You'll find early New England's histories coming back strong these days---Enjoy this Introduction to and Excerpt from scholar Karle Schlieff's extraordinarily rich new edition of Bartholomew Gosnold's work; and his fiction too (linked below). Don't miss Karle's thoroughly entertaining Footnotes and Special Features as you read (scroll down), signaled by the special bracketed terms---

     GOSNOLD: 1602

edited by Karle Schlieff

Editor's Introduction

     May 25, 1602, New Style: 42 degrees N. Latitude; 70 degrees 15 min. W. Longitude

     The crew of the small English bark Concord had been at sea for over seven weeks. Forty-eight hours ago they had finally acquired the northeast coast of America. Yesterday they met a group of Indians in a small European boat, a shallop, who kindly drew them a chalk map of the coast. The English took their leave and continued southward on a fresh breeze. This morning they entered a huge bay encircled by a mighty headland. It took them all day to piece together the clues that the headland at the east, was connected to the mainland on the west, an enormous cape. The leader of the expedition with a few others took the shallop out to explore the nearby shore, it was a hot and humid day in late spring. In his absence the crew had practically pestered the ship with cod. They had caught so many and in so little time that they started to throw them back just to make room on the thirty ton ship. When their leader returned from his reconnaissance the ebullient crew, gorged on fresh cod, pleaded with him to do the right thing.

     He did. On May 25, 1602, New Style, mid afternoon, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold wrote in his log the new name for the vast cape. Cape Cod.

      And so it has been. It has withstood the attempts of later explorers and even Princes to rename it. Cape Cod. The name tumbles effortlessly off the lips. It has a work a day feel to it. It is simple.descriptive. Not very poetic, almost down right prosaic, but it felt right then and still feels right today. A small piece of land jutting out into the ocean is called a point. Something indefinably larger is a cape, even larger still, the land morphs into what we call a peninsula. It all depends upon the person doing the naming. Of the thousands of capes in the world, Cape Cod is one of a handful that are known to millions of people, in context, as simply 'The Cape'. The short list always includes: the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Horn, Cape Canaveral, and Cape Cod.

     This story is about the voyage of an English explorer, unknown at the time, who came to New England and left several important place names as well as three documents describing the voyage. A fourth document from Sir Walter Ralegh also survives. In it he complains to the Principal Secretary of State about Gosnold's infringement on his monopoly patent for America. Gosnold's voyage proves too successful, it directly spawns all the follow up voyages that lead to the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620.

     With the benefit of centuries of hindsight, the year 1602 was truly an historic threshold. Behind it lay the golden century of Spanish power, slipping away forever. Before it lay the beginnings of English, Dutch, and French explorations and world power. It was also the beginning of the end of the North American Indian's twelve thousand year old culture. By 1602 the South American and Caribbean Indians had already been devastated by Spain. Centuries before, Christendom was cleaved with the split of the East and West Catholic Orthodoxy. She was rent again with the Protestant and Catholic division of the early 1500's. By 1602 Christendom started to see itself simply as Europe.

     Before 1602 English sea power spent itself mainly on privateering, what we today call pirating. It was state sponsored and would eventually spiral out of control in the decades to come. Gosnold himself tried his hand at it once and made it back with a ship full of booty. Catholic Spain tried to invade Protestant England in 1588 and failed. The Invincible Spanish Armada was crushed by English naval innovation and the weather. That failure spawned two other Spanish Armadas against England in the late 1590's. Both failed again. These victories gave the English a new hope: they stopped dreaming about colonies and empire and started thinking about them and planning them. Elizabeth sanctioned piracy against Spain. It was a middle ground between all out war and doing nothing. It tended to buy time; a hallmark of Queen Elizabeth's reign. Piracy was high risk, but it also promised a big reward. The Queen or the High Admiral would issue a Letter of Reprisal, a license, to individuals or syndicates who wanted to attack the autumn Spanish plate fleets as they returned from the New World laden with gold and silver. In return for the Letters, the English Crown would claim a percentage of the prize. In the end any foreign ship was a target. Every country became involved. It was a mess. But the days of official English privateering were numbered. England would soon settle down into a uneasy peace with Spain (1604) and one of the centerpieces would be no more official pirating.

     England owned the wool cloth trade with the Continent, it was 70% of the English economy. With the surplus, England bought the raw materials that the Island nation lacked as well as wines and other consumer goods. The sheep used a lot of land and with them came the great enclosures. Wealthy land owners closed off once cultivated fields with fences and hedges. The displaced poor, started to wander England in search of jobs. The went to the cities and seaports. When the day's work was done, the people gazed to the West.dreams lay there. America and Ireland represented that westward tug felt by the people of England and Scotland. In a nation that made it a crime for a peasant to cut down a tree for firewood, the lands to the west look like Eden. The billions of acres of virgin forest beckoned them. Soon England and Scotland would take over huge tracts of Ireland and try to tame, what they called, the wild Irish. The plantations in Munster, Ulster, Londonderry would begin shortly. America had savages too, but no worse than the native Irish to the English mind. But America was different. It was three thousand miles away across an unforgiving ocean. At first, Europe considered America an obstacle, it blocked the way to the fabled Asian markets of Cathay. It would be several decades until the 16^th century European mind understood the importance of a land mass with the staggering dimensions of three thousand by eight thousand miles. The Northwest Passage to Asia was sought after time and again, but it wouldn't be found until the 20^th century and by then it was a monumental disappointment; you needed a nuclear powered icebreaker to make it.every time you used it.

     The New World had been a complete surprise. It was unknown to the ancients. This raised fundamental questions in the Universities all the way to the farmer's market. This fact stretched the comprehension and challenged all the assumptions of the European people. The English crown had turned down Columbus for his voyage of discovery. Now forward looking Englishmen were ready to make up for that lost opportunity.

     One man owned the English Royal patent for North America, 'a most ample Patent': Sir Walter Ralegh, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth. That meant everything that the Spanish didn't hold outright or couldn't defend. The most northern Spanish outpost in America was St. Augustine in Florida, although Spanish foot soldiers in the mid 1500's had ranged up to parts of modern Kansas. England would claim the rest, the eastern seaboard of North America from the Carolinas to Newfoundland, and then westward across the uncharted continent to the Pacific Ocean. The English claim was based on at least two voyages. The first, Cabot's, was right on the heels of Columbus in the late 1490's. The second, Drake's in the 1570's; he claimed California near San Francisco, calling it New Albion, an old beloved word for England. The fact that America was inhabited, 75+ million Indians in all the Americas, meant less than nothing to most of Europe. The Indians were not Christians, they were savage heathens, wandering from place to place, living like animals; no arts, no letters, no science, and no religion. They would have to submit, assimilate, or die.

     If we condemn the Europeans out hand for this viewpoint it is because we are applying a modern meaning to sovereignty, human rights, property, and a world view that didn't exist then. There were no Democracies anywhere in the world in 1602. Holland is the only nation at the time that comes close to a modern meaning of Liberty. In case there is a lingering smugness about our unsophisticated ancestors, let's take a selective look at our own recent history: ethnic cleansing in Europe, wicked biological weapons, apartheid, burying millions of landmines with no intentions of retrieval, a 22% illiteracy rate in America in 2002, politicians throughout the world that would make Machivelli blush; a failure of will to return to the moon on one end of the spectrum, and state sponsored terrorism on the other.

