Navesink; A Historical Novel
1524, An Italian Visitor
“It is true. Their canoes were twice as long as our longest canoes and at least four times as wide. Their paddles stuck out from the side and it had a dead tree in the middle with an enormous hide on it that was used to have the wind carry them. Their faces were covered with hair and their skin was lighter than ours”
Weenjipahkihelexkwe, Cholena and Otaes laughed. “Pinna, we have some of the largest trees in the world here. Where would the trees for canoes that size grow?"
Pinna raised his hands defensively, “That is what Manickty told me and he tells me it has been told forever. They would come in the summer and spend some time here and leave. They did this many times.”
Otaes frowned in thought. “Maybe the trees were bigger back then. We make canoes out of the largest trees and maybe our forefathers had larger trees?”
Pinna shook his head, “No, they came from somewhere else, they did not use our trees”
Pinna liked being the focus of Weenji, Cholena and Otaes’ attention. The girls were best friends. The boys in the village very much admired them, but found it difficult to get their attention since they just did not seem to need them. The girls helped their mothers as a team and then went on their own adventures. They were strong swimmers, and every bit as capable as the boys in handling canoes, fishing, hunting and exploring. As long as they stayed together, their mothers even let them camp along the river overnight.
Pinna had seen the girls outfitting a new canoe for a trip and managed to make an offhand remark about their canoe on the way to his fish trap. That had resulted in a discussion about the best canoes and then Pinna told them about the canoes that his uncle Manickty had told him about.
Manickty was a shaman and he was the keeper of knowledge for the family. Pinna admired him and had secret hopes to become a shaman too. If just this story made the girls show interest in him, he certainly hoped his uncle would tell him about more stories. He liked how his uncle sang the stories. He had not sung the story to the girls. His voice was breaking and he was afraid he would squeak singing the story. It would be nice to be a chief too, but ..
Well, there was the reason he was not hoping to become a chief. Ipankickan was coming down the red bank of the river heading towards him. Pinna was tough and could hold his own in a wrestling match and a race, but Ipankickan had all the makings of a chief. His voice had broken only a few months before Pinna, but he already had the bearing of a chief. He was taller than Pinna, and instead of Pinna’s stocky frame he had broad shoulders, a slim waist and flat rippling stomach. But like Pinna he was also intimidated by the girls and when he saw Pinna talking to the girls he was not going to pass up on the opportunity to join in.
“You think maybe there are places where trees grow higher?” Otaes wondered
“I don’t see why not, there are places where the trees do not grow as tall as our trees” Pinna answered.
“Yes, just a few days walk to the south there are whole forests where the trees never grow tall enough to even make the smallest canoe”, Weenji added.
They were now comfortably sitting on, and laying about, the canoe on this lovely late spring day. Some had their feet in the water, and Pinna was looking at Otaes’ lovely feet softly splashing back and forth. Ipankickan had now reached the canoe.
“Ipankickan, last year you saw that forest didn't you?" Cholena asked. While Cholena would not admit it to Otaes and Weenji, she was drawn to Ipankickan and was glad to draw him into conversation.
“You mean the forest with the short pine trees and oaks. Yes, I have been there with my father. There is not much there. They had told us we could find flint there, but we found nothing. We barely found enough to eat. Large stretches of the forest are burned. Humans don’t live there. It is much better here and to the West.”
“It is much better to the East, that is where the ocean is and where we are going to swim in the waves.” Cholena smiled.
Pinna noticed the attention Ipankickan was getting and tried to regain his status as the center of attention “My uncle told me the ocean used to be much further away, over the ages it has come closer and closer.”
But the subject had shifted away and now everybody was focusing on a swim in the ocean.
Pinna turned to Ipankickan, “Let’s go for a swim too Ipankickan. Can we join you, or are we not allowed in that new canoe?”
Otaes tried to read her friends. Cholena probably would want Ipankickan to come, and Weenji never objected to anything: “This canoe is faster with five, we only have three paddles though”
Pinna and Ipankickan already turned up the bank, “We’ll be right back with our paddles”.
A few minutes later the canoe was heading East along the Navesink River. They were running with an outgoing tide and really moving nicely. Weenji sat in the stern and while the boys wanted to take the stern, Weenji took it so naturally that they did not dare challenge her. They both figured that if any of their friends saw them paddling in the middle, they would have a good comeback by saying that at least their canoe had girls in it.
