With Mantao and Wanchese in England, the next stage was to teach them English. The task was given to Thomas Harriott, who took the challenge with relish. He firstly had to come up with an alphabet to capture all of the sounds in the natives' tongue, as the English alphabet couldn't do it. It is thought he eventually came up with a dictionary and phrase book too, but if so these did not survive -only the English-Algonquin alphabet survives today. Before long, Harriott had learned a lot of the Algonquin tongue, and starting quizzing Manteo and Wanchese, in the process learning a lot about the land and peoples over the ocean.
With a wealth of information now available, Raleigh set about planning the colony with gusto. He knew that it had to be meticulously planned, and consulted many of the experts of the time - military men, farmers, doctors, builders etc. He decided upon what supplies and equipment would be needed. Unlike earlier expeditions, this was a meticulously planned operation. Sir Richard Grenville was engaged to command the fleet taking over the colonists, and a soldier named Ralph Lane was employed to command the colony once they had reached the new world. Also accompanying them was Thomas Harriott and John White, a painter who had been commissioned to paint the flora, fauna and people of Virginia.
After landing, Ralph Lane had intended to build stone fortifications around the settlement, but unfortunately there was precious little stone to be found so it was mostly made of wood. They made contact with the Natives (Manteo's tribe among them), White painted many watercolours, and they mapped out a lot of the land and learned many things. Unfortunately, many things went wrong - provisions were destroyed and there were brutal clashes with the Natives. The following year, the colony was in dire straits when a fleet of ships arrived - Sir Francis Drake. He was going to leave men and supplies with the colonists, but then disaster struck, a ship was lost in the storms, with most of the supplies going down with it. Left with little choice, it was decided that all the colonists were to evacuate and head back to England. Unfortunately in the rush to leave, one of the sailors dumped a chest with many of John White's watercolours, the maps and notes etc. into the sea. So much vital information lost!
Some time later, Sir Richard Grenville landed with supplies only to find the colonists gone. Shocked as he was, he decided to leave a band of 15 soldiers to occupy the land for England.
Many of the colonists had had enough of the new world and wanted nothing more than to stay in England for the rest of their days. Sir Walter Raleigh had difficulty getting colonists and also someone to lead them, for another mission to re-establish the colony. John White was one of the few who wanted to go back, and persuaded Raleigh to let him lead the mission and the colony. With him he took his pregnant daughter, and his son in law. Unfortunately however he proved to be a poor governor, and the rest of the colonists eventually persuaded him to go back to England 'to personally organise more supplies'. In reality they wanted rid of him. Once back in England however, due to political difficulties and conflict with Spain (the pesky Spanish Armada) no supply mission happened. Eventually, in 1590, a mission was organised to go to Virginia and supply the colonists on Roanoake Island. Unfortunately, when they got there, there were no colonists to be found. The settlement was abandoned, and the only clue to their wearabouts was 'Croatoan' carved into a tree (this was a prearranged message to say where they had gone in the event they had moved the colony). This was a strange choice to move to as it wasn't very hospitable, there was poor defenses (although home of Manteo's tribe), bad land for planting crops and so White was puzzled. They resolved to head for Croatoan Island, but due to bad weather, being blown off course and low on supplies they never made it and the captain of the ship decided to return to England. It was many years before any more ships went to Virginia, and even longer until anyone went looking for the lost colonists. They were never found, and the English learned from the natives that they had been massacred, the same day that the Jamestown colonists landed, 17 years later in 1607. It was thought some survived and though they were never found, natives on Croatoan Island in future decades were curiously white in colour - presumably the surviving lost colonists had given up on ever returning to England and instead thrown in their lot with the natives, inter-marrying. There are Americans today who claim to be descendants of the lost colonists...
Saturday, 19 May 2007
Early English attempts to start a colony in America
After learning quite a bit recently about Jamestown, England's first permanent successful colony in the New World, the natural thing to do would be to progress forward. Instead I found a book by Giles Milton 'Big Chief Elizabeth' about the earlier attempts to found a colony, culminating in a few chapters on Jamestown.
After the discovery of America, several merchants from England had gone over to America to try and trade with the natives, only to discover they weren't interested. In 1536, a man named Richard Hore, a wealthy London leather seller, decided it would be a good idea to travel to America to capture a native and bring him back to England, to be paraded around - for a fee. The attempt ended in disaster, they failed to capture a native (they ran away) and were so close to starvation that they were about to resort to cannibalism when they were rescued by a French ship.
Davy Ingrams - In 1567, a common sailor called Davy Ingrams was one of the crew on a ship captained by the slaver Sir John Hawkins. The mission to South America ended in disaster, and Hawkins had to abandon half his crew in Mexico. Ingrams, not content to spend the rest of his like in Mexico, selected a band of his more advenurous colleagues and decided to hike along the coast to Nova Scotia - aware that European fishing vessels operated in those waters. 3,000 miles late Davy and two of his men made it there, were picked up by a French vessel and eventually made it home - much to the astonishment of his family! Along the way he had encountered many natives, and learned much of the land along the American coastline.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a keen adventurer, heard about Davy Ingrams trek and interviewed him to get information and a map - he wanted to set up an expedition to explore America and found a colony (he made money by 'selling' plots of land to English merchants before he had even gone). He set up an expedition and fleet of ships to set sail for America (chronicled by Edward Hayes he went on the voyage). He reached Newfoundland, had a big party with many European fishing vessels there, decided it was not a hospitable area and headed for home. Along the way they lost most of their supplies, Sir Humphrey's ship sank, killing him and all on board, and the rest of the ships limped home, the crew and adventurers half starved.
