Curtis, Thomas (1775) A Narative of the Voyage of Thos. Curtis to the Island of St. John '5 in the Gulf of 
     
     St. Lawrence in North America, in the year 7775. [Manuscript copy in the PAC, published for the first time 
     
     in Harvey, D. C. (ed.) (1955) Journeys to the Island of St. John or Prince Edward Island. MacMillan, 
     
     Toronto. pp. 9—69] 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Nothing is known of Thomas Curtis other than what is contained in his ’Narrative’. He was a Hampshire native 
     
     ”accustomd to Timber, & Sawing”, who spent seven months on the island in the winter of I 775— 76 (from 6 
     
     November to 12 May), based almost entirely at Robert Clark ’3 settlement at New London, which had been founded 
     
     just two years before. His experience of the island appears to have been confined to the north coast, from Lot 7 I 
     
     in the west to New London in the east. Despite the fact that he wrote the account ”from Recollection ” when back 
     
     in England some time (perhaps many years) after the events he describes, it has a wealth of detail about incident 
     
     and place that has lost none of its immediacy. This is also true of his descriptions of the forest. Curtis ’3 botanical 
     
     know/edge, however, is clearly limited, and the interpretation of his forest descriptions is not helped by a lack of 
     
     clarity due to run—on sentences and inexactness in expression. A// the same the account is of considerable value, 
     
     and for three reasons: there is an attempt to describe the major wood/and types; it is the first record that we have 
     
     of the use of the natural wood/and as an indicator of the potential value of land for growing crops; and it describes 
     
     the hazards of travelling in some types of forest in the winter period. Curtis may have written the account with a 
     
     view to publication; however it was not until 7955 that it was first published when it was included by D. C. Harvey 
     
     as the first account in his Journeys to the Island of St. John or Prince Edward Island. 
     
    
   
   
    
     REFERENCES: 
     
    

    
     Harvey, D.C. (1955) Introduction. Journeys to the Island of St. John or Prince Edward Island. Toronto. 
     
    

    
     Bumsted, J. M. (1987) Land, Settlement, and Politics on Eighteenth-Century Prince Edward Island. McGill—Oueen’s 
     
     University Press. pp. 68—69. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Curtis received his first impression of the Island of St. John while still back in London from 
     
     Robert Clark, the proprietor of Lot 21: 
     
    
   
   
    
     Plenty of timber. R Clark informd me ”he had some thousands of Acres of land to sell well stock’d with 
     
     Timber, that the Captain’s, or masters of Ships which were frequently coming in, 
     
     would purchase all I could Cut for Ship or House Building, & that Sawyers were better 
     
     paid for their labour, than in England, that the Rivers abounded with fish & the 
     
     Country with game which was free for any one, that Deer and Turkeys were so 
     
     plentiful that a person might shoot them some times from the Windows, & when at 
     
     work in the woods might shoot enough to serve his family without loss of time 
     
     He likewise informd me that, there were a great numbers of fowls, and also Beasts 
     
     such as Bears, & Foxes, whose skins were valuable & some Black Fox Skins were 
     
     worth E5 each [p. 10] 
     
    
   
   
    
     Game and fur 
     
     animals said to 
     
     be abundant. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Curtis’ first view of the Island of St. John was from the brig Elizabeth as they sailed 
     
     westward off the north shore of the Island: 
     
    
   
   
    
     [The Island] was as near as I can gues about 6 or 7 miles to our left an Entire Wood 
     
     no house to be seen and seemd to be fine Timber. [p. 23] 
     
    
   
   
    
     On 6 November 1 775 they were wrecked on a sand spit west of Malpeque Ba y. The party 
     
     managed to reach the shore: 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Shore we were now on was a long ridge of Sand nearly forty miles long. We 
     
     could not perceive end to it no way. It was difficult to get up it was very Steep 
     
     and about twenty yards to the top. We could discover it was quite narrow in many 
     
     places but were we whare it was broad near half a mile, when on the top.1 We 
     
     77993 0’7 The descended gradually till we came to a flat on which whare many Fir Trees standing 
     
     dune flats. some in Clusters and many lay down. There were several daps with fresh water 
     
    
   
   
    
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