42 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



means of supply were so insufficient that it was the usual 

 thing at night not to know where any supplies for the 

 next day could be obtained. There was but one boat left 

 them, and that was poorly fitted. This, with a net they 

 had bought, was the principal means for securing a liveli- 

 hood. The company was divided into gangs of six or 

 seven each whose business it was to provide fish and other 

 food for the colony for a stated time. The gangs took 

 turns in using the boat and net, not returning from their 

 trips until they had caught something even though they 

 had to be absent five or six days at a time. They well knew 

 that the members of the colony depended for their liv- 

 ing on the results of these trips. When the boat returned 

 the next crew set out immediately after the unloading of 

 the fare. If they were away for a long time, or returned 

 with a small fare, then the people at home resorted to 

 the digging of clams for their food supply. In the spring 

 when the fish came in abundance into the brook to spawn, 

 the over-supply was used in the fields for fertilizing the 

 corn and other crops. Even here there was need of nightly 

 guards to keep their fields free from the depredations of 

 the wolves. 



In the middle of July the ship Anne came bringing sup- 

 plies and an addition of sixty colonists. In about ten days 

 there appeared a fine new pinnace of forty-four tons, built 

 by the Company to be retained in the colony for the use 

 of the people. Fishermen, also, had been sent, "with salt, 

 etc.' The boat was poorly manned, and the seamen re- 

 fused to trade or to fish unless they were placed on wages 

 instead of shares, the terms on which they had come. 

 When these terms were conceded the boat was sent around 

 the Cape to trade with the Narragansett Indians. The 

 voyage was a failure, the boat being nearly wrecked on the 

 return. As it was, her mainmast had to be cut away to 

 prevent her from going ashore. 