Who now to continue the American adventure? No one else was interested, enter Walter Raleigh (half brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert). Raleigh became a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, and through her he became one of the richest and most influential men in the country. He stepped forward and announced his intention of setting up a colony in America, getting a royal charter from the Queen in the process. He recruited intelligent men to help plan this new colony. In particular Thomas Harriot, considered extremely intelligent, a genius (a friend of Raleigh's since they had been at Oxford together). He set about teaching Raleigh's sailors how to sail across the Atlantic. Also Richard Hakluyt, an old friend of Raleigh's and another American enthusiast. It was he who suggested they launch an expedition to capture a native to bring back to England, teach English, and thus learn from him about his native land (he got this idea from French explorers who had done the same). They landed near Roanoake Island in present day Virginia, explored and brought back with them two natives Mantao, from Croatoan Island, and Wanchese from Roanoake Island. They were brought back to England.
After the discovery of America, several merchants from England had gone over to America to try and trade with the natives, only to discover they weren't interested. In 1536, a man named Richard Hore, a wealthy London leather seller, decided it would be a good idea to travel to America to capture a native and bring him back to England, to be paraded around - for a fee. The attempt ended in disaster, they failed to capture a native (they ran away) and were so close to starvation that they were about to resort to cannibalism when they were rescued by a French ship.
Davy Ingrams - In 1567, a common sailor called Davy Ingrams was one of the crew on a ship captained by the slaver Sir John Hawkins. The mission to South America ended in disaster, and Hawkins had to abandon half his crew in Mexico. Ingrams, not content to spend the rest of his like in Mexico, selected a band of his more advenurous colleagues and decided to hike along the coast to Nova Scotia - aware that European fishing vessels operated in those waters. 3,000 miles late Davy and two of his men made it there, were picked up by a French vessel and eventually made it home - much to the astonishment of his family! Along the way he had encountered many natives, and learned much of the land along the American coastline.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a keen adventurer, heard about Davy Ingrams trek and interviewed him to get information and a map - he wanted to set up an expedition to explore America and found a colony (he made money by 'selling' plots of land to English merchants before he had even gone). He set up an expedition and fleet of ships to set sail for America (chronicled by Edward Hayes he went on the voyage). He reached Newfoundland, had a big party with many European fishing vessels there, decided it was not a hospitable area and headed for home. Along the way they lost most of their supplies, Sir Humphrey's ship sank, killing him and all on board, and the rest of the ships limped home, the crew and adventurers half starved.
Who now to continue the American adventure? No one else was interested, enter Walter Raleigh (half brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert). Raleigh became a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, and through her he became one of the richest and most influential men in the country. He stepped forward and announced his intention of setting up a colony in America, getting a royal charter from the Queen in the process. He recruited intelligent men to help plan this new colony. In particular Thomas Harriot, considered extremely intelligent, a genius (a friend of Raleigh's since they had been at Oxford together). He set about teaching Raleigh's sailors how to sail across the Atlantic. Also Richard Hakluyt, an old friend of Raleigh's and another American enthusiast. It was he who suggested they launch an expedition to capture a native to bring back to England, teach English, and thus learn from him about his native land (he got this idea from French explorers who had done the same). They landed near Roanoake Island in present day Virginia, explored and brought back with them two natives Mantao, from Croatoan Island, and Wanchese from Roanoake Island. They were brought back to England.
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Jamestown - Time Team Dig
I saw a Time Time special at an archeological dig at the site of the original Jamestown settlement in Virginia, USA. The colony was burned down at the end of the 17th century and subsequently abandoned. Over time it was forgotten about and for a long time it has been believed that the remains of the settlement had been lost to the sea due to erosion. However 13 years ago, it was discovered that this was not the case and they've been digging ever since.
First they found the 3 walls of the triangular shaped fort, then they started digging inside what was the fort. One of the most important finds was a square well. After considerable research back in England, it is thought that the reason it is square is because a couple of the colonists were miners who had dug square mineshafts very similar to the well (workers in a mining company owned by one of the Jamestown company's investors). Digging in the well they found all sorts of items, a child's shoe, tobacco pipe (one of the colonists was a pipe maker), a pistol, a halberd, items of clothing. In the mud they had been remarkably well preserved.
The houses in the fort were made of wattle & daub walls, thatched roof and wooden frame. The type of house particular to a part of Lincolnshire where Capn John Smith was from (also a carpenter from Lincolnshire was in the first wave of colonists - he probably built the houses).
It was an interesting programme, and one of the interesting things about it was the way they related archeological finds to the actual colonists by doing historical research into the colonists that set up the colony, where they were from, their occupations etc. It personalised the story a lot more - prior to seeing this programme the majority of names I knew were the names of the colony's many governors/presidents. It would be an interesting exercise to research the names, occupations and backgrounds to all the colonists, and see how they may have fitted in the overall building of the colony etc. If I wished to research further, there are many layers of the Jamestown onion to peel back yet...
