A tidbit of transcribed history about "Ferryland" on the "Avalon Peninsula", Island portion of our Province, "Newfoundland and Labrador". ENJOY! 29 March, 1675; [Captain] Dudley Lovelace "An Account of the Dutch Fleet upon the Coast of Newfoundland in the year 1673" Transcribed by P.E. Pope. An Account of the Dutch Fleet upon the Coast of Newfoundland in the year 1673 Captain Dudley Lovelace of New York, with 50 soldiers, all prisoners in several of the Dutch ships, were brought upon the coast of Newfoundland, upon the 4th of September 1673, and carried into the harbour of Ferryland, where the enemy plundered, ruined, fired, and destroyed the commodities, cattle, household goods, and other stores belonging to these inhabitants following, viz. The Lady Kirke The Lady Hopkins George Kirke Esq. Mr. David Kirke and their Brother [probably Philip Kirke] William Toms Ezekial Dibble John Kent Phillip Davis William Robins Christopher Pollard William Addams John Heard Robert Love and many others to the value of £ 2000, according to the best calculation. They also took away 4 great guns, the fort being out of repair, and no commander upon the place. The day following, 30 fishing boats belonging (as the inhabitants said) to Mr. Nicholas Neville of Dartmouth, and company, were burned in the harbour, and as much fish as the ships could carry away, taken. They also forced the inhabitants to send 6 hogs, and one bullock, to each ship, as a composition [protection money] for what they [the Dutch] left behind them. Upon the 9th of September, the Dutch went unto William Pollard's house, 3 miles distant and plundered him of 400 quintals of fish, provisions and household stuff amounting to £ 400 sterling. They likewise burned at that place 40 Fishing boats, the house, warehouses, etc. belonging to the fishery in that harbour, besides several English prizes [prize ships] which they brought to their general rendezvous at Fayal [in the Azores]. The names of the Dutch commanders and their ships: The GREEN WIFE, 40 guns, Nicholas Boes admiral The ARMS OF LEYDON, Abraham Fernando van Zeyle, vice admiral, 40 guns. The UNITY, Captain Regenwyn, 40 guns. Captain Pasquall de Witt, Commander of the SCHACATOR, 36 guns. To the truth of this I am ready to depose. [signed] Dudley Lovelace March 29th, 1675 The history of Ferryland is long and fascinating, spanning more than 500 years. The Dutch Raid on Ferryland, 1673 Between 1672 and 1674 Dutch raiders, smarting from their defeat by the English and the loss of their colonies in what is now New York, carried out a series of raids on the coast of America. The Dutch fleet arrived in Ferryland, Newfoundland from New Amsterdam (now New York),which they had successfully recaptured from the British in July 1673. In 1673 four Dutch ships - the Green Wife, 40 guns; the Arms of Leyden, 40 guns; the Schacator, 36 guns; and the Unity, 36 guns - attacked Ferryland. Aboard one of the Dutch vessels was Dudley Lovelace, Governor of New York, and 50 soldiers who had been captured by the Dutch earlier that year. Lovelace left an account of the raid. The Dutch landed at Ferryland without opposition, "...the fort being out of repair, and no commander upon the place," on September 4, 1673. Once ashore they "...plundered, ruined, fired, and destroyed the commodities, cattle, household goods and other stores belonging to these inhabitants following..." He listed 14 individuals by name and "many others." Among those whose property was destroyed were Lady Kirke, her sister Lady Hopkins, and Lady Kirke's three sons, George, David and Philip. The following day they burned 30 boats, took as much fish as their ships could carry and forced the inhabitants to send six hogs and one bullock to each ship in return for sparing most of the settlement. They also took away four "great guns," apparently not used in defence of the place. The Battle of Sole Bay, 1672. The Battle of Sole Bay marked the first naval engagement between British and Dutch forces in the Third Dutch War (1672-74). Following this battle, the Dutch ordered their vessels to attack English settlements, such as Ferryland, in the New World. No lives appear to have been lost during the raid and the inhabitants stayed throughout the following winter. There is no more specific mention of the damage inflicted by the Dutch at Ferryland, but at a place three miles from Ferryland they burned, among other buildings, a warehouse. Archaeology suggests that the warehouse built by the first settlers on the Avalon waterfront was destroyed about this time, and it is difficult to escape the conclusion that this violent destruction took place during the Dutch attack. Hostilities between England and France had been intermittent throughout the 17th century, but war between the two nations was declared formally in May, 1689. Settlements in the New World were soon caught up in the conflict, and Ferryland was no exception. An attack on English settlements on the Avalon Peninsula was planned for the winter of 1696. French forces were to depart from Placentia for the eastern Avalon, one under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville