urgency; and failing to move Smith from his position, they proceeded to fit our four ships which they placed under the direction of Captain Michael Cooper, and they were ready for sea before the Plymouth company "had made any provision at all", as Smith, in his disappointment over condition at Plymouth (England) records.
CAPTAIN MICHAEL COOPER'S ADVENTURE.
THE HARBOR AT MONHEGAN, MAINE.
Concerning Captain Cooper's adventure, only meager details have come down to us. The vessels sailed in January following Smith's return and arrived at Monhegan in March. Here they remained until June, Cooper employing his men in fishing. The four vessels taking the place of Smith's two, in the preceding season, the little harbor at Monhegan must have presented a busy scene day by day, boats moving out of the harbor on their fishing rips to the waters around the island, and later returning heavily laden with their abundant catches to be cured when landed on the sandy beaches of the harbor. One of the vessels, a ship of three hundred tons, was sent in June directly from Monhegan to Spain, loaded with fish, but was captured by Turks on the way.
Another vessel, also loaded with fish, was sent to the South Virginia colony and a third vessel returned with fish and oil to England, probably to London. Concerning Captain Cooper's fourth ship, there is no information.1.
RICHARD HAWKINS, 1615.
In the same year, 1615, Richard Hawkins, who at that time was president of the Plymouth company, made a voyage to the New England coast, leaving England in October. Only a brief record of his undertaking has been preserved. In all proability, he made his way to Monhegan, Maine, and anchored in its picturesque harbor. He seems to have spent some time in fishing there. Thence, making explorations along the coast, he visited the South Virginia colony and returned to England by way of Spain, whither he went to sell his fish.2
Footnotes.
1. Narrative and Critical History of America, III, 181.
2. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, II, 25, 26.
p.134
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
was done by any of us that year".1 In 1616, there were signs of activity. In his Description of New England, which was published in London, June 18, 1616, Captain John Smith (in the closing pages, which were probably added to his manuscript in the year of publication), says, "From Plymouth this year are gone four of five sail, and from London, as many."2 He is careful to add, however, that they were not voyages with reference to colonization, but "voyages of profit" only.
It was during this year, it is thought, that Gorges became owner of a vessel and sent it to the coast of Maine "under color of fishing and trade". Among those connected with this voyage was Gorges' trusted friend, Richard
Insert.
SIR RICHARD VINES.
p.10 (Genealogy of Edward Small.)
A full google book online.
Deputy Governor Thomas Gorges sailed for England in 1644, lEAVING
Mr. Richard Vines* (Sir Richard Vines) at the head of the government, as Deputy Governor of the Province of Maine. Vines was reelected to the same office, in 1645, and he and the councillors were always Provincial Magistrates. William Waldron was chosen Recorder, and a limited administration was organized.
The first session of the Court held under Vines, was at Saco (Maine) in August, 1645, and which five members of the Council were present:
"Henry Jocelyn
Richard Bonython
Nicholas Shapleigh
Francis Robinson
Roger Garde."
At the "Generall Court" held at Saco, Maine, October 21, 1645, only three of the standing Councillors were present. The board to the number of seven was filled by the election of four other Councillors (or Magistrates) each of whom was chosen and "sworne for one whole year:"
"Richard Vynes, Deputy
Mr. Francis Robinson, Magistrate
Governor Mr. Arthur Mackworth, Magistrate
Mr. Richard Bonithon, Esq.
Mr. Henry Joselin, Esq.
Mr. Edward Small, Magistrate.
Mr. Abraham Preble, Magistrate.
The Grand Jury sworne to enquire for our Soveraigne Lord, the King:
George Cleeve, Gentleman.
Arthur Mackworth, Gentleman
Thomas Page, Gentleman
Richard Tucker, Gentleman
William Cole, Gentleman
Mr. Thomas Williams
Mr. George Froste
Mr. Richard Foxill
Mr. Jonathan West.
Mr. Jonathan Smith.
