SCIENTIFIC SURVEY. 15 



He returned to England in September following. Besides the 

 furs, they carried home 47,000 dry and core fish made at Mon- 

 hegan. 



Plymouth Colony saved from Starvation by Maine Fisheries. 



From this time the fisheries and settlements began to increase, 

 proving a source, not only of profit to those who engaged in the 

 business, but of food and life to many, especially to the Pilgrims 

 of Plymouth, who obtained provisions from them to sustain their 

 starving families, and without which relief, it is doubtful if they 

 too would not have suffered the fate of Popham's colony and become 

 annihilated. Some historians have stated, and many people be- 

 lieve, that the landing of the Puritan Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock, 

 in 1620 — an event whose anniversary is annually celebrated — con- 

 stituted the first settlement in New England, and the germ of all 

 its population and prosperity. Not so. Several settlements had 

 been made and were in existence, years before, and to these were 

 the Plymouth Pilgrims indebted for relief and timely succor, 

 Monhegan and Damariscove, and Saco, and other places, were set- 

 tled before that. In 1622, " thirty sail of vessels entered at Da- 

 mariscove — which was now the granary of the embryo settlements 

 of New England — whose name (Damariscove) an English corrup- 

 tion of Indian words signifying a " place for fish," indicates its 

 early importance as a fishing depot. 



The ship Swallow, from here, sent her shallop to Plymouth, and 

 to Damariscove came Winslow of the Plymouth plantation (the 

 Governor of the colony) to draw supplies for his settlement fam- 

 ishing on the shores of Cape Cod — who says — " I found kind enter- 

 tainment and good respect, with a willingness to supply our wants 

 — which was done as far as able — and would not take any bills for 

 the same, but did what they could freely" — which certainly indi- 

 cates that the inhabitants of Damariscove were a thrifty and gen- 

 erous people.* 



A trading house was early established on Monhegan, where fish 

 and furs were purchased and stored until shipped to the mother 

 country. This house was broken up in 1626, when the goods, 

 being offered for sale. Governor Bradford and Mr. Winslow of the 

 New Plymouth colony, and Mr, Thompson of Piscataqua, went 



* Sewall's Ancient Dominions, p. 105, 



