Note 1370 — Chapter VI · (continued 3)

He is particular to describe this ship as owned by Major Gibbons, who was on board, and as commanded by one Shapley. Major Edward Gibbons was a well-known merchant of Boston at this time, and the story seems first to have attracted the notice of the local antiquaries of that city, when Dr. Franklin brought it to the attention of Thomas Prince; and upon Prince reporting to him evidence favorable to the existence of such persons at that time, Franklin addressed a letter to Dr. Pringle, in which he considers the story “an abridgment and a translation, and bad in both respects;” and he adds, “If a fiction, it is plainly not an English one; but it has none of the features of fiction.” (Cf. Sabin’s American Bibliopolist, February, 1870, p. 65.) Dr. Snow examined it in his History of Boston (p. 89), and expressed his disbelief in it. Caleb Cushing in the North American Review (January, 1839) expressed the opinion that the account was worthy of investigation; which induced Mr. James Savage to examine it in detail, who in the same periodical (April, 1839, p. 559) set it at rest by at least negative proof, as well as by establishing an alibi for Gibbons at the date assigned. It may be remarked that among the English there was no general belief in a practicable western passage at this time, and the directors of the East India Company had given up the hope of it after Baffin’s return in 1616.