Cuper's Cove

Last updated
Canada Newfoundland location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Cuper's Cove

Cuper's Cove, on the southwest shore of Conception Bay on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula was an early English settlement in the New World, and the third one after Harbour Grace, Newfoundland (1583) and Jamestown, Virginia (1607) to endure for longer than a year. It was established in 1610 by John Guy on behalf of Bristol's Society of Merchant Venturers, who had been given a charter by King James I of England to establish a colony on the island of Newfoundland. Most of the settlers left in the 1620s, but apparently a few stayed on and the site was continuously inhabited.[ citation needed ]

Contents

The community is currently known as Cupids.

Site selection

In the early sixteenth century the island of Newfoundland was frequented by seasonal fisherman from many European countries. [1] The competition was tough to be the first to sail to the rich fishing grounds around the island and indeed the rest of North America. The island had some obvious advantages over the rest of North America as a site to establish an English colony. The island was very familiar to fisherman and explorers, especially the bays and coves on the Avalon Peninsula where many would set up temporary shelters as they prosecuted the fishery. The merchants and owners of the vessels that made those trips to Newfoundland had recognized the importance that the strategic location that Newfoundland had placed on establishing a permanent settlement.

Time was ripe for a permanent settlement in Newfoundland. Given the failure of Walter Raleigh to establish a colony at Roanoke Island in 1584 and the successful settlement at Jamestown in 1607 and on learning that Samuel de Champlain had sailed into the St. Lawrence to initiate the settlement of New France, pressure was mounting to lay claim to the resource rich New World. King James was told that the French had made attempts to over-winter in Newfoundland and it was only a matter of time before a successful colony would be established by the French and lay claim to the island. [2]

In 1607 Bristol's Society of Merchant Venturers which included Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Percival Willoughby and John Slany, had formed the Newfoundland Company with shares selling at £25. The Newfoundland Company had then petitioned the King James I, seeking approval to establish a colony in Newfoundland. John Guy visited the island in 1608 to scout possible locations for a settlement, selecting Cuper's Cove as his preferred location. The Privy Council accepted his petition on 2 May 1610 [2] issuing a charter to the Earl of Northampton (Guy's patron).

In 1610 John Guy, his brother Phillip, his brother-in-law William Colston and 38 colonists had set sail from Bristol aboard three ships. [3] In August 1610 they made landfall in the area Guy had visited two years earlier to set about building a settlement.

Site construction (16101611)

John Guy had landed at Cuper's Cove in August 1610 and is described in a letter from John Guy to Sir Percival Willoughby from Cuper's Cove, [4] 6 October 1610 where it states in part:

Right worshipfull,
yt may please you to vnderstand that...
the
{document torn} day of August we arrived (God be praised) all in safetie in the bay of Conception, in Newfoundland [in the] harbour here called Cuperres coue... This harbour is three leagues distance from Colliers bay to the Northeastward and is preferred by me to beginne our plantacion before the said Colliers bay fer the goodness of the harbour, the fruitfullnes of the soyle, the largenes of the trees, and many other reasons...
Middleton Manuscript Mi X 1/2. University of Nottingham

The colonists all male were made up of masons, carpenters, blacksmiths and other apprentices to build fortifications and dwellings to prepare for the coming winter. The charter had stipulated that the settlers of Cuper's Cove were not to interfere with the operation of the migratory fishery in any way. [2] It wasn't deemed a problem, for the Cuper's Cove area was not considered prime fishing grounds, but certainly over winter they would have time to prepare for the next year fishing season and they would be the first on those grounds.

Guy and his colonists began clearing the area and by May 1611 the colony consisted of a dwelling house and a store house contained within a 120 ft (37 m). x 90 ft (27 m). enclosure, a second dwelling house, a work house and a forge. Within the confines of the settlement were two saw pits and a wooden defense works upon which three cannons were mounted. [5]

One of the first items of construction was to dig a cellar, which in recent excavations has determined it to be roughly 20 ft (6.1 m). across with a maximum depth of seven feet, walled-up with flat stone and back-filled with rubble. The dwellings were made of cobble and flagstone floors with some areas covered by wooden timbers and floor boards. The end of the first winter, a mild winter, the report back to England was very optimistic where Guy notes that the months of October and November are both warmer and drier than in England. [6] The livestock they had brought from England had thrived and had added to their numbers.

The colonists built, along with the dwellings and support structures, six fishing vessels and a twelve tonne bark, Endeavour. [2] Fortifications were by means of a palisade wall of local cut poles sixteen feet long set upright all around the perimeter of the settlement. The fortress was completed by the summer of 1612 to defend the plantation against the pirate Peter Easton.

Settlement expansion (1612–1613)

The plantation continued development and by 8 September 1612 a dwelling for Henry Crout and his ward Thomas Willoughby had begun. By the spring of 1613 at least sixteen structures were built on the site. Much of the land had been cleared for the planting of crops and to allow livestock to pasture.

