The ''John of London'' was a ship famous for bringing the first printing press to the British Colonies of North America; however, the first press in the American continent had arrived in 1536 in Mexico City by
Juan Pablos
Giovanni Paoli, better known as Juan Pablos (1500?–1560 or 1561), a native of Lombardy, was the first documented printer in the Americas when he started printing in Mexico in 1539.
Biography
Giovanni Paoli was born in the region of Brescia ar ...
in representation of
Juan Cromberger
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...
.
Construction and Service
The ''John of London'' was possibly built during the 1620s by Robert Trenckmore in his shipyards at
Shoreham-By-Sea in
West Sussex,
England. At least once during her 20-30 year lifespan, she was refitted as a fighting ship.
Brings the first printing press to North America
The ship was captained by George Lamberton during her 1638 voyage from
Hull, Yorkshire
Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from ...
to
Boston,
Massachusetts. This voyage brought
Ezekiel Rogers
Ezekiel Rogers (1590 – January 23, 1660) was an English nonconformist clergyman, and Puritan settler of Massachusetts.
Life
He was a son of Richard Rogers, who held the living of Wethersfield in Essex, and younger brother of Daniel Rogers. ...
and a number of families that went on to settle
Rowley, Massachusetts. The voyage was also notable for bringing the first printing press to North America, which went on to be used at
Harvard College.
Fate
The ''John of London'' was captured and sunk near
Bass Rock in the
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south.
Name
''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...
,
Scotland, during 1650.
References
*Paine, Lincoln P., Ships of the World, An Historical Encyclopedia; Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1997. (p. 619)
*Spectre, Peter H. and Larkin, David, Wooden Ship, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston; 1991.
*Paine, Lincoln P., Ships of the World, An Historical Encyclopedia; Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1997. (Centerpiece)
*Cheal, Henry, The Story of Shoreham, Hove Combridges, 1921. (pp. 148–149)
*Atwater, Edward, History of the Colony of New Haven; 1880. (pp. 84, 85)
*Lauder-Frost, G.M.S., East Lothian Life, Issue 22, Autumn 1996, ()
*Corydon Ireland, Harvard Gazette, The instrument behind New England’s first literary flowering; Harvard University, Cambridge, 2012.
Notes
External links
''John of London'' Passenger List, Summer of 1638The instrument behind New England’s first literary floweringRowley and Ezekiel Rogers, The First North American Printing Press
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123223546/http://www.hull.ac.uk/mhsc/FarHorizons/Documents/EzekielRogers.pdf , date=2013-01-23
17th-century ships