Mr. Edward Smale
Mr. Thomas Smith
Sir Richard Vines has passed the winter of 1616-17 at Winter Harbor now known as Biddeford Pool, at the mouth of the Saco River, with his four fishing ships from London and Plymouth, England, from which circumstance the place is supposed to have derived its name; although Hubbard states that is was so called from one John Winter, whose land "encompassede one side of the necke of land." Vines is also credited with commencing a settlement there, with Oldham and others, about the year 1623. See also, Williamson's History of Maine, p.300. Early Records of Maine, vol. I, p. 107.; Williamson's History of Maine, p.300. Also Early Records of Maine, Vol. I: p. 100.
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
It was during this year, it is thought, that Gorges became owner of a vessel and sent it to the coast of Maine "under the color of fishing and trade" Among those connected with the voyage was Gorges' trusted friend, Richard Vines. In his account of this voyage, Gorges is provokingly brief - but that he received some encouragement from the venture is indicated in the statement that from those connected with it, probably Vines, he came to be truly informed "of so much as gave him" assurance that in time "he should want no undertakers".
Vines is said to have landed at the mouth of the Saco River, where he spent the winter in the wigwams of the savages, then so sorely afflict-with the plague (small pox) "that the country was in a manner left voit of in-habitants". Vines and his company happily were unaffected by it,"not one of them ever felt their heads to ache while they stayed there".
THE SHIP, NACHEN,commanded by Captain Edward Brawnde.
During the following year a voyage was made hither in the Nachen, a vessel of two hundred tons, commanded by Captain Edward Brawnde, whose account of his experience is contained in a letter addressed to: "His worthy good friend, Captain John Smith,
EPISCOPALIAN - ANTAGONIZED THE PURITAN RULE.
Footnotes.
1. Baxter, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Provinde of Maine, II, 26.
2. A Description of New England, Veazie reprint, 77.
3. Vines is supposed to have made earlier voyages to the coast of Maine. Later we find him at the mouth of the Saco river, where he established himself. Baxter says of him, "Richard Vines was a man of high character, but being an Episcopalian, was antagonistic to the Puritan rule, which was finally extended over the Province of Maine, hence in 1645, he removed to Barbadoes, where he was engaged in the practice of medicine until his death in 1651." Sir Ferdinando Gorges and His Province of Maine, I, 132, note; also II, 18, 19.
p.135
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
admiral of New England". Brawnde is said to have sailed from Dartmouth, England, March 8, 1616, and to have reached Monhegan on April 20th. In his letter, he makes mention of a difficulty with Sir Richard Hawkins, who detained his boats; but he has only good words concerning the country and the opportunities there afforded for fishing and fur traffic with the Indians, whom he described as "a gentle natured people", well disposed toward the English.1
Meanwhile the lack of energy displayed by the Plymouth company must have had a depressing effect upon Smith. "At last, however", he would write, "it pleased Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Master Dr. Sutliffe,2 Dean of Exeter, to conceive so well of these projects and my former employments, as induced them to make a new adventure3 with me in those parts, whither they have so often sent to their loss". A few gentlemen in London, friends of Smith, had a part in the enterprise, but mostly the adventurers were from the west country. A vessel of two hundred tons, and one of fifty, were secured and made ready for the voyage. Smith does not mention the date of his sailing from Plymouth, but he tells us that he had not proceeded one hundred and twenty leagues, when his own vessel not only lost all her masts in a storm but sprang a leak, and under a jury mast he returned to the harbor he had just left. While the smaller vessel, her captain not knowing of Smith's mishaps, was making her way to Monhegan, Smith secured a barque of sixty tons, in which, June 24th, with thirty men, he again set sail.
But ill fortune a second time attended the undertaking, for he had not proceeded far when French privateers bore down upon him and although the vessel returned to Plymouth, Smith himself was held a captive by the French, partly it would seem by the mutinous conduct of some of his subordinates.4. After
Footnotes.
1. Narrative and Critical History of America, III, 181, 182. Brawnde's mention of Sir Richard Hawkins is an indication that the latter passed the winter of 1615-1616 at Monhegan, Maine.
2.Captain John Smith, General Historie, II, 205-206.
