109 



sachem of some note,) a year or two afterwards, to the Indians on the 

 Kennebec, it may be assumed, was ot French origin: "1 know," said 

 the savage, in a laughing mood, "i Icnow how we can- even hum Boston, 

 and drive all the countnj before us; we must go to the fishing islands a7id 

 taJce all the white meii's vessel s^ In the lapse of a few years, the fisher- 

 men at Cape Porpoise were either slaughtered or driven off', and the 

 settlement there laid desolate; a fishing smack was intercepted near 

 Portland, three of her crew killed, and the remainder carried into cap- 

 tivity ; eight fishing vessels were captured at the Fox islands ; the coast 

 for more than a hundred miles was abandoned, and the wretched men 

 who depended upon the sea for support, without shelter, and too scat- 

 tered for concert and resistance, were compelled to suspend their em- 

 plo3anents. 



In 1725, several eminent sachems arrived at Boston to negotiate a 

 treaty Avith the government of Massachusetts. The fisheries were re- 

 sumed with the return of peace. 



From this time to the controversies that preceded the Revolution, there 

 are but few incidents, in so rapid a narrative, to detain us. The Rev, 

 Thomas Smith, of Portland, records in his journal, under date of Sep- 

 tember, 1720, that a "storm brought into our harbor about forty large 

 fishing vessels," a fact that indicates a rapid recovery from the desola- 

 tions of war. He mentions, also, that in the same year several persons, 

 with their families, emigrared to that place from Cape Ann. In 1741, 

 he writes that "the fish struck in, which was a great relief to people 

 almost perishing." The number of fishermen who now had homes in 

 Maine was six hundred. 



The war of 1756 was disastrous to persons engaged in maritime en- 

 terprises, and several vessels were captured by the French while on 

 the fishing grounds of the eastern coast. An armed ship was finally 

 employed to protect these grounds, and the general trade of the English 

 colonists. In 1760, Mount Desert, containing sixty thousand acres, and 

 the largest island in Maine, was granted to Sir Francis Bernard, the 

 governor of Massachusetts. The gift, made by the general court, was 

 confirmed by the King, and was valuable, at the time, on'y for pur- 

 poses of a fishery. Much harmony prevailed between Sir Francis and 

 the people he was sent to govern, for two or three years; but at his re- 

 call, in 1769, when the disputes which he provoked had embarrassed 

 trade, ship-building and the fisheries, there were few who lamented his 

 departure. * 



In conclusion, two distinguished natives of Maine, who are intimately 

 connected with our subject, may receive a passing notice. 



Sir Wilham Phipps was born at Bristol, the "ancient Pemaquid," 

 and was one of twenty-six children borne by his mother, of whom 

 twenty-one were sons. He lived in Maine until he was twenty-two 

 years of age, when he went to Boston, where he learned to read and 

 write. 



* Sir Francis Bernard succeeded Pownall as goveiiior of Massachusetts in 1760. He was 

 created a baronet in 1769; and tlie general couit drew up a petition to the King for his recall 

 the same year. He died in EHgland in 1779. He was a friend of literature, and a benefac- 

 tor of HaiTard University. His faults were parsimony, an excitable and arbitrary diposition, 

 the want of address and wisdom. 



