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
[200] Squanto was one of the Indians kidnaped by Hunt, and the last
surviving native inhabitant of Plymouth. He had lived in London with
John Slany, merchant, treasurer of the Newfoundland Company.
[201] Winsor, "History of Duxbury," p. 26, note.
[202] See _ante_, also "Massachusetts Historical Collections," vol. ii.,
p. 5. First light-house erected 1763; burned 1801.
[203] Saquish is the Indian for clams. They are of extraordinary size in
Plymouth and Duxbury.
[204] An anchorage near Clark's Island, so called from a cow-whale
having been taken there.
[205] The following account of what straits light-keepers have been
subjected to in coast-harbors during the past winter will perhaps be
read with some surprise by those acquainted with Plymouth only in its
summer aspect: "On Tuesday evening, February 9th, 1875, the United
States revenue steamer _Gallatin_ put into Plymouth harbor for the
night, to avoid a north-west gale blowing outside. On the morning of the
10th, at daylight, when getting under way, Captain Selden discovered a
signal of distress flying on Duxbury Pier Light. The light-house was so
surrounded by ice that he was utterly unable to reach the pier with a
boat; the captain, therefore, steamed the vessel through the ice near
enough to converse with the keeper, and found that he had had no
communication with any one outside of the light since December 22d,
1874; that his fuel and water were out; and that they had been on an
allowance of a pint of water a day since February 6th, 1875. The steamer
forced her way to within some fifty or seventy-five yards of the pier,
when Lieutenants Weston and Clayton, with the boats, succeeded, after
two hours' hard work cutting through the ice, in reaching the pier, and
furnished the keeper and his wife with plenty of wood and water."
[206] There is tradition for it that Edward Dotey, the fighting
serving-man, was the first who attempted to land on Clark's Island, but
was checked for his presumption. Elkanah Watson was one of the three
original grantees of the island, which has remained in the family since
1690. Previous to that time it belonged to the town. The other
proprietors were Samuel Lucas and George Morton.
[207] Saturday, December 9th, Old Style.
[208] No reasonable doubt can be entertained that the Pilgrims' first
religious services were held in Provincetown Harbor, either on board the
_Mayflower_ or on shore. They were not the men and women to permit
several Sabbaths to pass by without devotional exercises.
[209] The first substance discovered was a quantity of barley, charred
and wrapped in a blanket. Ashes, as fresh as if the fire had just been
extinguished, were found in the chimney-place, with pieces of an
andiron, iron pot, and other articles. There were discovered, also, a
gun-lock, sickle, hammer, whetstone, and fragments of stone and earthen
ware. A sword-buckle, tomahawk, brass kettle, etc., with glass beads,
showing the action of intense heat, likewise came to light.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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