First they found the 3 walls of the triangular shaped fort, then they started digging inside what was the fort. One of the most important finds was a square well. After considerable research back in England, it is thought that the reason it is square is because a couple of the colonists were miners who had dug square mineshafts very similar to the well (workers in a mining company owned by one of the Jamestown company's investors). Digging in the well they found all sorts of items, a child's shoe, tobacco pipe (one of the colonists was a pipe maker), a pistol, a halberd, items of clothing. In the mud they had been remarkably well preserved.
The houses in the fort were made of wattle & daub walls, thatched roof and wooden frame. The type of house particular to a part of Lincolnshire where Capn John Smith was from (also a carpenter from Lincolnshire was in the first wave of colonists - he probably built the houses).
It was an interesting programme, and one of the interesting things about it was the way they related archeological finds to the actual colonists by doing historical research into the colonists that set up the colony, where they were from, their occupations etc. It personalised the story a lot more - prior to seeing this programme the majority of names I knew were the names of the colony's many governors/presidents. It would be an interesting exercise to research the names, occupations and backgrounds to all the colonists, and see how they may have fitted in the overall building of the colony etc. If I wished to research further, there are many layers of the Jamestown onion to peel back yet...
Sunday, 13 May 2007
Jamestown bibliography
After reading Savage Kingdom (and currently nearly finished another book on the topic), I thought it a good idea to pick out a few books from the bibliography (primary sources) that might be worth looking at.
'The Complete Works of Captain John Smith' - J, P L Barbour (1986)
Various books - R Hakluyt (1599 - 1609)
'A brief and true report of the new found land of Virginia...' T Harriot (1588)
'For the colony in Virginea Britannia' - William Strachey
Various writings - S Purchas
'The Complete Works of Captain John Smith' - J, P L Barbour (1986)
Various books - R Hakluyt (1599 - 1609)
'A brief and true report of the new found land of Virginia...' T Harriot (1588)
'For the colony in Virginea Britannia' - William Strachey
Various writings - S Purchas
Jamestown settlement - A brief account
A brief account of England's first permanent settlement in the new world follows below. This is based on my reading of 'Savage Kingdom' by Benjamin Woolley. I've been reading a few other books and other sources on the Jamestown settlement, and may write an article on it at some point.
Jamestown – 1607
As most children learn in school, America was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, accidentally while seeking the Spice Islands of the West Indies. For the next hundred years many Spanish colonies sprung up in South America, the West Indies and also in the region of modern day Florida. For a century, Spanish had a stranglehold on the region and the Spanish royal treasury was overflowing with gold from the profits of its American empire. Eventually, England decided for economic and political reasons it should have a go at colonising too. In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh was given an exclusive licence to colonize North America by Queen Elizabeth I. A few years later a colony was founded at Roanoke, but in 1590 it was found abandoned with only the word ‘Croatoan’ carved into a tree was left of the colony. No one knows what happened to them to this day. Anyway in 1603 the Queen died and Sir Walter Raleigh was thrown in jail.
Despite the failure of the Roanoke colony, there was still a keen appetite in Britain for another attempt to be made, and various plans were put forward for the setting up of a Public company to colonize America (following on from the success of the East India Company in Asia). However in 1606, a Royal Charter was granted giving a private enterprise (The Virginia Company).
A group of mostly young, and exclusively male, ‘adventurers’ were chosen to go on the expedition – for the most part these were the younger sons of gentlemen and the friends or relatives of investors. Practicality and a broad range of skills were not high on the selection criteria. The man chosen to lead the expedition was Christopher Newport, an experienced one armed soldier. Three ships were chosen to travel to Virginia: Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery. The ships left England on Saturday 20th December 1606. The journey was expected to take a couple of months, however due to bad weather the ships had to wait in the English channel for six weeks before departing for the New World. This serious delay ate into their supplies – later the shortage of food would cause extreme hardship. On board the ship, lots of arguments and infighting broke out. One man, Captain John Smith, was deemed to be the leader of a potential mutiny and thrown in the brig.
After stopping at several islands en-route, the ships eventually reached America on 26 April 1607. A sealed, secret list which had been brought across from England was opened, its contents dealing the men who were to form the new settlement’s ruling council. One of the names on the list was Captain John Smith, however Christopher Newport (who was also named as a member of the ruling council) decided not to release him straight away. This was just one of the factors that ultimately caused significant infighting and friction in the settlement for years to come – an unfortunate circumstance which was not going to help efforts to found a lasting colony. One of the first jobs of the ruling council was to find a suitable site to start building the settlement on. There was no ideal place, and eventually a small promontory jutting out from the mainland into the James River was chosen. The reasons were that it was quite a defensible location, by the sea and the water all around it was deep enough so ships could dock right by the land (so close as to be able to tie them to trees growing on the land). It was decided to name the settlement ‘Jamestown’ after King James I.
Initial contact with the Native Americans was relatively peaceful – they were if anything curious about the newcomers, and enjoyed trading with them (the settlers traded pots, pans and trinkets for food). Agreements were made but soon broken, the natives became aggressive and fighting frequently broke out. Whose fault this was can never really now be known but let’s not forget that, speaking very little of each other’s languages, there was bound to be misunderstandings with grave consequences. That and the Native Americans were there first and so arguably were justified in defending their homeland. In one, now famous story, Captain John Smith was captured by the natives and according to him was about to be killed by the chief, Powhatan, when the chief’s daughter Pocohontas saved him by throwing herself on top of him to stop her father’s men from killing Smith. Other encounters did not end so well. To protect themselves, the settlers fortified Jamestown against future attacks. Having relied somewhat on trade with native tribes for food, the eruption of conflict caused a distinct shortage of food to eat.