John Guy had stayed at the colony during the winter of 1610 to 1611 and had returned to England in the autumn of 1611. Four of the colonists had died during the winter of 1610 to 1611. In the spring of 1612, Guy had returned, this time with more adventurers and livestock. Guy, an alderman and sound churchman, had also brought with him a clergyman, Rev. Erasmus Stourton. [3]

During the winter of 1612 to 1613 sixty-two people were known to be at the plantation. That winter eight deaths were recorded, all apparently from scurvy. There was also a birth recorded, the first English child born in Newfoundland and what is now Canada. The child was born to Nicholas Guy and his wife on 27 March 1613.

Beothuk contact

No mention of the natives of Newfoundland, namely the Beothuk, is made in the petition of the charter of the Newfoundland Company, a fact that had helped speed it through Privy Council. [2] There was a brief notation in the charter that stated explicitly any contact with natives would be to convert them to Christianity. [2] Guy had assumed that the natives had long since left Conception Bay, but he knew that they lived not far away. One reason for his construction of the bark Indeavour was to explore nearby Trinity Bay and to make contact with the Beothuk.

Two failed attempts to make contact with the Beothuk overland (see article on Henry Crout and construction of Crout's Way) Guy had readied his bark and one of his newly constructed fishing vessels to set off in search of the Beothuk at Trinity Bay. In October 1612, Guy, Crout and seventeen others set sail in both vessels in search of the Beothuks. They had entered Mount Eagle Bay (Hopeall) on October 22 and two days later they found several Beothuk houses in a place they called Savage Harbour located at Dildo Arm. They found a path leading to a freshwater pond that proved to also be a campground for the Beothuk. [7] A modern excavation at this site called Russell's Point has yielded many artifacts of this campsite.

John Guy and his party eventually did meet with the Beothuk at a Bull Arm, where they shared gifts and a meal. The Beothuk had lit a fire to express their willingness to trade and they also produced a white flag made from a wolf skin.

Post colony use

Today's town of Cupids Townofcupids.jpg
Today's town of Cupids

Captain John Mason was appointed the new Proprietary Governor of the colony in 1615, but he too grew tired of disputes with fishermen and with the difficulties of the terrain, and abandoned the colony in 1621 for New England.

Patuxet tribesman, Tisquantum (better known as Squanto) was brought here by Sir John Slany in 1617 and worked with Captain John Mason, governor of the Newfoundland Colony. While being here, he encountered a ship's captain by the name of Thomas Dermer, who had worked with both Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Smith. After staying for many months at this site, Squanto thought he would be able to return home to the modern-day American state of Massachusetts, but Dermer took him back to London to meet Gorges and ask for permission about the trip to Squanto's homeland. He eventually found a ship bounding for his homeland, but later discovered that his tribe had been all wiped out by an unknown disease. [8]

There is some evidence that an unorganized settlement remained here possibly into the eighteenth century before finally being abandoned,[ citation needed ] although the cove remained a popular location for visiting fishermen. Cuper's Cove is now known as the Town of Cupids.

Names and Details of the Original 39 Colonists

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beothuk</span> Indigenous people of Newfoundland

The Beothuk were a group of indigenous people who lived on the island of Newfoundland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avalon Peninsula</span> Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland

The Avalon Peninsula is a large peninsula that makes up the southeast portion of the island of Newfoundland. It is 9,220.61 square kilometres (3,560.10 sq mi) in size.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Guy (colonial administrator)</span> English merchant adventurer and politician

John Guy was an English merchant adventurer, colonist and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1624. He was the first proprietary governor of Newfoundland Colony, the first attempt to establish a colony on Newfoundland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Mason (governor)</span> Canadian politician

Captain John Mason (1586–1635) was an English sailor and colonist who was instrumental to the establishment of various settlements in colonial America. Born in 1586 at King's Lynn, Norfolk, and educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1610, he was appointed by James I to help reclaim the Hebrides. As a reward, he was granted exclusive fishing rights in the North Sea. This was ignored by the Dutch and he was treated as a pirate by the Scots. In 1615, he was arrested, but soon released after the seizure of his ship. He was appointed the second Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland's Cuper's Cove colony in 1615, succeeding John Guy. Mason arrived on the island in 1616 and explored much of the territory. He compiled a map of the island and wrote and published a short tract of his findings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Province of Avalon</span>

The Province of Avalon was the area around the English settlement of Ferryland in what is now Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada in the 17th century, which upon the success of the colony grew to include the land held by Sir William Vaughan and all the land that lay between Ferryland and Petty Harbour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Gates (governor)</span> 16th/17th-century Governor of Jamestown, in the English colony of Virginia

Sir Thomas Gates (fl.?–1622), was the governor of Jamestown, in the English colony of Virginia. His predecessor, George Percy, through inept leadership, was responsible for the lives lost during the period called the Starving Time. The English-born Gates arrived to find a few surviving starving colonists commanded by Percy, and assumed command. Gates ruled with deputy governor Sir Thomas Dale. Their controlled, strict methods helped the early colonies survive. Sir Thomas was knighted in 1596 by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex for gallantry at the Capture of Cadiz. His knighthood was later royally confirmed by Queen Elizabeth I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boyd's Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador</span> Settlement in Newfoundland, Canada

Boyd's Cove, also known as Boyd's Harbour, is a local service district and designated place in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador that is near Lewisporte. There is an interpretive centre dedicated to the earlier indigenous Beothuk settlement at this location.

