Captain John Smith

0351

0351f

Captain John Smith

Captain John Smith 


■ By 

E. KEBLE CHATTERTON 



LONDON 

JOHN LANE THE BODLET HEAD LTD 



First piiblisJud in ig2^ 


Printed in Great Britain by T. and A. Constable Ltd. 
at the University Press, Edinburgh 



T 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Captain John Smith’s Coat of Arms 
Captain John Smith 
Smith’s Method of Signalling 
Smith’s Three Single Combats 
Smith is received by the General 
Map of Old Virginia . 

Map of Virginia • • . . 

Map of New England . 


. End paper 
- Frontispiece 
Facing page 42 

50 
52 

, 182 

, 188 
„ 240 



Note. — Smith’s Method of Signalling,” Smith’s Three Single 
Combats,” and Smith is received by the General ” are from The 
True Travels (London, 1630). The Map of Old Virginia and the 
Map of New England are from The Generali Historic 1624). 

The Map of Virginia is from A True Relation (London, 1608). 


IX 




CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 




History is the memory of time, the life of the dead, 
and the happinesse of the living.” 


John Smith. 




CONTENTS 


CHAP. page 

L INTRODUCTION 

11. THE AGE OF ADVENTURE il 

III. SMITH GOES ABROAD 23 

IV. TRAVELS ACROSS EUROPE 35 

V. IN SINGLE COMBAT 41 

VI. THE WANDERING WARRIOR * • • • 53 

VII. SLAVE OF SLAVES 64 

VIII. THE COLONIAL IDEA 82 

IX. THE VOYAGE OUT 97 

X. THE FOUNDING OF JAMESTOWN . . .111 

XI. RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS .... 126 

XII. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION . . 149 

XIII. EXPLORING VIRGINIA l6l 

XIV. PROBLEMS OF PIONEERING 174 

XV. THE CORN SUPPLY 189 

XVI. DANGERS AND ADVERSITIES .... 206 

XVII. THE END OF ENDEAVOUR 220 

XVIII. AT SEA AGAIN 234 

XIX. SMITH COMES ASHORE 252 

APPENDIX 270 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 274 

INDEX 279 


■rii 




CHAPTER I 


NTRODUCTION 

IF the individual is the child of his era, 
then assuredly John Smith was true 
Elizabethan. Notwithstanding that 
most of his life was spent during the 
reign of the Stuarts, yet his boyhood 
and youth were passed during those 
last glamorous days of the Tudor 
period. 

It was a time, obviously, when those two wonderful 
words sea and exploration connoted far more romance 
than we with our great ships and recognized traffic lanes 
can ever appreciate : for the joy of adventuring through 
the dangerous unknown is reserved nowadays for the 
very few. John Smith was fortunate to have been born 
at that time when the Elizabethan effulgence was not 
yet dimmed but still increasing. At the Armada’s 
arrival and defeat he was eight years old, a highly impres- 
sionable age when character is being moulded so de- 
finitely ; and it was impossible that the wave of emotion 
which swept through England at the time should have 
failed to reach him. 

The sixteenth century was the age of adventure. It 
was bursting with the zeal to go forth and do something 
exciting, and from this wild eagerness a new attitude to 
life was created. Fishermen, no longer content to work 
merely within sight of the Devonshire and Cornish 
coasts, had been roused by the marvellous relations which 
had leaked out concerning Hispaniola and the other 

A 





2 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

West Indian territory. The stories of gold and of 
pearls, the chance of rising from poverty to riches 
simply by longer voyaging had come as an unsettling 
influence. 

Thus ambition took the place of contentment, expan- 
sion was -more attractive than dull routine : and all 
because the New World was calling loudly to men of 
vivid imagination and courageous spirit. But the 
whole of Europe had been shaken by a series of earth- 
quakes that had one common cause. The Renaissance, 
the new learning, the fresh yearning, the insistence on 
national expression, the limiting of Papal power, the 
disturbing effect of the Reformation and changes in 
religion — all these were part of the one great movement 
which was going to transform thought and life. In 
place of the old, stolid, unquestioning regularity of 
existence had come a disposition of inquiry, a re-examina- 
tion of first principles, an insistent demand to know how 
and whence and why. 

Can we be surprised that with these influences at work 
John Smith should be born with the urge to adventure, 
to take a plunge into the thrills of living, and to emerge 
as soldier, sailor, pioneer, administrator ? His career 
naturally divides itself into three phases, but throughout 
there is always the motif of adventure. The first part 
we shall find to be concerned with those fierce affairs 
which only the youngest and most virile of men in the 
full confidence of inexperienced youth could enj'oy or even 
survive ; yet they were the essential training wherein 
he could learn the lessons that should fit him for his 
own sj)ecial work. The second part is a period of 
enterprising action, combined with the duties of ad- 
ministration ; but it is objective and constructive, rather 
than a revelling in danger for excitement’s sake. The 
third phase is in sharp contrast with the first, and is 
marked by mental rather than physical effort. It is the 



INTRODUCTION 


3 

time for collating facts, gathering together past experi- 
ences, drawing therefrom the valuable conclusions. In 
a word, then, the warrior becomes a writer, the adminis- 
trator an adviser, the pioneer a propagandist who is 
anxious that others may carry on the good work. 

But before we enter into his career we must needs see 
something of the affairs which existed externally. What 
did the world mean to a youngster in the closing years of 
the sixteenth century as soon as he left the shores of 
England, and what were the conditions ? In due 
sequence these will be alluded to in the proper chapters, 
but it may be convenient here to get a brief introduction 
forthwith, so that we may see matters as they were 
already waiting when Smith adventured into living. 

The fifteenth century had begun an entirely new con- 
ception of the universe. For thirteen hundred years the 
study of geography had been practically dead. With 
the awakening zeal for knowledge there arose not merely 
the curiosity as to unexplored lands but a desire to find 
new routes to the old ones. Such exploits as those of 
Marco Polo had increased the information touching the 
Orient, but it was when ships became bigger and better 
rigged, and Italian navigators found their Mediterranean 
trade curtailed, that there was sufficient inducement to 
go further seaward into unknown oceans. 

Discovery, whether in the laboratory or on the high 
seas, has been not like the short quick achievement of a 
wizard, but the gradual progression from partial to 
complete enlightenment. Thus in 1415 the furthest 
south reached was Cape Nun at the south-west extremity 
of Morocco. Eighteen years later Cape Bojador on the 
west coast of the S^ahara was doubled by Gillianez, which 
so impressed the Pope Martin V that His Holiness 
bestowed on the King of Portugal all that might there- 
after be discovered in Africa and India. During the 
ensuing years of that century we see how step by step 



4 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

the discoverers were advancing towards the great 
Eastern goal. By 1444 the River Gambia was the 
furthest south, two years later the Cape Verde Islands 
had been visited, and at last in 1470 the Portuguese 
had in their voyages almost reached the equator. Six- 
teen years later still Bartholomew Diaz actually sailed so 
far south as to double the Cape of Good Hope without 
knowing it ; and then, as every one is aware, in 1497 
Vasco da G^ma also doubled that promontory and sailed 
up the Indian Ocean, finally reaching Calicut. Thus, 
after many long years, an ocean way tp India had been 
found. 

The first voyage of Columbus in 1492 across the 
Atlantic, in order to find a route to India, was more 
daring in every respect. Da Gama had come in at the 
end of others’ efforts, relied on their data, and at the last 
stage of his journey had employed an Indian pilot. 
Columbus, on the other hand, was performing a great 
act of intellectual faith based on a theory which might 
or might not prove to be sound. And it was a not less 
glorious achievement as an example of physical courage. 
But when we consider that Smith was born so close to 
these historic accomplishments ; that the New World 
was first shown mapped only in 1500 ; that in 1520-2 
Magellan was the first to encircle the world, and that 
Drake did not complete his circumnavigation of the 
globe until the year in which Smith first saw light, we 
begin to understand what a new and amazing series of 
events had happened : how inevitably they must react 
on those young enough to respond. He was thus born 
in due time, and his mind being set on adventure he must 
surely sooner or later go westward. Actually it came 
later, for the reasons which will manifest themselves. 

Columbus having discovered the Bahamas, Cuba, 
Haiti and Dominica, it followed naturally that for many 
years the West Indies remained the undisputed sphere 



INTRODUCTION 


5 

of Spanish dominion. The desire to conquer pagan 
lands on behalf of Christianity, and to extract from 
colonization as much material wealth as possible, existed 
side by side and followed the revelation which Columbus 
had made ; the first settlement from Spain being in Haiti 
as the natives called the island, or Hispaniola as Columbus 
had named it. Now, by right of discovery, Spain claimed 
in the western world the whole of America (excepting 
the Brazils, which she conceded to the Portuguese) ; 
and, sanctioned by the Pope in a “ Bull of Donation,” 
this Spanish exclusiveness continued for a time un- 
challenged. It was because this restriction so annoyed 
the English ; and because the latter recognized that 
initial success had been won by superior knowledge 
of the maritime arts, that England began to encourage 
this essential seafaring training. Thus it was that 
Henry VIII established at Deptford - on - Thames, 
Kingston-on-Hull and Newcastle-on-Tyne early in the 
sixteenth century guilds for the instruction of potential 
navigators. Edward VI followed up the same idea and 
appointed Sebastian Cabot to be Grand Pilot of England. 

There followed useful little manuals such as William 
Bourne’s A Regiment for the Sea: Conteynyng most profit- 
able Rules . . . most needful and necessary for al Sea- 
faryng men^ which was printed in 1574, and taught the 
aspirant all about the compass, latitude and longitude, 
stars, moon and tides, “ sea cardes ” (i.e. charts, which 
were now beginning to be used instead of globes). And 
there were similar books on gunnery. But, if we would 
accompany Smith in his adventures, we must remember 
that between England and Spain there had been bound 
to be war at some date ; at least for years there had been 
every element of future trouble. 

The roots of this were deeply laid. As far back as 
1385 the heiress of the last Count of Flanders had married 
the Duke of Burgundy, and in this way Flanders was 



6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

destined to become part of the dominions of Austria. 
Coming to the sixteenth century, the marriage of Joanna 
(daughter of Fernando and that Isabel under whose 
auspices Columbus had made his great discoveries) to 
Philip, who was heir to Flanders, Holland and Burgundy, 
resulted in the birth of a son who as Charles V became 
in 1516 by right of inheritance ruler of Spain, the 
Netherlands and the New World. Spain continued 
rising towards her climax in power and wealth, even if 
some of her best men were withdrawn either to the 
New World or to fight in the wars of Central Europe. 
But when Charles in 1556 abdicated in favour of his son 
Philip II, the latter as King of Spain did not inherit his 
father’s empire though he did retain Flanders and 
Holland. And then, during Philip’s reign, which was 
not ended until 1598, there was for him manifold trouble. 
In the first place the religious changes in England and 
the excommunication of Elizabeth made it difficult for 
any friendship to continue between him and her country. 
This was intensified when the Dutch rebelled against his 
rule and were given aid by the English Queen. 

Secondly, all this exclusiveness across the Atlantic 
caused the deepest irritation among those in England 
who had awakened to the possibilities of sea enterprise 
and were longing to go form with zeal in ships. Thus, 
when to religious hatred was added commercial jealousy, 
and, on top of this, sundry ardent adventurers of the type 
of Hawkins and Drake, ignoring all Spanish legalities, 
went bursting their way into the West Indian waters or 
lying in wait for Spanish treasure-fleets (especially off the 
Azores), it was certain that hostilities were much nearer 
than the ordinary course of events would bring about. 
Unable any longer to endure passively a continuous 
series of pin-pricks, Philip began to make slow but 
elaborate preparations for crushing England. After 
some delay the Armada came up the English Channel 



INTRODUCTION 


7 


in the summer of 1588, and with its defeat the climax 
of Spanish prosperity passed away, this second Philip 
himself ending his reign ten years later. It was during 
the time of Philip III that Smith visited Spain in the 
year 1 604, and James I had already been on the English 
throne a year. There was in the latter’s foreign policy 
a keen desire to make peace with Spain. On the other 
hand, we must remember that his people, having made 
money by sacking Spanish towns and plundering Spanish 
treasure-ships, were still disposed against peace. 

Piracy continued for the reason that it was a means to 
wealth and there was a lack of organized naval opposi- 
tion to this roving. Not merely in the North Sea, 
English Channel, off the coasts of Wales and Ireland, 
but in the Mediterranean, off the north-west shoulder 
of Africa, round about the Azores and Canaries existed 
areas where ships of French or English nationalities 
could cruise about, well-armed with guns, in the certain 
hope that their speculation would soon be rewarded by 
some vessel of inferior fighting strength. The sea was 
free-for-all. Let those who cared to take the risk obtain 
what they could : particularly from vessels bound for 
the Old World from the New. Therefore it was that no 
freighter or fishing vessel could ever go about her lawful 
occasions with security. 

What inducement was there on the Continent at the 
time when John Smith was old enough to experiment 
as a soldier of fortune ? There were in Northern Europe 
two spheres where an Englishman would be welcomed 
as a fighter. In France Elizabeth had made a precedent 
when she sent, for political reasons, assistance to the 
Huguenots. These religious wars, which began in 1562 
and lasted until 1595, had for certain of Elizabeth’s 
subjects an attraction quite apart from adventure and 
any conscientious sympathy. Thus, when Henry of 
Navarre (that vacillating fellow who changed his faith 



8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

as frequently as some modern statesmen change their 
politics) was fighting the Holy League from 1589 to 
1595, an Englishman felt he was doing quite the right 
thing if he fought on Henry’s side, seeing that the League 
was in close alliance with Philip II of Spain. Un- 
fortunately for Smith, peace came just too soon for his 
services to be of use. 

But in the Netherlands, where a long struggle was still 
going on until 1 609 against those of the Roman Catholic 
religion, there was an outlet for all this juvenile en- 
thusiasm. Further south, as we shall presently see, 
there was additional opportunity in fighting against the 
infidel Turks. Not one of these three spheres, however, 
could have such a universal appeal for fiery youth as the 
attraction which the New World was holding out for 
planters. Patents began to be granted in order “ to 
discover and take possession of all remote and bar- 
barous lands unoccupied by any Christian Prince or 
people.” Companies were formed in England, ships 
chartered, bands of unsettled townsmen and villagers 
collected with a view to colonizing St. Christopher’s, 
Barbados, the Bahamas, and even that North American 
mainland ; but away from Hispaniola which Spain had 
obtained through the enterprise of Columbus. 

Whilst it is probably true that the perfect biography 
never has been and never will be possible, we can even at 
this distance of time obtain a just understanding of John 
Smith from a knowledge of what he did, how others 
reacted to his conduct, what he wrote concerning himself 
and his contemporaries, what the latter remarked about 
him. Perhaps few “ lives ” are more misleading than 
when autobiographical : for it is impossible that the 
writer, however hard he may try, could get the required 
perspective. Smith, in so far as he speaks of himself, 
is no exception to this rule ; yet he helps us to see the 
truth in part, and enables us to see events from his point 



INTRODUCTION 


9 


of view. In the following pages Smith’s friends and 
enemies, his own varied situations and trials, his line of 
policy and behaviour assist us to create the whole picture 
out of the parts. 