3. He says it was in the year 1615. General Historie, II, 218.
4. A fuller account of the affair is given in Smith's General Historie, II, 209.
p.136
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
various vicissitudes and brief delays in Rochelle and Bordeaus, he was finally liberated1 and made his way back to Plymouth, England. An investigation of the circumstances attending the voyage was held at Plymouth, England, December 8, 1615. The result proved favorable to Smith, who, to use his own words, "laid by the heels" such "chieftains of the mutiny" as could be found.2
Unquestionably, Smith's misfortunes in connection with his employment by the Plymouth Company disheartened those who had discovered in him just such a leader as was needed in order successfully to plant a colony upon the American Coast. Though he raised money in London for another venture, there was no enthusiasm at Plymouth, England, for joining in Smith's London friends in the proposed enterprise. However, he was not to be turned aside by the indifference of his former Plymouth associates, and he spent the summer of 1616 visiting Bristol, Exeter, Barnstable, Bodwin, Penryn, Fowey, Millbrook, Saltash, Dartmouth, Absom, Totnes and the most of the gentry in Cornwall and Devonshire giving them books and maps.
By this help and information he had secured, personally, with reference to the fishing interests upon the New England coast, he endeavored to enlist support in further efforts. Such success attended him in this campaign of publicity, that, he says, a promise of twenty ships to go with him to the American coast in the following year - was made to him; and he adds that the western commissioners in behalf of themselves and the rest of the Plymouth company, together with those who should join them, contracted with him, "by articles indented under our hands", that in the renewing of the company's letters patent he should be nominated "Admiral of that Country" during his life, while the profits were to be divided between the patentees and Smith and his associates.
Smith claimed that the promise was not fulfilled. "I am not the first they have deceived", 2 he wrote.
Footnotes.
1. Smith tells us that he wrote his Description of New England while a captive at that time. See Veazie reprint, 72.
2. General Historie, III, 213. 3. Ib., III, 218.
p.137
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
Yet notwithstanding these many discouragements, Smith did not cease his activities in new world enterprises; and in 1617, he succeeded in securing three vessels for another attempt at colonial undertakings. But the ill fortune that had attended his efforts since his return from Monhegan in 1614, followed him still.
When at length his vessels were ready for the voyage, he was detained by contrary winds with a hundred other sail in the harbor at Plymouth, England, three months, during which time the adventurers of the expedition seem to have lost heart to such an extent that the undertaking was wholly abandoned.1 Gorges makes no mention of Smith in any of his writings that have come down to us; and now, upon this added discouragement, he evidently dismissed all hopes concerning the "Admiral's" availability in connection with English colonization upon the coast of Maine.2
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH'S REMARKABLE PERSONALITY.
Admirable qualities are easily discoverable in Captain John Smith's somewhat remarkable personality. He was resourceful, energetic, courageous, optimistic. He saw clearly, indeed much more clearly than many of his countrymen, that on this side of the Atlantic, England's opportunity for empire-building was large and inviting. But, on the other hand, he never lost sight of Captain John Smith. His own fortunes were ever held in full view. He found it difficult to abide long in harmonious relations with others unless the chief direction of affairs was given to him.
Because of these defects in his temperament and character, not withstanding his great services in connection with early American undertakings, he failed to obtain a place among the successful founders of states.
But, Captain John Smith, notwithstanding the many discouragements connected with his attempts to promote English interest on the coast of Maine, kept a watchful eye in this direction; and Captain John Smith's Letter to Lord Bacon, 1618.
Footnotes.
1. Purchas, his Pilgrimes, IV, 1839.
2. In the Public Records Office, London, there is a letter of Captain John Smith to Lord Bacon, written in 1618, in which "he offered to adventure with five thousand pounds "to bring wealth, honor and a kingdom' to the King's prosperity'". Baxter, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and His Province of Maine, I, 102.
p.138
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
in his General Historie1 he makes mention of four good ships prepared at Plymouth, England in 1618 for voyages thitherward. Disagreements, however, attended the fitting out of the expedition, with the result that so much of the season was spent in discussing these differences that only two of the vessels crossed the Atlantic, one of two hundred tons, which made a successful voyage, returning to Plymouth, England within five months, and the other, of eighty tons, which was equally successful, and disposed of her cargo of fish at Bilboa, Spain.
