English settlement in New Perlican, on the south side of Trinity Bay, dates from the seventeenth-century. One of the first references to a place called ‘Parlican’, comes from a letter written by Captain Charles Leigh in 1597 in which he mentions a Spanish ship, probably Basque, anchored in that harbour. However, this is almost certainly a reference to Old Perlican located roughly 22 miles (35 km) farther out the bay. By at least 1612, ‘Parlican’ was known as Old Perlican (or Old Pernecam). On his 1612 voyage into Trinity Bay, John Guy makes several references to this place by that name. Since the very name Old Perlican suggests the exists of a New Perlican, it seems likely that New Perlican was named by at least this time.

The earliest known documentary references to New Perlican come from the letters of Thomas Rowley. Rowley had been involved with the plantation in Cupids since at least 1612 and had accompanied John Guy on his voyage into Trinity Bay in the fall of that year. In the fall of 1619 Rowley was living at Cupids and making plans to establish a plantation near Heart’s Content at a place he called ‘New Pernican’. The last letter that has survived from Rowley was written at Cupids on 8 February, 1620 and in it he states his intention to leave in the spring with four or five others and settle at New Perlican.