     Ralegh tried to establish colonies in America, in a huge region named Virginia for Elizabeth the self proclaimed Virgin Queen. He failed. Ralegh was bold, daring, a fine courtier, but the Queen wouldn't let her favorite risk his neck on the voyages and he lacked project management skills. He spent tens of thousands of pounds sterling (tens of millions of dollars today) of the Queen's treasury trying to find and resupply the lost colony at Roanoke. In 1602 Ralegh launched the final attempt to locate his colony that had evaporated fifteen years before. His protector, Queen Elizabeth, dies on the last day of the old Julian calendar of 1602. King James of Scotland inherits the English throne. Ralegh becomes involved in a trumped up charge of subverting the reign of the King James. Ralegh will spend the next thirteen years in the Tower of London. Ralegh never recovers his Royal support, but his fame with the common man stays intact. His Spanish inspired execution in 1618 London captures the imagination of the growing nationalist English people. He was the last of the Elizabethans. To England, he would always be the hero explorer who was sacrificed on the chopping block of geo-politics.

     It is arguable that the voyage of Gosnold in 1602 and Ralegh's failure that same year to find his lost colony, seals his fate. Ralegh's Royal charter, a virtual and lucrative monopoly on the New World, is simply too valuable for any one man.especially the wrong man. If Ralegh ran the American Space Program he would send criminals and the destitute. He would supply no training, no plans, and almost no supplies. Ralegh was a loose cannon stuck in the past. His idea of commerce and trade was to establish bases in America for privateering. He never understood that building one ship employed more men, increased the skills of the nation, and fed more families than any Voyage of Reprisal.

     Richard Hakluyt is the final person to introduce before we embark on Gosnold's voyage. Hakluyt, through his prodigious writings about the voyages of discovery throughout the late 1500's, ignited the imaginations of the English. He sought out first hand reports and narratives of the men directly involved in explorations. He was widely read and consulted. In 1600 his latest edition was published to an eager public. His 'Diverse Voyages', 'Principal Navigations' , and other writings are still studied today.

     We know Gosnold read Hakluyt, he says so in an extant letter he wrote to his father when he returned from America. We have a fair idea that the men knew each other before and after Gosnold's voyage. Gosnold was admitted to the Middle Temple at the Inns of Court in the 1580's where Hakluyt gave lectures. In the years before he sailed off to America, Gosnold commanded at least one privateering voyage. It is rumored that he even served with Essex on the sacking raid at Cadiz, Spain.

     The goals of Gosnold's voyage to America seem varied, maybe too ambitious. He wanted to find Verrazzano's famous Refugio (Narragansett Bay, 1524) and plant a colony or trading post there. To offset the heavy expenses and to turn a profit, Gosnold needed to collect as much New World treasure as the returning ship could hold. Of course this meant gold, if it could found. But Gosnold would settle for furs and sassafras; especially sassafras, it was a wonder drug in Europe and obtainable only in the New World, [SEE BELOW, SASSAFRAS]. It was easy to find and would return a fabulous profit. Gosnold's father at this time was in serious trouble with debts. He was languishing in the debtor's prison at Southwark. Who knows.obtaining financial relief for his father may have been the main objective for the whole voyage. A competing theory is that the voyage was planned by a loose consortium around Captain Gilbert and that Gosnold attached himself to the voyage at the last minute through mutual friends. Gilbert was a minion of Lord Cobham who may have obtained an old unused license, issued by Ralegh to Edward Hayes, to make an expedition. Lord Cobham was the brother-in-law to Robert Cecil, the Principal Secretary of State for Queen Elizabeth. This theory goes a long way to explain why Gilbert did not have the rations onboard for a small trading post to winter over in America. But, since both Archer and Brereton's accounts relate how Gosnold was the undisputed leader, the truth probably lies somewhere in between.

     In any case, the crew of the Concord would try a high-tech innovation of the day. They would sail directly west southwest from England. The Concord would go out the way most voyages to America came back. The yearly fishing fleets to Labrador and Newfound-land used a similar, if more northern, approach. The square rigged ships of the day were designed to swing south and pick up the trade winds into the Caribbean and then glide up the coast of America on the prevailing west-southwest winds. Gosnold's bold choice, straight across, would shave 3000 miles off the trip to Refugio; they would also have to tack relentlessly against the westerly winds. The voyage home was known to be fast; those same west winds at the latitudes of New England, or what was then called Northern Virginia, guaranteed a transit in under 40 days. The name New England would have to wait until a voyage in 1614 by Captain John Smith and ultimately the release of his book about that voyage in 1616: 'A Description of New England.'

     On March 26, essentially New Year's day of 1602 on the old Julian calendar, the Concord, a small 30 ton bark of Dartmouth, left Falmouth. On board were: Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, the leader of the expedition; his plan was to stay Captain Bartholomew Gilbert, the captain of the Concord; out and back.

• John Brereton, chaplain on the voyage and a friend of Gosnold; he wrote an account.
• Gabriel Archer, a lawyer and friend of Gosnold; he wrote an account.
• William Strete, master of the ship, possibly the owner or part-owner of the Concord.,
• A man named Tucker, his shock names the shoals off Monomoy: Tuckers Terror.
• A man named Hill, Mr. Archer names an island for him: Hills Hap. 
• Mr. Robert Meriton, who found the first sassafras trees according to Brereton.
• Mr. Robert Salterne (Pring's 1603 Relation mentions him as a veteran of Gosnold) John Angell (Pring's 1603 Relation mentions him as a veteran of Gosnold).
• John Martin (attributed by historians Belknap 1844 and Brown 1898 - suspect) 21 others, names unknown.

     We know from the documents that there were eight sailors and that twelve others would return with the ship. The rest, twelve, would remain at the trading post; thirty-two people in all according to Brereton. Archer says Gosnold was accompanied by thirty two implying thirty-three in all, a small point indeed, but no one argues minutae like historians.baseball statisticians excepted of course.

      The Concord sailed to the southwest until they picked up the Azores (a Portuguese word for 'the hawks'). After that they sailed a little northwest, a dog leg course to New England. In the middle of the ocean they saw a huge algae bloom, a yellow band on the ocean, over a mile wide and north and south as far as the eye could see. They collected some in a bucket and were mystified that it looked like normal water 'the Sea Azure'. Unknown to the men of the time, the visual effect of an algae bloom is only apparent on the macro scale of the ocean, not the micro scale of a bucket.

      A month later they started to see shore signs, floating weeds and birds on the wing. Then they could smell the land, an amazing but true phenomena that westbound trans-Atlantic sailors routinely experience. The leadsman, with his lead weight on a long line with colorful knots of cloth every fathom, sounded over the ledges and the future fishing banks as they glided into the Gulf of Maine. Slowly the Concord headed west until they finally descried land. They saw the craggy necks and capes of Maine looming to the north, fronting the ocean from east to west for twenty miles. The crew called it the Northland. All the descriptions and especially their latitude measurements of 43 degrees, indicates that Cape Elizabeth is the best choice, with Cape Porpoise next. Cape Neddick, over 25 miles to the south is another local favorite, though the headlands from Pemmequid to Cape Small (Gosnold's Northland) are barely visible.

