106 



I propose now to take a rapid view of the events connected with the 

 sea. It mav be assumed that the island of Monhesran — ah-eadv so 

 frequently mentioned in this report — was the seat of the first fishery in 

 Elaine ; and that the first reside?it fishermen were those who fixed their 

 abodes on the coast of the main land between the Kennebec and Da- 

 mariscotta, in ] 626. The same class of men had habitations at Cape 

 Porpoise as early as 1630; and there were fishermen's" cabins and 

 hunters' camps, very possibly, near the site of the city of Portland, 

 before the close of the same year.* 



In 1631, Aldsworth and Eldridge, two merchants of Bristol, Eng- 

 land, obtained a grant known as the "Pemaquid patent," which gave 

 them the exclusive right to fish in their own waters. 



The patent embraced several thousand acres of land on the main, 

 tlie Damariscove islands, and all other islands within nine leagues of 

 the shore ; and thus, whether designedly or otherwise, included Mon- 

 hegan. The whole territory, though now almost in the centre of the 

 seacoast of Maine, was east of Gorges' eastern boundary, and there- 

 fore within the French claim. It would seem that a fishery was 

 established at Richman's, or Richmond's Isle, near Portland, previous 

 to 1631; since, in that year Prince records, in his annals, that Governor 

 Winthrop was informed of the murder there of Walter Bagnall and 

 another person, by " Squidecasset," an Indian sachem; which isle, 

 says Prince, was part of a tract of land granted to Mr. Trelane,t a 

 merchant of Plymouth, England, who had "settled a place for fishing, 

 built a ship, and improved many servants for fishing and planting." 

 The annalist should have added, that the grant was to Goodyeare, as 

 well as to Trelawney. Both were Episcopalians; and in 1632, they 

 appointed John Winter to superintend their fishery. Richmond's 

 island soon became an important and noted place; several ships were 

 furnished with cargoes of fish annually, and Winter often employed as 

 many as sixty men. Josselyn was at the island in 163S, and relates 

 that he went on board the Fellowship, a ship of one hundred and 

 seventy tons, and that among the friends who came to bid him fare- 

 well was 'a Captain Thomas Wannerton, who drank to him "a pint of 

 kill-devil, alias rhum, at a draught." Winter, says this quaint chronicler, 

 was " a grave and discreet man." The whole population of Maine, at 

 this time, did not exceed one thousand persons, of whom quite half were 

 fishermen, who lived at the places named above, on the river St. George, 

 and elsewhere on the coast west of the mouth of the Penobscot. 



In 1645 there was an action commenced in the courts against Whi- 

 ter, by John Trelawney, of Piscataqua, on an account for services in 

 the fishery at Richmond's island, in which Trelawney appears to havie 

 recovered judgment. 



Winter died the same year, leaving a daughter, who married Robert 

 Jordan, an Episcopal clergyman. Jordan administered upon Winter's 

 estate, and became involved in suits and difficulties in closing his 



*The first house in Portland was built by George Cleeves, in 1632, at a place called Machi- 

 gonne by the Indians, and Cleeves' Neck, or Muujuy's Neck, by the English. Cleeves became 

 a distinguished magistrate in that part of Maine, and died very aged. 



t The name should be Trelawney. 



