30 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



of the latter vessels went armed to the banks. In 1594, 

 the English seized a hostile French ship and sent it back 

 to England. 1 The French continued to frequent the coast 

 of New England for several years after their encounters 

 with Captain Argall. One of their ships was lost at Cape 

 Cod and another in Boston Harbor, in 1619, their crews 

 being killed. 2 



These hostile relations were not confined to encounters 

 between the Europeans. At the close of the sixteenth cen- 

 tury the fishermen began to commit outrages on the natives 

 of Newfoundland. The Indians were driven from the fish- 

 ing waters, they were hounded and slaughtered on the land 

 without discrimination of age or sex, and finally they were 

 exterminated from their native soil. It is not a pleasant 

 task to record such deeds against the early fisher-folk of 

 England ; but it is only a part of the history of many others 

 of a like kind. Similar conditions prevailed on the coast 

 of Maine when the fishermen began to have dealings with 

 the natives. The Indians were taught ''drunkenness, 

 wickedness and lewdness,' and other abuses were com- 

 mitted against them, in the language of the day, "to 

 the overthrow of our trade and the dishonour of the gov- 

 ernment. ' 



The habits of the fishermen who first frequented Ameri- 

 can waters were loose and immoral. This was due in part 

 to the low moral tone of England at the time, to the par- 

 ticular nature of the fisherman's calling, and to the cir- 

 cumstances in which they were placed. The condition of 

 society in Elizabeth's day was far below the standard of 

 the civilization of to-day. With social irregularities ex- 

 isting at the court of the realm it is natural to expect worse 

 conditions to prevail among the humbler class of subjects. 

 The fisherman's lot was cast among unattractive surround- 



1 Isham, p. 8. 



2 Winsor, IV, p. 110. 



