America and West Indies: October 1613

Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 1, 1574-1660. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1860.

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'America and West Indies: October 1613', in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 1, 1574-1660, (London, 1860) pp. 15. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol1/p15 [accessed 20 April 2024]

October 1613

Oct. 18/28
Fontainebleau.
H. de Montmorency, Admiral of France, to King James. Complains of depredations committed upon some French subjects in Canada, called New France, by an English vessel the Treasurer, Capt. Sam. Agail [Argoll]. The English attacked a small settlement (petite habitation) made by permission of the King of France, at the expense of the Marchioness of Guercheville, Lady of Honour to the Queen, killed many men, among them two Jesuits, and took two others prisoners into Virginia. The remainder of the men were put into a little skiff and abandoned to the mercy of the waters; and the design has been thus ruined. Requests justice for such inhumanities, and King James' commands in three things; that the two Jesuit fathers be sent back in safety with the other prisoners; that the Marchioness have restitution for the loss of more than 100,000 livres; and that the Council or Society of Virginia explicitly declare the bounds of their country, it having been conceived that the disorder may have arisen through the neighbourhood of the two settlements. Reminds the King that the French have had possession of New France for more than 80 years. Hopes a prudent remedy may be found, and a favourable answer returned through Mons. de Buisseaux, the French Ambassador. French. [Corresp. FRANCE. 18 Oct. 1613.]
Oct. 27. London. John Chamberlain to Sir Dud. Carleton. Great store of ambergris from the Somers Islands this year, the only commodity as yet. People begin to nestle and plant there very handsomely. The Spaniards, nothing pleased thereat, threaten to remove them next year, but the inhabitants are nothing dismayed, trusting rather to the difficulty of access, than to any other strength of their own. A piece of ambergris found as big as the body of a giant, the head and one arm wanting, but so foolishly handled, that it brake in pieces. The largest piece brought home, was not above 68 ounces, which sells for 12 or 15 shillings an ounce more than smaller pieces. [Extract from DOMESTIC Corresp. Jac. I., Vol. LXXIV., No. 89, Cal. p. 203.]