D. 1583
MOSES HARVEY
In the Elizabethan era, when maritime discovery was being actively
pursued by England's adventurous spirits, Sir Humphrey Gilbert,
half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, the founder of Virginia, took
possession of Newfoundland, with feudal ceremony, in the name of the
Virgin Queen. Sir Humphrey's expedition was barren of results in the
way of colonization, and even in the way of discovery on the island;
while it proved fatal to its leader, and those who sailed with him
on the Squirrel, for on the return voyage to England the vessel
foundered at sea, and only the companion-ship, the Golden Hind,
reached the port of Falmouth, Devon. But the formal occupation of
Newfoundland at that early period makes it the most ancient colony
of the British crown, English settlement beginning shortly after Sir
Humphrey Gilbert's visit, though interrupted between the years 1692
and 1713 by French attempts at conquest.
Up to this time no attempt had been made to colonize Newfoundland or any
of the neighboring lands. The hardy fishermen of various nationalities,
among whom Englishmen were now much more numerous than formerly, were in
the habit of frequenting the shores of the island during the summer and
using the harbors and coves for the cure of their fish, returning home
with the products of their toil on the approach of winter.
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