His character at the hands of critics has passed through 
the three stages of praise, condemnation and discriminat- 
ing approval. If he has been at times unjustly lauded, 
he has had to suffer undue suspicion. If during his 
lifetime he made many enemies, yet some of his fellow 
soldiers, such as Ensign Thomas Carlton and Sergeant 
Edward Robinson, referred to him in verses unmistak- 
ably complimentary and even effusive. These expressions 
have a real value because they support and strengthen 
one aspect of Smith during that first part of his life. 
Thus, when Carlton, who was one of the few survivors 
after the Battle of Rothenthurm, eulogizes “ my honest 
Captaine ” as one free “ from wine, tobacco, debts, dice, 
oaths ” ; or such Virginia colleagues as the brothers 
Michael and William Phettiplace, or Richard Wiffing, 
speak in admiration of John Smith, we can weigh their 
evidence against that of less favourable contemporaries. 

As to his personal appearance, it will assist the imagina- 
tion if reference is made to the portrait which appears 
in the well-known map of New England. Here he is 
represented at the age of 37 with moustache and rounded 
beard. Whatever else the likeness suggests, we have 
before us a face in keeping with a character that is strong, 
determined and restrained. The eyes are keen yet 
kindly, the forehead broad and intellectual ; the glance 
direct, penetrating and observant. The general effect 
is stern, resolute but not intolerant. Whether, as was 
said of him. Smith was “ Brasse without ” but of “ golde 
within ” ; whether he was, in the words of a modern 
distinguished, though violent, critic nothing better than 
“ a quick-wdtted, unscrupulous and self-reliant man,” 
let the facts and comments here offered in due order 



10 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

speak for themselves. The art of writing history, like 
the art of painting a picture, can never in the strictest 
sense of the word be neutral ; but it can and must be 
interpretative. And, however Captain John Smith may 
appear in the light of modern study, at least his person- 
ality and position in history demand our close attention. 



T 


T 



CHAPTER II 


THE AGE OF ADVENTURE 

VEN to attempt seeking a reason why 
in the past and present men willingly 
and eagerly forsake the security and 
comfort of the town or village for the 
unknown risks of seas, would be as 
useless as to wonder why some are 
born with the love of adventure, or 
the longing for excitement. 

Still more surprising is the historical fact that in 
divers centuries and generations this attraction of ship- 
ping and travel has had such an irresistible power over 
certain individuals born not along the coast but inland 
away from all converse with sailors, all sight of ships and 
sound of waves. John Smith is one of those cases whose 
ancestry and upbringing afford no indication of future 
inclination : in his nostrils was the smell of the soil 
rather than of the sea. This is the record of one whose 
blood was north country but whose mind was that of a 
west-country man. 

His father was descended from the Smiths of Crudley 
in Lancashire ; his mother was a Yorkshire woman, and 
he himself was born in Lincolnshire, at Willoughby. 
According to the parish register of Willoughby^ by 
Alford, “ John the sonne of George Smyth was baptized 
the IXth daie of lanuarye ” i 579, or, as we should reckon 
it in these days, 1580. George Smith tenanted a farm 
from Lord Willoughby de Eresby, and in his will dated 

March 30, 1596, when “ in bodie weake and paynde,” 

11 





12 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH . 

he bequeathed “to ye Right Honorable my Lord 
Willoughbie under whome I have many yeares lived as 
his poore tennant as a token of my dewtifull good will 
the best of my two yeares olS. colts. Item I geve and 
bequeathe unto Alice my Wyfe ye ferme which I now 
dwell in which I houlde by coppie of Court rowle as ye 
grant of ye Right Honorable my foresaide good Lorde 
duringe her widdow hoode accordinge to ye custome of 
his Lordshippe manner of Willoughbie ; and if it shall 
please God that my saide Wyfe doe marry agayne and 
take a second husband, then my Will is that my saide 
ferme shall come to John Smyth my eldest sonne whome 
I chardge and command to honoure and love my fore- 
saide good Lord Willoughbie during his lyfe.” 

It is obvious that George Smith or Smyth, who was 
buried on the following April 3, was also the owner of 
freehold property, for “ I geve to John Smyth mine eldest 
sonne and to ye heires of his body lawfully begotten 
Seaven acres of pasture lyenge within ye territoare of 
Charleton Magne.” George Smith bequeathed “ two 
tenements and one Little Close in a certeyn Streete ” in 
Louth to Francis, his younger son. The Smiths, then, 
were practically small country gentry and at one time had 
borne a coat of arms. John was educated at the Grammar 
Schools of Alford ^ and Louth, but we know from his 
own statement that “ his minde being even then set 
upon brave adventures, [he] sould his Satchell, bookes, 
and all he had, intending secretly to get to Sea, but 
his fathers death stayed him.” He had been left “ a 
competent meanes, which hee not being capable to 
manage,” he admits, “ little regarded . . . But now 
the Guardians of his estate more regarding it than 
him, he had libertie enough, though no meanes, to get 
beyond the Sea.” 

^ Alford lies S.E. of Louth, and Willoughby — still further south — 
is only about six miles from the sea. 



THE AGE OF ADVENTURE 


13 


But after his grammar-school education, young John 
Smith, now about sixteen, was apprenticed to Thomas 
Sendall at Lynn, who was “ the greatest Merchant of all 
those parts.” The opportunity would have suited the 
normal small-town boy, but not this Jack. He was 
hardly the kind who finds satisfaction in the safety of a 
steady job, or the least pleasure in a big employer’s 
counting-house. The lad’s object in remaining even a 
short time with Sendall was his own private secret ; 
because the Lynn merchant would not presently send 
Smith to sea, the latter cleared out, nor did they see each 
other again till the year 1604, by which time young 
Smith had passed through more amazing adventures 
than probably Sendall had ever heard of or imagined. 

Few sea-bordering counties in England have so limited 
a number and such unattractive harbours as Lincolnshire. 
And yet when easterly winds blew across the flat lands 
from the cold North Sea they must have inspired in boyish 
minds at this period thoughts which do not usually come 
to farmers’ sons. Only a dozen years before John Smith 
there had been born at South Carlton, Lincolnshire, that 
child who was to become Sir William Monson, another 
distinguished Captain and traveller, who in his celebrated 
Naval Tracts has left us such invaluable nautical literature. 
But when England’s men were achieving such glorious 
feats in that eternally wondrous period, why should we 
marvel that even the younger generation were already 
afire to emulate their great examples? The year in 
which John Smith was born was that in which Drake 
completed the world’s circumnavigation — the first 
Englishman to do so. The year when Smith deserted 
a merchant’s office to venture over the world was that in 
which Drake ended his experiences in the greatest of 
all adventures, death. In this same year Howard, 
Essex and Raleigh stormed Cadiz and destroyed fifty 
new Spanish galleons ; William Shakespeare was already 



14 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

such a popular dramatist that pirate publishers found 
it profitable to use his name unscrupulously ; and Francis 
Bacon was just about to issue his famous Essays. 

It was, indeed, a wonder age. Perhaps no twenty-five 
years in the story of English effort have been so interest- 
ing as that period from 1575 to 1600, or so historically 
fhiitful, unless we think of the first quarter in our own 
twentieth century. The New World with the vast 
possibilities of the East Indies and the rich lands beyond 
the Atlantic had been merely acknowledged. All the 
fresh seas with their tides and winds and strange fish ; 
all the unexplored territories with their mountains and 
hidden wealth, savage peoples, wild animals and unsus- 
pected plants were calling to men of imagination. Bacon 
referred to America as “ the greatest birth of time,” and 
when young Smith “ to get beyond the Sea ” turned his 
back on Sendall’s business house, it was because there 
was too much going on outside and on a much vaster 
scale. 

Smith’s youth was spent in a period that like our own 
was iconoclastic, revolutionary. Europe was slumbering 
peacefully when the news of Columbus woke her with a 
start. It was the greatest shock which antiquity, hitherto 
so narrowly contained, had ever received, but it was 
also only the first of other disturbing concussions. 
Apart from the changes in religion. Smith’s world was 
in process of other mighty transformations. The old 
chivalry had passed away, the days of the Crusaders were 
not referred to in Northern Europe, and with Lepanto 
the galley as a warship had more than reached its climax 
of utility. In art and literature and the advance of 
civilization Europe had made great progress. In 
England, if we were not yet very artistic, at least we were 
beginning to be comfortable and to appreciate the 
revived interest in the classics. The people of England 
still retained, as we know from the accounts of even rough 



THE AGE OF ADVENTURE 15 

seafarers, a keen religious consciousness side by side with 
utter dissoluteness. 

When George Smith died he bequeathed to his wife 
“ a bedstead in ye first Chamber with a fetherbedd a 
coveringe a paire of lynnen sheets one blanckett a bowlster 
with pillow and pillowe beare ” ; and to his daughter 
“ a bedstead in the parler and a fetherbedd and coveringe 
and a blanckett a paire of lynnen sheets and a pare of 
hempen sheets with boulster pillow and pillow beares ” 
together with “ halfe of all my pewter and brasse.” But 
if, as has been pointed out, English sixteenth-century 
people were known for their polished manners, and 
English daughters were as Erasmus said, “ nymphs of 
divine beauty,” yet domestic affection as between parent 
and child was not exceptionally strong. Marriage, 
owing to the feudal custom, had become largely a matter 
of financial discussion, and the freedom of consent was 
the least consideration. On the other hand, the relations 
between father and son, which may seem so strange to 
our modern youth on both sides of the Atlantic, were 
rather those of sovereign and subject, governor and 
governed. 

Thus, his father being now dead, the sixteen-year-old 
John Smith, his mind “ set upon brave adventures,” 
began to enjoy that freedom which normally would not 
have been his for several years. The opportunity to get 
away came when he went with the young second son of 
Lord Willoughby across the Channel to Orleans, where 
Willoughby’s other son was completing his education. 
After six weeks, however, young Smith was sent back 
home, though to return “ was the least thought of his 
determination ” ; and he wished to have a look round 
Paris. Before leaving London he had obtained ten 
shillings of his own estate from his guardians “ to be rid 
of him,” and he had other money as well. It was whilst 
in the French capital that the well-known international 



i6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

confidence-trick showed itself even in the sixteenth 
century. For Smith got acquainted with a Scotsman 
named David Hume who, in return for making use of 
Smith’s money, gave him letters of introduction to 
Hume’s friends in Scotland, who in turn would pass him 
on to the Court of King James at Edinburgh. But 
after he had arrived in Rouen, Smith, having practically 
no more money to spend, decided to carry on to Havre 
and join up as a soldier in the French army. But, peace 
coming, he transferred his soldiering to serve under 
Captain Joseph Duxbury, an English captain of free- 
lances. The latter’s troop proceeded into the Low 
Countries and under Duxbury’s colours the lad served 
from 1596 till 1600, fighting for the Dutch against their 
religious enemies. 

At the age of sixteen and within one year John Smith 
had thus begun that life which was to become replete 
with so many adventures. In those days of difficult 
transportation it was no small achievement to have 
visited London, Orleans, Paris, Rouen, Havre, the Low 
Countries and to have been in both the French and Dutch 
armies. It was pure chance of circumstance that guided 
his energetic thoughts into land- rather than sea-faring : 
he was on the Continent, at a loose end and without funds. 
There was fighting to be done, it afforded an outlet for 
his restless spirit, and an opportunity for that active 
young body. He had begun to learn something about 
the art of war in a hard, practical school, and this know- 
ledge was essential to one whose future life consisted in 
warring against powerful opposition of one sort or 
another. 

The history of civilization is the record of travel, the 
chronicle of transport. It is only thus that geographical 
exploration and communication between countries has 
been obtained : the civilizer is therefore the traveller. 
It was this Wanderlust that made Smith from the very 



THE AGE OF ADVENTURE i-7 

first a potential colonizer ; it was the foundation of all 
his career.^ Crossing between England and the European 
continent in those days was a matter not to be undertaken 
lightly. From Lord Herbert of Cherbury we have a 
realistic account of a passage made in 1 609 from Dieppe 
to Dover when a gale sprang up and the ship was all 
night in the Channel, seemingly about to founder. 

“ The master of our ship lost both the use of his com- 
pass and his reason. For not knowing whither he was 
carried by the tempest, all the help he had was by the 
lightnings, which, together with thunder very frequently 
that night, terrified him, yet gave the advantage some- 
times to discover whether we were upon our coast, to 
which he thought by the course of his [sand] glasses we 
were near approached. And now towards day we found 
ourselves, by great providence of God, within view of 
Dover, to which the master of our ship did make. The 
men of Dover, rising betimes in the morning to see 
whether any ship were coming towards them, were in 
great numbers upon the shore, as believing the tempest 
which had thrown down barns and trees near the town, 
might give them the benefit of some wreck, if perchance 
any ship were driven thitherwards. We coming thus 
in extreme danger straight upon the pier of Dover, 
which stands out in the sea, our ship was unfortunately 
split against it.” 

In like manner Smith, having concluded his four 
years’ soldiering in the Low Countries, was to learn 
something of the sea’s terrors. In his twenty-first year 
he started off in a ship from Enkhuizen, the North 
Holland port on the Zuyder Zee, bound for Leith ; but 
after crossing the North Sea the vessel was wrecked off 
the Northumberland coast at Holy Island where the 
shoals, the heavy scend at high water and a four-knot 
tide have always made St. Aidan’s Lindisfarne a trap 
for seafarers. Smith was lucky to get ashore with his 

B 



r8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

life, but he fell ill and had to remain here some 
time. 

His journey was presently continued into Scotland 
as he wished to present those letters of introduction 
which David Hume had given him. But here he found 
that Hume had played a trick, for “ after much kinde 
usage amongst those honest Scots,” Smith discovered 
they had “ neither money nor meanes to make him a 
Courtier,” and thus a dead-end had been reached. The 
possibility of employment in Edinburgh being out of 
the question, he now did the obvious thing and went 
south to his home village of Willoughby. His arrival 
among his old associates after four wandering years ; 
the return as a young man, who had knocked about 
Northern Europe and seen life, but when last seen was a 
mere lad, was like the coming back of the Prodigal Son. 
He was received with enthusiasm, he had interesting 
yarns to tell, he must be entertained with fitting 
hospitality. 