The log had been felled in the fall and the canoe had been burned early in the spring. Weenji’s father had been in charge and once the fire in the log had been started, she had helped her father shift and fan the charcoal to form a 25 foot long canoe that was barely one inch thick. The few checks in the bow and stern had been closed with pine tar and corn fiber and the exterior and interior were smooth as an otter’s skin.
They reached the barrier beach within an hour and beached the canoe. Birds were circling overhead, floating on channels in the marsh. The marsh was not deep and it was easy to reach the dune line bordered by white cedars and covered in hollies on the shore side. They edged their way along poison ivy brambles and large stretches of prickly pears which the tribe had tended to over the years together with beach plums to allow for a large harvest of fruit in the fall. Once they crested the dune the ocean came into view.
“Think there are any eggs out here?” Ipankickan wondered out loud.
Weenji answered first, “I suppose Ipankickan, but when we go back it will be low tide and we can dig up a pile of clams much faster than we can find eggs. Let’s swim first”
They all shed their clothes and ran to the surf, Pinna was last to enter the water, watching his companions negotiate the waves with shouts to each other. The surf was rolling in gently with a breeze that was coming in from the shore.
And then he saw it. He was just confused. He had never seen anything like it. It was midway to the horizon and a little to the South. Had the large canoe returned? But it looked nothing like Manickty had sung to him. It was bigger, it had three dead trees, not one, and more hides. It was high and not long like a canoe.
He took another look to make sure it was real and then shouted to the swimmers. He just shouted, he did not really know what to say. They looked at him and he pointed to the horizon. They all saw it and left the water. They backed up to the dunes and put on their clothes continually watching the apparition. It was definitely coming closer, but slowly, and they just kept watching.
.................
“There are savages on the beach Captain.”
Captain Giovanni Verrazzano was working on his charts and log. They had been following the coast North. They had gone ashore a few days ago and now were approaching the first higher lands they had observed along their trip North.
They had moved slowly and carefully, heading East away from the land at night and at daybreak if the wind allowed, slowly approaching the shore again.
Verrazzano was exploring the New World on behalf of King Francis I of France and merchants in Rouen and Lyon. This was not the first time he had explored the New World. He was now 39, but in 1508 he sailed with Capt. Aubert on Le Pensee on a trip along the northern route that John Cabot first explored for England in 1497.
They had gone up a great bay and met some natives. Seven natives were brought aboard to take back to France.
Upon their return to Dieppe there was great excitement about the natives, but the excitement died away quickly and, instead of trade and commerce, the Church became interested in converting savages in the New World. He had little interest in that and settled in Dieppe to continue to sail and trade in the Old World.
In 1522 Juan Sebatian Elcano was the remaining senior officer to return from Magellan’s Spanish expedition around the world. The expedition had circumnavigated the world after entering the Pacific by sailing through a complex set of channels at the southern end of the New World.
When word of the return of Magellan’s fleet came to France, French merchants started petitioning King Francis I, and when funding for an expedition became available, Verrazzano was approached and produced a plan. It was known that no such channels as Magellan had found existed in the New World near the equator, but possibly there were such channels further North. None were found in the far North, but Verrazzano suggested possibly there were such channels in the middle portion of the continent, which had not yet been closely explored.
His general orders were to explore the New World coast to the North of the known Spanish shores in the hope of finding a western passage to China. Verrazzano had attempted to execute this plan in 1523 with a fleet of four vessels but various set-backs resulted in a loss of two vessels, damage to a third and failure to even reach the New World. In an attempt to redeem himself, Verrazzano had decided to make an attempt with a single vessel in 1524. His vessel, the Dauphine, with a crew of 50 men and supplies for eight months had left the Canary Islands in January 1524 and latitude sailed West along the 34th parallel.
Except for one storm, the voyage was uneventful and they sighted land on March 24, 1524.
