95 



diction that, "forasrmich as merchants are diUgmt inqmsiton after gapns, 

 they will soon remove< their trade from Newfoundland ' ' to New England, where 

 tiiere is a better climate, greater security against the depreciations of 

 pirates, and less expense for outfits, shorter voyageSj and safer hai'bors. 

 The writer, anticii)ating that a colony would soon be founded, predicted' 

 further, that the ships oi all the nations that "haye been accustomed to 

 repair unto the Newfoundland for the commodity of fish and oils alone, 

 wHl henceforth forsake" that island, "when once we have planted; 

 people in these parts ; by whose industry shall be provided, for all com- 

 merce," the products of the sea, "and many conimpdities besides, of 

 good importance and value." Eighteen year^ elapsed; the Pilgrims 

 anchored off the same " Shoal Hope," and settled this very country. 



Pring followed Gosnold, and explored the waters of Maine, in 1603. 

 Hd saw and named the Fox islands, in Penobscot bay, and found ^ood 

 mooring and fishing. Like Gosnold, he considered the fish which h.6 

 took there superior to those of Newfoundland. He made a second 

 voyage three years later ; and Gorges remarks that his discovery of 

 the eastern part of New England was perfect, and his account of it 

 accurate. 



Waymouth, under the patronage of several English noblemen, and 

 other persons of rank, came in 1G05. "A True Relation" of his ad- 

 ventures was written by James Rosier, " a gentleman employed in the 

 voyage," and printed in London in the same year. He agrees with 

 those who had preceded him in every essential particular. As they 

 departed for Eftgland, they caught very large fish; and he says that 

 tfcose on board of the ship, who were familiar with the business," would 

 warrant, (by the help of God,) in a ^hort voyage, mjjjA a few good fishers^ 

 to make a more ^grofitable return from hence than from Newfoundland; thfi 

 Jkh- being so much greater, better fed, and abundance with train," &c.* 



. Two years after Waymouth's return, Lord John Popham, chief jus- 

 tice of England, George Popham, his brother. Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 

 Sir John Gilbert, his brother Raleigh Gilbert, (who were nephews of 

 Sir Walter Raleigh, and, I suppose, sons of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the , 

 original patentee of Newfoundland,) with other gentlemen of consid- 

 eration, determined to platit a colony in Maine, and near the fishing 

 grounds which, in the judgment of Pring and Rosier, promised so ^eat 

 rewards to adventurers. George Popham was appointed the president, 

 and Raleigh Gilbert admiral of the expedition. The original design 

 was to settle in the' immediate vicinity of the island of Monhegan, in 

 Penobscot bay; but, abandoning this plan, a small island was selected 

 at the mouth of the Kennebec, where Popham and his associates 

 landed and commenced a settlement. Soon removing, however, to 

 the main land,, they built a fort, and erected a storehouse and dwellings. 

 The death of the two Pophams and of Sir John Gilbert, the return of 

 Raleigh Gilbert to England, the loss of the storehouse by fire, and 

 other disappointments^ discouraged the colonists, and put an end to the 

 enterprise. 



* With larger K»er»^-of course afifording more oil. 



