FIRST ENGLISHMAN IN AMERICA

Evening Star, Issue 19003, 27 July 1925, Page 8

FIRST ENGLISHMAN IN AMERICA

A FORGOTTEN COLONIST 'file fame of Cabot, Cartier, Hudson, Gilbert, and other pathfinders whoso daring voyages paved the way for tiro colonisation of the. North American continent is safely established, but scant justice, has been dona to the services of the man who 323 yearu ago was the first navigator of British birth to land on the soil of North Ainfirica, B4Ki) who four years later won the credit of making the first attempt at a permanent British settlement on tiro coast of New England 1 (slates the ‘ Observer ’). Bartholomew Gosnoll, or Gosnold. an ha was indifferently called, was a Sufi oik mart, a, hi] belonged 1 lo one of the oldest families in England. The Gosuolls of Bentley Park were intermixed with the Bacon family, and Bartholomew's mother was a Bacon, closely related to the celebrated statcsman-phdlo-sopher. From his father, Anthony Gosnoll, he inherited a substantial estate, which enabled him to gratify his passion for voyaging abroad on expeditions of exploration. Early in the year 1602 he sailed from Falmouth in the little ship Concord, with a crew of thirty-two persons besides himself,. and on 31 ay 14 lie made a. landfall near Cape Ood —so called' on account, of (ho abundance of cod in tho adjacent waters. As far a* is known, no Englishma.it had ever before set foot on tho North American continent, although a year previously the French had established' their first settlement at Port Royal, near Annapolis, in Nova Scotia.. THE JAMESTOWN SETTLEMENT. On this voyage Gosnoll also discovered lb’o .Elizabeth Islands, and after cruising off the mainland for some days he landed^ with ], ar f of Ins crew at a place known as On ttybunk, intent upon founding a. permanent settlement. However, tho prospective colonists, not. having contracted for definite exile, were dissatisfied with the prospects, and after a month's slay on land were taken on board, and the Concord sailed back for England. The writer, Brercton, however, was a member of ihe crew, and it was the publiwv(.ion of his account of the voyage and, the wonders of the new continent that more than' anything eke, inspired tho Pilgrim Fathers to seek the shorts of North America in 1620. Undeterred by his first abortive effort, Gosnoll persorverod with the idea of a British settlement in North America, and four years later ho returned across tho Atlantic and founded the famous plantation of Jumcruown. in Virginia, whose tragic history need not be here recalled at any length. It will suffice to say that of the 105 colonists fifty dic-d within the first year, ami among the victims ot tho pestilence wa* Bartholomew Gosnoll liinisclt. In his second party was tho famous Captain John Smith, the lover of Pocahontas, and iu_hii> writings this experienced and exacting critic left tins account of Gnsnoil’s character: “What a man has to do he set his whole mind upon, and if ihe enterprise was within the j tower of man io accomplish ho tnd it. The leader chose his men with great card, and took heed I j he l heir chief and loader iu all things." It is more, than si.rnng,i that explorers who morelv tailed tho sea.:;, but made no effort .: permanent colonisation, should have Mini* elaborate attention paid to their careers ■><id exploits, and that (iwmoll, who was the in si, of the long si roam of real colonisers, should have been treated with such neglect. A CHAMIM.AIN MEMORIAL.

However, Canada is always mindful lo pay jjrojx'r tribute to the memory of her great pioneers. Samuel Champlain, tire founder of New France. ahoady has his work, commemorated by monuments at Ottawa, Quebec, and St- John, but there wi*l bo an addition lo them (his summer, when an imi'osiiig meunuiiea!. io him will he unveiled at lie town of Orillia, in Ontario, which marks flu- western limit of his numerous voyages of exploration. For the unveiling there will he a groat ceremony on Dch minion Day, and representative figures from all parts of Canada will attend. Chaniplaiif first came io the St. Lawrence in 1599, when, tiie French had a fooling at Tadoussac. on the lower gulf, and vyhen lie returned in--1608 he was instrument a! in moving the infant colony up lo Quebec; ho had shrewdly realised that (he fur trade was an insufficient basis for a stable colony, and urged migration lo a place where agricultural and industrial development would be possible. In (he summer of 1615 ha explored- the territory now known as Ontario, and spent some time at. the Huron village of Cahalgue, on Lake Simcoe, close to the modern town of Orillia. Warfare with the Iroquois retarded his const motive work, but he ruled Hie young colony with vigor and success from his headquarter; in Quebec. Ho encouraged Louis Hebert to oomo from Franco and start the first Canadian farm in 1617; when the British took Quebec in 1629 Madame Hebert, who had lost her husband, was so attached io the soil that she remained while all the other colonists returned to Franco during the three years of British occupation. Champlain, wb> had also gone back io France, returned to Canada in 1635. but he was then an old man, and the laat two years of Ins life were passed in peace- [ ful retirement. He died on Christmas Day, | 1635, and was buried in the oitv which h* ! had founded.