Captain John Smith

Among the earliest English explorers to venture up the Androscoggin was Captain Raleigh Gilbert. In September 1607 he and his men rowed longboats upriver from Brunswick, perhaps as far as Lisbon Falls. Upon encountering a group of Indians in canoes, Gilbert was recorded as having said, “Here we found nearly fifty able men, very strong and tall, such as their like before we had not seen. All were painted and armed with bows and arrows.” This image of another explorer, Captain John Smith, was originally published soon after he sailed into Merrymeeting Bay in 1614.