      Gosnold and the crew of the Concord immediately met some Indians off what he called Savage Rock (the locals from Cape Elizabeth to Cape Neddick, each claim to have a Savage Rock on their own piece of coastline). Now remember, this is the first recorded voyage of the English into the New England area. Their first contact is astounding. The English stumble across a European shallop with sail and oars, manned by eight Indians, two of which are in European clothes. The stunned English stop and chat; initially they thought 'they were Christians distressed'. The English used primitive signs to communicate. The Savages used European words. The Indians then drew a chalk map of the entire coast. The English recorded in their journals that 'they seemed to understood much more than we.'

     The odds that the Concord has just met with the only Indians who have had past contact with the Europeans are about as good as your odds of being hit by lightning (1 in 700,000 for any one year, 1 in 9000 over a normal lifetime). There is only explanation that works with all the data at our disposal today, the one prescribed by Occam's Razor of simplicity: from New England to Newfoundland, there had been a constant presence of Europeans.and in no small numbers.since the 1300's (sorry Columbus). The Vikings were on these shores in the Y1K, but the continuous visits by the European fishing fleets, year in.year out, is the key. The European fishermen were having centuries of unrecorded social intercourse with the Indians. The English, Basques, Spanish, Dutch, Irish, Danish, Portuguese, Icelanders.everyone, sailed to the best fishing banks in the world to supply the huge European market. An odd combination was in play: cod fish and the Catholic church. Cod was a cheap source of protein that was easy to catch and easy to preserve with salt or sun. The Catholic church had decreed scores of fish days on the yearly calendar. The North American banks were the only source for that kind of European demand.

      Gosnold abruptly leaves the Indians in the waters off Savage Rock, the texts mention some comment about the weather and the poor harbor. Within a day or two they spot a mighty headland off to port (that's left, for us landsmen). Slowly over the course of the day Gosnold will weave together the details at hand. His conclusion: the headland is an extremity of a huge cape. He probably had an fair idea beforehand from the Indian's chalk drawing and the charts aboard. The charts were most likely provide by Hakluyt though their mutual interrelated web of friends and supporters.

      The texts then go on to describe Provincetown harbor in convincing detail, especially Archer's recorded soundings, but the Archer and Brereton texts start to diverge. Brereton describes a half day shore party, which he is a participant. Their goal: to get to a high point and look around. Archer, who was probably not on the shore party, omits the expedition in his published text. This in and of itself should not sound the alarm bells. If you are reading the two relations for enjoyment you will not be disappointed, they are fast paced and lively. But if you have a map of the coast of New England on the kitchen table, and you try to follow along with the movements of the Concord.you run into the historian's dilemma: verifiable truth vs. vague truths.

     The texts differ because of power, politics, and state secrets.

     Archer and Brereton kept personal journals, full of exact information and dates. They probably compared notes. But for whatever reason, when they got back to England, Brereton's account is the only one published.

     It is also heavily edited.

      Gosnold's voyage stepped on the toes of Ralegh, the patent holder of English America, and the monopoly holder of the sassafras market. Gosnold did not have Ralegh's explicit permission to go to his lands in America. A deal was struck when Gosnold got back to England. They would print the Brereton relation as a popular account with a glowing dedication to Ralegh that saves face. It will serve the immediate purpose of an inspirational tract. England needed to inspire the seamen privateers away from plunder and into exploration and colonization. Now remember, Hakluyt was in all probability known to Gosnold, Brereton, and Archer; they all lived within a few miles of each other. We know Gosnold has read Hakluyt's books and most likely consulted him prior to the voyage. An editor for Brereton's story was needed. One with experience. One who knew what to leave in and what to leave out. Brereton's printed relation is thirteen pages, about 3500+ words and only 63 sentences.63 long run-on sentences. It is lyrical, upbeat, and full of promise. It follows the classic Hakluyt formula: stress the good news, leave out all the maritime details, make lists of desirable animals and trees, and leave it to the reader to say: I wish I was there. It is a not a heavy handed propaganda piece: it is the perfect propaganda piece. It tells a great story without a lot of those pesky details, the kind that a competitor, a seaman, or an historian could use. The 'who, what, when, where, and why' are there only when it serves the purposes of 1602. The possible editors are Captain Edward Hayes (of the Golden Hind) whose fifteen year old treatise on colonization was appended to the second 'impression' of Brereton's relation; Thomas Harriot who was closely aligned with Ralegh; and of course, Richard Hakluyt. The historian David Quinn Beers theorizes that Brereton himself may have been a protégé of Hakluyt and produced the book himself to Hakluyt's exacting specifications: narrative-parsing, incorporate other's specimen lists, leave out the maritime details, etc.

     Archer's relation, which is more detailed, is also delivered to Hakluyt sometime before 1607 (probably late 1602). We know this because Archer goes to Virginia in 1607 and dies there in 1610. He did return briefly to England in 1608, but his time was consumed with organizing the second charter for Jamestown and getting back as soon as possible with the new management. Hakluyt dies in 1616, but passes on his whole life work, including Archer's relation, to Samuel Purchas who finally publishes the Archer relation in 1625, twenty-three years after Gosnold's voyage and five years after the Pilgrims sailed into New Plimoth. It served the purposes of the people in power to suppress certain information. Does that sound a little paranoid? Maybe, but bear this fact in mind: the only relation of the next voyage to New England in 1603, Martin Pring's is also published for the first time by Purchas in 1625. Pring was actually at New Plimoth in 1603, entertaining the soon to be decimated Patuxet Indians (European diseases in 1617) with a guitar and occasionally terrorizing them with two huge mastiffs: Fool & Gallant. And all this seventeen years before Bradford, Standish, and Brewster. In any case, the original detailed journals of Archer and Brereton, as well as the Concord's log, are all lost.

      Back to the story. The texts describe Provincetown harbor in convincing detail. They called it Shole-hope, which means shallow haven or bay. Brereton chronicles a half day shore party to get to high ground and look around. Archer, who probably did not go with the away-team, omits it. Between the chalk drawing supplied by the Indians at Savage Rock, the observations from a high spot on land (Cornhill, Truro), the ship's charts, and their observations from coasting the bay, Gosnold finally puts it all together. He knows that the mighty headland is connected to the mainland. It is a massive cape. While Gosnold was looking around on shore, the crew of the Concord pestered the ship with cod. No man aboard had seen anything like it. This is when Gosnold christened the huge 'flexed arm' of land, Cape Cod. The texts actually says he renamed it, which is probably a reference to the Cape's old Spanish, French, or Portuguese names on his charts. It was at this point that the Concord headed north and out of Cape Cod Bay and went east and then south down the back side of the Cape, the ocean side. Gosnold was still looking for Verrazanno's Refugio.