But we get a real insight into his character and his 
future trend when we see how he reacted to all this 
popular outburst. Smith cared little for this kind of 
thing : ^ he was not interested in playing “ the gallant 
hero,” in fact the whole affair bored him. “ Within a 
short time,” to quote his own words, “ being glutted with 
too much company, wherein he took small delight,” he 
took himself apart, as you will find all future great men 
must do for meditation and study as a prelude to their 
real life’s work. To risk the gibes and jeers of his own 
immediate countrymen who had known him since he 
was a baby to withdraw himself from their society and 
become a hermit at the expense of being thought ludi- 
crous and an eccentric ; to pursue an unusual line of 
conduct in sheer obedience to his own instincts — all this 
reveals to us quite another side of his character. He 
possessed a moral courage and spiritual determination in 



THE AGE OF ADVENTURE 


19 

no way inferior to his physical bravery. He was an 
adventurer in mind as well as in body. And there are 
many of us in a busy world who envy him in seeing so 
clearly his destiny ahead, without being enticed away by 
his immediate environment. 

“ He retired himselfe into a little wooddie pasture, a 
good way from any towne, invironed with many hundred 
Acres of other woods : Here by a faire brook he built 
a Pavillion of boughes, where only in his cloaths he lay.” 
Could anything be simpler or more delightful to an inde- 
pendent mind bent on study and thought And with 
him he took two books, whose power was to exercise itself 
over him for the rest of his life. Of these studies the one 
was Marcus Aurelius, that ancient Roman stoic, thinker 
and emperor, soldier and philosopher. From his writings 
Smith was able to consider sympathetically and in solitude 
the jottings of a general written down in his lonely 
moments snatched during the business of war. We can 
trace hereafter something of that stoic’s high nobility, 
his tenderness and sincerity in the youth who was to be 
father of the great man. The value of self-mastery, the 
Divine immanence in the universe, the insignificance of 
the individual in the great scheme of things, the call to 
human courage in obedience to duty : such Aurelian 
thoughts entered a mind ripe for reception. 

It is true that Aurelius had written in Greek and that 
his famous Thoughts — one of the world’s really great 
books that has influenced men of all nations and ages — 
was not published until the year 1558 at Zurich. But 
in 1529 Antonio de Guevara had in his Lihro de Marco 
Aurelio produced a Spanish work based on the Roman 
emperor’s philosophical teaching. Tn 1557 Sir Thomas 
North had issued The Dial of Princes^ which was a version 
of Guevara’s book. Now here we have the interesting 
fact that North’s personality would appeal to Smith’s 
imagination exactly, for he was another instance of a 



id CAI»TAIN JOHN SMITH 

man of action being, like Aurelius, also literary minded. 
Sir Thomas had served as a captain against the Armada, 
and it must have been The Dial of Princes which Smith 
took with him into that retreat under “ a Pavillion of 
boughes ” : for the first English translation of Aurelius’s 
actual Thoughts was not made until the year 1634. 
North’s work we know to have had immense vogue in 
England, and North himself died only a few months 
after Smith had commenced his meditation. 

The second volume with which the young hermit 
had armed himself was Machiavelli’s Art of W arre, and 
here again we see how the revived study of the classics 
in Europe was to have a wonderful domination over 
the men that should reveal to us the New World across 
the seas. Of course this classical taste was to manifest 
itself in art with its cherubs and scroll work, and in 
literature (but significantly in poetry) with its constant 
references to “ Caesars,” “ Greeks,” “ Romans,” gods 
and goddesses, “ Homers,” as well as many other 
ancient models. Machiavelli’s visions were largely a 
reconstruction according to the grandeur that was Rome : 
his own political ideal was a republic such as the Eternal 
City had witnessed in former times. His Arte della 
Guerra^ which was only eighty years old when Smith 
devoted to it this full attention, upheld the idea of an 
armed people, with infantry as the main strength of the 
army : it was thus a plea for Rome with her legions as a 
model. 

Thus, having had a preliminary few years in Conti- 
nental armies and experienced the perils of the sea, the 
future President of Virginia and Admiral of New 
England was in the best of conditions for studying 
quietly the principles and philosophy as expressed by 
two of the finest minds in any age. No one can think 
of that sylvan sojourn in Lincolnshire without realizing 
that in “ a little wooddie pasture ” by “ a faire brook ” 



THE AGE OF ADVENTURE 


21 


ideas were being conceived that some day would come 
forth as great colonial expressions. Just as the scholar- 
monk retires from life’s hurly-burly to the sanctity of his 
cell to create some masterpiece of learning ; just as the 
modern scientist encloses himself in his laboratory until 
he astonishes the world with a new discovery ; so in the 
fifteenth century Prince Henry the Navigator withdrew 
himself from the known world to the cold, barren, dreary 
Sagres that he might open up the unknown world of 
South Africa, the East Indies and elsewhere ; so in the 
year 1600 — that pivotal date which joins the Middle 
Ages to modern times — ^John Smith in willing isolation 
amid the bleak, wind-swept plains of Lincolnshire was 
passing an essential period preliminary to founding that 
great nation which to-day we call the United States. 

If Smith preferred his own society, his thoughts, his 
studies, his little camp, he was no mere sedent. With 
him he had taken his horse for exercise, his “ lance and 
ring ” ; whilst for food he lived chiefly on venison, and 
whatever he required was brought to him by his man. 
But, finally, the countryside would not let him alone : 
they could not understand why this fellow should still 
prefer his own company. And, after the manner of 
busybodies who fail to realize that men of Smith’s 
temperament are never less lonely than when alone, they 
persuaded a certain Italian, who was an accomplished 
horseman and “ Rider to Henry Earle of Lincolne ” to 
get in touch with the hermit. The Italian’s “ languages 
and good discourse, and exercise of riding ” had the 
effect of Smith transferring his residence to the Earl of 
Lincoln’s household at Tattersall. Of course it was a 
mistake, though we can appreciate that the larger oppor- 
tunities for horsemanship, and perhaps martial knowledge, 
were the overwhelming and decisive temptation. 

But such an existence soon palled, the call of the wide 
world came to him once more. He must leave his home 



22 


CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

county and his own country. He had studied and 
reflected, but the time had here come to resume adventur- 
ing, so he must go abroad again, now to embark on the 
most extraordinary incidents of his life. The confidence 
of youth was still within him, and he had not yet emerged 
from his twenty-first year. He could enj'oy the freedom 
of the land as well as the freedom of the seas, the thrill 
of life, the joy of travel, and the excitement of fighting. 



T 



CHAPTER III 


SMITH GOES ABROAD 

F to-day one of the great problems of 
civilization is to find an outlet for the 
physical energy of youth, those who 
lived in bygone centuries were more 
fortunate. 

Even during the nineteenth there 
was the great adventure of rising indus- 
tries, gold discoveries, clipper ships, 
railways, exploring darkest Africa, and so on. Before 
that period there was an opening for a young man’s 
enthusiasm in service under the Honourable East India 
Company or in the Anglo-French wars. During the 
seventeenth century there were Anglo-Dutch wars, 
privateering, buccaneering and plantations, just as in 
the Tudor times there was many a chance to singe the 
Spaniard’s beard. Farther back still such alFairs as the 
Wars of the Roses, wars with France, wars with Scotland, 
rebellions, conspiracies and the like afforded an oppor- 
tunity for adventurous minors to display their prowess 
and expend their vigour. 

But for generation after generation there had always 
existed that common enemy of Christendom, that natural 
foe and ready-made opponent whom we may conveniently 
call the Turk. If our modern youth is unfortunate in 
having to create artificial opportunities for prowess, 
those who lived in the Middle Ages had always a stand- 
ing chance when it came to fighting against Turks, Sara- 
cens, Mohammedans, or, after 1492, the Barbary corsairs. 





34 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

The long succession of Crusades was in origin, and 
largely in continuity, an expression of religious zeal as 
wars of the Cross against the infidel : but they were also 
a call to adventure, to travel by sea and land, to witness 
the world, to partake in noble conflict. Nothing stirred 
the then narrow world so much as the knowledge that the 
Holy Land was now controlled by the infidel Turk ; no 
propaganda has ever been so universally successful as 
that appeal for organizing the Crusades. And even 
when zeal died down, these undertakings left behind two 
permanent effects. 

Firstly, their consequence on Western progress was 
as considerable as the subsequent Reformation and 
French Revolution : for among other resulting - issues 
were the drawing away to a common concentrated enter- 
prise all those lawless and adventurous nobles who, 
instead of being a danger at home, now contributed to 
the consolidation of European national ideals. The 
character of an individual is one ; the character of a 
crowd is something quite different. And the wild spirits 
united against the Turk, toned by the common perils of 
voyaging in ill-found ships, or by fighting fierce en- 
counters on land, created an international policy which 
was in essence strongly Christian, pro-Papal and violently 
anti-Turk. Secondly, even after the practice of crusad- 
ing had died utterly, there remained the twin influ- 
ences of travel and knowledge : men from elementary 
civilizations became familiar with higher standards of 
European comfort, just as in the Great War many a 
private soldier for the first time learned to be fed well 
on good food. 

From these Crusades, then, there continued right 
through the Elizabethan period, and after, the impetus 
to see the world, with the consequent desire to forge the 
perrnanent link of commerce ; and there continued, side 
by side, unaffected by any break with Rome, the intense 



SMITH GOES ABROAD 


25 


indignation against, hatred and fear of the Turk whether 
in respect of his armies ashore or his galleys afloat in the 
waters of the Mediterranean. Travel and wars are 
essentially for the confident and vigorous, but to such as 
these the height of adventure was to contribute even some 
small share against an historic enemy. 

We can readily appreciate this instinct in the mind of 
every spirited young man. He might not have been 
familiar with the flow of history, but the traditional anti- 
pathy was handed down, and history kept on repeating 
itself. By the eighth century of the Christian era the 
advance of Moslem power had become something 
terribly real in Europe. Before long it threatened to 
be dominant among Western peoples, but the Conquest 
of Granada in 1492 by the Spaniards sent the Moslems 
finally back across the Gibraltar Straits to Africa. The 
Turks, however, in the East, driven by the Mongols out 
of Central Asia to Armenia, had gradually extended 
westwards into Asia Minor, and in 1358, by the capture 
of Gallipoli, had gained their first footing into Europe. 
Then in the period 1389-1402 they had subdued 
Wallachia, Bulgaria, Thessaly and Macedonia. The 
combined strength of Hungary and Poland had been 
defeated, and by the middle of the fifteenth century 
Turkey, with a renewed strength, was able to show her 
aggressive power against Hungary. Constantinople was 
captured in 1453, Hungary was barely saved, Albania 
like Peloponnesus was conquered a few years later, and 
it was during the reign of Soliman the Magnificent 
(1520-1566) that this Sultan’s empire became at once 
vast and a terror to Christendom, the central portions 
of Hungary becoming a mere Turkish ‘ province. But 
the peak of success had been reached, and Soliman’s 
successor, Selim II (1566-1574), was a notorious drunk- 
ard who left his generals to fight his battles. It was 
during his period that the historic Battle of Lepanto, 



26 


CAriAiiN juniN oiviiin 

1571, fought by a triple alliance of Rome, Spain and 
Venice in a Holy League of Nations, proved that the 
Turk was not invincible and that the whole Moslem 
strength of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers and Turkey could be 
broken when the Christian powers cared to unite and 
organize. 

But Lepanto did not immediately eradicate the scourges 
of the sea any more than the declining power of the 
Sultans gave to Eastern Europe at once peace and safety. 
On the contrary, Transylvanian princes and soldiers 
were kept busily employed against a foe notorious for 
his cruelty and ruthlessness. England was less affected 
than Southern Europe, although not less hating the Turk 
for all his works. English ships trading to the Levant 
were not seldom captured, taken into some North African 
port, and their crews condemned to perpetual slavery. 
Nor did this corsair menace conclude until operations 
against Algiers in the early nineteenth century altered a 
cess-pool into a health resort. Collaterally with this 
animosity against the Turk was the Englishman’s regret 
that the former should refuse Christianity ; and the 
well-known passage in the Good Friday prayers in the 
Book of Common Prayer, where “ Turks ” are especially 
mentioned, is to-day a survival of that age when it was 
thought a wholesome duty to fight against a universal 
foe who had wrought such damage to nations and 
individuals. 

Thus, then, we can now appreciate that with this steady 
invitation to adventurers, to young men of ardent spirit 
and energetic bodies, the possibility of slaying Turks 
appealed to John Smith, after his temporary retirement, 
as the logical duty. Speaking of himself he related : 
“ Thus when France and Netherlands had taught him to 
ride a Horse and use his Armes, with such rudiments of 
warre as .his tender yeeres in those martiall Schooles 
could attaine unto ; he was desirous to see more of the 



SMITH GOES ABROAD 


27 

■world, and trie his fortune against the Turkes : both 
lamenting and repenting to have seene so many Christians 
slaughter one another.” 

The “ tender yeeres ” were those between the age of 
sixteen and twenty, and then he crossed over to the Low 
Countries and began those remarkable experiences ^ 
which make a veritable seventeenth-century Odyssey. 
If ever a man went out searching for trouble, it was 
Smith : and assuredly he found it, surviving time after 
time by the narrowest of margins. “ Vincere est vivere ” 
was his actuating motto as, later, it was to be inscribed 
upon his heraldic crest. To attempt — to keep on over- 
coming obstacles — was for him the breath of life. Perhaps 
at first he was a little too trustful and unsuspecting ; for 
just as the wily David Hume had once fleeced him, so 
now, having landed in the Netherlands he found himself 
in the company of four French swindlers who were 
adventurers in the worst sense of the word. One of these 
pretended to be a great noble and that the other three 
were his attendant gentlemen. 

Against his wish Smith was “ over-perswaded ” to 
accompany them into France, on the pretext that the 
Duchess de Mercoeur would provide them "with means 
and letters of favour to the Duke, who for the last two 
years had been commander-in-chief in Hungary to the 
Emperor Rudolph. We must remember that Hungary 
had received a smashing blow from the Turks in 1526 
in the Battle of Mohacs, and was partitioned into three : 
Austria being supreme in the west, Turkey remaining 
in the south and centre for a century and a half, till nearly 
the end of the seventeenth century, as rulers of two-thirds 
of Hungarian counties, whilst Transylvania was the 
rallying point of Magyar nationals. 

^ The authenticity for these travels and adventures in Europe has beer 
as strongly defended as it has been attacked by certain critics. The 
matter is discussed in the Appendix. 



28 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

In great discomfort such as the English Channel can 
create during winter time, Smith and his companions 
came up that treacherous Somme to St. Valery, an 
estuary which with its narrow channel, three-knot tide 
and miles of sandbanks is still dreaded by all but local 
sailors ; and it could have been but little consolation 
that William the Conqueror one September evening 
with a fair wind had set out from here in 1066 after 
several of his craft had foundered even whilst lying at 
anchor off St. Valery. But in Smith’s ship the skipper 
must have been remarkably expert or lucky, for Smith 
says that “ in the darke night they arrived in the broad 
shallow in-let of Saint Valleries sur Some in Picardie.” 

