Have you ever wondered where the name Cape Cod came from? The answer is Cape Cod was named after the abundant supply of cod fish found in the waters of Massachusetts during the 17th century.
English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold is the one who gave Cape Cod its name during an expedition to New England in 1602. The expedition was commissioned by the Earl of Southhampton with the goal of establishing an English colony in north Virginia, which stretched from Florida to Canada.
The expedition set sail from England in March of 1602 and reached New England in May. Gosnold and his crew of 32 men sailed along the coast for a few days until they reached Provincetown on May 15.
One of the men onboard, Gabriel Archer, wrote an account of the expedition, later published in 1625, where he described visiting the cape, which they originally named Shoal Hope before changing the name to Cape Cod:
“The fifteenth day we had again sight of the land, which made ahead, being as we thought an island, by reason of a large sound that appeared westward between it and the main, for coming to the west end thereof, we did perceive a large opening, we called it Shoal Hope. Near this cape we came to fathom anchor in fifteen fathoms, where we took great store of codfish, for which we altered the name, and called it Cape Cod. Here we saw sculls of herring, mackerel, and other small fish, in great abundance” (Archer 74.)
The expedition then continued on to Nantucket Sound and Martha’s Vineyard, which Gosnold named after his daughter who had died as an infant a few years prior, before heading to Buzzard’s Bay where they built a fort.
Gosnold and his crew abandoned the fort after only a month due to a lack of supplies and an encounter with some hostile natives on the island and they returned to England.
The next explorer to visit Cape Cod was Sieur de Monts in July of 1605. His Royal French cartographer Samuel de Champlain later wrote and published a 700-page account of his travels, titled The Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, in which he named Cape Cod “Cap Blanc” because of its white sand beaches:
“As we continued our course we saw some land which seemed to us to be islands, but as we came nearer we found it to be the main island, lying to the north-north-west of us, and that it was the cape of a large bay, containing more than eighteen or nineteen leagues in circuit, into which we had run so far that we had to wear off on the other tack in order to double the cape which we had seen. The latter we named Cap Blanc, since it contained sands and downs which had a white appearance”
Sieur de Monts was unable to find a suitable location for a colony and the French crown revoked his charter in 1606 after which him and his crew returned to France.
The next explorer to visit Cape Cod was English explorer John Smith in 1614, after he left the settlement of Jamestown. Smith recorded his travels in a manuscript titled A Description of New England in which he refers to the cape as Cape Cod throughout the text:
“The part we call New England is betwixt the degrees of 41 and 45; but that part this discourse speaks of, stretches but from Penobscot to Cape Cod, some 75 leagues by a right line distant each from other…Betwixt Sagadahock and Sowocatuck there is but two or three sandy bays, but betwixt that and Cape Cod very many.”
Yet, when Smith created his map of New England, which he published in the manuscript, Prince Charles changed the name Cape Cod to Cape James on the map, in honor of his father King James.
It appears that the name change didn’t stick because when the Mayflower pilgrims arrived in 1620, they referred to the cape as Cape Cod, according to Governor William Bradford’s manuscript Of Plymouth Plantation:
“…after long beating at sea they fell with that land which is called Cape Cod: they were not a little joyful!”
Ever since then, the cape has forever been known as Cape Cod, even despite the fact that the stock of codfish in its waters has since declined dramatically and reached a historic new low in 2022.
Sources:
Bergman, Megan Mayhew. “Can New England’s cod fishing industry survive?” The Guardian, 3 July. 2020, theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/03/atlantic-cod-fishing-industry-survival
Whittle, Patrick. “Haul of Atlantic cod, once abundant, reaches new low.” wbur, 10 May. 2022, wbur.org/news/2022/05/10/maine-massachusetts-cod-fishing-industry-record-low-catch
Archer, Gabriel. “Archer’s Account of Gosnold’s Voyage.” Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 8; Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1843, pp. 72-81.
“Flashback Photo: Bartholomew Gosnold Catches a Fish, Names Cape Cod.” New England Historical Society, newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/flashback-photo-bartholomew-gosnold-catches-fish-names-cape-cod/
“Bartholomew Gosnold: The Man Who Was Responsible for England’s Settling the New World.” British Heritage, 4 Oct. 2006, britishheritage.com/bartholomew-gosnold-the-man-who-was-responsible-for-englands-settling-the-new-world/