62 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



fishing grounds adjacent to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, 

 was destined to expand until the four corners of the 

 earth were reached. The fishermen of New England pur- 

 sued their industry at distances farther from home, and 

 more intelligently, than other fishermen of their day or 

 since. They advanced into the sea farther each voyage 

 until the time came, during the colonial period, when 

 they knew how to pursue their business on the coast of 

 Labrador, or to follow the mightiest monarch of the deep 

 amid the icebergs of the Arctic Circle, in the waters of 

 the Southern Cross, and over the pathless wastes of the 

 unexplored Pacific. 



The inception of the movement of expansion was made 

 in 1641, when some merchants of Boston sent twelve men 

 to the Isle of Sable, off the coast of Nova Scotia. The 

 men were left to carry on the fisheries as best they 

 could, and to collect furs. Later in the year a vessel 

 was sent to them which returned in three weeks with 

 four hundred pairs of sea-horse teeth valued at $300. 

 Twelve tons of oil and a quantity of skins were left behind 

 on account of a storm that prevented the stay of the 

 vessel at the island. The fishermen and their goods were 

 taken off the island the following summer. The value 

 of the oil, seal and horse hides, teeth and the fur of black 

 foxes was about 1,500. 1 



In 1645, merchants of Boston and Charlestown sent sev- 

 eral vessels to the Bay of Islands in Newfoundland. The 

 venture proved disastrous, for the warring factions in 

 England had partisan adherents in all waters. A cap- 

 tain by the name of Firnes was cruising in Newfoundland 

 waters in the interests of the king when the New England 

 vessels reached the island. Cargoes for the vessels had 

 already been secured when the Englishman appeared and 

 seized vessels, cargoes and crew. The men reached home 



i Winthrop, II, p. 67. 



