The original post: /r/history by /u/No_Carpet3443 on 2024-12-16 07:48:36.
I. Dorchester Company
a. The Fishing Expeditions (1623-1625)
In the summer of 1623, a bulky fishing vessel known as the Fellowship set out on a fishing expedition to Cape Ann, an area known for its abundance of codfish, planning to establish a fishing post under the Dorchester Company. But when the ship arrived off the coast of New England, there was no fish. Puzzled by the emptiness of the waters and the lack of fellow fishermen, the Fellowship dropped off about fourteen men at Cape Ann and turned around for England, yielding no profit on its three-thousand-mile voyage. A few years later, John White—a stockholder of the Dorchester Company—recalled the 1623 expedition:
And when she [the ship] arived in the Country…to fish at Cape Anne not far from Mattachusets Bay, [she] sped very ill, as did also the smaller Ship that led her thither, and found little Fish.
See John White, “The Planters Plea.” (1630).
Over the next two years, the Dorchester Company launched two more fishing expeditions in 1624 and 1625. However, because of the Company’s losses in 1623, it had to turn to investors to help fund the trips. Before the Fellowship set sail for the last time in 1625, the Company planned to head for New England—again. But once the ship was at sea, that plan abruptly changed. According to White, “the Master [of the ship] dispaired of doing any good in New-England,” noting that, there, “the Fish falls in two or three mounths sooner then at New-found-land.” The crew thus resolved to “turne into New-found-land,” bound and determined to catch enough fish to offset their debts.
And so they did. In Newfoundland, the crew “tooke Fish [in] good store and much more than she could lade home.” If the voyage had been “well-managed,” the catch could have been sold off to help defray expenses and pay back investors, but there was not enough profit. According to White, the 1625 fishing expedition was ill-fitted from the outset because the crew “was not certain where to make her Fish” when they initially set sail for New England. Consequently, many fish in Newfoundland were “cast away” by other fishermen who had arrived earlier than the crew aboard the Fellowship.
Even worse, the Dorchester crew came home to an economic disaster. Due to the Anglo-Spanish War, the demand for fish in England was extremely low. For the fisherman who ventured to Cape Ann in 1623, the lack of fish might well have been a sign of future hardships for the Dorchester Company. By 1625, those mere predictions had evolved into an undeniable reality: The Company was suffering and on the brink of bankruptcy. The crew tried to sail to France to sell the fish, but a gale of wind pushed them in the opposite direction, forcing the Fellowship to return to England. The crew accepted their fate and returned to England, forced to sell the fish for dirt cheap.
b. The Final Stretch (1626)
Another problem arose when the value of ships fell. While the fishing post at Cape Ann was a complete failure, the Company tried to sell off its own assets as a Hail Mary. But when the Company put the Fellowship on the market—a ship that was valued at “twelve hundred pounds”—sold for only “four hundred and eighty pounds”—a loss of seven hundred and twenty pounds. By 1626, the Company was laden with unpayable debts; as a result, it was rendered bankrupt and forced to shutdown.
In “The Planters Plea,” White explained the Dorchester Company’s ill-fitted expeditions (and their causes):
“First (1), the ill choice of the place for fishing; the next (2), the ill carriage of our men at Land, who having stood vs in two yeares and a halfe in well nigh one thousand pound charge, never yeelded one hundred pound profit. The last (3) the ill sales of Fish and Shipping. By all which the Aduenturers were so far discouraged, that they abandoned the further prosecution of this Designe, and tooke order for the dissoluing of the Company on Land…”
II. New England Company
When the Dorchester Company closed its doors in 1626, about fifty men remained at Cape Ann. Since the Fellowship landed at Cape Ann in 1623, residents from the nearby Plymouth Colony had joined the Dorchester group to try and help them establish a settlement. Their hunting advice was good, but the truth was invaluable: Roger Conant—a Plymouth resident—bluntly told the fishermen that Cape Ann was a futile settlement; its soil was not rich enough to foster a healthy farming community, and its waters did not have enough fish to satiate an entire settlement. Conant suggested that they instead settle at a place called Nahum Keike—modern Salem—where they, along with their friends at home, would thrive.
John Endecott arrived at Nahum Keike in 1628 to scout the lands for the New England Company. John White continued to fund the expeditions but from the comfort of his parish in England. The King issued a Royal Charter in 1629, renaming the New England Company to “Massachusetts Bay Company.” By August of 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, led by Governor John Winthrop and a General Court composed of seven Assistants, was holding its first meeting in the New World—a meeting that was separate from the shareholders in England*.* From that point on, Massachusetts Bay became a literal ‘city on a hill’ for not only religion, but government as well—even when they did not intend to.
From a meager fishing post in the empty waters of Cape Ann to a flourishing colony at Massachusetts Bay, John White and the Dorchester Company had quite a comeback story. I find this particular settlement interesting. What do you think?
If you are interested in reading about the Dorchester Company and history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, I have attached both primary and secondary resources that you can read:
Resources
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The Planters Plea: https://boston400.blog/1630-the-planters-plea/
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An Analysis of Motives of the Bay Colony: http://www.jstor.org/stable/24440500
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Life of Reverend John White: https://www.opcdorset.org/fordingtondorset/Files/DorchesterRevJohnWhite1575-1648.html