To Their New Homes : 177 



shire and Vermont. When the New England states turned from lum- 

 bering and agriculture to manufactures, many French Canadian fam- 

 ilies came to settle in the mill towns and have remained an impor- 

 tant element of the population of many New England manufacturing 

 cities. 



The history of English settlements in America has been often told, 

 is well known, and does not need detailed repetition here. It is, how- 

 ever, a part of the story that not only touches the Atlantic but arises 

 in the Atlantic and that cannot be omitted. 



The first concerted efforts to establish English colonies in America 

 took place between 1583 and 1588 and were directed by Sir Walter 

 Raleigh and others. Raleigh, seeking, according to interpretation, 

 either to "honor" or to "flatter" his queen called the land "Virginia." 

 It was not, however, the present Virginia of the United States but a 

 part of the North Carolina coast, and to reach it ships from England 

 followed conventional and well-established courses such as they 

 would use to bring them to Florida, the West Indies, or even the 

 Spanish Main. Only at the end of the passage the ships swung far- 

 ther north to avoid Spanish hostility. Thus, these passages were 

 made south of the Gulf Stream and in part were able to utilize the 

 favorable northeast trades. This general pattern for the outward 

 course was followed even when the first permanent colony was finally 

 established at Jamestown on May 14, 1607. It is clear that ships re- 

 turning from Virginia to England had the benefit of prevailing west- 

 erly winds and the assistance of the Gulf Stream. With time and 

 experience the navigators became aware of this advantage. 



The Mayflower voyagers who started for America in 1620 met very 

 different conditions. Their general purpose was to sail for "Virginia" 

 and it is not explicit from the records as written why they went so 

 far astray. They were making the passage for the first time and could 

 not know or state the problems they were confronting. Knowing 

 what we know now, it seems possible, or even probable, that a com- 

 bination of southwesterly winds, which can be powerful in fall and 

 winter, and the set of the Gulf Stream (North Atlantic Drift), kept 

 edging them north of their intended course. This was important to 

 the Mayflower voyagers for during the first winter half of the total 

 colony died. What mattered to history, however, was the fact that 

 once Massachusetts (which until 1819 included what is now the state 

 of Maine) and later the Dutch-English settlement of New Amster- 

 dam (New York) had been estabUshed, the English had to learn to 

 navigate to and from England keeping north of the Gulf Stream. 