One of the primary motivations for founding a settlement was the hope of finding and mining gold and other precious metals. Samples of soil and rock were taken back to England, whereupon analysis found no trace of precious metals or anything remotely useful. This would be the first of many disappointments for the investors, as they started to wonder if they would ever see their money again. Nevertheless, in October 1607, two further ships were sent to Jamestown (albeit with far less supplies than the fledgling colony needed). They struggled through the winter, with many people dying before the coming of Spring.
The following the year, the colony started to get a bad reputation back in England. It was losing money, there was no sign of any precious metals, the colonists relied on constant supplies from England, and settlers sent over there were dying at an alarming rate.
Help for the Virginia colony eventually came from a most unlikely source. Prince Henry, son of King James I, saw the attempt to found an English colony in Virginia as a bold adventure. In 1609, despite being only 13 years old he was wielding considerable influence and considered by some (including the Spanish ambassador in a report to his masters) as the Protector of Virginia. Prince Henry’s interest in the colony caused what previously had been a secret affair to become a lot more public. Firstly it was the talk of the taverns and alehouses, then the subject of church sermons (possibly started by Prince Henry’s own chaplain) and then finally pamphlets and books started to appear about the venture. Faced with public and parliamentary pressure (and a lot of political-wheeler dealering!), Robert Cecil (Secretary of State) agreed to a new, second charter for Virginia. This allowed anyone to invest in the venture and many people did, including a large number of MPs and also the various Merchant’s Guilds in London.
It was agreed that the new wave of colonists to Virginia would comprise 600 men in 8 ships, led by veteran solider Sir Thomas Gates (who had been a patentee of the first charter). They struggled to reach their quota of colonists, and ended up paying for petty criminals’ food and passage to the colony to fill up all the ships. By the end of May 1609, the fleet was ready, all they were waiting for was Thomas Gates to arrive after being delayed in London. On 1 June, the rest of the fleet set off, leaving the flagship ‘Sea Venture’ awaiting the arrival of the governor. He duly arrived shortly afterwards, carrying a sealed casket with detailed instructions as to who would take over running the colony should anything happen to him. There was no opportunity for Gates or the casket to be transferred to another ship, which resulted in the precarious situation where the colony’s new governor, the admiral of the fleet Sir George Somers, and the sealed caskets all on the same ship – hardly ideal.
A few weeks later on 24 July, severe Atlantic storms hit the ships, lasting for upwards of two days. The ships became separated, and had to head for Virginia on their own. Eventually all of the ships made it to their destination (or did one never show up?), all but the Sea Venture. There were many arguments over who should be president of the colony, with no governor and no instructions. Captain John Smith argued he should remain as governor, and did so for a time, but then the presidency was passed to one George Percy.
The Sea Venture was presumed lost, but it in fact crashed and sank just off the coast of Bermuda (known as the Devil Islands because of the frequency of storms and the fact that most of the area was surrounded by dangerous rocks that would cause a ship to run aground). This is another story for another time, but suffice to say that in time, the survivors of the Sea Venture built two new ships, christened ‘Deliverance’ and ‘Patience’ and made their way over several hundred miles of ocean to Virginia. They found the colony in a worse state than it had been in before. Three new settlements had been set up the previous year, but two had to be abandoned and the third, Algernon Fort, had a few starving, emaciated people left. Jamestown was hardly any better. The winter of 1609 was unusually severe (in London there were ‘frost fairs’ on the Thames where street merchants set up stalls and sold their wares). In Jamestown, that winter was known as the ‘Starving Time’ when a large number of the colonists died, either from starvation, disease or being killed by the natives.
Sir Thomas Gates took over from Percy as the colony’s President, but couldn’t do anything about the food situation – everyone was slowly starving and there wasn’t enough food to go around. After discussing the situation with Sir George Somers and Christopher Newport, it was decided to pack up the colony and head home. They didn’t have enough supplies to the last the long journey, but hoped to sail via Newfoundland and catch enough fish to see them back to England. It being duly decided, they packed up, crammed into the three available ships and started to sail down the James River towards the sea. It was at this point that what must have seemed like a miracle happened. The departing colonists spotted a longboat coming towards them, and soon an English voice could be heard. He informed them that Lord Delaware, the new royal governor had arrived with three ships, three hundred men and a vast hoard of supplies. He ordered them to return to Jamestown, which they did – a vital turning point in the history of America.
Following the arrival of Lord Delaware, things started looking up for the colony. There was still the on-off conflicts with Native Americans, but they generally had enough to eat and could start developing the colony. Back in England though things weren’t going quite as well for the Virginia Company. Debts were mounting up, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy and the threat of Spanish invastion of Virginia was hanging over the whole affair. The company needed a way to pay off debts and finance new supply missions. The solution they came up with was to hold a public lottery. That way even commoners could have a stake in the Virginia Company (if not a share). Various prizes, big and small, were on offer and the lottery proved a popular idea, however it only managed to pay off old debts. The company still wasn’t on a very sound financial footing. What they needed was a way for the colony to make money itself, in effect to become self-funding. One of the colonists, John Rolfe had just such an idea.
