 In the late 16th century, islanders travelled across the North Atlantic to participate in the Newfoundland fisheries.In recognition for help given to him during his exile in Jersey in the 1640s, King Charles II of England gave Vice Admiral Sir George Carteret, bailiff and governor, a large grant of land in the American colonies in between the Hudson and Delaware rivers, which he promptly named New Jersey.It is now a state in the United States.