ALIEN ABDUCTIONS


Captain John Smith’s map of New England, based on his 1614 expedition and published in 1616 in A Description of New England. Inset portrait is by Simon van de Passe.


“EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT ATTEMPTS DATED FROM THE EARLY 1500S AND HAD ACCELERATED AFTER QUEEN ELIZABETH’S BREAK WITH SPAIN AND THE DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA IN 1588.”


Gunpowder Plot whipped up an anti-Catholic fervor that quashed support for Waymouth’s follow-up expedition. (One of Waymouth’s main backers was briefly arrested as a possible conspirator.) The expedition did have two lasting results,


a thorough and competent report by crew member James Rosier and the kidnapping of the five Abenaki tribesmen. The abductions, said Rosier, were in fact a main goal of the trip, “being a matter of great importance for the full accomplement of our voyage.” From first contact in Penobscot Bay, the crew ac- customed Natives to coming on board with enticements of gifts and English food. The


36 AMERICAN INDIAN FALL 2015


English and Abenaki traded and exchanged visits for several days. Then, as almost always happened, the mood changed. At a rendezvous for trading, a scout for the


crew reported a large number of well-armed tribesmen had gathered with no sign of trad- ing furs. Said Rosier, “We began to joyne them in the ranks of other Salvages, who have been by travellers in most discoveries found very treacherous; never attempting mischief, until by some remissnesss, fit opportunity affordeth them certaine ability to execute the same.” (It never seems to cross the Europeans’ mind that their own conduct might have caused the change in attitude.)


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