CAPTAIN EDWARD ROCROFT TO MONHEGAN.
CAPTAIN THOMAS DERMER.
NEWFOUNDLAND.
About the same time, evidently, Gorges sent Captain Edward Rocroft to Monhegan with a company he "had of purpose hired for the service", with instructions to await there the arrival of Captain Thomas Dermer, formerly associated with Captain John Smith in one of his unfortunate voyages, but who now was at Newfoundland.
THE INDIAN, TISQUANTUM.
There he met the Indian Tisquantum, who, having been released from captivity in Spain, had succeeded in proceeding thus far in an endeavor to return to his old home and his own people. His description of the country further down the coast interested Dermer to such an extent that the latter proceeded to make his way thither. While on the Maine coast, impressed by what he saw and by the knowledge he had gained concerning the great opportunities for English colonization that country offered, Dermer wrote letters to Gorges, in which he made mention of these impressions and suggested that a commission should be sent to meet him there, promising to come from Newfoundland for a conference with such a commissiion if the suggestion should be favorably received. It was because of these letters that Gorges sent Rocroft to the coast of Maine in the hope that he would meet Dermer. On Rocroft's arrival or soon after however, he fell in with a French barque of Dieppe, engaged in fishing and in trading within what were regarded as English sovereignty rights. He accordingly seized the vessel, and placing the French captain and his crew on his own vessel, Rocroft transferred his crew, provisions, etc., to the captured barque. The
Footnote. 1. Richmond, Virginia, edition 1819, II, 218.
p.139
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
French captain, on his arrival at Plymouth, England, laid his case before Gorges, who acted with tact in his disposal of it. Reverring to the French captain as "being of our religion", he wrote, "I was easily persuaded as "being of our religion", he wrote "I was easily persuaded upon his petition to give content for his loss".1
Rocroft, in possession of the captured barque, concluded to remain on the coast that winter, "being very well fitted both with salt, and other necessaries"; but he soon discovered that some of his men had entered into a conspiracy to take his life, seize the vessel and seek "a new fortune where they could best make it".
SAWAGUATOCK - OR, SACO, MAINE.
ROSCROFT KILLED.
Rocroft, however, proved equal to the emergency and arresting the conspirators "at the very instant that they were prepared to begin the massacre", he put them ashore at a place called "Sawaguatock" or, Saco, Maine; and though the barque was now weakly manned, and "drew too much water, to coast those places that by his instructions he was assigned to discover", without waiting for Dermer, he set sail for Virginia, where in a storm, the vessel was wrecked, and where also, at length, Rocroft, in a quarrel, was killed.2
The conspirators did not remain long at Saco, but made their way to Monhegan, where they spent the long, cold winter "with bad lodging and worse fare". One of their number died on the Island, and the rest returned to England in a vessel sent to make a fishing voyage and "for Rocroft's supply and provision".
But meanwhile, Captain John Mason,* then at Newfoundland, had advised Dermer to go to England and consult with Gorges and others before returning to the Maine coast. This he did, taking with him Tisquantum; and because of this change in his plans, he was not at the usual place of fishing", namely, Monhegan
Footnotes.
1. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Privince of Maine, II, 27.
2. A Brief Relation of the Discovery and Plantation of New England by the President and Council for New England, 1622. Baxter, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, I, 212-215.
. Afterward prominently associated with Gorges in colonial enterprises.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
When, November 7, 1629, they divided their Province of Maine, Mason received that part of the Grant lying between the Merrimac and the Piscataqua Rivers, which then received the name of New Hampshire.
Captain Mason died in London in 1635.
p.140
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
gan, when Rocroft arrived. But when, in the spring of 1619, he reached the island in one of the Plymouth company's fishing vessels, he learned from the conspirators, who were still there, that Rocroft had gone to Virginia. Until he heard at length of the misfortunes that befel Rocroft there, he was hopeful of his return.
CHESAPEAKE BAY.
