Nooks and Corners of the New England CoastDrake, Samuel Adams
History
Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast
Drake, Samuel Adams
New England -- Description and travel
De Poutrincourt's expedition of 1606 into Massachusetts Bay was the
sequel to that of 1605. De Monts, a heretic, through the jealousy of
rivals and Jesuit intrigue, was soon deprived of the privileges with
which he had been endowed by his fickle monarch. In this his experience
was not unlike that of Gorges and the Council of Plymouth. De Monts was
really the head of a commercial company, organized by Chauvin, governor
of Dieppe.[101] The detail of his voyage along the New England coast in
1605 is the first intelligible record to be found. Shall we not, at
last, have to do the tardy justice of acknowledging him the chief and
guiding spirit of the expedition, now universally referred to as
Champlain's? The latter has become the prominent figure, while Du Guast
is not even mentioned in some of our so-called school histories.
Christopher Levett is the first Englishman to give an account of the
isles worthy of the name. Its brevity may be advantageously contrasted
with later descriptions, though the natural features remain, in many
respects, the same. He says, writing seven years after Captain Smith:
"The first place I set my foot upon in New England was the Isle of
Shoals, being islands in the sea about two leagues from the main.
"Upon these islands I neither could see one good timber-tree nor so much
good ground as to make a garden.
"The place is found to be a good fishing-place for six ships, but more
can not well be there, for want of convenient stage room, as this year's
experience hath proved."
The year 1623 is the earliest date I have seen of the islands being
occupied as a fishing station. Monhegan was earlier known, and more
frequented by English vessels for this purpose. A word or two about the
fishery of those days.
Cabot notices the cod under the name of "bacalo;" Jean Alfonse speaks of
the "bacaillos;" Captain Uring calls it "baccalew;" the Indian name was
"tamwock." Smith says the fish on our coast were much better than those
taken at Newfoundland, which he styles "poor John," a nickname ever
since current up the Mediterranean. One of his ships, in 1614, loaded
with dry fish for Spain, where the cargo brought "forty ryalls," or five
dollars, the quintal. Fifteen or eighteen men, by his relation, took
with the hook alone sixty thousand fish in a month.
Charlevoix believed this fish could turn itself inside out, like a
pocket. He says they found bits of iron and glass, and even pieces of
broken pots, in the stomachs of fish caught on the Banks of
Newfoundland; and adds that some people believed they could digest them.
Josselyn says the fishermen used to tan their sails and nets with
hemlock-bark to preserve them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account