by land, and a second force, by sea, under the Governor of Terre-Neuve, Jacques-François de Brouillon. De Brouillan's force of seven ships, a number of smaller vessels and some 700 men were assembled at Placentia before d'Iberville's march was ready to commence. De Brouillon, perhaps tired of the delay and with an eye to the booty to be taken from the English settlers, set out in September for the English Shore. De Brouillon attacked Bay Bulls, burned five small forts and caused the English there to burn a frigate, the Sapphire, and retreat to Ferryland. On Monday, September 21, 1696, French troops landed at Ferryland and quickly overwhelmed the settlement. At the time of the attack, d'Iberville was exploring the upper reaches of Placentia Bay, looking for the best overland route to the English shore. The French looted and burned the entire settlement and sent most of the inhabitants to spend a destitute winter in Barnstaple and, later, in Appledore in the English West Country. Despite their situation, the settlers returned to the West Country may have been the lucky ones. Captives that the French hoped to ransom were imprisoned at Placentia. David Kirke, Jr., and one of his brothers died at Placentia; the third surviving son of Sir David and Lady Sara Kirke died at St. John's a short time later, clearly a result of his imprisonment. The settlers deported to Barnstaple and Appledore returned to Ferryland and reestablished the settlement the following spring. The winter of 1696-97 is the only period since August 1621 when Ferryland was not occupied by Europeans. The first attempt at permanent settlement at Ferryland began in 1620 when George Calvert, later the first Lord Baltimore, purchased a narrow tract of land between Capelin Bay (now Calvert) and the headland between Aquaforte and Fermeuse on the southern Avalon Peninsula. Sir George Calvert (1579/80-1632), the first Lord Baltimore. In 1620, George Calvert purchased a parcel of land along the southern coast of Newfoundland. It was here that Calvert succeeded in establishing one of the earliest permanent English settlements in the New World. >From Justin Winsor, ed., Narrative and Critical History of America: He purchased the land from Sir William Vaughan, whose efforts to start a settlement there in 1617 and 1618 did not succeed. Calvert, who had a longstanding interest in New World settlement, determined to establish a colony there to take advantage of the rich fishery. Perhaps foreshadowing the later religious aspects of his settlement, Calvert chose the name "Avalon" for his colony, after Avalon in Somerset, England, which has associations with early Christianity. In August 1621 the first settlers, twelve in all, arrived at Avalon under the direction of the colony's first governor, Captain Edward Wynne. Wynne's letters to Calvert in the early years of the settlement provide descriptions of the settlers' efforts to erect a permanent settlement. Before November 1, 1621, a house (the "mansion house") of 4.5 x 13.3 metres (14.8 x 43.6 feet) had been constructed, and by the following summer additional structures, including a kitchen room and parlor adjacent to the mansion house, tenements, a brew house, henhouse, saltworks, forge and defensive palisade had been added to the growing settlement. The following winter (1622-23) some 32 colonists were permanent residents of Avalon, including the first women and children. By the middle of the decade the population numbered about 100 permanent residents and an undetermined but probably greater number of seasonal fishermen. Calvert himself, now a professed Roman Catholic and therefore retired as secretary of state to James I, visited Avalon in 1627 to inspect his New World venture. At about this time he brought additional settlers, most of the Roman Catholic faith, as a result of which Avalon began to acquire its reputation as a haven for Roman Catholics fleeing English penal laws. How great a part religion played in Calvert's settlement of Avalon remains uncertain, but it is without doubt that Avalon was the first religion-tolerant colony in British North America. Calvert must have been pleased with what he saw at Avalon, for he returned with most of his family in 1628 with the intention of remaining there permanently. Joan Calvert (?-1630), the first Lady Baltimore. In 1628, George Calvert returned to Avalon with his second wife, Joan, and most of their family. Since he had intended to remain at the colony, he brought with him some 40 family members and Servants. The ensuing winter disappointed him greatly. In an August 1629 letter to King Charles I, Calvert stated that it had been much harsher than he had expected. He had determined to leave Avalon and establish a settlement further south in Virginia, where he obtained a grant of land. However, he died in 1632, two years before his heirs founded St. Mary's City, the first settlement in what is now the State of Maryland. The Calverts did not abandon Avalon altogether, for they left a representative at Ferryland, and continued to press for ownership of the colony throughout much of the 17th century.