rd and Enemond Massé, were not to be put off, and in early 1611 they arranged passage to the New World in a small vessel.
Relations between the Jesuits and the other settlers at Port Royal deteriorated through the winter, and shortly after, the Jesuits appealed to Antoinette de Pons, Marquise de Guercheville and lady of honor to the Queen of France, asking to be posted elsewhere. Concerned for the success of their mission among the natives, Madame de Guercheville fitted out a vessel and sent it to the colony in mid-summer 1613. After a few days, Biard, Massé, and the new arrivals sailed off, to the undoubted joy of all.
Although headed for the Kennebec, the Jesuits were enveloped in a fog and groped their way to Mount Desert Island, where they landed at the site of present-day Bar Harbor to rest and thank God for preserving them from the perils at sea. Shortly after landing, they were approached by a number of Indians, who pleaded that they remain in the area. Biard declined, being firmly resolved to settleon the Kennebec, but he agreed to visit their chief, Asticou, who, they informed him, was seriously ill and wished to be baptized before dying. This reference to baptism probably reflects efforts of earlier Jesuits in the region, most likely emanating from Port Royal. Whatever the case, the chief had nothing more serious than a cold, but the Jesuits found themselves at an ideal location for settling: the western shore of Somes Sound offered a protected harbor, cleared land, two springs, and excellent soil.
The colonizers elected to stay at Mount Desert but almost immediately became divided over plans for settlement: the Jesuits insisted on building fortifications, houses, and the like; the French commander, René Le Coq de La Saussaye, preferred to begin cultivating the rich soil. Whether or not La Saussaye's agricultural project seriously hampered the fortification of the small plantation is not entirely clear, but when the English captain Samuel Argall arrived at the mouth of the harbor shortly after, the French settlers were far from ready to defend themselves.
Argall, on a fishing voyage from the English colony at Virginia, had been told to keep alert for French settlements in the region. He learned of the colony from local Indians and was actually led to the site by a native who mistakenly presumed the French and English were friends. The English sailed into Somes Sound with "the banners of England flying and three trumpets and two drums making a horrible din," and after a few minutes of furious cannonade subdued the unprepared colonists. After sacking the settlement, Argall allowed about two-thirds of its inhabitants to make their way east along the coast, seeking passage from the French vessels plying the waters. He carried the Jesuits and other leaders to Virginia, then returned to destroy the settlement at Port Royal and the remains of the St. Croix Island colony. After this, the French abandoned all attempts at settlement in Maine for some time.
John Smith and the Promotion of New England
A year after Argall's foray, Maine was visited by one of the most colorful adventurers of the time: Captain John Smith. By the time he arrived in New England, John Smith's career as a colonizer was already well established. As a young man, he had performed heroic deeds in the religious wars against the Turks in eastern Europe, and later he kept the nascent Jamestown settlement from collapsing under the challenges imposed by the new land and its people. The trip to the northern shores of America was the beginning of still another phase in his remarkable career--historically, perhaps, the most important of all. When Smith returned from his North Atlantic adventures, he began a life-long promotion of the region he named New England, and it was largely his efforts that caused interest in the area to be revived in the late 1610s and 1620s.
Smith left for New England in April 1614. Sponsored by four London merchants, he was to hunt whales and look for gold and copper mines. After an uneventful voyage, Smith made landfall at Monhega