Here the leader of the four Frenchmen stealthily 
arranged that the luggage of themselves and of Smith 
should be put ashore, with the skipper and the quartette 
well knowing that in Smith’s trunks were good apparel 
and more money than they possessed. Smith and the 
other passengers, including some soldiery, were thus com- 
pelled to remain on board until the ship’s boat came back. 
This, however, was not till the late afternoon of the 
following day, when the skipper also returned. Great 
indignation manifested itself, and the passengers were 
inclined to slay the skipper when he pretended that he 
had been prevented from coming off sooner because 
“ the sea went so high,” whereas he was really co-operat- 
ing with the four French rascals who had got away with 
the luggage. It was useless to Smith that had he and 
his fellow passengers been sufficiently seamanlike they 
could have made off with the ship. 

For the fact was that on this second occasion Smith 
had been separated from his money by believing a mere 
tale ; and on landing he not only had just a penny left 
but was compelled to sell his cloak in order to pay for his 
passage. It was only then that one of the soldier 
passengers named Curzianvere gave him the information 



SMITH GOES ABROAD ^9 

that the leading member of the gang was not the noble 
lord he pretended but the son of a Breton lawyer. The 
other three, named Cursell, La Nelie and Monferrat, 
were his accomplices in crime. It was thus an unfor- 
tunate beginning, but Curzianvere promised to look 
after him and certainly did his best. Proceeding by 
Dieppe, Caudebec, Honfieur and Pont-Audemer, they 
reached Caen, where the Prior of St. Stephen’s Abbey 
and many others welcomed them kindly. This was 
the abbey which was founded by William the Conqueror, 
where also the latter’s body was buried in front of the 
high altar. Smith mentions that in his time the tomb 
was already “ ruinous,” and the modern visitor to Caen 
will recollect the site as of St. Etienne or the Abbaye 
aux hommes. 

From Caen they passed farther south to Mortagne in 
Normandy, but Curzianvere being under sentence of 
banishment dared not be seen except by his friends. 
Still, he was a man of noble family with influential 
acquaintances and thus enabled Smith to have his wants 
supplied. Indeed the latter could have continued 
enjoying this hospitality indefinitely : “ but such pleasant 
pleasures suited littie with his poore estate, and his rest- 
lesse spirit, that could never finde content, to receiue 
such noble favours, as he could neither deserve nor 
requite.” So the wanderer resumed his meanderings 
alone through Normandy and into Brittany from port 
to port, trying to find some ship of war but without 
success. Finally he spent all that he had and reached 
a forest where under a tree “ neare dead with griefe and 
cold ” a rich farmer found him, assisted him and helped 
him on his way. 

Shortly afterwards, whilst walking through a grove 
of trees between Pontorson (which is at the mouth of the 
Couesnon, dividing Normandy from Brittan;j^) and 
Dinan he happened to encounter Cursell. Smith was 



30 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

in no fortunate condition, but the cheat was in this respect 
not less miserable. Outside an old tower the two now 
met in combat, and Cursell was soon hurled to the ground. 
Before long he had confessed the trick played at St. 
Valery on Smith, and how that the four had quarrelled 
among themselves over the division of the spoil. Smith, 
leaving Cxirsell, now made his way to the Earl of Ployer, 
who during the unhappy years of 1590-1596 (when 
Henry of Navarre was busily fighting the Holy League) 
had been brought up in England together with Ployer ’s 
two brothers. Smith was now treated with every hospi- 
tality and taken to see St. Malo, Mont St. Michel, Lam- 
balle, St. Brieuc, Lannion, Tonquedeck, where Ployer 
had his place, Guingamp, and other parts of Brittany ; 
afterwards, being already “ better refurnished than 
ever,” he made his way to Rennes, thence south to 
Nantes, Poitiers, La Rochelle and so to Bordeaux. 

He had heard what a strongly fortified place Bayonne 
was, and nothing would satisfy his curiosity but that he 
should go there too. And thence, in his eager quest to 
see all that France could offer him, he struck across 
Southern France through Pau, Toulouse, Beziers, Car- 
cassonne,^ Narbonne, Montpellier, Nimes, Arles and so 
to Marseilles. For the call of the sea was always sound- 
ing and summoning him, nor could he resist. It cannot 
be said, however, that Smith was one of those who loved 
ships and seafaring merely for themselves, and this 
point needs emphasizing. Whilst there were then, as 
there still are this day, men and boys who regard life 
afloat as the essential thing. Smith regarded it as a means 
to an end, the gate by which entrance to adventure is 
obtained. He was never exclusively th.e sailor but the 
traveller who takes fullest advantage of the nautical arts 
to find new experiences, fresh situations and full oppor- 
tunities for his own indefinable yearnings. In the flush 
of youth this must connote strenuous endeavour, search- 



SMITH GOES ABROAD 


31 


ing for any wars within range, seeking risks and relishing 
them for their own sakes ; but, as his body became 
hardened and his fiery nature more constrained, it was 
inevitable that ultimately constructive pioneering would 
appeal to him more strongly than desultory fighting, 
organization and the carrying out of a bold policy would 
become more attractive than bursting in to other people’s 
troubles. 

Smith knew that, wherever there was a port, there 
was a road that led to romance. He was not of that 
large and enthusiastic family which in loafing round 
quays and wharves, looking down on to the decks of 
ships or up aloft at the spars and rigging, critically and 
sympathetically finds a special and peculiar joy. Smith 
was no dreamer, he was too practical-minded, for that ; 
with him cause and effect were seen in closest relation. 
The sea was no sentimental fancy but a marvellous 
reality ; ships were far more than creatures of interest, 
but the bridges along which one wanders towards mighty 
possibilities. This Lincolnshire adventurer in his clear- 
minded, undeviating, purposeful procedure must some 
day realize that even travel and absorbing exploits are 
not in themselves a goal but a method of acquiring know- 
ledge that will be requisite when the time comes to build 
ambitiously. 

But nothing is less impatient than youth, and at 
present he was in the mood to follow that romantic sea 
road from its great Mediterranean terminal whither- 
soever it should lead him. At Marseilles, then, it was 
not difficult to find himself aboard a ship that was bound 
for Italy, but the weather quickly piped up and the vessel 
was compelled to run into Toulon. Even after putting 
to sea from here, wind and sea became so bad by the 
time she was off Nice that she had to anchor under the 
small island of St. Mary. Now this ship was carrying 
a number of pilgrims of various nationalities boimd for 



32 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Rome, Marseilles having long been a highly important 
pilgrim-port for those proceeding from Western Europe 
either to the Eternal City or to the Holy Sepulchre. 
Few if any of the passengers on such occasion had ever 
previously beheld the sea or been aboard a ship : nothing 
but their religious duty would have brought them afloat. 
Stringent regulations existed so that the pilgrims should 
be provided with good and sufficient victuals by the 
passenger agents — “ cargatores ” was the well-known 
name for the latter along the Mediterranean ; but if 
you can imagine a not too seaworthy craft crowded with 
a lot of frightened sea-sick landsmen who hated every- 
thing to do with shipping, you will understand that 
Smith’s fellow passengers after two spells of bad 
weather were in no pleasant mood. 

But these Catholics had been roused during the 
previous years by religious disputes. In France from 
1562 there lasted with little respite religious wars for 
the next thirty years, and there was no such consideration 
as tolerance on either side. The massacre on St. Bar- 
tholomew’s Day in 1572 had embittered the struggle, 
and even the Edict of Nantes, by which toleration was 
granted to the Huguenots in 1598, could scarcely banish 
that deep feeling which was exhibited by those of the 
old orthodox religion against such as had come under 
the Reformation’s influence. In particular, at this dawn 
of the seventeenth century, the English nation by reason 
of her rupture with Rome and her ambitious seaman- 
hood (which now sailed boldly into the Caribbean regard- 
less of Spanish exclusive claims based on the Pope’s 
“ Bull of Donation ”) was not popular on the Continent 
among those in union with Rome. The Spaniards 
openly regarded Drake and his class as pirates and 
thieves : in Spanish parlance the words Englishman 
and pirate were synonymous. 

Thus there grew up among the passenger pilgrims 



SMITH GOES ABROAD 


33 


who were his shipmates a conviction that Smith was the 
cause of all this bad luck in voyaging : he was the Jonah 
and would have to be sacrificed before they should ever 
have any luck. “ Hourely cursing him, not only for a 
Hugonoit, but his Nation they swore were all Pyrats, 
and so vildly railed on his dread Soveraigne Queene 
Elizabeth, and that they never should have faire weather 
so long as hee was aboard them, their disputations grew 
to that passion, that they threw him over-board : yet God 
brought him to that little Isle, where was no inhabitants, 
but a few kine and goats.” 

Thus, for the second time in his life, Smith was com- 
pelled to go very near towards death by drowning. The 
pilgrim-ship had got rid of him, but he was not done 
with shipping : and the very next morning he saw a 
couple of vessels which had come in under St. Mary’s 
to shelter from the gale, and aboard one of them he was 
brought, refreshed arid so kindly treated that he was 
quite content to remain in her. For what reason was he 
thus comforted ? The answer is that this happened to 
be a ship from Brittany, and her master. Captain La 
Roche, was from St. Malo, which of course meant that 
he knew of and held in respect the Earl of Ployer. 
Therefore when Smith informed La Roche of all that 
had happened, the skipper both ” for pitie, and the love 
of the Honourable Earle . . . regarded and enter- 
tained ” the Englishman well. 

But, if Smith were no Jonah, at least in some marvel- 
lous manner adventures must always accompany him with 
amazing persistence. At the same time he went so 
close to the vicinity of other risks that it is a wonder 
how he survived : for the Mediterranean with but a 
few interludes had been, ever since the days of classical 
Greece and Rome, the happy sphere for roving pirates. 
In Cicero’s time they were regarded as “ enemies of the 
human race,” but at this commencing seventeenth 

c 



34 


CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

century the corsairs of the North African coast, with their 
fortified ports and immense resources, their well-armed 
ships and determined crews, were placed along the trade- 
routes to fall upon merchant vessels with paralysing 
effect. Many an English ship from London and Ply- 
mouth bound for the Levant had thus come to an un- 
timely end, and her men to a lifetime of slavery. 

In like manner French vessels and French crews had 
suffered even long after the Battle of Lepanto. The 
danger had become so great, indeed, that some sixteen 
years after Smith was in La Roche’s ship France had to 
send a fleet of fifty vessels against these Barbary pirates ; 
and three years after that date the navy of James I per- 
formed its first and last active service, when a fleet con- 
sisting of six royal and a dozen merchant ships carried 
out an expedition against the Algerine pirates. 



T 


T 



CHAPTER IV 

TRAVELS ACROSS EUROPE 

OW, after the gale had subsided 
and the first fair wind had arrived, 
Smith’s new ship got under way 
from the island, crossed the open 
sea to Corsica, coasted southward 
till the other side of Sardinia, sailed 
on till she got hold of the North 
African shore, and so past the Gulf 
of Tunis and Cape Bon to the Island of Lampedusa. 
Thence she made Cape Rosetta and reached Alexandria, 
where she discharged her cargo. 

The next stage of the voyage was to coast round the 
Levant, up the littoral of Asia Minor as far as Scanderoon 
(Alexandretta) in order to see what shipping was lying 
in the roads. Not satisfied, this St. Malo trader of 
200 tons proceeded by Cyprus, Rhodes, the southern 
islands of the Grecian archipelago, past Crete and Cape 
Matapan towards the Adriatic. The island of Cepha- 
lonia glided astern, away to starboard was the scene where 
Antony and Cleopatra had fled from the Battle of Actium ; 
and a little later they were abreast of Corfu, where, only 
thirty years before this visit of John Smith, Don John of 
Austria with his two hundred and seventy-one ships 
had arrived on the eve of Lepanto’s historic battle. 

The French ship was out for piracy after having left 
Egypt. Alexandretta was unable to tempt her, but she 
well knew that if she waited long enough between Corfu 
and Cape Otranto she would be able to sight one of those 

86 





36 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

richly-laden vessels which fetched from Asia Minor 
Oriental silks and other goods that had come overland 
from India for the merchant princes of Venice. After 
lying-to for a few days, one such ship was seen. She 
has not been described for us, yet from contemporary 
illustrations we know she would be not of the long, lean, 
fighting-galley type, but slow, big-bellied, with two (or 
even three) masts, and armed with guns as defence 
against the Mediterranean sea-rovers who made piracy 
their profession. The Breton craft would certainly be 
a three-master, with a lateen mizzen but square-rigged 
on her other masts. Vessels of this size and period 
carried as many as twelve guns mounted amidships, on 
the forecastle, and in the stern. 

Scarcely had the two vessels spoken each other than 
an engagement began. The Breton fired a broadside, 
then his stern guns, and finally his other broadside. 
It is the first duty of a freighter that she should get her 
cargo safe home into port, and avoid where practicable 
all fighting. The Venetian remembered this and now 
fled, but the Breton went in pursuit, pouring in shot 
after shot till the opponent’s gear was heavily damaged. 
For the first time in his life Smith was to assist at a sea 
engagement. Just as the previous weeks had enabled 
him to learn such seamanship as setting sail, trimming 
the yards, sheeting in the canvas, steering, anchoring, 
and the use of a compass, so now he was being educated 
in naval fighting. Thus within a brief space of time 
he had experienced from shipwreck to action, from 
gales of wind to peaceful trading, more varieties of 
the mariner’s existence than were met usually in several 
long careers. 

In spite of gunnery, the chief reliance in those days 
was placed on the employment of boarding-tactics. 
Twice in ninety minutes the Frenchman managed to get 
alongside and poured in a hot fire, but the other was able 



TRAVELS ACROSS EURORE 37 

to wriggle out of such close contending. Once more 
the two heavy ships were rolling their hulls against each 
other, and this time the Venetian succeeded in setting 
her enemy on fire. The conflagration was eventually 
put out, but the French skipper’s rage was burning still 
more furiously. His guns therefore blazed away with 
such zest that the treasure-ship was holed frequently 
between wind and water, and was destined either to sink 
or surrender. Having already lost a score of men, she 
preferred the latter. 

The Breton had not escaped lightly, for fifteen of her 
people were dead and others were injured ; but all avail- 
able hands were sent aboard the Italian to stop the leaks 
and guard the chained prisoners. During the next 
twenty-four hours Smith’s shipmates in their piratical 
procedure had a busy time transferring the valuable 
silks and velvets, cloths of gold, money of gold and 
silver, till they were tired and contented. Unable to 
take out of her any more, they let the argosy go with her 
crew and as much merchandise as would have freighted 
another Frenchman, for she was at least twice the 
pirate’s size. 

Captain La Roche, needing repairs to his vessel, now 
stood to the south-west in order to make the Calabrian 
coast ; but, on learning that at Messina there were half 
a dozen galleys, he deemed it advisable to make Malta. 
The breeze, however, now came fair, enabling him to coast 
past Sicily and to carry on northwards past Sardinia and 
Corsica till he reached Antibes roads in Piedmont. So 
here was Smith back again in the Riviera not very far 
from where he had started. But it was one of his char- 
acteristics — and his life is full of instances giving proof — 
to know exactly what he wanted, and he refused to be 
side-tracked from his main objective. He had spent 
some interesting weeks learning a good deal about the 
mariner’s art, but the time had come for him to make 



38 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

another change. Piracy was not his aim, nor England 
his goal j'ust yet. 