Rolfe came over with the fleet in 1609, bringing with him some Spanish tobacco seeds to have a go at planting. The experiment was successful, and before long, Virginia had its first cash crop. Demand for tobacco was extremely high, especially as there was a ban on buying tobacco from the Spanish at the time. Soon, many plantations started to spring up and the colony took the first steps to funding itself.
Tobacco wasn’t the only thing Rolfe was famous for however. Some time earlier in a conflict with the natives, Pocohontas, daughter of the local chieftain, was captured. Raised and educated as a Christian in the colony, she took the name Rebecca. Rolfe and Rebecca/Pocohontas fell in love and ultimately got married. In time they had a son, Thomas Rolfe, and together they visited England and the King. Unfortunately Rebecca never saw her homeland again as she fell ill and died on the way home. Thomas Rolfe grew up in England, and his descendants number many of America’s ‘First Families’.
In 1619, a new ‘Great Charter’ for Virginia was drawn up. In it, land was given to settlers, 100 acres to the original settlers, 50 acres to new settlers. Combined with the explosion in demand for Virginia tobacco this proved a catalyst for the rapid expansion of the colony. The Great Charter also set up a ‘Great Assembly’ where the colonists, through elected burgesses, got a say in how the colony was run. For a time Virginia was probably the most democratic place in the world.
The colony proceeded along nicely until 1622, when the Native Americans launched a concerted campaign to wipe out the English settlers in Virginia. If it wasn’t for early warnings from ‘friendly’ natives (probably those that had been converted to Christianity), the campaign might have succeeded. As it was, hundreds of settlers were killed, and some of the settlements were almost wiped out. This was quite a big setback, and once again for a time there was a shortage of food and supplies as much had been destroyed. Helpfully, rather than sending over more supplies that the colonists desparately sought, England sent over several hundred men to replace those that had been lost. Over the next few months the settlers launched their own campaign to drive the natives out of the land surrounding the colony, and also expand outwards. There was much bloodshed but eventually they succeeded and while there were many skirmishes for decades to come, the Native Americans in the area were no longer a serious threat to the colony. The settlements were rebuilt, and in the years that followed the population of Virginia increased all the time.
Jamestown – 1607
As most children learn in school, America was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, accidentally while seeking the Spice Islands of the West Indies. For the next hundred years many Spanish colonies sprung up in South America, the West Indies and also in the region of modern day Florida. For a century, Spanish had a stranglehold on the region and the Spanish royal treasury was overflowing with gold from the profits of its American empire. Eventually, England decided for economic and political reasons it should have a go at colonising too. In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh was given an exclusive licence to colonize North America by Queen Elizabeth I. A few years later a colony was founded at Roanoke, but in 1590 it was found abandoned with only the word ‘Croatoan’ carved into a tree was left of the colony. No one knows what happened to them to this day. Anyway in 1603 the Queen died and Sir Walter Raleigh was thrown in jail.
Despite the failure of the Roanoke colony, there was still a keen appetite in Britain for another attempt to be made, and various plans were put forward for the setting up of a Public company to colonize America (following on from the success of the East India Company in Asia). However in 1606, a Royal Charter was granted giving a private enterprise (The Virginia Company).
A group of mostly young, and exclusively male, ‘adventurers’ were chosen to go on the expedition – for the most part these were the younger sons of gentlemen and the friends or relatives of investors. Practicality and a broad range of skills were not high on the selection criteria. The man chosen to lead the expedition was Christopher Newport, an experienced one armed soldier. Three ships were chosen to travel to Virginia: Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery. The ships left England on Saturday 20th December 1606. The journey was expected to take a couple of months, however due to bad weather the ships had to wait in the English channel for six weeks before departing for the New World. This serious delay ate into their supplies – later the shortage of food would cause extreme hardship. On board the ship, lots of arguments and infighting broke out. One man, Captain John Smith, was deemed to be the leader of a potential mutiny and thrown in the brig.
After stopping at several islands en-route, the ships eventually reached America on 26 April 1607. A sealed, secret list which had been brought across from England was opened, its contents dealing the men who were to form the new settlement’s ruling council. One of the names on the list was Captain John Smith, however Christopher Newport (who was also named as a member of the ruling council) decided not to release him straight away. This was just one of the factors that ultimately caused significant infighting and friction in the settlement for years to come – an unfortunate circumstance which was not going to help efforts to found a lasting colony. One of the first jobs of the ruling council was to find a suitable site to start building the settlement on. There was no ideal place, and eventually a small promontory jutting out from the mainland into the James River was chosen. The reasons were that it was quite a defensible location, by the sea and the water all around it was deep enough so ships could dock right by the land (so close as to be able to tie them to trees growing on the land). It was decided to name the settlement ‘Jamestown’ after King James I.
Initial contact with the Native Americans was relatively peaceful – they were if anything curious about the newcomers, and enjoyed trading with them (the settlers traded pots, pans and trinkets for food). Agreements were made but soon broken, the natives became aggressive and fighting frequently broke out. Whose fault this was can never really now be known but let’s not forget that, speaking very little of each other’s languages, there was bound to be misunderstandings with grave consequences. That and the Native Americans were there first and so arguably were justified in defending their homeland. In one, now famous story, Captain John Smith was captured by the natives and according to him was about to be killed by the chief, Powhatan, when the chief’s daughter Pocohontas saved him by throwing herself on top of him to stop her father’s men from killing Smith. Other encounters did not end so well. To protect themselves, the settlers fortified Jamestown against future attacks. Having relied somewhat on trade with native tribes for food, the eruption of conflict caused a distinct shortage of food to eat.
