Upon the return of Samuel Mace, mariner, who was sent out in 1602 to search for White's lost colony, all Raleigh's interest in the Virginia colony had, by his attainder, escheated to the crown.But he never gave up his faith in Virginia: neither the failure of nine several expeditions nor twelve years imprisonment shook it.On the eve of his fall he had written, "I shall yet live to see it an English nation:" and he lived to see his prediction come true.
The first or Virginian colony, chartered with the Plymouth colony in April, 1606, was at last organized by the appointment of Sir Thomas Smith, the 'Chief of Raleigh's assignees, a wealthy London merchant, who had been ambassador to Persia, and was then, or shortly after, governor of the East India Company, treasurer and president of the meetings of the council in London; and by the assignment of the transportation of the colony to Captain Christopher Newport, a mariner of experience in voyages to the West Indies and in plundering the Spaniards, who had the power to appoint different captains and mariners, and the sole charge of the voyage.No local councilors were named for Virginia, but to Captain Newport, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, and Captain John Ratcliffe were delivered sealed instructions, to be opened within twenty-four hours after their arrival in Virginia, wherein would be found the names of the persons designated for the Council.
This colony, which was accompanied by the prayers and hopes of London, left the Thames December 19, 1606, in three vessels--the Susan Constant, one hundred tons, Captain Newport, with seventy-one persons; the God-Speed, forty tons, Captain Gosnold, with fifty-two persons; and a pinnace of twenty tons, the Discovery, Captain Ratcliffe, with twenty persons.The Mercure Francais, Paris, 1619, says some of the passengers were women and children, but there is no other mention of women.Of the persons embarked, one hundred and five were planters, the rest crews.Among the planters were Edward Maria Wingfield, Captain John Smith, Captain John Martin, Captain Gabriel Archer, Captain George Kendall, Mr.Robert Hunt, preacher, and Mr.George Percie, brother of the Earl of Northumberland, subsequently governor for a brief period, and one of the writers from whom Purchas compiled.Most of the planters were shipped as gentlemen, but there were four carpenters, twelve laborers, a blacksmith, a sailor, a barber, a bricklayer, a mason, a tailor, a drummer, and a chirurgeon.
The composition of the colony shows a serious purpose of settlement, since the trades were mostly represented, but there were too many gentlemen to make it a working colony.And, indeed, the gentlemen, like the promoters of the enterprise in London, were probably more solicitous of discovering a passage to the South Sea, as the way to increase riches, than of making a state.They were instructed to explore every navigable river they might find, and to follow the main branches, which would probably lead them in one direction to the East Indies or South Sea, and in the other to the Northwest Passage.And they were forcibly reminded that the way to prosper was to be of one mind, for their own and their country's good.
This last advice did not last the expedition out of sight of land.
They sailed from Blackwell, December 19, 1606, but were kept six weeks on the coast of England by contrary winds.A crew of saints cabined in those little caravels and tossed about on that coast for six weeks would scarcely keep in good humor.Besides, the position of the captains and leaders was not yet defined.Factious quarrels broke out immediately, and the expedition would likely have broken up but for the wise conduct and pious exhortations of Mr.Robert Hunt, the preacher.This faithful man was so ill and weak that it was thought he could not recover, yet notwithstanding the stormy weather, the factions on board, and although his home was almost in sight, only twelve miles across the Downs, he refused to quit the ship.He was unmoved, says Smith, either by the weather or by "the scandalous imputations (of some few little better than atheists, of the greatest rank amongst us)." With "the water of his patience" and "his godly exhortations" he quenched the flames of envy and dissension.
They took the old route by the West Indies.George Percy notes that on the 12th of February they saw a blazing star, and presently.a storm.They watered at the Canaries, traded with savages at San Domingo, and spent three weeks refreshing themselves among the islands.The quarrels revived before they reached the Canaries, and there Captain Smith was seized and put in close confinement for thirteen weeks.