Martin Pring

Martin Pring (1580–1626) was an English explorer from Bristol, England who in 1603 at the age of 23 was captain of an expedition to North America to assess commercial potential; he explored areas of present-day Maine, New Hampshire, and Cape Cod in Massachusetts. In the process, he named what is now Plymouth Harbour, Whitson Bay and a hill nearby Mount Aldworth after the two Bristol merchants who provided him with ships and supplies. The former was renamed by the Pilgrim fathers. He and his crew were the first known Europeans to ascend the Piscataqua River.It is thought that Italian explorer (financed by the French) Giovanni da Verrezano explored this part of the New England coast in 1524/25 looking for a route to the Far East but did not make landfall till he reached the St.Lawrence. In 1606 Pring returned to America and mapped the Maine coast. Later he became a ship's master for the Dutch East Indies Company and explored in East Asia, as well as preventing other nations from trading in the area. By 1619 he commanded all the Company's naval forces. Returning to England in 1621, he was made a member of the Virginia Company and granted land. After leaving the Dutch East Indies Company in 1623, Pring served as a privateer for England, capturing several French and Spanish ships for prizes.

Martin Pring was born and raised in Feniton, Devonshire. The parish registers record his baptism in the church on 23 Apr 1580, son of John PRINGE of Thorne, (b. 1540bfr. - bur. 6 Feb 1630 Feniton) who married (30 Jun 1561 Feniton) Mary Clarke. Historians have not discovered details about his early life, but he apparently learned early about sailing out of Bristol. He started working on ships.

In 1603, under patronage of the mayor, aldermen and merchants of Bristol, including Richard Hakluyt, Pring at the age of 23 was appointed as captain to command a ship and bark to explore the northern parts of the territory known as Virginia in North America and assess its commercial potential. His flagship, the Speedwell, was of 60 tons and 30 men. (A vessel of the same name and size was one of those used by members of the Plymouth Colony 17 years later for their 1620 trip to America.) It was escorted by a barque, the Explorer (also known as Discoverer), of 26 tons and 13 men. The expedition was licensed by Sir Walter Raleigh and departed 10 April 1603.

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