One of the primary motivations for founding a settlement was the hope of finding and mining gold and other precious metals. Samples of soil and rock were taken back to England, whereupon analysis found no trace of precious metals or anything remotely useful. This would be the first of many disappointments for the investors, as they started to wonder if they would ever see their money again. Nevertheless, in October 1607, two further ships were sent to Jamestown (albeit with far less supplies than the fledgling colony needed). They struggled through the winter, with many people dying before the coming of Spring.
The following the year, the colony started to get a bad reputation back in England. It was losing money, there was no sign of any precious metals, the colonists relied on constant supplies from England, and settlers sent over there were dying at an alarming rate.
Help for the Virginia colony eventually came from a most unlikely source. Prince Henry, son of King James I, saw the attempt to found an English colony in Virginia as a bold adventure. In 1609, despite being only 13 years old he was wielding considerable influence and considered by some (including the Spanish ambassador in a report to his masters) as the Protector of Virginia. Prince Henry’s interest in the colony caused what previously had been a secret affair to become a lot more public. Firstly it was the talk of the taverns and alehouses, then the subject of church sermons (possibly started by Prince Henry’s own chaplain) and then finally pamphlets and books started to appear about the venture. Faced with public and parliamentary pressure (and a lot of political-wheeler dealering!), Robert Cecil (Secretary of State) agreed to a new, second charter for Virginia. This allowed anyone to invest in the venture and many people did, including a large number of MPs and also the various Merchant’s Guilds in London.
It was agreed that the new wave of colonists to Virginia would comprise 600 men in 8 ships, led by veteran solider Sir Thomas Gates (who had been a patentee of the first charter). They struggled to reach their quota of colonists, and ended up paying for petty criminals’ food and passage to the colony to fill up all the ships. By the end of May 1609, the fleet was ready, all they were waiting for was Thomas Gates to arrive after being delayed in London. On 1 June, the rest of the fleet set off, leaving the flagship ‘Sea Venture’ awaiting the arrival of the governor. He duly arrived shortly afterwards, carrying a sealed casket with detailed instructions as to who would take over running the colony should anything happen to him. There was no opportunity for Gates or the casket to be transferred to another ship, which resulted in the precarious situation where the colony’s new governor, the admiral of the fleet Sir George Somers, and the sealed caskets all on the same ship – hardly ideal.
A few weeks later on 24 July, severe Atlantic storms hit the ships, lasting for upwards of two days. The ships became separated, and had to head for Virginia on their own. Eventually all of the ships made it to their destination (or did one never show up?), all but the Sea Venture. There were many arguments over who should be president of the colony, with no governor and no instructions. Captain John Smith argued he should remain as governor, and did so for a time, but then the presidency was passed to one George Percy.
The Sea Venture was presumed lost, but it in fact crashed and sank just off the coast of Bermuda (known as the Devil Islands because of the frequency of storms and the fact that most of the area was surrounded by dangerous rocks that would cause a ship to run aground). This is another story for another time, but suffice to say that in time, the survivors of the Sea Venture built two new ships, christened ‘Deliverance’ and ‘Patience’ and made their way over several hundred miles of ocean to Virginia. They found the colony in a worse state than it had been in before. Three new settlements had been set up the previous year, but two had to be abandoned and the third, Algernon Fort, had a few starving, emaciated people left. Jamestown was hardly any better. The winter of 1609 was unusually severe (in London there were ‘frost fairs’ on the Thames where street merchants set up stalls and sold their wares). In Jamestown, that winter was known as the ‘Starving Time’ when a large number of the colonists died, either from starvation, disease or being killed by the natives.
Sir Thomas Gates took over from Percy as the colony’s President, but couldn’t do anything about the food situation – everyone was slowly starving and there wasn’t enough food to go around. After discussing the situation with Sir George Somers and Christopher Newport, it was decided to pack up the colony and head home. They didn’t have enough supplies to the last the long journey, but hoped to sail via Newfoundland and catch enough fish to see them back to England. It being duly decided, they packed up, crammed into the three available ships and started to sail down the James River towards the sea. It was at this point that what must have seemed like a miracle happened. The departing colonists spotted a longboat coming towards them, and soon an English voice could be heard. He informed them that Lord Delaware, the new royal governor had arrived with three ships, three hundred men and a vast hoard of supplies. He ordered them to return to Jamestown, which they did – a vital turning point in the history of America.
Following the arrival of Lord Delaware, things started looking up for the colony. There was still the on-off conflicts with Native Americans, but they generally had enough to eat and could start developing the colony. Back in England though things weren’t going quite as well for the Virginia Company. Debts were mounting up, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy and the threat of Spanish invastion of Virginia was hanging over the whole affair. The company needed a way to pay off debts and finance new supply missions. The solution they came up with was to hold a public lottery. That way even commoners could have a stake in the Virginia Company (if not a share). Various prizes, big and small, were on offer and the lottery proved a popular idea, however it only managed to pay off old debts. The company still wasn’t on a very sound financial footing. What they needed was a way for the colony to make money itself, in effect to become self-funding. One of the colonists, John Rolfe had just such an idea.
Rolfe came over with the fleet in 1609, bringing with him some Spanish tobacco seeds to have a go at planting. The experiment was successful, and before long, Virginia had its first cash crop. Demand for tobacco was extremely high, especially as there was a ban on buying tobacco from the Spanish at the time. Soon, many plantations started to spring up and the colony took the first steps to funding itself.
Tobacco wasn’t the only thing Rolfe was famous for however. Some time earlier in a conflict with the natives, Pocohontas, daughter of the local chieftain, was captured. Raised and educated as a Christian in the colony, she took the name Rebecca. Rolfe and Rebecca/Pocohontas fell in love and ultimately got married. In time they had a son, Thomas Rolfe, and together they visited England and the King. Unfortunately Rebecca never saw her homeland again as she fell ill and died on the way home. Thomas Rolfe grew up in England, and his descendants number many of America’s ‘First Families’.
In 1619, a new ‘Great Charter’ for Virginia was drawn up. In it, land was given to settlers, 100 acres to the original settlers, 50 acres to new settlers. Combined with the explosion in demand for Virginia tobacco this proved a catalyst for the rapid expansion of the colony. The Great Charter also set up a ‘Great Assembly’ where the colonists, through elected burgesses, got a say in how the colony was run. For a time Virginia was probably the most democratic place in the world.
The colony proceeded along nicely until 1622, when the Native Americans launched a concerted campaign to wipe out the English settlers in Virginia. If it wasn’t for early warnings from ‘friendly’ natives (probably those that had been converted to Christianity), the campaign might have succeeded. As it was, hundreds of settlers were killed, and some of the settlements were almost wiped out. This was quite a big setback, and once again for a time there was a shortage of food and supplies as much had been destroyed. Helpfully, rather than sending over more supplies that the colonists desparately sought, England sent over several hundred men to replace those that had been lost. Over the next few months the settlers launched their own campaign to drive the natives out of the land surrounding the colony, and also expand outwards. There was much bloodshed but eventually they succeeded and while there were many skirmishes for decades to come, the Native Americans in the area were no longer a serious threat to the colony. The settlements were rebuilt, and in the years that followed the population of Virginia increased all the time.
Coast - North West England
I've just watched episode 5 of season 1 of 'Coast'. It covered north-west England, my home, and as such was especially interesting to me. Some of it I already knew, a lot I didn't.
Liverpool - I already knew it was England's most important port in the triangular slave trade, and that much of it's wealth and the large, grand buildings came about because of the slave trade. What I didn't realise, despite living there for 2 years, and working in the city centre for 4 years, was that evidence of the slave trade was all around. Many of the buildings had motifs and pictures carved into the stone depicting the slave trade. On one building there was a slave ship carved into the stone above the entrance. St Martin's Bank (think it's now Barclays, and the branch I used to use!) has a carving of a man stood above two African children, the children with chains around their ankles and wrists. The chains look like bracelets, but don't be deceived. Next time in Liverpool I will have to look out for these signs.
The programme also mentioned that Liverpool was a major port for people emigrating from Britain to the New World, i.e. America, Canada, Australia etc. This is something that particularly interests me, given my interest in early American history, exploration and colonies etc.
Formby - Also used to live in Formby! There were 5000 year old footprints in the clay. These are uncovered all the time by the erosion of the sand, but once uncovered only survive a couple of days before themselves being eroded. Showed someone who has spent years cataloging the footprints and learning from them about the people who they belonged to. Belonged to people living after the last ice age, Britain covered in primeval forest, so large proportion of people living by the coast. Around the time of the end of hunter gatherers, when farming was just about to begin. Discovered particles of carbon in the footprints, indicative of either bonfires, or early smelting of iron.
Southport - Holiday destination. Also lived here. Also had lifeboat station. In Dec 1886, major lifeboat disaster when a German sailing ship, Mexico, was sinking 4 miles out to sea. Lifeboats from Southport, Lytham and St Annes all independant of one another set off to try and rescue the people from it. Very rough seas, bad weather. Lytham lifeboat rescued the people after 4 hours of rowing across stormy seas. Lifeboats from St Annes and Southport lost (though 2 people from Southport lifeboat survived). 29 people died. British public and Queen Victoria donated £30,000 for the families of the lifeboat men, thus started the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution). Today it is one of Britain's best supported charities. Staffed by volunteers and raises £90m a year through donations.
Blackpool - again somewhere I used to live. Holiday destination from 1880's people from the mills of Lancashire coming for holidays and days out. Now seedy, lots of stag nights, binge drinking, one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the country. The images of the sea along the front reminded me of going with my dad to see the rough seas and giant waves crashing against the sea wall, lots of mist and spray blowing in our faces.
Morecambe Bay - I now live in Lancaster, just near Morecambe Bay (3 miles away). Largest tidal estuary in Britain. Treacherous for people walking across them that don't know what they are doing, many people have lost their lives, most recently Chinese cockle pickers. In 1530's due to huge number of deaths on the sands, a Royal Sands Guide was appointed to safely guide people along the sands and across them. There has been a Sands Guide ever since, current guide is the 25th in a long line of guides (not related).
Ravenglass/Sellafield - nuclear power plant, controvertial. Used to pump out very toxic nuclear waste into the sea in the 70's. Today still pumping out waste, but much less toxic/nuclear.
Workington - Big steel industry, boom town in industrial revolution. Used to provide all steel for Britain's railways, but now hardly any steel industry left.