      Today there are ghosts out in the ocean off modern day Chatham. They are submerged memories. Ghost Islands. They were real enough in 1602. Gosnold, Champlain, Smith, and others describe them: Seal Island, Webbs Island, and the ever colorful Sluts Bush (sailors on long voyages tend to see what they want to see). Time and storms have scrubbed them into nothing but waves. But then as now, the area south of Chatham is foul: over one hundred square miles of shoals, rips, and breaches. It was at this point in the voyage when a man named Tucker was on lookout duty (some say John, some say Thomas, though it is really unknown). The tide was running out to sea slowly revealing the dangers. What he saw sent shivers through him. He panicked. What he saw all around the ship was white water: Shoals! It would be the death of them all. He was probably screaming at the top of his lungs and was no doubt quite animated. The master of the ship, William Strete, with crisp orders to his crew, somehow managed to steer through the dangers; by no means an easy feat with a square rigged ship. After they were safe, Captain Gosnold made it known to all aboard that these shoals were to be known as Tuckers Terror. It is worth noting that in Brereton's edited relation he states that this coast is 'as free of obstacles as any' and that from the time they left Cape Cod Bay and arrive at Martha's Vineyard, a mere half a sentence has gone by.

     Gosnold aptly named the point near the Terrors: Point Care; today we call it Monomoy Point. They headed north to recover the shore somewhere near modern Harwichport. They anchored for the night. The next day they were astounded by the shoals and breaches about them. They decided not to move the Concord. They sent out their shallop to sound a way forward.

     The Concord had a very unique shallop. A normal shallop is a small boat about 25 feet in length and 8 feet wide in the middle. Both ends were usually pointed. Most have a stowable mast and sail, all have six to twelve oars. It is a versatile coastal ship. It can be used to off-load a larger vessel. It is a ferry, a tender, a sounder. You could easily go a thousand miles up and down the coast in one. There is a old record of several English seamen going from Bermuda directly to England in one. They were tough and reliable. The Indians off Savage Rock had a Basque Shallop. But Gosnold's shallop was unique. It was a marvelous 2-in-1 boat. It was apparently designed to be separated in the middle into two half-shallops, each could be used independently. In the texts you will read that they 'hoisted out the half-shallop' in Cape Cod Bay. Later you will read how they got the other half to shore and joined them. They also had a smaller boat, what we would call the Captain's boat, the long boat, the gig, or skiff; at one point they called it the light horseman.

     Off the southern shore of Cape Cod, they sent out the shallop and the light horseman to sound a way forward through the 1602 breaches. Slowly they made their way to another point. They named it Point Gilbert, in honor of their ship's captain. Today it is known as Point Gammon outside of Hyannis harbor. The crew killed and ate some 'penguins'. These were the Great Auks, now extinct [below, AUK]. The texts then talk about 'supposed islands'. Supposed in this context means on thing: something you have heard about but have never seen for yourself. I can only assume that they are supposed from the Indian's chalk drawings and the old charts.

     There happens to be two great islands out on the south side of the Cape. The first, Nantucket, cannot be seen unless the weather is perfect and you are very high up (100+ feet from where they are) and then it is only sun flashes off the far away beaches. The other island is about to be discovered. They head southwest and discern an opening, a corridor, cleaving what they thought was the mainland into two pieces. The Cape on the north and right, and a large new island to the south and left. The opening ahead is a sound. It leads to the southwest and looks like it goes on for twenty miles or so, the distance one can see from up in the mainmast yardarms. From the deck you can only see five miles in any direction out on the ocean. The Earth's gentle curvature hides views of far away places below the local horizon.

     They turn south and determine that the main island has islets. They come upon a small islet just to the north of a larger one. Both islets are east of the large main island. They are at Cape Poge, an islet in 1602. Today it is now tenuously connected to and forms the northern part of Chappaquiddick Island. They go ashore and perform a quick survey. It is wooded and has a fresh water pond. They find evidence of Indians: old hearths, a fishing weir, and a house of boughs. There are grape vines everywhere. They could not go about unless they tread on them. Gosnold names the place Martha's Vineyard. It is not certain from the ancient genealogical records whether it is for his daughter, sister, or his mother-in-law since all were named Martha. Before the voyage is out, the name Martha's Vineyard is applied to the main island and islets as we know them today.

     They sail over to the main island of Martha's Vineyard and go ashore to note the flora and fauna. They meet some Indians who give the English a meal of sodden fish (the living kin of the Indian named Epenow who will be kidnapped in 1611 by Captain Harlow, 'shown as a wonder' in London). In the meantime the crew of the Concord catch another great store of cod, 'as before at Cape Cod, but much better'. Later that day they sail within sight of Gay Head with it's famous brightly colored clays and name it Dover Cliff. By morning they are approaching the string of islands that tail off to the southwest from Cape Cod. They send a boat out to sound through the shoals at the southern end (now called Sow and Pigs Reef). They take the Concord south around the reef and then north to the west side of the last island in the string. Today we call it Cuttyhunk, Gosnold names it Elizabeths Isle. It is apparent from the texts that Cuttyhunk Island and Nashawena Island were joined as one in 1602. Over time, the name 'Elizabeths Isles' will denote all the islands in the string.

     Gosnold is enchanted with the beauty of the huge sound they are riding in. He names it Gosnolds Hope (hope has an additional meaning of 'haven' or 'bay' at the time), for better or worse, we call it Buzzards Bay. They anchor a quarter mile from Cuttyhunk Island and after another quick survey, Gosnold decides to build the trading post here. The island is fair and woody and has a fresh water pond with a one acre islet in the middle. It is perfect. The fear of the unknown, 'us vs. them', has always provoked the European mind to think about castles, moats, palisades, living within the pale, and locking the massive city gates at sundown (from which we get the tradition of giving a visiting dignitary the ceremonial 'keys to the city'). They will build their house and fort on the island within an island. They plant seeds of wheat, barley, oats, and peas. They all spring up nicely in the fecund soil. Archer then relates a playful story about naming certain land marks. He names a little island north of them Hills Hap, after crewman Hill. Hap is an old word meaning luck: Hills Luck. Out beyond Hills Hap (modern day Penikes), either on the mainland or another island, is a hill that Archer names Haps Hill, 'for that I hope much hap may be expected from it'. So in fast succession the punning: Hills Hap, Haps Hill, and the hope of much hap. Archer's hope on the far away hill can only be sassafras, cedar, or gold.

     On Elizabeth Isle the crew is visited by three Indians: a man, his wife, and daughter. They rowed over from either the mainland, Martha's Vineyard, or some other island. Their curiosity was no doubt aroused by the sight of the Concord over the last few days. The texts record a pleasant visit. How many of us today would row over to Cuttyhunk, with wife and daughter, to meet amazing strangers? The Indians of 1602 must be accorded the awe and respect they deserve. Their easy practiced relationship with the land and the sea is at the elite level of today's Army Rangers and Navy Seals.

