ao8 Tj&g' D iscoveries Settl EM ENTS Book I 
our Ship, that went to fifh, being among many Iflandsi, 
we ftruck on a Rock, and had a great Leak : The 
next Day we ftopped our Leak, in a Storm ; and on 
the 15th, being in Latitude 62 Degrees 12 Minutes, 
and not finding our Ships, nor (according to their 
Promife) any Mark or Beacon which I willed them 
to fet up, and they promifed to do, upon eVery 
Headland ot Cape within twenty Leagues every Way 
from their Fifhing-place, and we having but little 
“ Wood in our Ship, and but half a Hogfliead of frefh 
“ Water, I fhaped my Courfe for England^ and arrived 
^ at Dartmouth the 15th of Sept ember D 
Upon his Return from this, as after his fecond Voyage, 
he wrote a Letter to Mr. Sander fon^ dated from Sandridge^^ 
September 16, 158,7 •, wherein he tells him, That he had 
returned fafe with all his Company : That he had failed 
fixty Leagues farther than he intended at his Departure : 
That he had reached the Latitude of 73 Degrees North, 
finding the Sea all open, and the Streight forty Leagues 
broad ; concluding from • thence, that the Paifage was 
moll certain, and the Execution moft eafy *, but, as we 
fhall fee hereafter, he was in this miftaken, which how- 
ever, 'does not at all leflen his Merit or the great Difcove- 
ries he made, by which he entitled his Country to ail this 
Coaft of North America^ the Value of which may here- 
after prove as great as any Difcovery made in this Reign. 
Neither ought tve to efteem it any Diminution of his Merit, 
that he was fo confident of finding a Paffage this Way 
to the very laft j becaufe as far as he, or any Man, could 
judge, there v/as indeed great Probability of the Thing, 
and nothing but fuch a Spirit as his will ever be able to 
effedl this Difcovery whenever it lhall be made. 
But he was not only an able Officer and a moft fldlful 
Seaman, but had like wife a Head perfectly well turned 
for making all poffiblc Advantages of the Service in which 
he was employed ; as appears from the Minutes of a Me- 
morial of his which I have feen, addrefted to Secretary 
Walfmgham *, wherein he tells him, That he found many 
ignorant and m.alicious People had a very mean Opinion 
of what he had done, becaufe his Voyages had not an- 
fwered the Expence •, but he perfuaded himfelf that fo 
wife and honourable a Statefman, would think in a manner 
different from the Vulgar, and efteem his Services capable 
of producing great Advantages to the Nation, even fup- 
pofing that no fuch Paffage as he expedted ffiould be 
found •, in Support of which he laid down the five fol- 
lowing Points. 
I. That it would redound very much to the Honour of the 
Queen and her Subjedls, if the People in thefe Northern 
Regions were converted to the Chriftian Eaith ; in v/hich 
pious Work many of thofe bufy and fiery Spirits might 
be profitably employed, that, by their factious Stirrings 
at Home, ferved only to create Confufion in Church and 
State : Por if thefe People, who feemed neither deftitute 
of Wit, Induftry, or valuable Commodities, were once 
brought over to the Chriftian Faith, they might foon be 
brought to reliffi a more civilized kind of Life, and be 
thereby induced to take off great Quantities of our courfer 
Woollen Manufadtures ; which would employ the Poor at 
Home, increafe our Shipping, and augment the Number 
of our Seamen. 
II. That in the Judgment of fuch as were beft ac- 
quainted with the Fifhing Trade, the Co^ he caught were 
the fatteft and fineft that were ever feen •, and that the 
Plenty of thefe Fiffi was fo great as might well encourage 
the eftabliffiing an annual Fiffiery at the Mouth of the 
' Streight Si which would afford immediate Profit, and 
might lead to future Difcoveries of greater Importance. 
III. That notwithftanding the Shores of the Countries 
be had feen were bleak and barren, yet the inner Part of 
the Country might, notwithftanding, be very rich and 
fertile : That as the People he had converfed with had 
fome of them Utenfils of different Metals, it might be 
prefumed there were Mines of Value in thefe Countries; 
and that how little Profit foever thefe People might make 
of them, they might be wrought to great Advantage by 
fuch as underftood them better. 
