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Our Maine Ancestors:
Timeline of Major Explorers |
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1497
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John Cabot goes to Grand Banks but probably not as far as Maine. Fish were reportedly so plentiful that he could scoop them up in baskets. His son, Sebastian, claimed to have been on this voyage and to have returned the following year but this has been proven false.
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1525
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Giovanni da Verrazzano looks for Northwest Passage, sailing along the coast of Maine, New England, and the Northeast.
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1525
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[Esteban Gómez] was a Portugese sailing for Spain, looking for gold and the Northwest Passage, but found the beauty of the coast, naming Campobello Island (pretty country) and Penobscot Bay
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1571
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David Ingram arrives in Maine, having walked from Florida, starting with two others in October 1567. Ingram, a sailor with Drake and Hawkins, was put ashore after his ship’s defeat by the Spanish. He eventually walked all the way to New Brunswick, where a French vessel took him back to Europe. Ingram told of the fabulous city of gold Norumbega. He influenced Sir Humphrey Gilbert, but there is considerable question as to the truth of his tale.
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1579
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Simon Ferdinando was a Portuguese navigator who was hired by Sir Humphrey Gilbert for a reconnaissance voyage in 1579. Gilbert was interested in finding site for a colony and in the stories of Norumbega. Ferdinando went on to become the chief navigator for Raleigh's Roanoke voyages of 1584-1587. The following year, Captain John Walker followed him tothe Penobscot and returned with a reasonably accurate description.
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1583
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Sir Humphrey Gilbert leads an expedition with a wide ranging charter to colonize in America. Arriving off St. John's, Newfoundland, despite a harbor full of fishing vessels from many nations, Gilbert took formal possession of the land for England, but returned home.
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1603
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Martin Pring with support of Humphrey Gilbert's son Raleigh and Sir Walter Raleigh, outfitted two ships, Speedwell and Discoverer, explored the Maine coast, and stopped at Monhegan.
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1604
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Samuel de Champlain under the leadership of Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts established a colony on Saint Croix Island in 1604, which after a hard winter, was moved the next year at Port Royal across the Bay of Fundy. In Sept. 1604 he sighted Mt. Desert and Penobscot (Pentagoet) on an exploratory voyage up Penobscot Bay to the area around Bangor. Champlain found no golden city called Norumbega. He sailed down Penobscot Bay to the St. George River and back. Champlain made remarkably accurate maps and drawings.
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1605
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Capt. George Waymouth explored the midcoast under the sponsorship of Ferdinando Gorges, friend of Raleigh, in ship Archangell. Waymouth held the first Christian service in North America. He kidnapped five Indians at Allen Island and took them back to England. Waymouth’s “Gentleman in the Voyage,” James Rosier, kept a written account of the trip which was published in London and has survived and is the earliest English language account of Maine and its inhabitants. Waymouth just missed Champlain who explored the Maine and Massachusetts coast down to Cape Cod in 1605 from the base in Port Royal. The following year Champlain continued to explore the coast resulting in the first accurate map of New England.
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