MODERN FIN-WHALING 161 



In 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert came to St. John's especially 

 to obtain supplies for his impoverished fleet, and it is then 

 mentioned as a 'place very populace and much frequented.' 

 ' The English command all there.' " 



Sir Walter Raleigh declared that this trade was the main- 

 stay and support of the western counties, and " that if any 

 misfortune happened to the Newfoundland fleet, it would be 

 the greatest calamity that could befall England." The value 

 will be seen from the fact that the Newfoundland business 

 employed over 10,000 men, who earned annually over 

 ^500,000 — a very large sum in those days, and amounting 

 to a half of the national assets. 



One is apt to forget that the great Chancellor Bacon was 

 not only famous for his literary gifts. He was also, as Ben 

 Jonson tells us, a great public speaker, and, far in advance of 

 his age, believed in the value and success of our colonies. 

 He was the chief organiser of "The London and Bristol 

 Company for Colonising Newfoundland," and drew up both 

 its prospectus and the rules of the new enterprise. In one 

 passage he refers to "The Goldmine of the Newfoundland 

 fishery, richer than all the treasures of Golconda and Peru," 

 and thus predicted a success for the industry which has since 

 come true. For as Prowse remarks : "This wonderful harvest 

 of the sea has been producing millions upon millions every 

 season for four hundred years, as productive to-day as when 

 John Cabot and his West-country fishermen first sighted ' the 

 New-founde-launde,' and told their countrymen marvellous 

 stories about the fish that were dipped up in baskets, of the 

 great deer, and of the strange birds and beasts in this wonder- 

 ful new island of the West. These tales of wealth in fur, 

 fin, and feather in our most ancient colony are as true to-day 

 as in the Tudor age." 



