THE BARQUE WARWICK. 1630-1636. On or near the 27th of March, 1630, the bark Warwick, a small ship of about 80 tons burthen, with 10 pieces of ordnance, Capt. Weatherill, commander, sailed from the Downs, in England. She was sent out by Gorges, Mason and others, "for discovery," as is stated by Winthrop, "of the great lake in New England, so to have intercepted the trade in beaver." A fortnight subsequent to the above date, a report was in circulation on board the vessels of Winthrop's fleet that the bark had been taken possession of by the Dunkirkers. This story was credited at the time, as it was supposed that the vessel came out of the port alone, and was intending to join the fleet at the Isle of Wight. As the several ships who were in company had passed the Isle, and the bark had not been seen, it appeared not improbable that the Dunkirkers had indeed seized the lone vessel. It may be remembered that Dunkirk, now a seaport of France, was then a part of the Spanish Netherlands, and that the war between England and Spain was not brought to a close till the December following. Possibly, it may have been a matter of policy with the bark Warwick voyagers, as they were bound on a special cruise, involving, not unlikely, some little secrecy, to avoid the direct company of Winthrop's fleet. Be this as it may, the bark was in advance of the fleet, and while apprehensions were raised in regard to her safety, she was quietly moored in old Plymouth port, from whence one of the passengers, Ambrose Gibbons, their factor, wrote to his employers on the 8th of April following. The vessel arrived safely at Pascataqua, about the first of June, a little in advance, it is thought, of Winthrop's company, at Boston. She brought over Capt. Walter Neal, who was to act as In the letter of Mr. Gibbons of Governor for Gorges and company.* July 21st, written from Pascataqua, to Thomas Eyre, of London, one of the adventurers, he complains of the want of trade goods, as also in his third letter of the 14th of August. Mr. Eyre, in his letter of the last of May, 1631, hopes that on the arrival of the "Pide-Cowe," Mr. Gibbons found matters otherwise, and is desirous that that vessel and the Warwick on their return to London might be "reladen with * Hubbard, in his History of New England (p. 216, Mass. Hist. Coll. v. 2d series), says that "the agents of Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain Mason, with the rest, had by their order built an house, and done something also about salt-works, sometime before the year 1630; in which year Captain Neal, with three other gentlemen, came over to Pascataqua, in the bark Warwick. He was said to be sent as Governor for Sir Ferdinando Gorges and the rest, and to superintend their affairs there. Another occasion of their sending over, was said to be searching, or making a more full discovery of, an imaginary Province, supposed to lie up higher into the country, called Laconia. But after three years spent in labor and travel for that end, or other fruitless endeavors, and expense of too much estate, they returned Nor is there anything memorable back to England with a 'non est inventa Provincia.' recorded as done by him, or his company, during the time of his three years' stay, unless it were a contest between him and Captain Wiggans, employed, in like manner, to begin a Plantation higher up the river, for some of Shrewsbury, who being forbidden by him, the said Neal, to come upon a point of land, that lieth in the midway betwixt Dover and Exeter, Captain Wiggan intended to have defended his right by the sword, but it seems both the litigants had so much wit in their anger as to wave the battle, each accounting himself to have done very manfully in what was threatened; so as in respect, not of what did, but what might have fallen out, the place to this day retains the formidable name of Bloody Point." something." "The sight of returns," he says, "will be that which will indeede put life into us." "We hope you will find out some good mines, which will be welcome news unto us." "Write me," he continues, "what winter you had, and how you had your healths, and why Capt. Neale went not in Septem. last to discover the lakes, as he wrote he would." In the next paragraph, he says: "By the barke Warwicke we send you a factor to take charge of the trade goods; also a soldier for discovrie &c.," so that the vessel seems to have been, at that time, on her return voyage to the plantation. We