Then he took the pinnace assigned the year before to Rocroft for Dermer's use, and with Tisquantum as a guide, he explored the coast as far as Cape Cod, returning June 23rd, to Monhegan, where, on a vessel, about to sail for Virginia, he placed a part of his provisions and other stores, and then, in the pinnace, he proceeded to follow the coast as far as Chesapeake Bay.
The Indian, Epenow.
In a letter to Samuel Purchas,1 Dermer gave an interesting account of his adventures by the way. At Cape Cod, he left Tisquantum, who desired now to return to his own people. On the southern part of Cape Cod, he was taken prisoner by the Indians, but fortunately succeeded in making his escape. At Martha's Vineyard, he met Epenow, the Indian who accompanied Hobson to the American coast in 1614. "With him", says Dermer, "I had such conference" that he "gave me very good satisfaction in everything, almost, I could demand". Continuing his journey he passed through Long Island sound2 "to the most westerly part, where the coast begins to fall away southerly", and thence, through New York Bay,3 down the coast to Virginia. Here, as was the case, with most of his men, Dermer was "brought even unto death's door" by a burning fever, but he recovered. In the spring of 1620 he returned to Monhegan, and having spent the summer in exploration on the coast, he again started for Virginia. At Martha's Vineyard, he tarried to visit with Epenow; but this time,
Footnotes.
1. Purchas his Pilgrimes, IV, pp. 1178, 1179.
2. "Discovering land about thirty leagues in length heretofore, taken for main" - the first record of a passage through the Sound.
3. "In this place I talked with many savages, who told me of two sundry passages to the great sea on the west, offered me pilots, and one of them drew me a plot with chalk upon a chest, whereby I found it a great island, parted the two seas; they report the one scarce for shoals, perilous currents, the other no question to be made of."
A POSSIBLE ROUTE TO CHINA.
Dermer seems to have had in mind a possible route to China as he records this interview.
p.141
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
THE DEATH OF DERMER.
with the Indian it was war, not peace; and in the sudden, unexpected conflict that followed his landing, all of Dermer's men except one, were slain; and Dermer himself was so severely wounded in the desperate encounter, that although he managed to escape and reach Virginia, he died soon after his arrival. His death was a great loss to the northern colony. He possessed the confidence of Gorges and those associated with him in the affairs of the Plymouth company. The president and council for New England in their reference to his services and death, make mention of him as, "giving us good content in all he undertook".1
From what is known of Dermer, Gorges and his associates at Plymouth were fully justified in their expectations concerning him. Such was his ability for the successful administration of important affairs, and such promise did he give of steadfastness of purpose and energy in overcoming difficulties, at the same time possessing considerable experience in matters pertaining to his country's interest upon the American coast, that hopes concerning English colonial opportunities had been happily re-awakened.
Fishing Interests at Monhegan.
By the tidings of Dermer's death, however, these hopes again received an unexpected blow. By this time the fishing interests that centered at Monhegan were becoming quite prosperous. All of the prominent voyagers to the coast of Maine, from Gosnold's exploration in 1602, had emphasized the very great value of the coast fisheries. The waters around the island kingdom, and even those of the North Sea to which English fishermen were wont to repair, offered no such opportunity for successful fishing as the waters about Monhegan.
Plymouth and Bristol were ports from which vessels had long made their way "to exercise the trade of fishing". Indeed it was because of her fisheries that England possessed the hardy
Footnote.
1. July 10, 1621, there was reed before the Virginia Company in London a relation of "Mr. Dermer's discoveries from Cape Charles to Cape Cod, up Delaware river and Hudson's River, being but twenty or thirty leagues from our plantation, and within our limits, within which rivers were found divers ships of Amsterdam and Horn", etc. Brown, Genesis of the United States, II, 877.
p.142
THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND.
MARTIN FROBISHER.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.
SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT.
