38 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NEWFOUNDLAND 



The 



Annex a' 

 tion of St. 

 JoJuHs in 

 1583, real- 

 ized the 

 northern 

 plan, 



Sir George Peckhanij who petitioned the Government for 

 permission to take out 'recusants of ability', promising in 

 return that one-tenth of his immigrants should consist of 

 destitute persons.^ 



In 1583, thanks to Peckham, Ralegh, Thomas Aldworth, 

 Richard Hakluyt, the m erchants of Bristol (who gave ' 1,000 

 marks and upwards '), Walsingham and Walsingham's last 

 new son-in-law Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Humphrey completed 

 his preparations and set sail in June from Plymouth with five 

 ships, the Ralegh (200 tons), — which was equipped by Sir 

 W. Ralegh, and for some reason or other returned home 

 after two days' sail, — i\\Q Delight {120 tons), the Golden Hifide 

 (40 tons), the Swallow (40 tons), whose crew was recruited 

 from pirates, and the Squirrel {\o tons). After the Ralegh 

 returned, the ships averaged 52 tons apiece, which was the 

 exact average tonnage of the Newfoundland fleets of that 

 period.^ The crew consisted of 260 men, including artisans 

 and miners and those who returned in the Ralegh. It being 

 late in the year, the intending colonists sailed first to New- 

 foundland, ' which was but 700 leagues from our English 

 coast '^ — Cabot's exact estimate — and where they were sure 

 to obtain supplies. The Swallow and Squirrel parted from 

 their comrades on the way, and the crew of the Swallow 

 boarded a French vessel, helped themselves to clothes, tackle, 

 and victuals, with an expedition perfected by long practice, 

 after which they were upset in their own boat and saved 

 from a watery grave *by those silly souls whom they had 

 before spoiled'. The four vessels reassembled outside 

 St. John's Harbour, which they entered^ not without accident. 

 Inside the harbour they found sixteen British and twenty 

 Portuguese and Spanish vessels. Gilbert then took 

 possession of ' St. John's and two hundred leagues every 

 way' with the usual feudal solemnities, enacted that public 



1 Calendar of state Papers, Col. Ser. Add., 1 574-1674, pp. 8-13. 



2 Ante, p. 3:2. ^ Ante, p, 13. 



