Fish and Shellfish

And in diverse places, that abundance of fish lying so thicke with their heads above the water, as for want of nets (our barge driving amongst them) we attempted to catch them with a frying pan; but we found it a bad instrument to catch fish with. Neither better fish, more plenty or variety, had any of us ever seene in any place, swimming in the water, then in the bay of Chesapeack: but there not to be caught with frying pans.

John Smith, The Proceedings of the English Colony in Virginia

The almost comical abundance of fish and shellfish described by John Smith was crucial for the survival of all European coastal settlers. The oyster alone saved some Jamestown colonists from starvation in the winter of 1609: “this want of corne occasioned the end of all our works, it being worke sufficient to provide victual. 60. or 80. with Ensigne Laxon was sent down the river to live upon Oysters.” Elsewhere, Cabeza de Vaca, who was marooned on the Gulf of Mexico, lived with Indians who survived on oysters from February to April, erecting their huts over the piles of discarded shells.