There were fires ashore indicating the land was inhabited. There appeared to be an inlet, but the land was low, and soundings and breaking waves indicated the presence of sandbars making it difficult to approach shore. He wanted to make sure he had connected with the most northern lands explored by the Spanish. It would be embarrassing to complete his voyage and afterwards discover that there was a beautiful harbor just a few leagues south. He was not sure how far south the Spanish were and decided to sail South. He had to be very careful since they were just a single vessel and if the Dauphine were to strand there would be no help. A few days sailing south showed no difference in the coast and he decided to sail North. Upon passing his original landfall he found a channel and the wind was fair and he decided to anchor offshore and launch a boat.
The boat approached the shore and there were natives ashore who appeared to be friendly. They decided to land and were met by a large group of friendly natives, their first contact with people in the New World. Verrazano was not sure if they were Cathays, and they were much more primitive than any descriptions of Cathay he had ever seen. Since they were anchored offshore, he decided not to linger and sailed further north.
From the crow’s nest they sighted a large sound behind a barrier island which might well be the connection to the Pacific, but the shore was just too dangerous to approach.
Bouncing towards and away from the shore they occasionally made contact with the natives when landing the small boat in favorable conditions, but the low shore and the presence of sandbars prevented them from making a firm reconnaissance of the land. With all this low and dangerous shore, he began to understand why the Spanish had not established a presence further north. All the lovely islands south of the Bahamas with clear waters were just so much easier to negotiate.
Now, for the first time since making landfall in March, they were approaching higher lands.
Higher lands generally means deeper shores and deeper shores means a safer approach to land and possible deeper sheltered anchorages.
Verrazano looked up from his work. “How many”
“Just a few, Captain.”
“Any fires ashore?”
“Not clearly so, Captain, but the breeze may keep them hidden”
“Very well, I will be on deck in a moment.”
When he got on deck, they were sailing relatively close hauled and only half a league from shore. He turned to his pilot, Antoine “How much water?”
“Five drafts to a soft bottom Captain”
“For how long?”
“It has been steady Captain”
He studied the sails. They were moving nicely at about 5 knots.
“Let’s reduce sail Antoine. Take in the main. We will sail on foresail and mizzen alone”
His officers and crew were good, they were all on their stations and he felt that they would respond instantly when needed. The anchor was ready to be released with the axman standing by for his command. The main was taken in quickly, and the linesman kept calling steady drafts.
Verrazzano called to one of the lookouts in the crow’s nest.
Jean, the crew member with the sharpest eyes aboard, leaned aft over the edge of the crow’s nest.
“Tell me what you see Jean”
“I think I saw six savages, Captain”
“Yeah, nice, but I am not interested in that right now”, he answered with a slight irritation in his voice. Maybe he needed to tighten up a little in discipline in the coming days. “What is ahead?”
Jean pointed while he reported, “Steady breaking water along the shore. Continuous beach, but the beach turns in about two leagues ahead. There is further shore to the north about five leagues ahead and it seems to run east as far as I can see. To the north of the nearest high land there is water on the other side of the beach. Through the trees I think I can see a strip of water behind the savages too.”
“Keep reporting and call right away if you see something new.”
“About a dozen whales to the East Captain.”
Verrazano quickly scanned the crew around him. They did not react.
“Damn you Jean, you will stay up there for an additional watch, and don’t you dare pissing down from the crow’s nest, or I will personally strangle you”
Jean was about to acknowledge his punishment, but then saw there was a long break in the shoreline.
“Captain! There is a bay with a large opening.”
Everybody now started to pay attention.
“Let’s see if we can get in.”
The pilot started issuing more instructions and Verrazano instructed his mate to mark all soundings and bearings. Slowly they were lining up with the end of the peninsula that enclosed the bay.
Verrazzano turned to the pilot and mate, “What do you think? Middle of the entrance or one of the sides?”
Antoine squinted ahead while he weighed the options, “It is a large opening and a large bay, I would guess that the tidal flow will scour deeper channels on the edges. Especially at the end of that beach peninsula. I’d say a tight turn into the Bay and the wind favors it.”
The mate mumbled agreement. Or rather, he did not disagree.
The mate shouted the plan up to the crow’s nest to see if that also agreed with their observations.
“Looks like a good plan to me Chief” Jean responded, He then added, “Chief, the savages left”.
On the beach the kids had collected their wits and quickly agreed there was only one thing to do; get in the canoe and warn the tribe!
They paddled back to their village, on the way warning another canoe with clammers. Their warning that a giant canoe was entering the bay resulted in initial disbelief, but the kids’ great excitement compelled them to paddle to the beach to take a look. It only took a minute for them to also head up river.