It is quite clear that he took an active part in the 
attack on the Venetian, for he received from Captain La 
Roche the equivalent of several hundred pounds sterling 
as his share of the plunder. Nor could the Frenchman 
dare to treat Smith meanly, having regard to the Earl 
of Ployer’s acquaintanceship. Wishing to continue his 
travels and visit the cities of Italy, Smith at his own 
request was landed at Antibes together with his prize 
money and “ a little box God sent him worth neere as 
much more.” Finding another ship he thus reached 
Leghorn, ” being glad to have such opportunitie and 
meanes to better his experience by the view of 
Italy.” 

Passing through Tuscany, he came to Siena, where he 
found his two dear friends. Lord Willoughby and the 
latter*s brother. These had got mixed up in some 
desperate alFray and been badly wounded, yet Smith was 
careful to add that it was “ to their exceeding great 
honour.” Not even the meeting with these Lincoln- 
shire intimates halted him long : for after visiting various 
other cities he found himself in Rome, where he was con- 
siderably intrigued at seeing His Holiness Clement VIII. 
With the zeal of a rapid tourist. Smith visited the local 
churches, and one Friday even was present in St. John 
de Lateran’s when Clement said Mass. After going out 
of his way to salute Father Parsons, a famous English 
Jesuit, Smith now having “ satisfied himselfe with the 
rarities of Rome,” went down the Tiber to Civita 
Vecchia, “ where he embarked himselfe to satisfie his 
eye with the faire Citie of Naples, and her Kingdomes 
nobilitie.” ® 

From Naples he came north again by land through 
Capua, Rome, Siena, Florence, Bologna, Ferrara, 
Mantua, Padua to Venice. Having thus finished with 



TRAVELS ACROSS EUROPE 39 

Italy, Smith went over the Adriatic to Ragusa, spent 
some while examining that northern shore from Albania 
to Istria, and next struck inland through Laybach to 
Graz, where its Gothic cathedral had been built about 
a century previously and its university was already 
twenty years old. Graz was then the seat of Ferdinand 
Archduke of Austria, and the chief city of the province 
of Styria. But it was because of the friends he made 
here that Graz was to have an important bearing on his 
future. 

Throughout these wanderings across France, the 
Mediterranean and Italy he had never lost sight of that 
desire to try his fortune against the Turks. At Graz 
he was getting much nearer to the sphere of operations, 
and he met in this city an Englishman as well as an Irish 
Jesuit, through whom he met “ many brave gentlemen 
of good qualitie ” who gave him introductions to other 
influential people. Thus, having become acquainted 
with Lord Ebersbaught, Smith explained his mission 
and was handed on to Baron Kisell who was “ Generali 
of the Artillery,” who, in turn, presented him to the 
Earl of Meldri. The latter was in command of a 
regiment, and under him Smith was now to serve, with 
whom also he proceeded first to Vienna. 

We thus come to the time when Smith, having reached 
the age of twenty-one and ended his sightseeing travels, 
next set forth on a new phase of life. We are now to 
follow his itinerary through Eastern Europe until the 
rlima-ir of that battle in the Rothenthurm Pass, which was 
fought on November i8, 1602. The Turks, intoxi- 
cated with their successes, were, by the time Smith arrived 
on the scene, a most serious menace to the Christian 
nations in this part of Europe. They were both able 
and cruel fighters, and no participant in a campaign 
against them could expect to find anything but the most 
strenuous bloody opposition. Smith, however, with the 



+0 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

confidence of youth and the desire for excitement, had 
set his mind on this task. Whether he should come 
out dead or alive, it was entirely as a volunteer that he 
joined up. Patriotism was out of the question : that old 
inducement to adventure was everything. 



CHAPTER V 


IN SINGLE COMBAT 

O the south-east of Graz lies Kanizsa. 
This had fallen, and now in the year 
i6oi that strongly - fortified Hun- 
garian town of Ober Limbach was 
being besieged by the Turks with 
such thoroughness that its com- 
munications were entirely cut, and 
no information could be brought to 
its governor, Lord Ebersbaught. John Smith, however, 
had previously taught the latter a method of signalling 
which both of them understood perfectly, for it was as 
simple as effective. Of this fact Smith told Baron Kisell 
the “Generali of the Archdukes Artillery,” saying that he 
would guarantee to pass any message through and receive 
a reply, provided only that Smith might be taken to some 
place whence he might make a torch-flame visible to 
those inside Ober Limbach. 

Kisell listened to the suggestion and was so impressed 
as to give Smith guides, who during the darkness of 
night brought him to a mountain, where three torches 
were exhibited equidistant from each other. Smith’s 
code night-signalling was based on the following. The 
message was first condensed as much as possible," and 
then the alphabet letters were divided in two parts — 
a to 1, and m to z. The letters of the former were each 
numbered one ; the letters of the latter each numbered 
two. His own explanation was as follows : 

“ The first part from A. to L. is signified by shewing 

41 





42 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

and hiding one linke,^ so oft as there is letters from A. 
to that letter you meane ; the other part from M. to Z. 
is mentioned by two lights in like manner.” Thus, 
prestomably, the letter c would be made, for instance, by 
showing the torch three times ; and it was therefore a 
primitive kind of Morse code. “ The end of word is 
signified by shewing of three lights : ever staying your 
light at that letter you meane, till the other may write 
it in a paper, and answer by his signall,. which is one 
light, it is done ; beginning to count the letters by the 
lights, every time from A. to M.” Employing this 
method from the mountain. Smith was able, even at the 
distance of seven miles, first to call up the governor by 
showing the three torches, which Ebersbaught answered 
with three fires in like manner. Communication being 
thus established, and “ each knowing the others being 
and intent,” Smith was able to signal these words : “ On 
thursday at night I will charge on the East. At the 
alarum, salley you.” To Kisell’s message Ebersbaught 
replied by the same method that he would sally forth. 

Against the Turks’ 20,000 besiegers Kisell could bring 
only 10,000 men, but Kisell was informed that the Turks 
were so divided by the river that neither half could come 
to the other’s assistance ; and to this knowledge Smith 
brought Ae help of a second novel notion, which also 
was put into practice. A number of small lines each 
two hundred yards in length were selected, and to them 
were fastened several thousand pieces of match “ armed 
with powder.” These were to be fired simultaneously, 
whilst the lines were supported by staves every two 
hundred yards, and in such a manner that they resembled 
so many musketeers. 

The moment chosen for employing this stratagem was 
just before the alarum was to be given Ebersbaught, and 
the whole idea worked so well that the Turks on seeing 
^ “ Link ” is here used with the meaning of a torch. 




Smith’s Mkthod of Signalling to 



IN SINGLE COMBAT 


43 

these thousands of “ false fires ” turned to attack the 
imaginary army. This enabled Kisell with his 10,000 
troops to rush into the enemy’s quarters and drive him 
out so that the enemy “ ranne up and downe as men 
amazed.” Presently, too, Ebersbaught came pouring 
out with his men against the entrenched Turks, and thus 
of the once besieging but now fleeing enemy one-third 
were slain and many were drowned. And that other 
half of the Turkish forces were so busy marching against 
those elusive thousands of imitation muskets, that under 
cover of darkness Kisell was able to hurry 2000 of his 
men into Ober Limbach to aid the garrison. The result 
of all this was that the Turks were compelled to raise the 
siege and retire to Kanizsa. The victory brought 
Kisell great honour, but Smith also was rewarded for the 
important share which he had contributed. He was 
now promoted to be Captain of two hundred and fifty 
horsemen, and in this capacity we shall be able to follow 
his further adventures. 

Somehow the condition of this Eastern Europe, with 
its restlessness and uncertainty, was extraordinarily in 
keeping with the temperament of John Smith. 
Parcelled out into principalities, politically unstable, it 
was rather like some crazy, disordered flagstones than 
an artistic mosaic : the time had not yet come when out 
of this medley there were to be organized powerful 
nation states. And yet, it is to be noted, the Peace 
Treaties subsequent to the Great War of 1914-1919 
have restored the map of Europe very largely to the 
condition of four hundred years ago. The statesmen 
and diplomatists at Versailles brought about a curious 
patchwork of small states, so that Hungary, as in Smith’s 
time, is again constricted. And it was merely because 
there was all this lack of cohesion, together with the 
perpetual menace from the Turks, that this corner of the 
European continent was just that sphere where a young 



44 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

soldier in search of adventure could rely on gratifying his 
desire. 

They were tormented regions, where always there 
seemed a war either in progress or preparation ; and 
this condition was holding back the political as well as 
the commercial solidification of East European civiliza- 
tion. On the one hand the Turks, by their vast range 
of resources, were able to obtain troops by thousands. 
The Christian Princes by the aid of their own men, 
together with ten thousand French soldiers, were trying 
to oppose Turkish advance and regain some of the terri- 
tory which had fallen into the Infidels’ hands. For this 
purpose were employed three Christian armies under, 
respectively, the Archduke Mathias (with the Duke de 
Mercoeur as General), whose duty was to defend Lower 
Hungary ; the Archduke Ferdinand, whose duty was to 
regain Kanizsa if possible ; and the Governor of Upper 
Hungary, who was to join with a leader named Georgio 
Busca^ so as to bring about a complete conquest of 
Transylvania. 

Our immediate concern is with the Duke de Mercoeur, 
with Colonel the Earl of Meldri, and Captain John Smith. 
These, during September i6oi, were besieging Stuhl- 
weissenburg — or Alba Regalis. This Hungarian town, 
about forty-five miles S.S.E. of Komorn, had been for 
five centuries, until the year 1527, the place where the 
Hungarian kings were crowned, where also they were 
buried. It was, however, now in the Turkish army’s 
possession, so well protected by nature and man that 
it seemed impregnable. With a force of 30,000 the 
Duke de Mercoeur was besieging this difficult and his- 
toric town ; and it was here that Smith’s ingenuity was 
again to show itself to advantage. 

For the Englishman had devised a method of using 

^ Georgio Busca, as Smith calls him, was the celebrated Albanian 
General, George Basti. 



IN SINGLE COMBAT 


45 


fireworks that he named “ fiery dragons,” of which 
previously at Komorn he had given Meldri a demonstra- 
tion. Smith was now allowed to put this device into 
practice, and it consisted of the following. About fifty 
round earthen pots were filled with gunpowder and then 
covered over by pitch mixed with brimstone and tur- 
pentine. To this were added many musket bullets, and 
over the top were added “ a strong searcloth, then over 
all a good thicknesse of towze-match well tempered with 
oyle of lin-seed, campheer, and powder of brimstone.” 
These pots of explosives were then hurled by means of 
slings into those parts of the town where it was known 
(from the information of some escaped Christians) that 
the Turks were most thickly assembled. Smith de- 
scribes the effect of his fiery dragons thus : “At mid- 
night, upon the Alarum, it was a fearfull sight to see the 
short flaming course of their flight in the aire : but 
presently after their fall, the lamentable noise of the 
miserable slaughtered Turkes was most wonderfull to 
heare.” 

Finally, after other operations, Stuhlweissenburg was 
taken, having been for a generation in the enemy’s 
hands. The Turkish pasha was captured by the valiant 
Earl Meldri with his own hands. But, having left in 
Stuhlweissenburg an adequate garrison, Mercoeur, with 
Meldri and his other officers as well as twenty thousand 
soldiers, set out to meet an army of three times that size, 
which the Turks were now sending for the purpose of 
regaining the town. The clash came when they met on 
the march in a bloody skirmish, regiment against regi- 
ment. Meldri narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. 
Captain John Smith had his horse slain under him and 
was himself severely wounded. But in this sprawling, 
tumbling encounter where horses and men were so mixed 
up, there had been so many riders killed that Smith had 
an ample selection and did not long remain unmounted, 



46 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

“ for there was choice enough of horses that wanted 
masters.” 

Now, after several days, the Turks were made to retire, 
and then the approach of winter (1601-1602) caused 
operations to be discontinued for the present ; the 
enemy making for Budapest. The position thereafter, 
as visualized by Mercceur, was that, as the enemy were 
besieged by Ferdinand at Kanizsa, beaten out of Stuhl- 
weissenburg, and thirdly compelled to retreat into Buda- 
pest, it looked as if the Christians would soon come into 
their own if a little more effort were made. He there- 
fore divided his army and sent seven thousand of his 
men to intensify the Kanizsa operations, and six thousand 
under Meldri to assist Georgio Busca against the Tran- 
sylvanians. But this French duke, whilst on his way to 
France in order to raise fresh forces for next year’s 
campaign, passed through Nuremberg, where he was 
entertained with great magnificence and royally feasted. 
Unfortunately on the following morning, February 19, 
1602, he was found mysteriously dead. Thus dis- 
appears from the picture that General from whose lady 
it will be remembered those four French impostors had 
promised to obtain for Smith letters of favour two years 
previously. 

Smith, however, now continued with Meldri, and we 
shall follow him through far more exciting situations 
in Transylvania. In Wallachia the prince, Michael by 
name, had died, and now that Mercceur was dead also, 
Meldri felt himself sufiiciently free not to aid Busca 
against Prince Sigismund Bathori,^ but rather to assist the 
latter against the Turks. This winter of 1 60 i-i 602 was 
a severe one in Central and Eastern Europe. Around 
Kanizsa the Christian army, by reason of the persistent 
bitter winds, hail, frost and snow, suffered severely. The 

^ Sigismund Bathori, Prince of Transylvania from 1581 to 1602, 
died at Prague in 1613. 



IN SINGLE COMBAT 


47 


siege had to be raised, the cold compelling them to leave 
behind tents, artillery and everything they possessed. 
Several hundred men were frozen to death in one night 
and a couple of thousand or more perished whilst fleeing 
in the snow. Not less rigorous was Meldri’s march into 
Transylvania, so that his men were worn out. But they 
were promised any booty they might obtain from the 
Turks. 

It was, of course, Smith’s allegiance to Meldri which 
caused the Englishman to shift the scene of his adven- 
tures. The Colonel had been born in Transylvania, the 
people loved him, and he wished to rid his native land of 
the enemy Turk. Prince Sigismund Bathori was glad 
enough to have so valorous an officer and so many veteran 
troops. At first Smith’s commanding officer began by 
making desultory incursions among rocky mountains 
against Turks, Tartars, bandits and renegades and getting 
better acquainted with the terrain, for ever since 1582 
he had been employed solely in the Emperor of Austria’s 
service. And now when spring had come to Transyl- 
vania, or, as Smith expresses it, “ the earth no sooner 
put on her greene habit than ” Meldri’s troops gained 
possession of a narrow valley between two high moun- 
tains, laid an ambush and tempted out the garrison of a 
city who were promptly cut off. 

