The first vessel built within the limits of the United States for commercial uses was a sea-going pinnace of thirty tons named the _Virginia_. Her keel was laid at the mouth of the Kennebec River, in Maine, on an unnamed day in the fall of 1607. The story of this vessel, though brief, is of great interest because, in part, of certain peculiarities of rig and hull which, in connection with a sea-going vessel, now seem astounding, but chiefly because it portrays something of the character of the men who, a little later, laid the foundations of the American Republic. The adventure which led to the building of the _Virginia_ grew out of that wonderful harvest of the sea, the cod fishery on the …
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