Neptune's Needle

Author and sponsor of English exploration and settlement in New England...

In 1605 George Weymouth presented Gorges with three of the Native Americans he had brought to Plymouth from the New England coast. After learning about the New World from them, Gorges became excited about the possibilities of establishing an English colony there, a hope that became a lifelong project and obsession. In 1606 he helped form the Plymouth Company, which with the London Company was given the rights to settle the lands along the eastern coast of North America. The Plymouth Company sent several unsuccessful expeditions to the northern reaches of this grant, and in 1614 Gorges hired Captain John Smith (1580-1631) to sail to New England for the company. Smith made three unsuccessful attempts to leave England, turning around each time because of troubles with his ships and the weather.

After Smith's failure the Plymouth Company sent two more expeditions to the northern parts of New England. In 1620 the Plymouth Company reorganized and was given all the grants for the lands between the fortieth and forty-eighth parallels from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Gorges personally took control of these grants along with John Mason, the founder of New Hampshire, and in 1623 a settlement was again attempted in the Atlantic coastal region Gorges called Laconia, bounded by the Merrimac, Kennebec, and St. Lawrence rivers. In 1635 Gorges resigned his charter but, in 1639, was given another grant for the Province of Maine. While he was arranging to visit New England, Gorges's company fell into debt and had to sell its ship. Thus, despite his long involvement with New England settlement, Gorges never visited the New World. He probably died in Bristol.

Gorges wrote two works about New England. A Briefe Relation of the Discovery and Plantation of New England was published anonymously in 1622 but has generally been attributed to Gorges. It describes the attempts at exploration and settlement made by the Plymouth Company. A second work, A Briefe Narration of the Original Undertakings of the Advancement of Plantations into the Parts of America, was written by Gorges soon before his death.

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Peter Richards