IV. That it was very evident from the feveral Voyages 
he had made, that there was nothing intolerable in thefe 
- ^ r - 
northern Climates, and that it would be of great Service 
to the Nation to keep up a conftant Succeffion of En- 
terprizes on this Side, fince it might be done with very 
little Expence at firft ; would contribute to make thefe 
Parts of the World better known, and fecure the Ad- 
vantages derived from them to the Englijh ; whereas, 
if they were difcontinued or abandoned, other Nations 
would not fail to make Attempts of the like kind, and 
fo come in procefs of Time to reap the Fruits of other 
Mens Labour. 
V. That the Furs brought from thence were much 
efteemed, and allowed to be richer and more valuable 
than any that came from Mufcovy ; and that if the Fa- 
fhion of wearing them at Court were encouraged, it 
might prove a means, when all others failed, of promot- 
ing this Commerce ; for you know right well, moft 
honourable Sir, concludes he, that it is a great Secret in 
Policy to make the Follies of the Extravagant, and 
the Vanity of the Ambitious, contribute to the Main- 
tenance of Induftry ; fo that even the Vicious and the 
Lazy, may of their own Accord furniffi the Rewards of 
Labour and Virtue. 
I filall, hereafter, take Occafion to ffiew, that he has 
very wifely and fenfibly recornmended the propagating 
the Chriftian Religion, as the moft proper Means for ex- 
tending, as well as eftabliffiing, our Colonies, and ren- 
dering them highly beneficial. There is no Queftion 
that the fending a few Preachers to convert any of thefe 
Nations to Chriftianity, would be a thing of greater Confe- 
quence to this Nation, than building many Forts to fe- 
cure our Commerce with Savages ; for thefe People would 
then live in Towns, wear Cloaths, cultivate their Lands, 
and, inftead of deftroying and extirpating each other, as 
at prefent, they would live peaceably, and confequently 
grow daily more numerous ; which would occafion fuch 
a Confumption of our Manufafilures of all kinds, and 
fuch a Return of their Commodities, which is the only 
true and juft Standard of Trade, as neither Fraud nor 
Force can any other way attain. His Refledtions, with 
refpedt to the Expediency of keeping up this northern. 
Navigation, are highly fenfible, and it would have been 
much for our Intereft, if, even at the public Expence, 
they had been continued ; for then Sir Joftah Child would 
not have fet down this North Fiffiery among the Num- 
ber of our loft Trades, as he does with juft Reafon. 
That our Neighbours would be wifer in this Refpedt than 
Gurfelves, was in itfelf a very ffirewd, and in Fadl 
has proved a prophetic Obfervation ; for the Dutch and 
other Nations ftill frequent DavNs Str eight which we 
have in a manner deferred, and employ thereby a vaft 
Number of People at home, befides raifing annually frefh 
Supplies of fldlful and well feafoned Seamen, which a 
maritime Power ought to regard as a Point of the 
higheft Confequence, and in that View ought to favour 
moft fuch Branches of Commerce as are known to con- 
tribute thereto, efpecially if they are not at a great Di- 
ftance. With thefe Remarks we ffiall difmifs this Sub- 
jedt for the prefent, and, as the Nature of our Plan di- 
fedts, proceed from thefe DifcoVeries in the moft north- 
ern Parts of America^ to the Attempt made for fixing a 
Settlement more to the South than any we have yet 
obtained. 
14. The fpeaking of this Southern Settlement brings 
us back to Sir Walter Raleigh^ a Gentleman whofe Name 
muft often occur in all Books that any way relate to Englijh 
Hiftory, and whofe Memory will be ever celebrated by flich 
as can diftinguifli any kind of Worth ; for he had all and ex- 
celled in all. Amongft the reft, the compleateft Courtier of 
his Time, v/hich perhaps drew upon him more Envy than 
all his other great Qiialities ; and I am induced to think 
fo from the Nature of thofe Calumnies by which he was 
moft hurt ; for though deeply malicious, they were fo 
indifferently forged, that they could not bear the leaft 
InfpedHon ; fo that notwithftanding they coft him his 
Favour often, and his Life at laft, from the Credulity of 
Princes, yet they never had any Effedl upon his Reputa- 
tion with v/ife Men in his Life-time, nor have injured 
his Reputation in the leaft with Pofterity. 
He was always ufeful to his Country, but moft fo 
when 