     The English crew buckles down to hard work. They start to collect the return cargo of sassafras. They re-keel the shallop and build a flat bottomed shuttle boat, a punt, to ferry men and supplies across the pond to their island redoubt. They clear the area where they will build their 'little house and fort'. One of the crew gorges himself on 'the bellies of dogfish, a very delicious meat', to the point of a severe bellyache. He is cured in twelve hours with the New World wonder drug: the powder of sassafras.

     The next day Gosnold and some others take the shallop to the small island of Hills Hap. They frighten off four Indians and take a canoe 'which we brought into England'. This was after they characterized the Cape Indians as 'more timorous than those of Savage Rock, yet very thievish'. The texts are silent why they called the Cape Indians very thievish and what the actual events were about 'bringing away' the Indian canoe.

     The next day Gosnold takes the Concord to the mainland to look around. The shore party is immediately met by many Indians in another pleasant encounter. They explore the land and are very upbeat about what they find. Brereton writes an exquisite passage about the land:

      ".we stood awhile like men ravished at the beauty and delicacy of this sweet soil; for besides diverse clear lakes of fresh water (whereof we saw no end) meadows very large and full of green grass; even the most woody places (I speak of only of such I saw) do grow so distinct and apart, one tree from another, upon green grassy ground, somewhat higher than the plains, as if Nature would show herself above her power, artificial."

     Unless you can actually see what Brereton sees, you would think that this account is overblown, another example of Hakluyt-inspired promotional writing. Even one of the greatest historians on this period, David Beers Quinn, almost dismisses Brereton at this point: "Brereton's lyrical expression on the North Shore of Buzzards Bay may be taken as genuine, if a little inflated."

     It is not. If anything.it is understated.

     It is a perfect contemporary description of a type of Indian agro-forestry that has not been practiced since the early 1600's. The Indians have created park-like forests all over New England. It took them hundreds of years to accomplish. The forest park lands are an essential requirement for their chosen lifestyle. They were breathtaking to wander in. A sentence from the Pilgrim's own published Journal of 1622 (commonly called Mourt's Relation) describes the forests the same way: '.the wood for the most part open and without underwood, fit either to go or ride in.' [below, SWIDDEN].

     The English get back to work on their fort and house. After a week.or the second day depending upon whose text you are reading (Archer is chock full of dates, Brereton's edited text has a mere handful), fifty Indians row over to Elizabeth Isle. Their intention is clear: they have come to trade. They have carefully brought over furs and other trade items. The English on shore make a strategic move and force a meeting on the beach. They do not want the Indians near their islet fort yet. Gosnold and the other men are on the Concord anchored a quarter mile from the beach. One Indian is a local sachem (a leader, most likely of the Pokanoket Wampanoags, the living kin of the future Massasoit). Gosnold arrives at the meeting at the last minute. The English put on a fine show of deference to Gosnold. It communicates to the Indians that he is their leader. This encounter with the Indians, as all the rest so far, is fairly smooth. An Indian makes off with an English shield (called in the text: a target). The English calmly point it out to the sachem 'to see if the Indians be in subjection unto him' and it is restored at once. The Indians are here to trade and they don't want anything to ruin it. There is an interesting account how the Indians made sour faces at the English use of mustard on meat and fish (more of a preservative and a way to hide rancid odors than a condiment). For three summer days the Indians stayed on the island. Each night they would retire a mile or so away from the English. 

     The Indians leave four of their men to help the English. Brereton relates how they help collect sassafras even though he thinks one of them is a spy. He also tells how the Indians strike a fire. He plays with words while doing so:

 ".with a flat emerie stone (wherewith Glaziers cut glass and Cutlers glaze blades)."

      Glaziers cut while Cutlers glaze. This homey style of writing wasn't lost on the English readers of the day.

      About this time the English started splitting the ship's stores (called the magazine) between the island and the ship. A bad situation arises. The leaders realize that they can only spare six weeks of food for twelve men at the trading post and still have enough onboard to get back to England. The Concord couldn't possibly return until early spring: nine long months away; the intensity of the upcoming winter is a big unknown. Captain Gilbert is rumored to be responsible for the surprising lack of stores. The dwindling number of men planning to stay in the New World remain focused and get back to work on the fort. Gosnold takes the Concord over to Hills Hap to take in a cargo of cedar wood. He leaves Archer with nine others at the fort with one day's worth of food. He promises to be back the next day.

      Gosnold doesn't return on the morrow, or the next.

      In the meantime the food at the fort is gone. Archer tells four of the men to go out and gather crabs, lobsters, turtles, something! He also tells them to stay together. Archer's own words:

".These four purveyors, whom I counseled to keep together for their better safety, divided themselves, two going one ways and two another, in search of the aforesaid. One of these petty companies was assaulted by four Indians, who with arrows did shoot and hurt one of the two in his side, the other, a lusty and nimble fellow, leapt in and cut their bow strings, whereupon they fled."

      One of the 'petty companies' find themselves in the first armed assault of the voyage, an uncharacteristic event based on all the other encounters (something important is missing from the records.or edited out). The two men get lost and stay in the woods for the night. They eventually find their way back the next day to the fort, to the great relief of everyone.

     Heavy winds kick up and the sea around the island are a awash in white caps. Gosnold and the Concord are still not back.

      On the third day the trumpets of the Concord ring out, the crewmen onboard call out to the hungry men on shore. Archer describes it as a 'lewre', a falconry term for calling a bird, 'which made such music, sweeter never came unto poor men'.

      With the tensions of the low food supply and the tales of the Indian attack, the number of colonists willing to stay over in America evaporates. All the talk now is centered around a 'saving voyage', one that at least pays the expenses and starts to reward the crew with a cut of the profits. There is probably a core group of men willing to stay, but their pleas do not carry the day. There is an echo in the texts that the crew didn't trust Captain Gilbert to come back with the resupply, he is also slighted with the remark 'that he almost never left the ship'. This particular Captian Gilbert was known to be involved in a diamond heist in the early 1590's and tried to sell the hot jewels to Queen Elizabeth. He spent a year in jail for it.

     An old English truism is probably invoked: 'united we stand, divided we fall'. The decision is made: they are all going back to England.

      They leave their tidy fort and house intact. There may have been talk onboard about returning in the spring to try it again. They sail over to Martha's Vineyard to take in a store of fowl. In a day or two, as they head out to the open sea, they cut loose their shallop to make better time. If this practice is normal, we may have some indication how the Indians at Savage Rock got their boat. The Concord makes a fast trip across the Atlantic Ocean, thirty-five days with the help of the Westerlies. Landfall is at the port by the mouth of the river Exe: Exmouth. Immediately Gosnold is embroiled in a controversy with the powerful Sir Walter Ralegh. Ralegh had no idea that a Corps of Discovery was going out to the lands of his American patent. Worse still, the amount of sassafras Gosnold brought back was depressing it's price in the market. Cooler heads prevailed, the valuable cargo will be split with Ralegh. The sassafras would probably be sold at the European markets. Brereton's journal will be reworked into a tract. Late news of Ralegh's near simultaneous voyage by Captain Mace would be included in the booklet. Mace doesn't find the lost colony at Roanoke, and even appears to have disobeyed Ralegh's orders.