hear of the bark Warwick the next year, she having been employed in the interim, not improbably, in her trans-atlantic voyages; a por tion of the time engaged, it may have been, while the season was favorable, as a trading vessel, on the coast. She arrived at Nantasket on the 14th of March, from Pascataqua and Salem, at which places she had been to sell the corn that she had brought from Virginia. "At her coming into Natascott, with a S. E. wind," says Winthrop, "she was in great danger, by a sudden gust, to be cast away upon the rocks." Five days afterwards, we learn, however, on the same good authority, that she came to Winysemett," and that on the 9th of April following, she "went out towards Virginia." We learn nothing farther in regard to this vessel, until the 30th of June, 1636 -more than four years from the former date-when her voyages were entirely closed, and the craft was condemned. (Winthrop, ii. 345.) June 30, 1636. "Warrant to the constable of Dorchester, to inventory and apprize the rigging of bark Warwick, cast away, etc., until some came to demand them or till further order, etc." 66 Rev. T. M. Harris, D.D., in his History of Dorchester (Mass. Hist. Coll. ix. 163), says, near this place" [Preston's Point, or Tinian, now Commercial Point] "is a small creek which bears the name of "Barque Warwick," from a small vessel which ran aground here within two or three years after the first settlement of the town; the remains of which are still [in 1804] to be seen." My father's estate was bounded, southerly, on this same creek, and the street in front of the house in which I was born, now "Commercial street," was in my younger days called “ Barque Warwick street.' It is thus styled in the conveyances then made, and on the original plan or survey of the lands of Tinian or Commercial Point; so that the subject is one of personal interest. When a boy the tra dition was related me by the older people, in regard to the wreck of the barque, and I have myself seen, in that creek, vestiges of a vessel imbedded in the mud, but whether a part of the skeleton of this identical barque or not, I am unable to say. Remnants of a vessel called the "Fish hawk," were at one time to be seen there. Winthrop's Journal, i. 7, 39, 71; Belknap's N. H. Appendix, ii. W. B. T. THE CHESTER EMERY MINE.-So far as is known there are but two mines of emery in the world; one at Chester, in Hampden County, Massachusetts, and the other in the classic little island of Naxos, in the Egean sea. The latter has been controlled by an English house, and they have always charged their own prices. Three years ago, the Chester Iron Company's property, under the direction of Dr. H. S. Lucas, was found to contain emery, which was examined and reported on favorably by Dr. C. T. Jackson, of Boston. It was tried at the Springfield armory and found superior to the Grecian, and is now worked successfully. MARRIAGES IN THE TOWN OF BRIDGEWATER PREVIOUS [Communicated by BRADFORD KINGMAN, Esq., Brookline, Mass.] JOHN CARY, Jr. and Abigail Allen, Dec. 7, 1670. Nathaniel Brett and Sarah Hayward, Nov. 21, 1683. William Snow and Naomi Whitman, Nov. 30, 1686. 1697. Joseph Hayward and Mehitable Dunham, May 30, 1700. Samuel Washburn and Deliverance Leonard, Jan. 9, 1701. Israel Randall and Mary Willis, Jan. 21, 1701. Isaac Leonard and Mary Randall, April 16, 1701. Josiah Conant and Elizabeth Washburn, Sept. 1, 1701. Thomas Manly and Lydia Field, Oct. 2, 1701. Elisha Allen and Mehitabel Byram, Dec. 3, 1701. *The ancient town of Bridgewater was the first interior settlement in the County of Plymouth, and was incorporated in 1656, and embraced within its limits the four towns now known as North Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, West Bridgewater, and the present town of Bridgewater. The town was formerly divided into five Parishes or Precincts, viz., North, East, West, South, and Titicut. The North Parish was incorporated into a Town June 15, 1821-the West in 1822-the East in 1823-the South Parish retaining the original name of Bridgewater, which also includes Titicut Parish. Joseph Joslyn and Sarah Ford, March 5, 1702. Joseph Hayward, Jr. and Sarah Crossman, Sept. 9, 1703. Nathaniel Woodward and Elizabeth Willis, April 16, 1708. John Hutchinson and Hepzibah Washburn, Oct. 29, 1708. Samuel Bennett and Ruth Perry, Jan. 6, 1709. Elisha Hayward and Experience Harvey, Jan. 20, 1709. Noah Washburn and Elizabeth Shaw, Jan. 25, 1710. |