SIR WALTER RALEGH.
and daring seamen, who won her great victory over Spain in the the defeat of the Armada. Down to the time of Queen Elizabeth, the foreign trade of England is said to have been largely in the hands of German merchants. But the fishing fleets of the Kingdom were so many schools for training experienced seamen. Plymouth was the birth place of great sailors, and furnished men for great enterprises.1 It was a native of Plymouth, Martin Frobisher, who sailed from that Port in 1576 to explore the coast of Labrador. It was from Plymouth, England, that Sir Francis Drake in 1577 sailed on his celebrated voyage around the world. It was from Plymouth, England that Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1584 made his way to Newfoundland to take possession of the Island and safeguard national interests in the name of Queen Elizabeth. It was from Plymouth, England, also, that Sir Walter Ralegh obtained sailors for the vessels he secured in his efforts to plant an English colony on the American coast.
JOHN CABOT.
Bristol, England, likewise, early had its large fishing interests and became a port for the supply of hardy fishermen. When King Edward III, invaded France in 1337, Bristol, England contributed twenty-four ships and six hundred and eight men, while larger London contributed twenty-five ships and six hundred and sixty-two men. It was from Bristol, England that John Cabot sailed on the voyage of discovery that furnished the basis for the English claim to the possession of so large a part of North America.
CAPTAIN MARTIN PRING.
Bristol, England's Master John Whitson & Master Robert Aldworth.
When Captain Martin Pring, a native of Bristol, England, sailed in 1603 for the New England coast, he was sent thither by Master John Whitson, Master Robert Aldworth and other of the chiefest merchants of Bristol, England. Notwithstanding discouragements with reference to colonization, therefore, the merchants of Bristol and Plymouth, England, in 1620, had, at Monhegan, Maine, and
HAWKINS.
FROBISHER - The North-west passage.
DRAKE, COMMANDER OF THE PRIVATEERS.
Footnotes.
1. Plymouth Municipal Records, R.N. Worth, F.G.S., p.203. "Small, however, as the English ships were, they were in perfect trim; they sailed two feet for the Spaniards' one; they were manned with 9,000 hardy seamen, and their Admiral was backed by a crowd of captains who had won fame in the Spanish seas. With him was Hawkins, who had been the first to break into the charmed circle of the Indies, Frobisher, the hero of the northwest passage; and above all, Drake, who held command of the privateers." Green, A Short History of the English People, p.419.
p.143
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND OTHERS.
the waters near it, vessels successfully employed in fishing and in building up profitable trade relations with the Indians on the mainland.
But up to this time since the return of Popham colonists in 1608, nothing is heard concerning permanent settlements on the Maine coast.1 Even of winter occupants, we have no information whatever, except what has come down to us concerning Vines' company at the mouth of the Saco in 1616 and 1617 and the Rocroft conspirators at Monhegan in 1618 and 1619. Captain John Smith, who, as already stated, carefully examined the coast in the summer of 1614, says: "When I went first to the north part of Virginia where the western colony had been planted, it had dissolved itself within a year, and there was not one Christian in all the land".2 In his General Historie, although he refers to the various efforts he and others had made in the hope of establishing a colony on the New England coast, the record for the most part is a record of failures.
Books, pamphlets, maps, he freely distributed among his countrymen as he went hither and thither, spending nearly a year in these busy endeavors to establish plantations in so goodly a land as he described; but it was of no avail. One might as well, "try to hew rocks with oyster shells", he said, as to induce merchants and others to funds for colonization undertakings.3
PEMAQUID.
Footnotes.
1. "It is well known that this (Pemaquid) was a gathering place for voyagers, fishermen and temporary sojourners from the later part of the sixteenth century." Report of the Commissioners in charge of the Remains of the Ancient Fortifications at Pemaquid, December 13, 1902. There is no foundation whatever for this statement. The earliest mention of Pemaquid by any voyager is in connection with Waymouth's voyage of 1605. As to fishermen and fishing vessels at Pemaquid, neither de Monts nor Waymouth, who were on the coast in the summer of 1605 report any. In the Relation of the colonists, 1607-8, there is no mention of either men or vessels at Pemaquid. They visited the Indians there, but found no "voyagers, fishermen or temporary sojourners". In fact, it was late in the first quarter of the seventeenth century before any such gathering at Pemaquid could have been reported.
2. True Travels, Adventures and Observations, Arber's reprint, 1884, 89. 3. Richmond, Virginia, Ed. 1819, II, 220. |
