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Martin Pring
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Martin Pring
Martin Pring (1580–1626) was an English explorer from Bristol, England who in 1603 at the age of 23 was captain of an expedition to North America to assess commercial potential; he explored areas of present-day Maine, New Hampshire, and Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Pring and his crew were the first known Europeans to ascend the Piscataqua River. It is thought that Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano explored this part of the New England coast in 1524-25 looking for a route to the Far East, but he did not make landfall until he reached the St. Lawrence River further north.
In 1606 Pring returned to America and mapped the Maine coast. Later he became a ship's master, sailing for the East India Company and exploring in East Asia. He also prevented other nations from trading in the area. By 1619 he commanded all the Company's naval forces.
Returning to England in 1621, Pring was made a member of the Virginia Company and granted land in the Chesapeake Bay area. After leaving the East India Company in 1623, he served as a privateer for England, capturing several French and Spanish ships.
Martin Pring was born and raised in Feniton, Devonshire. The parish registers record his baptism in the church on 23 April 1580, son of John Pringe of Thorne, (born 1540bfr., buried 6 February 1630 in Feniton) who married (on 30 June 1561 in Feniton) Mary Clarke. Historians have not discovered details about his early life, but he apparently learnt early about sailing out of Bristol. He started working on ships.
In 1603, under patronage of the mayor, aldermen and merchants of Bristol, including Richard Hakluyt, Pring at the age of 23 was appointed as captain to command a ship and bark to explore the northern parts of the territory known as Virginia in North America and assess its commercial potential, financing it against a return cargo of sassafras. His flagship, the Speedwell, was of 60 tons and 30 men. (A different Speedwell was one of those used by members of the Plymouth Colony 17 years later for their 1620 trip to America.) It was escorted by a barque, the Explorer (also known as Discoverer), of 26 tons and 13 men. The expedition was licensed by Sir Walter Raleigh and departed 10 April 1603.
The two ships first made landfall about two months later at the entrance of Penobscot Bay in what is now the state of Maine. Heading west, they visited the mouths of the Saco, Kennebunk and York rivers, all of which Pring found "to pierce not far into the land." In June, they arrived at the Piscataqua River, a tidal estuary, which he described as the westernmost and best river. Pring explored 10–12 miles into the interior by means of the Piscataqua, the center of which now forms part of the border between Maine and New Hampshire. He and his crew are the first Europeans known to have done so.
Anchoring the Speedwell at the lower harbour, Pring boarded the smaller Explorer and, aided by oarsmen, ascended the Piscataqua. They sounded its depth, which they found impressive, and explored its banks. Pring admired the area's "goodly groves and woods." They encountered the native Abenaki people. Pring's description of them provides significant details of pre-colonial Native American life. At that time of year, the Abenaki would likely have been upriver at the Piscataqua's tributaries, where fish and game were plentiful around the numerous falls. Pring must have been anticipating unwelcome Native activity because his party brought with them on the Piscataqua "two excellent Mastives [sic]" (Mastiffs), one of which "would carrie a halfe-Pike in his mouth". Of the use of these dogs Pring wrote: "when we would be rid of the Savages company wee would let loose the Mastives, and suddenly without cry they would flee away."
They found sassafras in sufficient quantity in a bay, and immediately built a barricade for defense against the Native inhabitants. Pring called it "Whitson Bay" and a nearby hill "Mount Aldworth" after two of his merchant financiers in Bristol. Pring's Whitson Bay has been identified with several locations in Massachusetts: Provincetown, Plymouth, where the Mayflower settlers later landed, and two locations on Martha's Vineyard, Old Town Harbor in Edgartown and Vineyard Haven.
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Martin Pring
Martin Pring (1580–1626) was an English explorer from Bristol, England who in 1603 at the age of 23 was captain of an expedition to North America to assess commercial potential; he explored areas of present-day Maine, New Hampshire, and Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Pring and his crew were the first known Europeans to ascend the Piscataqua River. It is thought that Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano explored this part of the New England coast in 1524-25 looking for a route to the Far East, but he did not make landfall until he reached the St. Lawrence River further north.
In 1606 Pring returned to America and mapped the Maine coast. Later he became a ship's master, sailing for the East India Company and exploring in East Asia. He also prevented other nations from trading in the area. By 1619 he commanded all the Company's naval forces.
Returning to England in 1621, Pring was made a member of the Virginia Company and granted land in the Chesapeake Bay area. After leaving the East India Company in 1623, he served as a privateer for England, capturing several French and Spanish ships.
Martin Pring was born and raised in Feniton, Devonshire. The parish registers record his baptism in the church on 23 April 1580, son of John Pringe of Thorne, (born 1540bfr., buried 6 February 1630 in Feniton) who married (on 30 June 1561 in Feniton) Mary Clarke. Historians have not discovered details about his early life, but he apparently learnt early about sailing out of Bristol. He started working on ships.
In 1603, under patronage of the mayor, aldermen and merchants of Bristol, including Richard Hakluyt, Pring at the age of 23 was appointed as captain to command a ship and bark to explore the northern parts of the territory known as Virginia in North America and assess its commercial potential, financing it against a return cargo of sassafras. His flagship, the Speedwell, was of 60 tons and 30 men. (A different Speedwell was one of those used by members of the Plymouth Colony 17 years later for their 1620 trip to America.) It was escorted by a barque, the Explorer (also known as Discoverer), of 26 tons and 13 men. The expedition was licensed by Sir Walter Raleigh and departed 10 April 1603.
The two ships first made landfall about two months later at the entrance of Penobscot Bay in what is now the state of Maine. Heading west, they visited the mouths of the Saco, Kennebunk and York rivers, all of which Pring found "to pierce not far into the land." In June, they arrived at the Piscataqua River, a tidal estuary, which he described as the westernmost and best river. Pring explored 10–12 miles into the interior by means of the Piscataqua, the center of which now forms part of the border between Maine and New Hampshire. He and his crew are the first Europeans known to have done so.
Anchoring the Speedwell at the lower harbour, Pring boarded the smaller Explorer and, aided by oarsmen, ascended the Piscataqua. They sounded its depth, which they found impressive, and explored its banks. Pring admired the area's "goodly groves and woods." They encountered the native Abenaki people. Pring's description of them provides significant details of pre-colonial Native American life. At that time of year, the Abenaki would likely have been upriver at the Piscataqua's tributaries, where fish and game were plentiful around the numerous falls. Pring must have been anticipating unwelcome Native activity because his party brought with them on the Piscataqua "two excellent Mastives [sic]" (Mastiffs), one of which "would carrie a halfe-Pike in his mouth". Of the use of these dogs Pring wrote: "when we would be rid of the Savages company wee would let loose the Mastives, and suddenly without cry they would flee away."
They found sassafras in sufficient quantity in a bay, and immediately built a barricade for defense against the Native inhabitants. Pring called it "Whitson Bay" and a nearby hill "Mount Aldworth" after two of his merchant financiers in Bristol. Pring's Whitson Bay has been identified with several locations in Massachusetts: Provincetown, Plymouth, where the Mayflower settlers later landed, and two locations on Martha's Vineyard, Old Town Harbor in Edgartown and Vineyard Haven.