Also nearby, the Workington coal mines. Women used to be employed sorting the coal above ground after it had been mined. Hard work, coal dust in eyes, mouth etc. Interviewed 2 old women who used to do this job. They described then as the 'good old days' and enjoyed their jobs, and wished they could still do it (if they were younger). If you worked in service in those days you only got about 7 shillings a week, working sorting the coal you got £7 a week!
Maryport - evidence of a Roman fort, and other buildings, granary, forge etc. 1000 soldiers probably would have been stationed here. From Maryport to edge of Scotland, coastal defences running up to Hadrian's wall. Mile-fortlets every mile with 8-12 men in, with two watchtowers between each of them. Only needed for 20 years or so around 80-120AD before no longer needed as threat had been vanquished.
A very interesting episde.
Liverpool - I already knew it was England's most important port in the triangular slave trade, and that much of it's wealth and the large, grand buildings came about because of the slave trade. What I didn't realise, despite living there for 2 years, and working in the city centre for 4 years, was that evidence of the slave trade was all around. Many of the buildings had motifs and pictures carved into the stone depicting the slave trade. On one building there was a slave ship carved into the stone above the entrance. St Martin's Bank (think it's now Barclays, and the branch I used to use!) has a carving of a man stood above two African children, the children with chains around their ankles and wrists. The chains look like bracelets, but don't be deceived. Next time in Liverpool I will have to look out for these signs.
The programme also mentioned that Liverpool was a major port for people emigrating from Britain to the New World, i.e. America, Canada, Australia etc. This is something that particularly interests me, given my interest in early American history, exploration and colonies etc.
Formby - Also used to live in Formby! There were 5000 year old footprints in the clay. These are uncovered all the time by the erosion of the sand, but once uncovered only survive a couple of days before themselves being eroded. Showed someone who has spent years cataloging the footprints and learning from them about the people who they belonged to. Belonged to people living after the last ice age, Britain covered in primeval forest, so large proportion of people living by the coast. Around the time of the end of hunter gatherers, when farming was just about to begin. Discovered particles of carbon in the footprints, indicative of either bonfires, or early smelting of iron.
Southport - Holiday destination. Also lived here. Also had lifeboat station. In Dec 1886, major lifeboat disaster when a German sailing ship, Mexico, was sinking 4 miles out to sea. Lifeboats from Southport, Lytham and St Annes all independant of one another set off to try and rescue the people from it. Very rough seas, bad weather. Lytham lifeboat rescued the people after 4 hours of rowing across stormy seas. Lifeboats from St Annes and Southport lost (though 2 people from Southport lifeboat survived). 29 people died. British public and Queen Victoria donated £30,000 for the families of the lifeboat men, thus started the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution). Today it is one of Britain's best supported charities. Staffed by volunteers and raises £90m a year through donations.
Blackpool - again somewhere I used to live. Holiday destination from 1880's people from the mills of Lancashire coming for holidays and days out. Now seedy, lots of stag nights, binge drinking, one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the country. The images of the sea along the front reminded me of going with my dad to see the rough seas and giant waves crashing against the sea wall, lots of mist and spray blowing in our faces.
Morecambe Bay - I now live in Lancaster, just near Morecambe Bay (3 miles away). Largest tidal estuary in Britain. Treacherous for people walking across them that don't know what they are doing, many people have lost their lives, most recently Chinese cockle pickers. In 1530's due to huge number of deaths on the sands, a Royal Sands Guide was appointed to safely guide people along the sands and across them. There has been a Sands Guide ever since, current guide is the 25th in a long line of guides (not related).
Ravenglass/Sellafield - nuclear power plant, controvertial. Used to pump out very toxic nuclear waste into the sea in the 70's. Today still pumping out waste, but much less toxic/nuclear.
Workington - Big steel industry, boom town in industrial revolution. Used to provide all steel for Britain's railways, but now hardly any steel industry left.
Also nearby, the Workington coal mines. Women used to be employed sorting the coal above ground after it had been mined. Hard work, coal dust in eyes, mouth etc. Interviewed 2 old women who used to do this job. They described then as the 'good old days' and enjoyed their jobs, and wished they could still do it (if they were younger). If you worked in service in those days you only got about 7 shillings a week, working sorting the coal you got £7 a week!
Maryport - evidence of a Roman fort, and other buildings, granary, forge etc. 1000 soldiers probably would have been stationed here. From Maryport to edge of Scotland, coastal defences running up to Hadrian's wall. Mile-fortlets every mile with 8-12 men in, with two watchtowers between each of them. Only needed for 20 years or so around 80-120AD before no longer needed as threat had been vanquished.
A very interesting episde.
Friday, 11 May 2007
A few facts...
I haven't done what I said I was going to do. I'm very fickle. I have written my synopsis of the Jamestown colony, England's first colony in America, based on Benjamin Woolley's book. I'll put it on here soon - it's just on the other computer at the moment. I can only blame time for not posting more on here, and the fact I've been busy learning lots of new things! Anyway, a few facts I've found after reading about the handover of power from Blair to Brown...
- Gordon Brown is blind in his left eye, ever since a rugby injury at university (from a Washington Post article)
- In 1997, the year Tony Blair became prime minister, a new website called Google was launched, and an unknown author published 'Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone'. Was it really that long ago?
- Gordon Brown is the longest serving British Chancellor in more than 200 years.
- In May 1997, the average house price in Britain was £68,085. Now it is £196,745.
- In 1997 Tesco had 568 stores, now it has 1,780.
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