     The primary audience for Brereton's relation were the merchants and the Gentlemen of means; but the common man read it as well. In the end everybody won. Except the lowly crewmen of the Concord who probably lost their cut of the cargo to Ralegh.

      Ralegh becomes aware of the Gosnold voyage when he is in Weymouth to meet a returning ship. He had sent Captain Mace on a mission to find the lost colony of Roanoke. Mace failed since he disobeyed his orders. Gosnold and Captain Gilbert have unloaded their cargo and apparently Gosnold has his share sent to Dartmouth and London. Gilbert is confronted by Ralegh. Gilbert's share of the cargo is seized. Ralegh's letter to the Queen's Principal Secretary, Robert Cecil, asks that Cecil or the Judge (Chief Justice Popham) to issue a warrant for seizure of Gosnold's share of the cargo. Ralegh complains that the sassafras market (or sarsephraze as Ralegh writes it) is about to plummet from 10 to 20 shillings per pound ($70 to $140 today) to 8 to 10 shillings ($56 to $70) per pound. Other sources claim that sassafras was only 3 to 8 shillings ($20 to $56) per pound on the market, not anywhere near Ralegh's inflated prices. This raises the question of whether or not the sassafras market was indeed in trouble or just Ralegh's self promotion to Cecil. Ralegh continues in the letter that his enterprise in America will be overthrown if unauthorized people poach on his patent. He must be painfully aware that his monopoly patent for America, issued in 1584, is only good for seven years if he does not plant a sustaining colony. By 1602 his lost colony has been missing for almost fifteen years. The Queen seems to look the other way about the time limit and others take their cue from her. To his credit Ralegh writes that "I shall yet live to see it (America) an English nation" but spends most of his letter complaining about the interlopers and what he and Cecil could do with Gosnold's cargo of cedar: visions of "cedar chests, boards, and delicate things" dance in his head.

      Gosnold and Archer go on to be leaders at the very beginning of Jamestown in 1607. Brereton disappears from the records. Ralegh is soon jailed in the Tower of London by King James, mainly to get him out of the way. Brereton's relation goes into two editions within months of their return, a 17^th century bestseller. The power of the written word spawns a follow up trip by Martin Pring at the next possible launch window: early 1603. Pring even takes two of the Concord's veteran crew with him. Pring knows that there is a tidy "little house and fort" on the other side of the Atlantic. He also knows that there is more valuable cargo there for the taking.

      Bartholomew Gosnold and the crew of the Concord left behind a few things in New England. The very least are place names, durable markers on the map: Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and the Elizabeth Isles. The real legacy of the voyage, a gift to all who read their texts, is the promise of exploration, a simple example of courage, and hope. Gosnold's Hope.

      There is much that can be gleaned from the texts that I have left to the reader or student. You could make a list of the soundings correlated with dates and locations. A list of the latitude measurements. The probable Indian tribes at each leg of the tour. Did they actually see all the animals they list? A study of the mysterious sassafras market in England has yet to be undertaken. What alternate plans could the settlers have used to survive until Spring? Why didn't they try it? Develop a consensus based map of Gosnold's voyage; where do you think they were? There are claims that Gosnold settled on No-Mans Island or Naushon. Develop some pros and cons for each of these theories. Are there any descriptive landmarks in the text that you can identified today? Both relations list animals, plants, and trees; is there mutual overlap or is some information unique to one relation? Synthesize Archer & Brereton into one relation. Read about Cecil, Ralegh, King James, Hakluyt, and other notables of 1602.

     Enjoy the actual texts of 1602 that follow.

     This page preserves the spelling of the era. Starting on the next page, I "Americanize" words still in use, but I keep existing British words like; favour, labour, harbour, &c. I found that once the fonts were brought up to modern standards, the text became extremely readable, I trust you will too. A fluent English speaker of today could have communicated quite naturally with the people of England in 1602. Updating the text was a balancing act, readability vs. gnarly charm, all errors are mine.

   A BRIEFE AND TRUE RELATION

  OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH PART OF VIRGINIA;

  being a most pleasant, fruitful and commodious, soile:

  Made this present yeere 1602, by Captaine Bartholomew Gosnold,

  Captaine Bartholomew Gilbert, and divers other gentlemen, their

  associats, by the permission of the honourable knight,

  Sir Walter Ralegh, &c.

  Written by M. Iohn Brereton one of the voyage.

  Whereunto is annexed a Treatise, of M. Edward Hayes, conteining important inducements for the planting

  in those parts, and finding a passage

  that way to the South sea, and China.

  With divers instructions of special moment newly added

  in this second impression.

  LONDINI,

  Imperis Geor. Bishop.

  1602. 

  To the honourable,

  Sir Walter Ralegh, Knight,

  Captain of her Majesties Guards,

  Lord Wardenof the Stanneries, Lieutenant of Cornwall, and

  Governor of the Isle of Jersey.

  Honourable sir, being earnestly requested by a dear friend, to put down in writing, some true relation of our late performed voyage to the North parts of Virginia; at length I resolved to satisfy his request, who also emboldened me to direct the same to your honourable consideration; to whom indeed of duty it pertains.

     May it please your Lordship therefore to understand, that upon the six and twentieth of March 1602, being a Friday,(1) we went from Falmouth, being in all, two & thirty persons, in a small bark of Dartmouth, called The Concord, holding a course for the North part of Virginia : and although by chance the wind favoured us not at first as we wished, but enforced us so far to the Southward, as we fell with S. Marie, one of the islands of the Azores (which was not much out of our way) but holding our course directly from thence, we made our journey shorter (than hitherto accustomed) by the better part of a thousand leagues , yet were we longer in our passage than we expected; which happened, for that our bark being weak, we were loathe to press her with much sail; also, our sailors being few, and they none of the best, we bare (except in fair weather) but low sail; besides, our going upon an unknown coast, made us not over-bold to stand in with the shore, but in open weather; which caused us to be certain days in sounding, before we discovered the coast, the weather being by chance, somewhat foggy.

     But on Friday, the fourteenth of May, early in the morning, we made the land, being full of fair trees, the land somewhat low, certain hummocks or hills lying into the land, the shore full of white sand, but very stony or rocky. And standing fair alongst by the shore, about twelve of the clock the same day, we came to an anchor, where eight Indians, in a Basqueshallop with mast and sail, an iron grapple, and a kettle of Copper, came boldly aboard us, one of them appareled with a waistcoat and breeches of black serge, made after our sea-fashion, hose and shoes on his feet; all the rest (saving one that had a pair of breeches of blue cloth) were naked.

     These people are of tall stature, broad and grim visage, of a black swart complexion, their eyebrows painted white; their weapons are bows and arrows. It seemed by some words and signs they made, that some Basques, or of Saint John de Luz, have fished or traded in this place, being in the latitude of 43. degrees. But riding here, in no very good harbour, and withal, doubting the weather, about three of the clock the same day in the afternoon we weighed, & standing Southerly off into sea the rest of that day and the night following, with a fresh gale of wind, in the morning we found ourselves embayed with a mighty headland ; but coming to an anchor about nine of the clock the same day, within a league [3 mi.] of the shore, we hoisted out the one half of our shallop, and captain Bartholomew Gosnold, my self, and three others, went ashore, being a white sandy and very bold shore; and marching all that afternoon with our muskets on our necks, on the highest hills which we saw (the weather very hot) at length we perceived this headland to be parcel of the main, and sundry Islands lying almost round about it.

