20. _Tobacco in Colonial Virginia; "The Sovereign Remedy."_ By Melvin Herndon. 21. _Medicine in Virginia, 1607-1699._ By Thomas P. Hughes. 22. _Some Notes on Shipping and Ship-building in Colonial Virginia._ By Cerinda W. Evans. 23. _A Pictorial Booklet on Early Jamestown Commodities and Industries._ By J. Paul Hudson. Price 50 cents Each Printed in the United States of America * * * * * THE BOUNTY OF THE CHESAPEAKE Fishing in Colonial Virginia by JAMES WHARTON The University Press of Virginia Charlottesville Copyright(C) 1957 by Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation, Williamsburg, Virginia Second printing 1973 Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet Number 13 FOREWORD Just as a series of personal letters may constitute an autobiography, so the extracts from Colonial writings that follow tell the unique story of the fisheries of Virginia's great Tidewater. In them it is possible to trace the measured growth of a vital industry. The interspersed comments of the compiler are to be understood as mere annotations. This is the testimony, then, of those who from the beginning participated in one of the foremost natural resources of this country. I gratefully acknowledge guidance in research to Mr. John C. Pearson of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, who masterfully surveyed the field and first brought the early fishery reports to public notice. JAMES WHARTON Weems, Virginia THE BOUNTY OF THE CHESAPEAKE The Bounty of The Chesapeake The voyage to America in 1607 was like a journey to a star. Veteran rovers though the English were, none of them had any clear idea of what to expect in the new land of Virginia. Only one thing was certain: they would have nothing there but what they took with them or wrought from the raw materials of the country. What raw materials? They had reliable information that the climate was mild. Therefore, crops could be raised. They learned of inexhaustible timber: so ships and dwellings and industrial works could be built. They hoped for gold and dreamed of access to uncharted lands of adventure. But putting first things first, how would they eat in the meantime? When Sir Walter Raleigh established the first English colony in "Virginia"--on what is now Roanoke island, North Carolina--two good reporters, one a writer, the other an illustrator, were commissioned to describe what they saw. This was twenty-two years before Jamestown and naturally all the material consisted of Indian life and customs. Thomas Hariot wrote: