John Smith (explorer) - in Jamestown

In Jamestown

In 1606 the adventurer and soldier Captain John Smith became involved with the Virginia Company of London plans to colonise Virginia for profit; it had been granted a charter by King James. The expedition set sail in three small ships, the Discovery, the Susan Constant and the Godspeed, on 20 December 1606. His page was a 12-year-old boy named Samuel Collier.

During the voyage, Smith was charged with mutiny, and Captain Christopher Newport (in charge of the three ships) had planned to execute him. Fortunately for Smith, upon first landing at what is now Cape Henry on 26 April 1607, unsealed orders from the Virginia Company designated Smith to be one of the leaders of the new colony, thus, perhaps, sparing Smith from the gallows.

The English arrived at Jamestown in April 1607 and, by summer of that year, the settlers were still living in temporary housing. The search for a suitable site ended on 14 May 1607, when Captain Edward Maria Wingfield, president of the council, chose the Jamestown site as the location for the colony. After the four-month ocean trip, their food stores were sufficient only for each to have a cup or two of grain-meal per day. Due to swampy conditions and widespread disease, someone died almost every day. By September, more than 60 were dead of the 104 brought by Newport. The men may well have died from drinking brackish creek water and from poor nutrition.

In early January 1608, nearly 100 new settlers arrived with Captain Newport, and through carelessness the village was set on fire. That winter the James River froze over, and the settlers were forced to live in the burnt ruins. During this time, for the three months that Newport and his crew were in port, they wasted much time loading their ships with iron pyrites (fool's gold). Food supplies ran low and although Indians brought some food, Smith wrote that “more than half of us died.”

In April 1608 a ship brought supplies and 50 new settlers, whom Smith set to construct housing and do farm planting. He spent that summer exploring Chesapeake Bay waterways and produced a map that would be of great value to Virginia explorers for over a century.

In October 1608, Captain Newport arrived with 70 new settlers, including the first women. Some German and Polish craftsmen also arrived, but they brought no food supplies. Newport brought with him a list of counterfeit Virginia Company orders which angered John Smith greatly. He wrote an angry letter in response. One of the orders was to crown Powhatan Emperor and give him a fancy bedstead. The Company wanted Smith to pay for Newport’s voyage with such as the colony could produce in the form of pitch, tar and sawed boards and soap ashes and glass.

After that, Smith tried to get food from the Indians and it took threats of military force against the Indians to comply. Powhatan was alarmed at the great number of white men coming and was trying to starve them out.

Smith found that there were those among both the settlers and Indians who were planning to kill him, and it is written he was warned about the plan by Pocahontas. He called a meeting and threatened those who were spoiled and not working “that he that will not work shall not eat…” After that the situation improved and the settlers worked with more industry, albeit with some punishments as needed.

For three months in early 1609, February, March and April all was well at Jamestown with many dwellings built, acres of land cleared and much other work done. Then in April, an infestation of rats was discovered, which along with dampness, destroyed all their stored corn. They needed food badly and Smith sent a large group of settlers to fish and others to gather shellfish downriver. They came back without food and were willing enough to take the meager rations offered them. This angered Smith and he ordered them to trade their guns and tools for fruit from the Indians and ordered everyone to work or be banished from the fort.

By that time, some settlers wanted Smith to abandon Jamestown but he refused. Some deserted to the Native American villages, but Powhatan’s people also went by Smith’s law which was: “he who works not, eats not”. This was in effect “till they were near starved indeed” and they returned home.

The weeks-long emergency was relieved by the arrival of an unexpected ship, captained by Samuel Argall. He had items of food and wine which Smith bought on credit. Argall also brought news that the (South) Virginia Company of London was being reorganized and was sending more supplies and settlers to Jamestown along with a new governor, Lord De la Warr.

In a May 1609 voyage to Virginia, Sir Thomas Smith, Virginia Company treasurer, arranged for about 500 colonists, including women and children to come along. A fleet of nine ships set sail. One sank in a storm soon after leaving the harbor and another, the Sea Venture, with the flotilla admiral on board, wrecked on the Bermuda Islands. One year later, in May 1610, after building boats to take all the passengers and crew of the Sea Venture off Bermuda, they finally made their way to Jamestown with the new Governor, Thomas Gates, on board.

In August 1609 John Smith was quite surprised to see more than 300 new settlers arrive, which did not go well for him. London was sending new settlers with no real planning or logistical support.

Then in May 1610, Gates with 150 men finally arrived after spending almost a year trying to escape from Bermuda, by building small boats from their wrecked ship. Gates soon found that there was not enough food to support all in the colony and decided to abandon Jamestown. As their boats were leaving the Jamestown area, they met a ship carrying the new governor, Lord De la Warr, who ordered them back to Jamestown.

It is also recorded that Capt. John Smith was severely injured by an accidental gunpowder explosion in his canoe which decided his fate for him; he sailed to England for treatment in October 1609. He had spent two and a half years trying to do his best for Jamestown. He never returned to Virginia. History has confirmed his outstanding contribution to the English effort at Jamestown in its earliest years.

Although colonists would continue to die from various illnesses and disease, with an estimated 150 of the 500 surviving that winter, the Virginia Company continued to finance and transport settlers to sustain Jamestown. For the next five years, Governors Gates and Sir Thomas Dale continued to keep strict discipline, with Sir Thomas Smith in London attempting to find skilled craftsmen and other settlers to send to Jamestown.