     So returning (towards evening) to our shallop (for by that time, the other part was brought ashore and set together) we espied an Indian, a young man, of proper stature, and of a pleasing countenance; and after some familiarity with him, we left him at the seaside, and returned to our ship; where, in five or six hours absence, we had pestered our ship so with Cod fish, that we threw numbers of them over-board again: and surely, I am persuaded that in the months of March, April, and May, there is upon this coast, better fishing, and in as great plenty, as in Newfound-land: for the schools of Mackerel, herrings, Cod, and other fish, that we daily saw as we went and came from the shore, were wonderful; and besides, the places where we took these Cods (and might in a few days have laden our ship) were but in seven fathom water [42 ft.], and within less than a league [< 3 mi.] of the shore: where, in Newfound-land they fish in forty or fifty fathom water [240-300 ft.], and far off.

     From this place, we sailed round about this headland, almost all the points of the compass, the shore very bold: but as no coast is free from dangers, so I am persuaded, this is as free as any . The land somewhat low, full of goodly woods, but in some places plain. At length we were come amongst many faire Islands, which we had partly discerned at our first landing; all lying within a league or two one of another[3-6 mi.], and the outermost not above six or seven leagues[18-21 mi.] from the main: but coming to an anchor under one of them, which was about three or four leagues [9-12 mi.] from the main, captain Gosnold, my self, and some others, went ashore, and going round about it, we found it to be four English miles in compass, without house or inhabitant, saving a little old house made of boughs, covered with bark, an old piece of a weir of the Indians, to catch fish, and one or two places, where they had made fires.

     The chiefest trees of this Island, are Beeches and Cedars; the outward parts all overgrown with low bushy trees, three or four foot in height, which bear some kind of fruits, as appeared by their blossoms; Strawberries, red and white, as sweet and much bigger than ours in England: Raspberries, Gooseberries, Hurtleberries, and such an incredible store of Vines , as well in the woody part of the Island, where they run upon every tree, as on the outward parts, that we could not go for treading upon them: also, many springs of excellent sweet water, and a great standing lake of fresh water, near the seaside, an English mile in compass, which is maintained with the springs running exceeding pleasantly through the woody grounds which are very rocky. Here are also in this Island, great store of Deer, which we saw, and other beasts, as appeared by their tracks; as also diverse fowls, as Cranes, Hernshawes [herons], Bitters, Geese, Mallards, Teals, and other fowls, in great plenty; also, great store of Peas [Beach-pea], which grow in certain plots all the Island over.

     On the North side of this Island we found many huge bones and ribs of Whales. This Island, as also all the rest of these Islands, are full of all sorts of stones fit for building ; the sea sides all covered with stones, many of them glistening and shining like mineral stones, and very rocky: also, the rest of these Islands are replenished with these commodities, and upon some of them, inhabitants; as upon an Island to the Northward, and within two leagues [6 mi.] of this; yet we found no towns, nor many of their houses, although we saw many Indians, which are tall big boned men, all naked, saving they cover their privy parts with a black tewed skin, much like a Black smiths apron, tied about the middle and between their legs behind: they gave us of their fish ready boiled, (which they carried in a basket made of twigs, not unlike our osier) whereof we did eat, and judged them to be fresh water fish: they gave us also of their Tobacco, which they drink green, but dried into powder, very strong and pleasant, and much better than any I have tasted in England.

     The necks of their pipes are made of clay hard dried, (whereof in that Island is great store both red and white) the other part is a piece of hollow copper, very finely closed and cemented together. We gave unto them certain trifles, as knives, points, and such like, which they much esteemed. From hence we went to another Island, to the Northwest of this, and within a league or two of the main [3-6 miles], which we found to be greater than before we imagined, being 16 English miles at the least in compass; for it contains many pieces or necks of land, which differ nothing from several islands, saving that certain banks of small breadth, do like bridges, join them to this Island.

     On the outsides of this Island are many plain places of grass, abundance of Strawberries & other berries before mentioned. In mid May we did sow in this Island (for a trial) in sundry places, Wheat, Barley, Oats, and Peas, which in fourteen days were sprung up nine inches and more. The soil is fat and lusty, the upper crust of gray colour; but a foot or less in depth, of the colour of our hempelands in England; and being thus apt for these and the like grains; the sowing or setting (after the ground is cleansed) is no greater labour, than if you should set or sow in one of our best prepared gardens in England. This Island is full of high timbered Oaks, their leaves thrice so broad as ours; Cedars, straight and tall; Beech, Elm, holly, Walnut trees in abundance, the fruit as big as ours, as appeared by those we found under the trees, which had lain all the year ungathered; Hazelnut trees, Cherry trees, the leaf, bark and bigness not differing from ours in England, but the stalk bears the blossoms or fruit at the end thereof, like a cluster of Grapes, forty or fifty in a bunch; Sassafras trees great plenty all the Island over, a tree of high price and profit; also diverse other fruit trees, some of them with strange barks, of an Orange colour, in feeling soft and smooth like Velvet: in the thickest parts of these woods, you may see a furlong or more round about.

     On the Northwest side of this Island, near to the sea side, is a standing Lake of fresh water, almost three English miles in compass, in the middle whereof stands a plot of woody ground, an acre in quantity or not above: this Lake is full of small Tortoises, and exceedingly frequented with all sorts of fowls before rehearsed , which breed, young ones of all sorts we took and eat at our pleasure: but all these fowls are much bigger than ours in England. Also, in every Island, and almost in every part of every Island, are great store of Ground nuts forty together on a string, some of them as big as hens eggs; they grow not two inches under ground: the which nuts we found to be as good as Potatoes. Also diverse sorts of shell-fish, as Scallops, Muscles, Cockles, Lobsters, Crabs, Oysters, and Wilks, exceeding good, and very great.

     But not to cloy you with particular rehearsal of such things as God & Nature hath bestowed on these places, in comparison whereof, the most fertile part of all England is (of itself) but barren; we went in our light-horseman from this Island to the main, right against this Island some two leagues off [6 mi.], where coming ashore, we stood a while like men ravished at the beauty and delicacy of this sweet soil; for besides diverse clear Lakes of fresh water (whereof we saw no end) meadows very large and full of green grass; even the most woody places (I speak only of such I saw) do grow so distinct and apart, one tree from another, upon green grassy ground, somewhat higher than the Plains, as if Nature would show herself above her power, artificial.

     Hard by, we espied seven Indians, and coming up to them, at first they expressed some fear; but being emboldened by our courteous usage, and some trifles which we gave them, they followed us to a neck of land, which we imagined had been seered from the main ; but finding it otherwise, we perceived a broad harbour or river's mouth , which ran up into the main: and because the day was far spent, we were forced to return to the Island from whence we came, leaving the discovery of this harbour, for a time of better leisure. Of the goodness of which harbour, as also of many others thereabouts, there is small doubt, considering that all the Islands, as also the main (where we were) is all rocky grounds and broken lands.