The kids beached the canoe and raced up the bank calling for Chief Mehocksett. Mehocksett was a calm, humorous man who enjoyed kids. He was not easily excited and often spent time with the kids hunting, fishing, and practicing archery and spear skills. When the kids came running up the hill, he first thought they were up to some game, but quickly realized something more serious was going on.
Other villagers also interrupted their activities, curious to see what the kids were up to. All five kids were talking at the same time until Mehocksett, pointed at Weenjipahkihelexkwe and said, “Everybody quiet, Weenji tell me what’s going on.”
Weenji settled down immediately and simply said: “We were at the beach and saw a large and high canoe with three dead trees come from the distance and it is now entering the Bay.
The Chief turned to Manickty, “So Manickty, I suppose they are back from long ago. Let’s go take a look.”
All the canoes were loaded to the gunwales with everybody in the village and they paddled downriver to the turn north. It was tough going because the tide was coming in and when they started to enter the bay these experienced paddlers were starting to feel the strain. At the entrance to the bay the turtle clan was crowded at the beach. Chief Mehocksett noticed Chief Nahoosey in the crowd and called out to him. Chief Nahoosey indicated that he wanted to talk to Mehocksett, so he pulled his canoe up to the beach.
The ship was about midway in the bay and further away than the kids had seen it from the beach.
The bay families were already checking out the ship in the bay and canoes started to converge from various angles.
Nahoosey greeted Mehocksett, and Mehocksett returned the greeting. They were close friends and the exchange was smooth and informal. Mehocksett spoke first: “They came from the South. Kids were swimming on the beach and they saw it. They say there are humans aboard, but we do not know if they are friendly. I certainly want to study them. I don’t want the Bay families to strike up an alliance without us being involved.”
Nahoosey nodded: “I agree. We need to go out and see what we can learn. Did you bring anything to trade?”
“Not really, can you provide something for us?”
“We will bring tobacco, dried meats and some birds. Maybe some wampum too. They will be your trade too”
“Thank you Nahoosey. Let’s go take a look. I think we should leave youngsters and elders here.”
“Yes, but we will bring women, we do not want them to think we are warlike.”
“Agreed”, Mehocksett turned to his family that had mostly come ashore now and pointed to the three largest canoes and Weenji’s father’s new canoe, and quickly assigned adults and older kids. Pinna and his friends were proud and delighted that they were included.
They were all allowed to join Weenji’s father in the new canoe, and were first to push off into the Bay. The wind had settled down a little and the chop coming from the west was of no concern in making good headway.
Aboard the Dauphine there was relief once they passed the tip of the peninsula.
It was quite a wide bay between the highlands to the North and South. An incoming tide and a wind from the west allowed them to tack into the bay in only two tacks. They had turned into the bay close to the northern tip of the peninsula, sailed to the northwest, noticed reduced soundings and tacked. Once tacked they sailed to the southwest with a nice set from the incoming tide and sailed into the bay with good soundings.
Shortly after they rounded the tip, Jean called from the crow’s nest: “Canoes coming from the shore ahead Captain”
“How many?”
“I count eight Captain, No, I see two more.”
“How many savages total?”
“Too far away Captain, but they are large canoes, I see two more”
“Should we hand out arms Captain?” the Mate asked.
“Yes, go ahead, but keep them hidden behind the bulwarks, I don’t want any crew to have them in hand until I give the command. Load the swivel guns with grape, I see no need to run out the long guns.”
The order was given and preparations were made in minutes.
“Fifteen total now Captain. The lead canoe has about twelve paddlers”, Jean called from the crows nest.
Verrazzano walked up the forecastle and standing next to the headstay he took his time in working out his options. It was a little after noon, the tide was coming in. In six or so hours he would have the chance to return to sea with a following tide. However, he was uncomfortable sailing too deep into the bay that was ahead. Once he knew more about this bay he could go back to trade with the natives, but first he wanted to get a better feel for what this place was about. He turned aft and gestured to the Pilot: “Tack the boat I want to move north. If we have to move out, we will have more options depending on the wind.”
The Dauphine tacked and was now moving north at a decent clip, making it more difficult for the canoes to catch up.
