Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 02

by Samuel de Champlain

ENDNOTES:

174. Champlain is in error as to the longitude of Mallebarre, or Nauset harbor, from which they took their departure on the 25th of July, 1605. This port is about 38' east of Island Cape, or Cape Anne, and about 16' east of the western point of Cap Blanc, or Cape Cod; and, to reach their destination, they must have sailed north-west, and not north-east, as he erroneously states.

175. They had failed to meet him at the lake in the Kennebec; namely, Merrymeeting Bay.—Vide antea, p. 60.

176. The island which they thus named La Nef, the Ship, was Monhegan, about twenty-five nautical miles east from the mouth of the Kennebec, a mile and a third long, with an elevation at its highest point of a hundred and forty feet above the level of the sea, and in latitude 43° 45' 52". Champlain's conjecture as to the nationality of the ship was correct. It was the "Archangel," commanded by the celebrated explorer, Captain George Weymouth, who under the patronage of the Earl of Southampton came to explore our Atlantic coast in the spring of 1605, for the purpose of selecting a site for an English colony. He anchored near Monhegan on the 28th of May, N. S.; and, after spending nearly a month in reconnoitring the islands and mainland in the vicinity, and capturing five of the natives, he took his departure for England on the 26th of June. On the 5th of July, just 9 days after Weymouth left the coast, De Monts and Champlain entered with their little barque the mouth of the Kennebec. They do not appear to have seen at that time any of the natives at or about the mouth of the river; and it is not unlikely that, on account of the seizure and, as they supposed, the murder of their comrades by Weymouth, they had retired farther up the river for greater safety. On the return, however, of the French from Cape Cod, on the 29th of July, Anassou gave them, as stated in the text, a friendly reception, and related the story of the seizure of his friends.

To prevent the interference of other nations, it was the policy of Weymouth and his patron not to disclose the locality of the region he had explored; and consequently Rosier, the narrator of the voyage, so skilfully withheld whatever might clearly identify the place, and couched his descriptions in such indefinite language, that there has been and is now a great diversity of opinion on the subject among local historians. It was the opinion of the Rev. Thomas Prince that Weymouth explored the Kennebec, or Sagadahoc, and with him coincide Mr. John McKeen and the Rev. Dr. Ballard, of Brunswick. The Rev. Dr. Belknap, after satisfactory examinations, decided that it was the Penobscot; and he is followed by Mr. William Willis, late President of the Maine Historical Society. Mr. George Prince, of Bath, has published an elaborate paper to prove that it was St. George's River; and Mr. David Cushman, of Warren, coincides in this view. Other writers, not entering into the discussion at length, accept one or another of the theories above mentioned. It does not fall within the purview of our present purpose to enter upon the discussion of this subject. But the statement in the text, not referred to by any of the above-mentioned writers, "that those on her had killed five savages of this river," que ceux de dedans avoient tué cinq sauuages d'icelle rivière, can hardly fail to have weight in the decision of this interesting question.

The chief Anassou reported that they were "killed," a natural inference under the circumstances; but in fact they were carefully concealed in the hold of the ship, and three of them, having been transported to England and introduced into his family, imparted much important information to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, whose distinguished career was afterward so intimately connected with the progress of American colonization. For the discussion touching the river explored by Weymouth, vide Prince's Annals, 1736, in loco; Belknap's American Biography, 1794, Vol. II., art. Weymouth; Remarks on the Voyage of George Waymouth, by John McKeen, Col. Me. His. Society, Vol. V. p. 309; Comments on Waymouth's Voyage, by William Willis, idem, p. 344; Voyage of Captain George Weymouth, by George Prince, Col. Me. His. Soc., Vol. VI. p. 293; Weymouth's Voyage, by David Cushman, idem, p. 369; George Weymouth and the Kennebec, by the Rev. Edward Ballard, D. D., Memorial Volume of the Popham Celebration, Portland, 1863, p. 301.

176-1/2. We headed east south-east. It is possible that, on leaving the mouth of the Kennebec, they sailed for a short distance to the south-east; but the general course was to the north-east.

177. Cap Corneille, or Crow Cape, was apparently the point of land advancing out between Machias and Little Machias Bays, including perhaps Cross Island. De Monts and his party probably anchored and passed the night in Machias Bay. The position of Cap Corneille may be satisfactorily fixed by its distance and direction from the Grand Manan, as seen on Champlain's map of 1612, to which the reader is referred.

178. This anchorage was between Campobello and Moose Island, on which is situated the town of Eastport.