Henry Crout was a settler and explorer, most likely from Devon in the English West Country. He became an investor in the London and Bristol Company and acted as Sir Percival Willoughby's agent and guardian to his son Thomas at the Cuper's Cove plantation in Newfoundland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percival Willoughby</span>

Sir Percival Willoughby of Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire was a prominent land owner, businessman, and entrepreneur involved during his lifetime variously in mining, iron smelting, and glass making enterprises in Nottinghamshire. He was also an important investor in the Newfoundland Company.

John Slany, Slaney or Slanie, etc., was an English merchant and ship builder of Shropshire origins who became Master of the Merchant Taylor's Company in 1620, and was the first and only Treasurer of the Newfoundland Company, chartered in 1610.

William Colston was an Englishman and one of the first settlers in the colony at Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Nicholas Guy was one of the first settlers at the London and Bristol Company's Cuper's Cove, colony in Newfoundland, and was the father of the first English child born in Newfoundland and subsequently all of the country of Canada.

Thomas Rowley, explorer and pioneer, born Shropshire, England, was one of the first settlers of John Guy's colony at Cuper's Cove, Conception Bay, Newfoundland, Canada. Rowley had accompanied John Guy on his expedition to Trinity Bay from Cuper's Cove in search of the Beothuk to make friendly relations with them for trade.

Thomas Willoughby colonist, born Wollaton, Nottingham, England was one of the first settlers in John Guy's colony at Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland, Canada. Willoughby is the third-eldest child of Bridget and Percival Willoughby.

Bartholomew Pearson yeoman, settler, born in Wollaton, Nottingham, England was one of the group of English settlers of John Guy's colony at Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland who had arrived in 1612, two years after the colony was established.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New England Colonies</span> British American colonies from 1620 to 1776

The New England Colonies of British America included Connecticut Colony, the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, and the Province of New Hampshire, as well as a few smaller short-lived colonies. The New England colonies were part of the Thirteen Colonies and eventually became five of the six states in New England, with Plymouth Colony absorbed into Massachusetts and Maine separating from it. Captain John Smith's 1616 work A Description of New England first applied the term "New England" to the coastal lands from Long Island Sound to Newfoundland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newfoundland (island)</span> Island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Newfoundland is a large island situated off the eastern coast of the North American mainland and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The island contains 29 percent of the province's land area. The island is separated from the Labrador Peninsula by the Strait of Belle Isle and from Cape Breton Island by the Cabot Strait. It blocks the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, creating the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the world's largest estuary. Newfoundland's nearest neighbour is the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newfoundland Colony</span> 1610–1907 English / British colony in North America

Newfoundland Colony was an English and, later, British colony established in 1610 on the island of Newfoundland off the Atlantic coast of Canada, in what is now the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. That followed decades of sporadic English settlement on the island, which was at first seasonal, rather than permanent. It was made a Crown colony in 1824 and a Dominion in 1907. Its economy collapsed during the Great Depression of the 1930s when the British Parliament passed the Newfoundland Act 1933, and on 16 February 1934, the British government appointed a six-member Commission of Government to govern the country. In 1949, the country voted to join Canada as the Province of Newfoundland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Division No. 1, Subdivision G, Newfoundland and Labrador</span> Unorganized territory in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Division No. 1, Subdivision G is an unorganized subdivision on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is in Division 1 and contains the unincorporated communities of Baccalieu Island, Besom Cove, Bradley's Cove, Burnt Point, Caplin Cove, Daniel's Cove, Grates Cove, Gull Island, Job's Cove, Kingston, Long Beach, Lower Island Cove, Low Point, Northern Bay, Ochre Pit Cove, Red Head Cove, Riverhead, Smooth Cove and Western Bay.

Division No. 1, Subdivision I is an unorganized subdivision on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is in Division 1 and contains the unincorporated community of Bristol's Hope.

References

  1. "European fishermen in Newfoundland" . Retrieved 2007-09-07.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kevin Major, As Near to Heaven by Sea: A History of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2001, ISBN   0-14-027864-8
  3. 1 2 D.W. Prowse, A History of Newfoundland, 1895, ISBN   0-9730271-1-8
  4. "Cupers Cove – Early English Settlement"
  5. William Gilbert, Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation: Journeys Through Time, 2005, Pamphlet
  6. Guy's letter to John Slany. Archived 2006-07-10 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Guy's journal October 26 - November 10, 1612 Archived July 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Squantum - in Cupers Cove Colony in Newfoundland".

Coordinates: 47°32′43.52″N53°13′55.27″W / 47.5454222°N 53.2320194°W / 47.5454222; -53.2320194