46 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



hundred to one hundred and fifty; while it is certain that 

 in the alarm which prevailed, the merchants who had pur- 

 chased the island of Monhegan, and had provided there 

 ample accommodations for the prosecution of their adven- 

 tures, sold their property and retired from the business. ' ' l 



While the decrease in the number of English vessels 

 coming to our waters was due principally to the above 

 named causes, other influences were at work to bring about 

 such a change. Settlements were beginning to be made in 

 New England outside of Plymouth, which were established 

 for the purpose of carrying on the fisheries from fishing 

 stations located on the shores adjacent to the fishing 

 grounds. By 1620 it was an established fact that the best 

 cod-fishing grounds in the world were on the New England 

 coast. People who were acquainted with the conditions 

 in each locality repeatedly asserted that the grounds of 

 New England were superior to those of Newfoundland, 

 and a credulous public listened eagerly to tales of success- 

 ful fishing voyages made on the coast of Maine. Near 

 the island of Monhegan in 1619, over an area of a few 

 leagues only, a single ship got a fare that yielded 2,100 

 pounds in money. In the following year several ships 

 made even more successful trips. 2 The successful establish- 

 ment of the colony at Plymouth, also, had a direct bearing 

 and influence on further settlement within the present 

 limits of Massachusetts. When the fame of the Plymouth 

 plantation was spread abroad in the west counties of Eng- 

 land merchants were aroused to undertake another settle- 

 ment on these shores. 



Rev. John White, the Puritan rector of Trinity Church 

 in Dorchester, England, was the chief promoter of the en- 

 terprise. At his instigation in 1623 merchants and other 

 gentlemen about Dorchester formed a company for the 



1 Sabine, p. 45. 



2 Babson, History of Gloucester, p. 27. 



