Giovanni Verrazzano was, officially, the first European to discover the Maine coast. From that date in 1524 on, explorers including Andre Thevet and Sir Humphrey Gilbert reached her shores, and Maine gradually become populated by pioneers who utilized the abundant fish and lumber. Privateers, coal schooners and coastal steamers were built during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Maine yards and, at the same time, fishermen built sloops and lobster boats in every quiet cove.