CHAPTER III 



THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 



There is little evidence that the pilgrims ever seriously 

 contemplated engaging in the fisheries. The attractions 

 of the lands across the sea and the profits arising from 

 trade in fish and fur must have been well known to the 

 English wayfarers in Leyden. The west counties of Eng- 

 land already looked to the American fisheries for a large 

 part of their support. The Virginia colony had passed 

 the critical stage of existence, while every year the num- 

 ber of vessels sailing from English ports to fish at New- 

 foundland and on the coast of New England was on the 

 increase. 



When the agent of the Pilgrims went from Leyden in 

 1618 to secure the consent of King James to the proposed 

 settlement in America the king asked, "What profit might 

 arise?" The answer was the single word, "Fishing." 

 But the answer is not conclusive proof that such were 

 their intentions. No mention is made of the fisheries as 

 one of the inducements to leave Leyden for a home in the 

 New World. The profits of the New England fisheries 

 were well known in England ; but the Pilgrims had decided 

 to settle in a region several hundred miles to the south 

 of the region whence the fishermen of the west counties 

 were making good catches annually. Only the chance of 

 a treacherous sea, or perhaps the craftiness of the captain 

 of the Mayflower, caused them to settle in the region of 

 the fish rather than at the mouth of the Hudson River. 



Taken at their best the Pilgrims were poor fishermen. 



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