14 IIISTOKICAI, SKET( II. 



tlieiii vt-ar after year, ami tlms incveased tlieir national greatness ;; 

 and both found tlieni the hest nurseries for lx)ld and .skilful 

 jailors, and thus developed their maritime po\^er. Colonies were 

 planted by both originally with the view of protecting and car- 

 rying on the fisheries. In this Avay the Newfoundland fisheries- 

 really laid their foundation of the empire wliicli England at 

 length acquired in America when her supremacy was estaldished 

 after a long contest with France. The humble fishermen were 

 the jiioneers of the great liost from the Old Worhl, which in due 

 time built up the United States and overspre<id ('anada. In pro- 

 secuting these fisheries England fii'st learned how to becomt? 

 mistress of the seas. 



GUVS COLOXY. 



Newfoundland at this time stood out prominently In-fore the 

 minds of Englishmen, so that it is not wonderful to fiml that other' 

 attempts at planting a colony on its shores should bi- made soon 

 after Gilbert's failure. In IGOfJ, John Guy, a merchant and after- 

 wards Mayor of Bristol, drew attention in a pamphlet to the iiu- 

 jwrtance of colonizing the island. The enterprise which he- 

 started was shared in by Lord Hacon and other noblenu-u. Bacon 

 declared that "the Newfound land fisheries were more valuable 

 than all tlie mines of Pern.'' Guy's jdantation was, for some- 

 reason luisuccessful. Priibably ])iracy then prevailing, was the- 

 cause of failure. 



CAPTAIN ■WHITUOIKNK'S AliKl'\ VI.. 



In 161.J, Captain Richard Whitbourne, mariner, of Exmouth,. 

 Devonshire, was sent out by the Admiralty of England to estali- 

 lish order and correct abuses which had grown u]i among the 

 fishermen in Newfoundland. He found 250 English vessels em- 

 ployed in the fisheries, — a sufficient jiroof of the Hourishing con- 

 dition of the cod-fishery at this early date. To "Wlutbourne we 

 are indebted for the first liook on Newfoiuidland — "A Discourse 

 and Discovery of Newfoundlaml Trade" — in which he Avrotc en- 

 thusiastically of the country and its prospects. This book is now 

 verv rare and valuabU-. 