This was a good beginning with his cavalry, but the 
country was such that it required another six days before 
six thousand pioneers could clear a way to bring up his 
ordnance. Artillery was already becoming appreciated 
at its right worth both on land and in ships, but it was 
still extremely crude. The ordnance of the fourteenth 
century was both inefficient and difficult to move, these 
guns being made of wrought-iron bars, boimd together 
like the staves of a cask by the shrinking over them of 
iron hoops. It is true that by 1 602 European artillery 
was better and consisted chiefly of cast-iron or even brass 



48 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

gims ; but the importance of mobility had not yet been 
^ly realized, and the wheeled gun-carriages were mostly 
rough and awkward, though very shortly the need for 
expeditious movement brought about in Europe the 
required means. 

Whilst these valuable days were thus spent in bringing 
up Meldri’s artillery, the Turks were able to pour into 
the town both troops and provisions, and even to engage 
in such a fierce onslaught that they and Meldri each lost 
fifteen hundred men. The name of this place, as given 
by Smith, is Regal, though it is not possible to identify 
the exact locality. We do, however, know that this 
strong fortress of Regal, with its ramparts and artillery, 
looked out on to a plain where the Christian army was 
encamped. So commanding did the Turkish guns 
seem to the latter, that Smith’s brother officers and men 
had spent most of a month entrenching themselves and 
erecting platforms for their own batteries. It was this 
lengthy delay which caused the Turks to become derisive 
and abusive. The Christians’ guns are no good I 
Presently their army will depart without assaultinar 
Regal ! ' 

That was the kind of talk which went on among the 
enemy, who finally sent across an offensive message “ that 
to delight the ladies, who did long to see some court-like 
pastime, the Lord Turbashaw did defie any Captain, 
that had the command of a company, who durst combat 
with him for his head.” This challenge was discussed 
by the Christians and accepted. Lots were then cast 
as to who should be chosen, and it happened that the 
choice fell upon Captain Smith. 

When the time came for the combat there was a setting 
for any painter. In the background rose the city walls 
and ramparts full of that eager, inquisitive womanhood 
who down the ages have flocked to see gladiators slay 
each other, Christian martyrs in the Colosseum devoured 



IN SINGLE COMBAT 


49 

by wild animals, or some figure wracked in the Courts 
of Justice on a criminal charge. On one side, half a 
mile away, were mountains ; on the other stood the 
tents of Meldri’s army in the rear of the trenches. But 
everywhere among the individuals of both camps a tense 
excitement was holding sway ; and over all was the 
clear warm atmosphere of young summer. 

A truce had been arranged, Christian and Turkish 
warriors for a while standing as spectators free from 
fights. Suddenly the sound of music came from the 
Turkish oboes and on to the green grass well mounted, 
well armoured and armed rode the Turbashaw, his 
shoulders ornamented with a pair of great wings of 
eagles’ feathers within a ridge of silver, richly garnished 
with gold and precious stones. Before him went a 
janizary carrying his lance, and on each side was an 
orderly leading his horse. Scarcely had the spectators 
fully grasped this presentation than a blare of Christian 
trumpets startled the air, and out trotted Captain Smith 
accompanied only by a page bearing his lance. The 
stage was filled, the arena was complete, and the English- 
man, having first passed by his rival with a courteous 
salute, engaged in combat. But the result was amaz- 
ingly quick, for no sooner had the order to charge been 
sounded than the two horsemen, with their lances 
extended, went rushing against each other as fast as their 
steeds could carry. The Christian captain struck the 
Turk on the head, so that he fell to the ground lifeless. 
Thereupon alighting, the Christian cut oflF the Turk’s 
head and went trotting back to his own side, totally un- 
hurt, leaving the Turbashaw’s people to recover the body. 

This brilliant bit of duelling caused great joy to the 
Christian army, but to the Turks there came dismay. 
One of the latter, whom Smith calls Grualgo, was so 
infuriated that he challenged Smith, vowing that he would 
regain the Txirbashaw’s head or lose his own. This 



50 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

invitation to further combat was accepted, and next day 
the contest was fought out. As soon as the trumpets 
soimded, the rivals charged, but the issue was not to be 
decided so quickly this time. True, both lances were 
smashed to pieces and the Turk was almost unhorsed, 
but now the combatants began to use pistols. Grualgo 
thus fired and hit Smith on the lower part of his armoured 
body ; but Smith next fired and wounded the Turk in 
his left arm. This was the climax ; for Grualgo was no 
longer able either to control his horse or to defend himself, 
whereas the Englishman was unharmed. The result 
was that Grualgo was thrown to the ground and so 
injured that Smith had no difficulty in lopping off^ this 
Turk’s head, which with horse and armour were taken 
to the Christian encampment, whilst the body and rich 
apparel were sent back into the city. 

This ended the truce, and then for some time the 
Turks made a number of sallies, which were of little 
consequence. But the earthworks of the Christian camp 
had not yet been made as high and effective as was 
desirable, and it was necessary to gain a little more time. 
Smith therefore again came forward, and this time he 
sent the challenge across. He wished that the Turkish 
ladies “ might Imow he was not so much enamoured of 
their servants’ heads, but if any Turke of their ranke 
would come to the place of combate to redeeme them, 
he should have his upon the like conditions, if he could 
winne it.” Now this challenge, so pungently worded, 
could not fail to be accepted, and it was so done by one 
whom Smith calls Bonny Mulgro. 

There is something intensely dramatic and primitive 
when we think of this Lincolnshire youth riding out 
between the assembled watching armies to undergo 
ordeal by single combat for the third time. On the day 
following acceptance of the challenge both contestants 
entered the field as before, save that neither had lances 






IN SINGLE COMBAT St 

but only such weapons as the defender had chosen. On 
this final encounter the honour of an English gentleman 
and a Christian was at stake. The combat opened with 
pistols, but neither adversary scored. The next selected 
weapon was the battle-axe, and thus the two hammered 
away at each other with such piercing effect that they 
could scarcely keep their saddles. The struggle was in 
this case fairly even, and no rivals could be better matched 
until Smith received such a blow that he lost his battle- 
axe and very nearly his balance. This narrow escape 
from crashing to the ground delighted all the spectators 
on the ramparts, believing that at last the Turk was about 
to win for them victory ; indeed Bonny Miilgro so 
pressed forward and followed up this advantage to the 
best of his power that for a time the result was still 
hanging in suspense. But the Englishman “ by the 
readinesse of his horse, and his judgement and dexterity 
in such a businesse, beyond all men’s expectation, by 
God’s assistance, not onely avoided the Turkes violence, 
but having drawne his faulchion [t.g. a broad, crescent- 
shaped sword], pierced the Turke so under the Culets 
thorow backe and body, that although he alighted from 
his horse, he stood not long ere hee lost his head, as the 
rest had done.” 

Thus ended one of the most spectacular and dramatic 
single-combats in history ; and the ultimate conclusion 
had been awaited not merely with that keen interest by 
which any crowd looks on at any exhibition of physical 
prowess. It was because of the wild hatred against 
the infidel Turk invading the European continent, the 
recollection of his ruthless brutalities and the fear of still 
more to come, that this young Smith became no ordinary 
hero but the deputed representative of one tremendous 
cause : and he was regarded by his fellow campaigners 
accordingly. Had he failed, had he been killed in that 
final encounter as very nearly he had, then he would have 



Captain John smith 

been correspondingly responsible for Christian gloom 
and Turkish joy. 

But such was the enthusiasm which Captain Smith 
had created throughout the whble of the besieging army 
that with a guard of six thousand men, accompanied by 
three spare horses, before each of which was a Turk’s 
head hanging from a lance, he was conducted to the 
tent of the General. The latter received him with an 
ardent welcome, embraced him in his arms, made him 
presents of “ a faire horse richly furnished,” together 
with a scimitar and belt worth three hundred ducats. In 
addition to these he promoted Smith to the rank of 
Major. 

The siege was renewed, twenty-six pieces of ordnance 
mounted by the Christians over fifty feet above the plain 
to dominate Regal, began to foreshadow hopeful events, 
and within fifteen days breaches were made in the Turkish 
defence. After a stubborn resistance Regal was cap- 
tured and then strongly garrisoned by Christian soldiers. 
Later on, when Prince Sigismund Bathori arrived to 
review his army he was to receive thousands of prisoners 
and thirty-six of the enemy’s ensigns. And after cele- 
brating thanks “ to Almightie God in triumph of those 
victories,” he was informed of Smith’s service rendered 
at Ober Limbach, Stuhlweissenburg and Regal. So 
impressed was Sigismund as to give the Englishman a 
year later a grant of arms by patent, together with Sigis- 
mund’s portrait in gold and an annual pension of three 
hundred ducats. It is convenient here by anticipation 
to mention these marks of approval, but there were still 
more trying ordeals through which John Smith must pass 
before he was to receive from the prince such honours. 







CHAPTER VI 


THE WANDERING WARRIOR 

RANSYLVANIA at this date was in 
a pitiable condition. Those Transyl- 
vanian Alps on the south, and the 
Carpathian Mountains to the east, 
had always seemed to have been in- 
tended by nature as bulwarks against 
the advance of Asiatics into Christian 
Europe. 

But the supposed protection had failed, so that, 
instead of the country being fruitful and prosperous, 
savage warfare had forced an invasion, and everywhere 
was desolation. Palaces and churches had been ruined, 
fields neglected ; and the reason for all this was simple. 
There had been divided efforts, indifferent governments, 
no continuous and far-sighted policy ; but, worse still, 
those three armies already mentioned had not been united 
to thwart the Turk advancing northward. Transyl- 
vania had yet to learn that the mediaeval method of ruling, 
with its stressing of municipal and civic life, rather than 
its insistence on a national broad organization, was a most 
serious weakness. 

In the absence of that knowledge which comes only 
through travel, this accentuated local attachment, with its 
self-containment and even self-content, its feudal system 
by which the labourer received for his reward payment 
in food, shelter and raiment, 'vm but natural. Self- 
sustaining as each community was, there remained little 
need or opportunity for trade or travel : and such com- 

53 





54 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

merce as existed was inter-municipal rather than inter- 
national, the local fairs being the nearest approach to 
cosmopolitanism. It was this young seventeenth cen- 
tury which was to give the final blow to this parochialism 
and set going an entirely new economic organization 
based on a wider outlook. The travel influence by 
means of the Crusades had been the first step towards 
this fresh conception, the need for united self-defence 
against common foes had been the second, though it was 
the discovery of the New World and the birth of the 
colonial idea — cutting out local rivalry and intensifying 
national competition — ^which was ultimately to transform 
European thought. The need of moneyed power, of 
capital, had barely become felt ; but when Smith and 
his colleagues three years later were to require shipping 
and stores and planters, then at once there was a demand 
for investors to bring forth their hoarded wealth. 

But in Central and South-Eastern Europe at this year 
1 602 the mediaeval ideal of separate principalities, with 
its consequent weakness in regard to the great Turkish 
strength, still continued. The spirit of independence 
connoted a narrow exclusiveness and near-sighted selfish- 
ness together with a certain amount of mutual mistrust, 
a jealousy of each other’s ambitions. Thus it came 
about that the army in which Meldri and Smith were 
serving now marched against Busca in Transylvania, 
were defeated and scattered, and thus Busca became 
supreme in Transylvania subject only to the Emperor. 
There now begins a series of operations in Wallachia, 
that principality which was not till the year 1861 united 
with Moldavia to form the kingdom of Roumania. 

For a time, following the death of their prince, Michael, 
the Wallachians had been ruled by one Jeremy, whom 
the Turks had imposed. This ruler’s insulting tyranny 
had caused the Wallachians to revolt and drive him 
northward into Moldavia, so that Busca now proclaimed 



THE WANDERING WARRIOR 55 

one Rodol as prince under the Emperor. It is from this 
point that we enter upon the climax of John Smith’s 
adventures ; and if we have seen them become of more 
and more interest, we are now to witness his exploits 
raised to a much higher phase. In spite of all his narrow 
escapes, notwithstanding all the risks which he ran on 
behalf of those who were not his own countrymen, in 
spite of all the devastation and bloodshed which his eyes 
had beheld and the wounds that he had received, Smith 
was still dominated by his quest of the unknown ; which 
remained his great motive throughout his eventful life. 
There was plenty of soldiering ahead of him, heaps of 
excitements were awaiting him, and, as the hostilities 
area shifted, so he was feeding that insatiable desire to 
see new places and fresh sights. 

Now Jeremy, instead of accepting banishment, had 
collected what was in those days a considerable army. 
It was made up of Turks, Tartars and Moldavians to 
the number of forty thousand, at whose head he came 
marching back into Wallachia. Rodol, however, fled 
to take counsel of Busca ; and the latter, in turn, in the 
expectation that there would be an opportunity of secur- 
ing Wallachia for the Emperor and of employing the 
remnants of Sigismund’s army (of which he was not a 
little suspicious), caused Rodol to assemble his forces 
against the enemy. So with a strength of thirty thousand, 
including the regiments of Meldri and others, Rodol 
marched along that River Oltul which is shown in the 
.modern maps of Roumania flowing through the Tran- 
sylvanian Alps into the Danube. Following -the Oltul 
(otherwise known as the Aluta or AJtus) northward to 
the pass of Rimnik, they entered Wallachia and encamped 
at Retch. Jeremy, who was on the banks of the River 
Arjish, another tributary of the Danube but farther to 
the eastward, now withdrew to the plains of Pitesti, 
about fifty miles south of the Transylvanian Alps. 



56 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Here he proceeded to fortify his position and wait until 
he was reinforced by the Krim-Tartars. The Tartars 
or Turki people had originally come into Europe though 
Siberia and Central Russia, Asia Minor, Caucasia ; the 
Krim-Tartars advancing still farther west to the Balkan 
peninsula, being ethnically an intermediate race between 
the true Mongols and Europeans. The seventeenth- 
century Krim-Tartars dressed like Turks and were 
nomadic, but were to be found along the western extremity 
of Russia bordering on Lithuania, Moldavia, Podolia 
and in that vast area between the Carpathians and the 
Caucasus which the ancient Greeks named Scythia. In 
the time of Herodotus they had the appearance of 
Mongols, and in Smith’s time they still lived chiefly in 
waggons covered over with rods wattled together like a 
bird’s nest ; and they fought chiefly from horseback. 
Like the Turks they were Mohammedans, and their 
contiguous presence to any Christian state was always a 
source of great anxiety to Hungarians, Wallachians, 
Moldavians and Russians, of whom they made many 
slaves. 

