With regard to “Vinland”, which Leif Ericsson is said to have visited on his way to Greenland, a circumstantial account of his voyaging is given in the Norse saga—the Flateyarbok and the Hauksbok. These accounts were subsequently confirmed by Adam of Bremen, in his History of the Bremen Church, etc., and in the MSS. of numerous historians, from the eleventh to the fifteenth century; but the conjecture is not adequately substantiated by facts to warrant a conclusion, and it seems impossible in this age to divest the ancient story from the cloud of myth and mystery which surrounds it.
It seems strange, nevertheless, that the name Nautican is that applied to Nantucket island by Sir Ferdinand Gorges (circa 1630), and Nantican in Hough’s book, under the date 1641.
John Cabot, the navigator—of Italian birth—settled in Bristol, England, in the time of Henry VII., and he obtained a patent from the King “for the purpose of discovering unknown lands in the eastern, western and northern seas.” His son Sebastian accompanied him, and in 1497–1498, they cruised along the coast of America from Florida to Labrador. The claim of the English Government to Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands was based upon these voyages of the Cabots.
Nantucket, however, looms out of mythland and into genuine history, when, in June or July, 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold, an English mariner, landed upon its shore at Sankaty Head, when he, and some thirty sailors, were en route for Virginia, seeking a new plantation.
In May, 1605, Captain Weymouth is said to have “become entangled among the Nantucket Shoals”[4], and in 1620 Captain Dermer certainly visited the island.
[4] Drake’s Nooks and Corners of New England, p. 324.
In approaching the consideration of the Nantucket Indians, the following beautiful legend[5] cannot be passed over in silence, as it reveals the fact that self-sacrifice and the tender passion are not limited in their influence to any race or color, but are the hallowed heritage of mankind. Such a record deserves a foremost place in any associated local history. The incident referred to is supposed to have occurred about 1630, or, as Dr. Ewer suggested, about thirty years before the arrival of the white men.
[5] A worthy poetic setting of this legend was published by “The Inquirer and Mirror” nearly forty years ago, from the pen of Miss Charlotte P. Baxter. It was republished in the “Inquirer” of January 21st, 1911, and the poetic quotations in this preface have been taken from it.