t undertakers, in so much as there was no more speech of settling any other plantations in those parts for a long time after." At another time he stated that "all our former hopes were frozen to death" for the country was considered "over cold, and in respect of that not habitable by our nation."
French Activity in the Gulf of Maine, 1604--13
During the first years of the seventeenth century, French explorers and colonizers returned to the territory of Maine, although, unlike the English, they focused on the northeast coastal regions. In November 1603, King Henry IV of France granted Pierre Du Gua De Monts a charter with trading and seignorial (ruling) rights in America roughly overlapping those the English king granted the Plymouth Company. A French nobleman, De Monts wanted a New World colony primarily as a personal estate; secondly, as a trading base with the Indians; and third, as a possible embarkation point in the search for a passage to the Orient. De Monts brought along explorer and geographer Samuel de Champlain to record and map the coast in the region. The expedition left France in two ships on April 7, 1604, and entered the Bay of Fundy in May. They skirted the shore, arriving at Passamaquoddy Bay in late June. Moving up the broad St. Croix River, which empties into the bay, they selected an island in the middle for their settlement (today known as St. Croix or Dochet Island). The site offered some advantages: a good anchorage, a fine growth of timber, a supply of clay for brick making, seemingly fertile soil, and security from attack. With the buildings and gardens established in September, Champlain and a small party headed west to explore along the Maine coast. Sailing close to shore, they passed between Mount Desert (which Champlain named) and the mainland and ascended the Penobscot as far as the Kenduskeag Stream at present-day Bangor. Although he was impressed with the area, Champlain found no Norumbega. He descended the river, sailed to the mouth of the Kennebec, and in October returned to St. Croix Island.
Winter came early and it proved to be severe. The desperate colonists quickly consumed most of the wood on the island, and cakes of ice churning in the tides kept them from crossing for more on the mainland. The men were reduced to eating frozen, uncooked food and shivering in their drafty dwellings. Frigid winds, unimpeded by the few remaining trees, stabbed across the island, intensifying the settler's misery. If this was not enough, the colonists found no natural source of water on the island and faced a constant shortage of drinking water. As the winter deepened, the harsh conditions took a fierce toll in scurvy. Over a third of the settlers died from the dreaded disease, and nearly as many suffered various degrees of permanent disability. The error of settling on an island was all too evident, and by spring De Monts set out to find a new location. He and Champlain spent the summer coasting southward, carefully surveying and recording what they saw. They ascended the Kennebec, perhaps as far as Augusta, but found the land along the shores of the river "very poor." They continued southward, observing the local Indians, their weapons, and their agricultural activities, eventually arriving in Massachusetts Bay after five weeks. With provisions low, they returned to St. Croix, not having encountered a place to the south that seemed promising for a new beginning. Thereupon they packed up their house frames and provisions and sailed for Port Royal (the present Annapolis Royal), Nova Scotia, where they reestablished their settlement.
Only a few years later the French again attempted a settlement in Maine, this time largely under the auspices of Jesuit priests. In the summer of 1610, Jean de Biencourt Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just sailed to Port Royal with a contingent of settlers and instructions to revitalize the habitation. Poutrincourt consciously avoided taking any Jesuits with him, concerned about the problems the zealous churchmen might cause. However, two members of the order, Fathers Pierre Bia