39 



for the moment, to have attempted to exclude the vessels of other na- 

 tions, or, at least, to have compelled an acknowledgment of subjection 

 to them as vested with proprietary rights. We find that, in 1585, a . 

 fleet of ships under Sir Bernard Drake made prizes of several vessels 

 laden with fish and furs, which he sent to England. 



Sir Humphrey Gilbert's voyage, disastrous as it was to himself and 

 to others, was stiU the direct means of exciting the attention of his 

 countrymen to adventures, which, by virtue of his patent, could be 

 made under the protection of the crown, as to a British possession. I 

 incline to believe that the Newfoundland fishery had never yet become 

 the favorite of the English merchants. , 



By the statute-book there were one hundred and fifty-three days in 

 a year on which British subjects were required to abstain from flesh, 

 and to eat fish, and the demand for the products of the sea was, of . 

 course, immense. But the Iceland fishery was still prosecuted ; arid, 

 that her people might not be molested there, Queen Elizabeth conde- 

 scended to ask the forbearance and protection of Chistian IV of Den- 

 mark, who claimed the Iceland seas as his own. 



The observance of the interdictions as to flesh on fish-days was 

 deemed of great moment, and among the tracts of the time was .one 

 by John Erswick, who demonstrated the "benefits that grow to this 

 realm," by reason thereof, in terms that show he was a devoted parti- 

 san of the "fishmongers." 



The progress of the Newfoundland fishery during the ten years end- 

 ing in 1593 was rapid beyond example, and Sir Walter Raleigh de- 

 clared in the House of Commons that it was the stay and support of 

 the west counties of England. Yet it was subject to interruptions. 

 An example occurs in the case of Charles Leigh, a merchant of Lon- 

 don, who, in 1597, made a voyage with two vessels, and who, while 

 on the American coast, was assailed by the crews of French vessels, 

 to the number of two hundred, who, landing pieces of ordnance, kept 

 up a discharge of shot until a parley was held and the difl&culty ad- 

 justed. 



As t^e sixteenth century closes, we record the commencement of 

 hostile relations between the fishermen and the red Indians of New- 

 foundland. 



These Indians derived their food principally from the sea. The 

 Europeans, in the course of their merciless warfare against them, de- 

 stroyed their canoes, their nets, and their villages. The Indians en- 

 deavored to maintain their rights of fishing, and bravely contended with 

 their opponents, until resistance was vain. The fish they required for 

 cxjnsumption could not, in the very nature of things, have diminished 

 the catch of their cruel rivals. Driven almost entirely from the sea, 

 finally, arid unjusdy deprived of all means of support, they were com- 

 pelled to plunder food to save themselves from starvation. Watched, 

 and waylaid by their foes, they were shot down whenever they came 

 near any of, the European fishing stations. In truth, whenever, and 

 , wherever they were found, and whether resisting, or imploring fiir food,, 

 they were slain as men slay beasts of prey. Men, women, aiid chil- 

 dren were slaughtered without discrimination ; and even those who 

 were too weak to raise the hand of supplication, were not spared. In 



