Cuper's Cove - Site Selection

Site Selection

In the early sixteenth century the island of Newfoundland was frequented by seasonal fisherman from many European countries. The competition was tough to be the first to sail to the rich fishing grounds around the island and indeed the rest of North America. The island had some obvious advantages over the rest of North America as a site to establish an English colony. The island was very familiar to fisherman and explorers, especially the bays and coves on the Avalon Peninsula where many would set up temporary shelters as they prosecuted the fishery. The merchants and owners of the vessels that made those trips to Newfoundland had recognized the importance that the strategic location that Newfoundland had placed on establishing a permanent settlement.

Time was ripe for a permanent settlement in Newfoundland. Given the failure of Walter Raleigh to establish a colony at Roanoke Island in 1584 and the successful settlement at Jamestown in 1607 and on learning that Samuel de Champlain had sailed into the St. Lawrence to initiate the settlement of New France, pressure was mounting to lay claim to the resource rich New World. King James was told that the French had made attempts to over-winter in Newfoundland and it was only a matter of time before a successful colony would be established by the French and lay claim to the island.

In 1607 Bristol's Society of Merchant Venturers which included Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Percival Willoughby and John Slany, had formed the Newfoundland Company with shares selling at 25£. The Newfoundland Company had then petitioned the King James I, seeking approval to establish a colony in Newfoundland. John Guy visited the island in 1608 to scout possible locations for a settlement, selecting Cuper's Cove as his preferred location. The Privy Council accepted his petition on 2 May 1610 issuing a charter to the Earl of Northampton (Guy's patron).

In 1610 John Guy, his brother Phillip, his brother-in-law William Colston and 39 colonists had set sail from Bristol aboard three ships. In August 1610 they made landfall in the area Guy had visited two years earlier to set about building a settlement.