Speaking a dialect of the Turki tongue, obtaining from 
the Turks their laws, never going to war except with 
Turkish permission, expert as cavalrymen and bowmen, 
hardy and resolute, agile and intractable, the Tartar has 
impressed his name into our phraseology as a perpetual 
reminder of his formidable character. And John Smith 
was to learn this by the most bitter experience. At 
first, however, it seemed as if the Christians were to be 
the victors of this new campaign ; for Rodol managed 
to cut oflF many small parties which were on their way to 
join up with Jeremy. Rodol had the initiative also to 
try every means of enticing Jeremy out to battle, and at 
length after some successful feints he did bring it about 
that the Turkish army came out to fight. It was a fierce 
enough encounter, which developed rather on the lines 



THE WANDERING WARRIOR 57 

of a mutual massacre, during which Meldri had his horse 
slain under him, was nearly taken prisoner, “ and there 
was scarce ground to stand upon, but upon the dead 
carkasses”; but at last after twenty-five thousand of 
Christians and the enemy had been slain the victory fell 
to Rodol and Jeremy fled into Moldavia. Thus Rodol 
was again able to become ruler over Wallachia — ^but not 
for long. 

The Krim-Tartars with an army of thirty thousand, 
and Jeremy with an army of about half that strength, 
were soon ready to contest Rodol’s security, and thus 
Meldri, who had been sent against them with only 
thirteen thousand men, realized in time that it were best 
to retire towards Rothenthurm, a pass in the Transyl- 
vanian Alps called in the Himgarian “ Verres Torony.” 
The great superiority of the enemy’s numbers in the 
ratio of forty-five to thirteen made this retreat most 
difficult, harassed at the best of times by the enemy’s 
scouts. It was going to be a terribly anxious time now, 
and there was one night in particular when Meldri, 
Smith and all concerned had all the excitements which 
any veterans might desire. 

They had come to a wood, and it had been necessary 
to hack their way through, cutting down with great 
expedition the thwarting trees which in turn would delay 
the pursuers. Early in the following morning there 
came a thick fog, and amidst this Meldri’s army unex- 
pectedly burst upon over two thousand of the enemy 
loaded with pillage and driving cattle. Meldri suc- 
ceeded in slaying or taking prisoners most of the party 
from whom also information was obtained of Jeremy’s 
position, and that the Krim-Tartars were not far from 
the latter. 

Before long Jeremy’s own unassisted force of about 
the same strength as Meldri’s came up, whilst the latter 
was still trying to hew his way forward ; and it is here 



58 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

that John Smith’s ingenuity was again to be employed 
with valuable effect. This consisted of another exhibi- 
tion of fireworks contrived as follows. Two or three 
hundred tree-trunks were “ accommodated . . . with 
wilde fire, upon the heads of lances.” Then charging 
the enemy at night, the trunks were fired, blazing forth 
in such a way as to cause Jeremy’s horses to stampede 
and rout the Turkish army. 

Unfortunately this was but a temporary success, for 
when Meldri’s troops were within three leagues of 
Rothenthurm, they were so beset by the forty thousand 
Krim-Tartars that it was a question either of making a 
stand and fighting or being cut to pieces in flight. On 
this eighteenth day of November, i6oz, therefore was 
fought out that most desperate and unequal Battle of 
Rothenthurm in a valley “ betwixt the riuver of Altus 
and the mountaine,” when “ the earth did blush with the 
bloud of honesty.” On that day at sunrise were revealed 
the Tartar flags, and “ it was a most brave sight to see 
the banners and ensignes streaming in the aire, Ae 
glittering of Armour, the variety of colours, the motion 
of plumes, the forrests of lances, and the thicknesse of 
shorter weapons, till the silent expedition of the bloudy 
blast from the murdering Ordnance, whose roaring voice 
is not so soone heard, as felt by the aymed at object, 
which made among them a most lamentable slaughter.” 

Meldri’s defence was arranged thus ; at the foot of 
the mountain, on his flanks and in firont, he had stuck 
into the ground sharp stakes whose heads had been 
hardened by fire, and amongst these stakes were dug 
many holes. Amid them also were placed his infantry, 
who were to retire as required. By this time Meldri’s 
army had been reduced to eleven thousand during the 
hurried withdrawal. The Tartars began the battle with 
a general shout, the beating of drums, the sounding of 
oboes and the displaying of every ensign. The Christian 



THE WANDERING WARRIOR 


59 

cavalry at once resisted and compelled the enemy to 
retire, the Tartars “ darkening the skies with their flights 
of numberless arrowes.” Thus a “ bloudie slaughter ” 
continued for over an hour till the enemy’s matchless 
numbers caused the Christians to withdraw within their 
stake defence according to plan. 

The Tartars now charged in massed strength, but 
horse and man came to the ground as soon as the stakes 
were encountered and were immediately so mangled by 
Meldri’s army that the latter with a loud shout claimed 
victory. Several field pieces planted on the rising 
mountain also dealt heavy execution amongst the enemy, 
yet there was no justification for optimism, and against 
such overwhelming numbers the result was already fore- 
doomed. Meldri therefore appreciated that the only 
course now was to make a terrible attempt to cleave a 
way through the enemy or die in the attempt. Accord- 
ingly he gathered his remaining troops together in one 
small body, gave them the order to charge, and then for 
the next half-hour they smashed their way ahead until 
the Krim-Tartars, Turks and janizaries simply deluged 
them with irresistible weight and the Christian effort 
was foiled utterly. Defeat, unmistakable and complete, 
had ended that fateful day ; though the Krim-Tartars 
and Turks had been made to pay dearly, in spite of 
their superiority. On that ghastly field of battle were 
Christians and Mohammedans headless, limbless, all 
cut and mangled, the dead of both sides aggregating 
nearly thirty thousand. On the Christian side many a 
gallant nobleman, many valorous colonels, captains, 
brave gentlemen and soldiers breathed their last, and 
among the latter were some Englishmen, 

“ Give mee leave,” wrote Smith, “ to remember the 
names of our owne Coimtry-men with him in these 
exploits, that as resolutely as the best, in the defence of 
Christ and his Gospell, ended their dayes, as Baskerfield, 



6o CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Hardwicke, Thomas Milemer, Robbert Mullineux, 
Thomas Bishop, Francis Compton, George Davison, 
Nicholas Williams, and one John a Scot, did what men 
could doe, and when they could doe no more, left there 
their bodies, in testimonie of their mindes ; only Ensigne 
Carleton, and Sergeant Robinson escaped.” 

Meldri, with only about thirteen hundred of his cavalry, 
swam the river. He managed to escape, but the rest 
were either drowned, slain or taken prisoners. His 
friend and subordinate, John Smith, was left on the 
battlefield among the dead and dying where, worn out, 
wounded, and groaning with pain, he was at last dis- 
covered by the Tartars. Twenty-seven years after this 
battle Smith wrote concerning Tartars these words : 
“ the better they finde you, the worse they will use you, 
till you doe agree to pay such a ransome, as they will 
impose upon you.” Thus when amid the corpses and 
gasping bodies they found him still breathing, and by 
his armour as well as his apparel that it were more profit- 
able to obtain his ransom than to despatch him in death, 
they led him away prisoner with many others. It is 
from this stage that we enter upon yet another phase of 
this remarkable life, so that there is not a dull hiatus to 
chronicle. 

Perceive, then, that this twenty-two year old youth, 
having tasted all the other possible experiences of a whole 
crowd of adventurers, must now suffer that most dreaded 
of all punishments, the hopeless condition of a Moham- 
medan’s drudge. It is true that until such time as his 
wounds were healed Smith was treated well by his 
captors ; but thereafter he who so heartily loved freedom 
and life was sold as a slave in the market-place of a Danube 
town, probably Tchemavoda. His limbs and wounds 
were ex^ined by Eastern merchants as if they were 
purchasing a beast ; and in order to see if he were strong 
they caused other slaves to wrestle with him. It chanced 



THE WANDERING WARRIOR 6x 

that Smith was eventually purchased by a certain pasha 
who sent him south to Adrianople, en route for Con- 
stantinople, as a present to the pasha’s mistress, a 
Mohammedan woman named Charatza Tragabigzanda. 
Marched in file, chained by the neck to nineteen hundred 
other prisoners, this was how the enthusiast for travelling 
first sighted Constantinople’s minarets. 

Tragabigzanda took a liking to Smith and exhibited 
in him unusual interest. She showed him to her friends, 
and, being something of a linguist, was able to converse 
with him in Italian. The pasha had sent with the 
prisoner a chit to say that this young man was a Bohemian 
lord whom the Turk had captured with his own hand. 
When Smith protested that the pasha’s story was untrue, 
that he never saw the Turk until the purchase in the 
market-place ; and, further, that her slave was no 
Bohemian noble but an Englishman who had won his 
promotion by adventures, she sought out those who 
could speak English, French and Dutch. Smith was 
then able to relate as many of his experiences as he 
deemed necessary. 

The net result of all this was that the woman’s heart 
was moved to compassion, and she feared, having no use 
for him, her mother might sell him. Tragabigzanda 
consequently decided on sending him to her brother, 
Timor Pasha, who ruled over territory situated between 
the Caspian and Black Seas. The obvious question 
here arises as to whether there was something more than 
friendship between the two. No definite answer can be 
given. That he possessed good looks we know from 
the contemporary portrait of Smith already mentioned ; 
that he was by no means unattractive to the opposite 
sex is well established, for this was only one of four cases 
where a female ministered to him. It is arguable that 
the Mohammedan was romantically in love with him, 
either because of his youth or for the reason that he 



62 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

was so different from the men she had hitherto 
known. 

Was Smith susceptible to a woman’s charms, or was 
he immune ? To the end of his days he remained a 
bachelor, and yet there comes out in his writings an 
attitude which I interpret rather as chivalrous courtesy 
than as amorous interest. To me it seems likely that, 
had he been in love with her, the inclination during 
subsequent years would be not to perpetuate her name 
in the most public manner, but to retain the secret within 
his own breast. What we find actually is that Smith 
was anxious to recognize his indebtedness to all four 
women who rendered him kindness at important crises 
of his career. When in 1 624 he was bringing out his 
The Generali Historic of Virginia^ he wrote in the dedica- 
tion to the Duchess of Richmond “ that heretofore 
honorable and vertuous Ladies, and comparable but 
amongst themselues, haue offred me rescue and protec- 
tion in my greatest dangers : even in forraine parts I 
haue felt reliefe from that sex. The beauteous Lady 
Tragabigzanda, when I was a slaue to the Turkes, did all 
she could to secure \i.e. to succour] me ...” So 
mindful was he of this kindness that when, long years 
after his European experiences, he was exploring and 
surveying the New England coast, he did not hesitate 
to call that promontory Cape Tragabigzanda, which was 
unfortunately renamed Cape Anne, by which it is still 
known. It is true that he wrote concerning the subse- 
quent treatment which he experienced in 1 603, that “ all 
the hope he had ever to be delivered from this thraldome 
was only the love of Tragabigzanda, who surely was 
ignorant of his bad usage.” Whilst it is possible to read 
into these words some sentimental attachment, I suggest 
that, having regard to his strictly firiendly relationship 
with another of her sex who was in love with him. Smith 
was more mindful of his own adventurous career than 



THE WANDERING WARRIOR 63 

of feminine affection. The matter will be found treated 
further in a later chapter. 

Tragabigzanda’s brother, Timor, was pasha over an 
area that can be roughly indicated, though not exactly 
located. It was known as Nalbrits in the country of 
Gambia, and by following Smith’s long journey by land 
and sea we have a fairly good idea as to where that region 
was placed. 



T 



CHAPTER VII 


SLAVE OF SLAVES 

certainly this was for Smith a via 
dolorosa^ for, the further east he was 
taken, the less likely did it seem he 
would ever receive that liberty and 
freedom of movement which to his 
independent character meant so much. 
As he expressed it, he possessed on 
this travel “ little more libertie than 
his eyes judgement ” : yet with his customary ability to 
observe, he noted where the country was “ most plaine, 
fertile, and delicate,” or there were “ townes with their 
short towers.” 

From Constantinople he was sent to Varna, that his- 
toric port where a centuiy and a half previously Ladislaus, 
King of Hungary and Poland, had been defeated and 
slain by the Turks. Thence he proceeded by ship across 
the Black Sea till the Crimea was sighted. Entering 
the Straits of Kertch, the Turkish craft brought him into 
the Sea of Azov, whither for centuries Genoese, Venetians 
and Pisans had been accustomed to sail in their trading 
vessels. The place where he disembarked is a little 
obscure, but it was possibly up the River Manytch, 
which he calls Bruapo. The Manytch is an affluent of 
the Don, and after two days’ journey from the river’s 
head he reached that unidentified country of Cambia. 
At Nalbrits his travel ended, for here Timor resided “ in 
a ^reat vast stonie Castle with many great Courts about 
it, invironed with high stone walls, where was quartered 





SLAVE OF SLAVES 


65 

their Armes, when they first subjected those Countreyes : 
which onely live to labour for those tyrannicall Turkes.” 

Now Tragabigzanda had written to her brother, 
Timor, on Smith’s behalf so fervently that she expected 
the prisoner “ should there but sojourne to learne the 
language, and what it was to be a Turke, till time made 
her Master of her selfe.” Timor, however, far from 
being favourably influenced by his sister’s commendation, 
at once proceeded to deal witib him drastically. Within 
an hour he caused Smith to be stripped naked, his head 
and beard shaved “ so bare as his hand.” A great iron 
ring, with a sickle-shaped shaft, was riveted around his 
neck ; a coarse hair coat was placed on his back, and he 
found himself one of many Christian slaves compelled to 
suffer that which not even “ a dog could have lived to 
endure.” Nor was that all. Because he was the latest 
recruit, he “ was slave of slaves to them all.” 

In the past many Hungarian, Russian, Wallachian and 
Moldavian slaves had either been ransomed or, because 
the ransom price was set intolerably high, these Christians 
had been compelled to conceal their true rank. The only 
hope was that some Christian agent might come and 
redeem them, if not with money then by exchanging man 
for man. “ Those Agents knowing so well the extreme 
covetousnesse of the Tartars, doe use to bribe some Jew 
or Merchant, that feigning they will sell them againe to 
some other nation, are oft redeemed for a very small 
ransome.” 

No such luck came to Smith. He had often talked over 
with his fellow slaves the practicability of making escape, 
yet not even those who had been there a long while could 
conceive of any possible means : “ but God beyond 

mans expectation or imagination helpeth his servants, 
when they least thinke of helpe, as it hapnd ” to Smith. 
And thus we come to another of those culminating points 
in his varied career. He was now being employed as a 



66 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

thresher in a big field three or four miles away from 
Timor’s house. On this particular day that pasha had 
come on a visit of inspection, and took occasion to revile 
and beat the yoimg man with such severity that the latter 
altogether lost his temper ; and thus “ forgetting all 
reason, he beat out ” Timor’s brains with a threshing- 
bat. Then, having realized that, whatever now happened, 
a worse condition could never befall him, Smith decided 
to get away whilst the going was good. Whether he 
was guilty of murder, or of justifiable homicide, let the 
judgment of the casuists and lawyers decide. He was 
in too great a hurry even to consider that aspect ; and, 
having arrayed himself in his master’s clothes, he hid 
Timor’s body under some straw, filled a knapsack full of 
corn, closed the doors, mounted the pasha’s horse, and 
galloped away into the desert “ at all adventure.” He 
was now off on another long travel, and this westward 
trek through a heart-breaking wilderness, with his slave- 
collar still encircling his neck, once again emphasizes 
the adventurous side of Smith’s early manhood. 