     Now the next day, we determined to fortify ourselves in a little plot of ground in the midst of the Lake above mentioned, where we built an house, and covered it with sedge, which grew about this lake in great abundance; in building whereof, we spent three weeks and more: but the second day after our coming from the main, we espied 11 canoes or boats, with fifty Indians in them, coming toward us from this part of the main, where we, two days before landed; and being loath they should discover our fortification, we went out on the sea side to meet them; and coming somewhat near them, they all sat down upon the stones, calling aloud to us (as we rightly guessed) to do the like, a little distance from them: having sat a while in this order, Captain Gosnold willed me to go unto them, to see what countenance they would make; but as soon as I came up unto them, one of them, to whom I had given a knife two days before in the main, knew me, (whom I also very well remembered) and smiling upon me, spake somewhat unto their lord or captain, which sat in the midst of them, who presently rose up and took a large Beaver skin from one that stood about him, a gave it unto me, which I requited for that time the best I could [reciprocated]; but I, pointing towards captain Gosnold, made signs unto him, that he was our captain, and desirous made signs of joy: whereupon captain Gosnold with the rest of his company, being twenty in all, came up unto them; and after many signs of gratulations (captain Gosnold presenting their Lord with certain trifles which they wondered at, and highly esteemed) we became very great friends, and sent for meat aboard our shallop, and gave them such meats as we had then ready dressed, whereof they misliked nothing but our mustard, whereat they made many a sour face.

     While we were thus merry, one of them had conveyed a target of ours into one of their canoes, which we suffered, only to try whether they were in subjection to this Lord to whom we made signs (by showing him another of the same likeness, and pointing to the canoe) what one of his company had done: who suddenly expresses some fear, and speaking angrily to one about him (as we perceived by his countenance) caused it presently to be brought back again.

     So the rest of the day we spent in trading with them for Furs, which are Beavers, Luzernes [bobcat?], Martins, Otters, Wild-cat skins, very large and deep Fur, black Foxes, Conie skins [hare] of the colour of our Hares, but somewhat less, Deer skins, very large, Seal skins, and other beasts skins, to us unknown. They have also great store of Copper, some very red, and some of a paler colour; none of them but have chains, earrings, or collars of this metal: they head some of their arrows herewith much like our broad arrow heads, very workmanly made. Their chains are many hollow pieces cemented together, each piece of the bigness of one of our reeds, a finger in length, ten or twelve of them together on a string, which they wear about their necks: their collars they wear about their bodies like bandoliers a handful broad, all hollow pieces, like the other, but somewhat shorter, four hundred pieces in a collar, very fine and evenly set together.

     Besides these, they have large drinking cups made like skulls, and other thin plates of copper, made much like our own boar-spear blades, all which they so little esteem, as they offer their fairest collars or chains, for a knife or such like trifle, but we seemed little to regard it; yet I was desirous to understand where they had such store of this metal, and made signs to one of them (with whom I was very familiar) who taking a piece of Copper in his hand, made a hole with his finger in the ground, and withal pointed to the main from whence they came. They strike fire in this manner; every one carries about him in a purse of tewed leather, a Mineral stone (which I take to be their Copper) and with a flat Emery Stone (wherewith Glaziers cut glass, and Cutlers glaze blades) tied fast to the end of a little stick, gently he strikes upon the Mineral stone, and within a stroke or two, a spark falls upon a piece of Touchwood (much like our Spunge in England) and with the least spark he makes a fire presently.

     We had also of their Flax, wherewith they make many strings and cords, but it is not so bright of colour as ours in England: I am persuaded they have great store growing upon the main, as also Mines and many other rich commodities, which we, wanting both time and means, could not possibly discover. Thus they continued with us three days, every night retiring themselves to the furthermost part of our Island two or three miles from our fort: but the fourth day they returned to the main, pointing five or six times to the Sun, and once to the main, which we understood, that within five or six days they would come from the main to us again: but being in their canoes a little from the shore, they made huge cries & shouts of joy unto us; and we with our trumpet and cornet, and casting up our caps into the air, made them the best farewell we could: yet six or seven of them remain with us behind, bearing us company every day into the woods, and helped us to cut and carry our Sassafras, and some of them lay aboard our ship.

     These people, as they are exceeding courteous, gentle of disposition, and well conditioned, excelling all others that we have seen; so for shape of body and lovely favour, I think they excel all the people of America; of stature much higher than we; of complexion or colour, much like a dark Olive; their eyebrows and hair black, which they wear long, tied up behind in knots, whereon they prick feathers of fowls, in fashion of a crownet: some of them are black thin bearded; they make beards of the hair of beasts: and one of them offered a beard of their making to one of our sailors, for this that grew on his face, which because it was of a red colour, they judged it to be none of his own. They are quick eyed, and steadfast in the looks, fearless of others harms, as intending none themselves; some of the meaner sort given to filching, which the very name of Savages (not weighing their ignorance in good or evil) may easily excuse: their garments are of Deer skins, and some of them wear Furs round and close about their necks.

     They pronounce our Language with great facility; for one of them one day sitting by me, upon occasion I spake smiling to him these words: How now (sirrha) are you so saucy with my Tobacco? Which words (without any further repetition) he suddenly spake so plain and distinctly, as if he had been a long scholar in the language.

     Many other such trials we had, which are here needless to repeat. Their women (such as we saw) which were but three in all, were but low of stature, their eyebrows, hair, apparel, and manner of wearing, like to the men, fat, and well favoured, and much delighted in our company; the men are dutiful towards them. And truly, the wholesomeness and temperature of this Climate, does not only argue this people to be answerable to this description, but also of a perfect constitution of body, active, strong, healthful, and very witty, as the sundry toys of theirs cunningly wrought, may easily witness. For the agreeing of this Climate with us (I speak of myself, & so I may justly do for the rest of our company) that we found our health & strength all the while we remained there, so to renew and increase, as notwithstanding our diet and lodging was none of the best, yet not one of our company (God be thanked) felt the least grudging or inclination to any disease or sickness, but were much fatter and in better health than when we went out of England.

     But after our bark [Concord] had taken in so much Sassafras, Cedar, Furs, Skins, and other commodities, as were thought convenient; some of our company that had promised captain Gosnold to stay, having nothing but a saving voyage in their minds (NOTE 28), made our company of inhabitants (which was small enough before) much smaller; so as captain Gosnold seeing his whole strength to consist but of twelve men, and they but meanly provided (NOTE 29) , determined to return for England, leaving this Island (which he called Elizabeths Island (NOTE 30) with as many true sorrowful eyes, as were before desirous to see it. So the 18 of June (NOTE 31) , being Friday, we weighed, and with indifferent fair wind and weather came to anchor the 23 of July , being also Friday (in all, bare five weeks) before Exmouth.

Your Lordships [Ralegh] to command:

John Brereton

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