actices. Most nets had to be bought in
England. Here is a London item from a 1623 _List of Subscribers and
Subscriptions for Relief of the Colony_: "Richard Tatem will adventure
[speculate] in cheese and fishing nets the sum of L30 sterling."

Jamestown had by 1624 begun to spawn little Jamestowns throughout the
countryside. A census was ordered of all settlements. In January, 1625,
there were 1209 white persons, and 23 negroes. This first American
census listed, among general provisions, the stocks of salt fish. On
hand at thirteen settlements was 58,380 pounds. James City had the
largest supply, 24,880 pounds. Elizabeth City was next with 10,550
pounds. A community listed only as "Neck of Land" adjacent to
Jamestown, consisting of perhaps ten dwellings and plantations, had
4,050 pounds. The smallest store, 450 pounds, was credited to another
"Neck of Land" in Charles City. From the accumulated evidences of
disorganized home fishing, coupled with the deficiency of salt, it is
to be concluded that most of this supply had come from the Northern
fishing grounds.

There were 40 boats of various sizes and uses listed in this census.
For example, at Jamestown a "barque of 40 tons, a shallop of 4 tons and
one skiff" were among the ten there.

A token of the stress resulting from inadequate fisheries even after 16
years of active colonization is this letter preserved in the records of
the Virginia Company. A Virginia citizen named Arundle in 1623 wrote to
his friend, Mr. Caning, in London:

The most evident hope from altogether starving is oysters, and for
the easier getting of them I have agreed for a canoe which will
cost me 6 livres sterling.

Emigrants had been advised not to leave for Virginia without some
fishing equipment. In his _Travels_, John Smith had included the
warning: "A particular of such necessaries as either private
families or single persons shall have cause to provide to go to
Virginia ... nets, hooks and lines must be added."

Records of the Virginia Company in London throw light on the
extensiveness of the fish trade. Robert Bennett wrote from Virginia to
Edward Bennett in London in 1623:

My last letter I wrote you was in the _Adam_ from Newfoundland,
which I hope you shall receive before this. God send her back in
safety and this from Canada. I hope the fish will come to a good
reckoning for victuals is very scarce in the country. Your
Newfou