The mysterious move made the lead canoe slow down and wait for other canoes to catch up.
Mehocksett’s canoes and Nahoosey’s canoes caught up to the bay tribe canoes. They were floating close together and there was discussion between all the canoes about the disappearing canoe.
Nahoosey pulled up next to Mehocksett’s canoe. They held onto each other’s gunwales and moved easily on the chop. “What do you think?” Nahoosey asked.
“Maybe we scared them away. Maybe we came with too many canoes.”
“Possible. That would be a shame. I would have liked to learn more. You think there are real humans aboard?”
“Well if we scared them, they are probably humans”
“Should we follow them?”
“It is a big bay, it could get difficult if the wind becomes stronger”
Chief Nahoosey pointed ahead, “Chief Swateney has a nice bay canoe and he can rig some sail too, maybe he can stay on longer and see what happens. If the wind comes in, they will be safer than us in our river canoes.”
Mehocksett grunted in agreement, “I don’t know him well, maybe you can ask him to keep an eye on things and report back to us and we will go home.”
Nahoosey nodded, “He is a good man, it makes sense.”
Nahoosey grabbed his paddle and his crew followed suit. He pushed off from Mehocksett’s canoe. “I will talk to him. If anything interesting occurs I will send you a message. Otherwise, I will visit in a few days.”
Mehocksett smiled, “I would enjoy that brother, I will feed you well.” Nahoosey already had his back to him so he raised his paddle and shouted without turning, “You’d better!”
Mehocksett’s crew grabbed their paddles and they turned the canoe back to the mouth of their river.
If they paddled hard, they could still make the tide in the narrows and make it all home for dinner.
The kids were following Mehocksett in their canoe. Weenji turned to her father, “Father can we stay the night on the beach? We would like to stay close to the big canoe and we can warn the tribe if it returns in the morning.” All the kids turned back to see Weenji father’s reaction.
Weenji’s father was less excited about the large canoe, but he had only seen it in the distance anyway and was not even convinced it was real or just a figment of everyone’s imagination.
“Fine with me, just drop me off at the Turtle clan beach and I will go home with the other canoes.”
They paddled to the Turtle clan beach in silence, each kid with their own thoughts about the day’s adventure.
Pinna was composing the song of the adventure in his mind, he was trying to place every detail he could remember. When it was just right, he would sing it to Manickty and maybe it would convince Manickty to make him the next story teller. He had certainly seen more of the large canoe than anybody else in the tribe. It should be his right to sing the story.
ENDNOTES:
This story follows the existing records of Verazzano’s visit to the Raritan Bay pretty closely, but there is no available information of the reaction by the natives. While the names are actual Lenape names, none of the characters are modeled on actual characters. The village of the kids is located at what is today Red Bank. That is a likely location for a village and there is evidence that Lenapes lived there. The village closer to the Bay is located near what is presently Popamora Beach in Highlands.
It is often claimed that Lenapes did not live on the shore year round. It is unclear why they would move inland in winter since climates near oceans tend to be somewhat milder than inland climates and as will become apparent in later stories there was so much available food in Eastern Monmouth county that it hardly makes sense to carry food and supplies inland for the winter, when food gathering is inherently more difficult. It is possible that the Lenape moved inland at the end of the season for specific purposes, such as hunting specific game or meeting with other tribes and clans.
There is evidence that the Navesink Lenape had clan names, and common animals are used as clan designations, without specific historical reference.
The story starts with a reference to what would appear to be Viking longboats. There is no evidence that Vikings visited Raritan Bay in their long boats, but it is certainly not inconceivable.
Lenapes did use some forms of sail to propel their canoes, but this was mostly for downwind sailing.
After his swing into Sandy Hook Bay, Verrazzano did not immediately leave the Bay. He sailed to the south shore of Staten Island or into Gravesend Bay and anchored. He was met by 30 canoes and used his small boat to explore the mouth of the Narrows that would be named after him. He saw the large lake past the Narrows (Upper Bay), but due to worsening weather decided to leave, and follow the south shore of Long Island further up the coast. He spent considerable time with the native population in Narragansett Bay, sailed as far North as Maine and sailed back to Europe on the 54th parallel. Not much notice was taken of his discoveries and there was no immediate return to what is now known as Raritan Bay by any Europeans.