The Bay State Monthly — Volume 2, No. 5, February, 1885Various
History
The Bay State Monthly — Volume 2, No. 5, February, 1885
Various
Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
On the twenty-eighth of April, 1612, the first ship was sent out with
sixty emigrants, under the charge of Richard Moore, who was appointed
the Governor of the colony. They met the boat containing the three men
left on the island, who were overjoyed at seeing the ship, and conducted
her into the harbor. It was not long before intelligence of the
discovery of the ambergris reached the Governor; he promptly deprived
the three men of it. One of them named Chard, who denied all knowledge
of it, and caused considerable disturbance, which at one time seemed
likely to result in a sanguinary encounter, was condemned to be hanged,
and was only reprieved when on the ladder.
The Governor now applied himself actively to his duties. He had
originally landed on Smith's Island, but he soon removed to the spot
where St. George's now stands, and built the town which was named after
Sir George Somers, and which became, and remained for two centuries, the
capital of Bermuda. He laid the foundation of eight or nine forts for
the defence of the harbor, and also trained the men to arms in order
that they might defend the infant colony from attack. This proved
necessary, for, in 1614, two Spanish ships attempted to enter the
harbor; the forts were promptly manned and two shots fired at the enemy,
who, finding them better prepared than they imagined, bore away.
Before the close of 1615 six vessels had arrived with three hundred and
forty passengers, among whom were a Marshall and one Bartlett, who were
sent out expressly to divide the colony into tribes or shares; but the
Governor finding no mention of any shares for himself, and the persons
with him, as had been agreed on, forbade his proceeding with his survey.
The survey was afterward made by Richard Norwood, which divided the land
into tribes, now parishes; these shares form, the foundation of the land
tenure of the islands, even to this day, the divisional lines in many
cases yet remaining intact. Moore, whose time had expired, went back to
England in 1615, leaving the administration of the government to six
persons, who were to rule, each in turn, one month. They proceeded to
elect by lot their first ruler, the choice falling upon Charles
Caldicot, who then went, with a crew of thirty-two men, in a vessel to
the West Indies for the purpose of procuring plants, goats and young
cattle for the islands. The vessel was wrecked there, and the crew were
indebted to an English pirate for being rescued from a desert island on
which they had been cast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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