Whether during the period of his captivity Smith ever 
got so far as the Caspian Sea is uncertain, though he 
obtained a certain amount of detailed information regard- 
ing its features, which he could never have learned in 
boyhood from the globes of geographers. Indeed, the 
knowledge he possessed of his whereabouts was so slight 
that for several days he wandered about aimlessly. 
Luckily he met no one, otherwise his stolen liberty would 
have been suddenly taken from him. His future 
seemed hardly encouraging at the present and too full of 
uncertainty. Away to the north stretched endlessly the 
vast Russian continent. To the east lay the whole of 
Asia. To the south-west was the Black Sea, with the 
Caspian to the south-east, whilst immediately in front 
of him were the Russian steppes, as little comforting as 
the sandy Sahara. What to do ? Whither to direct 



SLAVE OF SLAVES 


67 

his course ? That was the problem which worried him. 
But, when it happens that human travail and ingenuity 
reach their limitations, then comes the time for super- 
human direction ; and Smith was at his wits’ ends. 
“ Being even as taking leave of this miserable world,” 
he wrote, “ God did direct him to the great way or Cas- 
tragan, as they call it, which doth crosse these large 
territories, and is generally knowne among them by these 
markes.” 

Now the story of trade-routes is largely the history of 
the universe. Just as Columbus, in seeking a way to 
the East Indies, discovered the New World for which 
Smith was presently to contribute much, so the roadways 
into Europe had already shown themselves long since to 
be the keys of European history. From Asia into 
Europe there is if we begin at the extreme north practi- 
cally no land route until we get south of the Ural Moun- 
tains, But between there and the Caspian are those 
steppes or plains along which in ancient days came the 
Huns whose invasion brought about the foundation of 
Venice. The position of Astrakhan at the northern end 
of the Caspian was of tremendous strategic importance 
in the commercial world before a sea-route round the 
Cape of Good Hope was found to India or even greatly 
used. From Astrakhan westwards the overland road 
across Southern Russia to Europe brought Eastern 
trade in caravans, as it had done since time immemorial. 

Now where this great way was crossed there was 
planted a substantial sign-post, “ and in it so many bobs 
with broad ends, as there be wayes, and every bob the 
figure painted on it, that demonstrated to what part that 
way leaded ; as dat which pointed towards the Cryms 
Country, is marked wid a halfe Moone, if towards de 
Georgians and Persia, a blacke man, full of white spots ; 
if towards China, de picture of de Sunne ; if towards 
Muscovia, de signe of a Crosse ; if towards de habi- 



68 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

tation of any other Prince, the figure whereby his standard 
is knowne.” 

Smith therefore followed the cross which pointed 
towards Russia, very conscious that the figure engraved 
on his iron collar would prove to any person met with 
that here was one of Timor’s escaping slaves. For six- 
teen days he thus travelled in fear and torment until he 
came to a garrisoned city on the Don, where the Governor 
listened to the tale of the Englishman’s experiences, 
loosed him from the irons and treated him so well that 
Smith thought himself “ new risen from death.” There 
was also a second instance of a kind woman, “ the chari- 
table Lady Callamata ” who “ largely supplied his wants.” 
From here he proceeded with letters or recommendation 
from the Governor and thus reached beyond the River 
Dnieper to the confines of Lithuania, having travelled 
with the trans-Russian caravan convoys. In like manner 
he was conducted south-west again through the provinces 
of Volhynia and Podolia till he found himself once more in 
Transylvania and on the north side of those Alps through 
which lay that Pass of Rothenthurm of bitter memory ; 
for now he was in the city of Herman stadt, which but 
sixty years later was to fall into the Turks’ hands, where 
it was to remain until thirty years should have elapsed. 

Thus, at last, after many wanderings all round the 
compass Smith was back in pretty much the locality 
where his bondage had begun. Throughout this lengthy 
travelling across Russia he had been treated with the 
utmost respect and hospitality, each Governor giving 
him a present and passing him on to the next Governor, 
seeing that they themselves were just as probable to be 
“ subject to the like calamity.” He had gathered such 
a detailed amount of knowledge as few contemporaries 
possessed concerning the poverty-stricken Russian 
coimtries, where the only roads consisted of the routes 
by which the trade caravans made their passage, some- 



SLAVE OF SLAVES 


69 

times being of nothing better than fir-trees laid over the 
b,ogs. Smith evidently enjoyed this travel experience, 
and his keen eyes did not fail to take in the characteristics 
of a country where there existed only two classes — the 
rulers and the serfs. 

In Transylvania Smith met with so many of his old 
friends that except for his desire to see England again, 
after all these events, he would have remained. But he 
must always be on the move, and so “ being thus glutted 
with content, and neere drowned with joy,” the happy 
warrior and ex-slave carried on northwards through 
Hungary by Tokay and Kashau, thence through Moravia 
to Prague in Bohemia, and so farther north still into 
Saxony till he reached Leipzig. There can be no doubt 
but that he was thoroughly revelling in all this journeying, 
seeing so many cities and fresh scenes. It was only just 
a year since that dreadful Battle of Rothenthurm, and yet 
how much had happened 1 How replete had been 
every one of those twelve months ! If a twentieth- 
century Englishman had passed through one-tenth of 
those rare experiences he would be the lion of all London, 
his portrait in every journal, his lecture-hall would be 
crowded, his published account read eagerly. America 
would send for him, the radio would shout his name 
across from ocean to ocean, the cinema films would still 
further make him known as a superman whose deeds 
and adventures were almost past belief. 

And yet this is he whose career has been overshadowed 
by the reputation of many a contemporary not fit to be 
mentioned in the same category with him. For, of all 
untrustworthy things in the realm of human affairs, few 
are less reliable than popularity. Let a man achieve the 
impossible, let him go through fire and water ; let him 
next make one big mistake or even seem to err, then for 
the rest of his career the only halo that remains visible 
to the public eye is a suspicious cloud, murky and 



70 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

dubious : for history shows that there are no more 
savage iconoclasts than the hero-makers. Just because 
later in his life John Smith made enemies in connection 
with colonial administration, the world failed to remem- 
ber the man as a whole, and thrust the idol down to be 
broken and forgotten. 

But, of all his multifarious experiences throughout a 
full life, it would be difficult to think of any which gave 
him deeper j'oy than that which befell him at Leipzig : for 
here with a dramatic intenseness he was to meet once 
more with his beloved leaders, Prmce Sigismund and 
Colonel Meldri, soldiers all, who had been through the 
toil and moil of campaigning together. But the affec- 
tion and admiration were mutual, and there was to be 
on the part of the Prince a very practical expression. 
Meldri, you will recollect, had barely escaped death and 
drowning when he plunged with his horse into that 
River Alt ; Smith had been reckoned among the myriads 
slain. It was therefore a doubly loaded joy that this 
reunion should come about. And since Smith now had 
apparently the desire to get back home, Sigismund in 
fffil gratitude for past service rewarded him with fifteen 
hundred ducats of gold and furnished him with the 
following safe conduct pass, which is so significant as to 
deserve printing in full : 

SIGISMUND BATHORI, by the grace of God Duke of 
Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia [VandalorumJ, Earl of 
Anchard, Salford and Growenda ; to all, who shall read or hear 
this letter, we make known that we have granted leave and per- 
mission to John Smith, an English Gentleman, Captain of 250 
soldiers under the most honourable and distinguished Henry 
Volda, Earl of Meldri, Salmaria and Peldoia, Colonel of 1000 
horsemen and 1500 inffntry during the Hungarian war and in 
the provinces aforesaid under our authority 5 whose service has 
shewn itself deserving of all praise and everlasting remembrance 
towards us, as a man who fought valiantly for religion and country. 



SLAVE OF slaves 


7 * 


Wherefore out of our good will and in accordance with military 
practice we have released him of his service, and have granted him 
for his banner the design and description of three Turks’ heads, ' 
which with his own sword before the town of Regal in single 
combat he did overcome, slay and decapitate in the Province of 
Transylvania. 

But fortune being changeable and contradictory, this same person 
by chance and accident in the Province of Wallachia, in the year 
of our Lord 1602, the i8th day of November, together with many 
others, nobles as well, as also certain other soldiers, was carried 
away prisoner by the lord pasha of Gambia in the Tartary country, 
by whose harshness he was induced to do the best possible for his 
escape, and he carried out that plan, and by the help of Almighty 
God he set himself free and returned to his fellow soldiers : of 
whom we have discharged him and this he has been given in witness 
thereof, in order that he may enjoy greater freedom of which he is 
deserving, and now sets out for his own most sweet country. 

We request therefore of all our dearest and nearest, dukes, 
princes, earls, barons, governors of towns or ships in this territory 
and of any other provinces in which he shall endeavour to come, 
that this captain may be permitted to pass freely without hindrance. 
Which doing with all kindness we shall always do the like for you. 

Sealed at Leipzig [Lesprizia] in Misen the 9th day of December, 
in the year of our Lord 1603. 


With the proper privilege of 
his Majesty 



SiGISMUND BaTHORI. 


Thus furnished with a pass to proceed anjrwhere, and 
possessing the equivalent of some hundreds of pounds 
in gold, could Smith proceed straight back to England ? 
Could he bid farewell to travel, sightseeing, fighting and 
adventure ? The temptation was too great : he was 
still urged by his untamable desire for knowledge. The 
world to him was like some fascinating book which had 
to be read. He decided therefore to spend his money 
seeing those few bits of the European continent on which 
so far his eyes had not alighted ; and, like the incorrigible 



72 captain JOHN SMITH 

tourist that he was, he set forth and visited Dresden, 
Magdeburg, Brunswick, Mainz, the Rhine valley, 
Worms, Spires, Strasburg. 

This completed his tour through Germany, and next 
he passed once more into France, had a look at Nancy 
in Loraine, went on to Paris, thence south-west to Orleans, 
did a trip down the Loire to Angers and Nantes, and of 
course found a port irresistible ; for the sight of a ship 
suggested still further venturing and knowledge. At 
Nantes he embarked in a vessel that was bound for 
Spain, and in this manner he reached Bilbao, whence he 
tramped on to see Burgos, with its superb Gothic cathe- 
dral and that castle which later (in 1812) was besieged 
by the British. Spain, so noted for its military and 
colonial zeal, the home of so many explorers, could not 
fail to appeal to him : so from Burgos he travelled south- 
west to Valladolid (Spain’s capital before that honour 
was held by Madrid), but especially the city must have 
thrilled him because it was here that Columbus had died. 
Smith’s next call was to see the Escorial, which had been 
completed only twenty years previously. The fact that 
this monastery-palace had been built in pursuance of a 
vow made by Philip II at the Battle of St. Quentin (1557) 
could not but cause Smith, so recently saved from a 
warrior’s death, to contemplate it with emotion. 

Madrid held him for a time, and then there was Toledo ; 
but further on awaited him Ciudad Real with its noble 
walls. Cordova’s city, whose marvellous Moorish 
mosque — one of the most beautiful buildings in the 
world — ^was another reminder of the young man’s enemies 
the Turks ; Seville, with its great cathedral ; Xeres, 
with its Moorish castle ; Cadiz, which Raleigh and 
Essex had sacked only eight years previously, where 
Drake in 1587 had burnt the Spanish shipping — all 
these sights and wonders were completing Smith’s edu- 
cation. And then he must, of course, push on to San 



73 


SLAVE OF SLAVES 

Lucar de Barrameda, whence Columbus had sailed on 
his third voyage. Eventually Smith found himself at 
Gibraltar having, as he remarked, become “ thus satis- 
fied with Europe and Asia.” It was at this port he 
learned that there was some chance of fighting in Barbary 
where dwelt the cruel Moors. This, in spite of all that 
had ever happened to him hitherto, set him again on 
flame : he must get across to the African coast and it 
would at least afford him an opportunity of seeing some 
more unvisited territory. He therefore crossed the 
straits to Ceuta, thence to the north-west African port 
of Saffee where he became acquainted with the Captain of 
a French ship. With this officer and a small party he 
now went a hundred miles inland to see the ancient 
monuments of “ that large renowned citie ” Morocco, 
once the chief town in Barbary, and during the four- 
teenth century so large as to have a population of 700,000. 
But in Smith’s time there was “ now little remaining.” 

Still, there was much to interest him with its royal 
palace, Christian church, pinnacles, towers, fountains 
and so on ; and there was even as much that he there 
heard concerning other parts of Barbary. But Smith 
presently realized that these North African hostilities 
were scarcely worth his while, for he had a soul above 
mere petty squabbles. Therefore “ by reason of the 
uncertainty, and the perfidious, treacherous, bloudy 
murthers rather than warre, amongst those perfidious, 
barbarous Moores,” he took no part in any fighting but 
went back with his companions to the coast at Saffee, 
” and so aboard his Ship, to try some other conclusions 
at Sea.” 

Now it is an extraordinary fact that, whenever Smith 
went afloat, his ship was almost certain to be plxmged 
into some sort of excitement, of which already we have 
had ample instances, and here comes yet another. At 
Saffee he and some of his companions from the French 



7+ captain JOHN SMITH 

ship were invited aboard an English man-of-war, com- 
manded by a Captain Merham, which happened to be 
lying in the roads. The invitation was accepted and 
the guests were treated with every welcome and kindness. 
This cheerful hospitality was continued so long a while 
that it was too late to go ashore and the visitors would 
have to remain aboard for the night ; and then occurred 
that same incident which has since so frequently hap- 
pened to all manner of craft, sail and steam. The weather 
that evening had been perfect without a suspicion of 
impending trouble ; but by midnight it was blowing 
such a gale that Merham’s ship had to slip her cable and 
put to sea. If you would roughly visualize her, think 
of a three-master square-rigged on fore- and main-mast, 
with a triangular lateen sail in the mizzen. In the 
steerage-room was the whipstaff for controlling the tiller, 
where also were the compass and lantern, together with 
the traverse board on which were marked the various 
courses steered during each watch. She had a bowsprit 
with a square sprit-sail, the younger hands were sent aloft 
when the topsails had to be stowed, and these were furled 
in a somewhat clumsy fashion, the bunt being secured 
to the yard by rope yarns. The cables were of rope, 
which could be spliced when they broke. The stern 
would be square with a poop deck, being low in the 
waist. If she were a 400-ton vessel her planking would 
be 4-inch, if 300-ton it would be of 3-inch, but 2-inch 
was the thinnest planking used. Quarter galleries were 
seen in the great ships, the upper decks were made of 
2-inch spruce deal and various methods were used for 
sheathing hulls against the insidious worm. 

This wind must have been a hard north-easter and 
before it she “ spooned.” This was a well-known 
Elizabethan seamen’s word meaning to drive before the 
wind under bare poles, and at last it brought the ship to 
the Canaries. Thus that pleasant supper party was the 



SLAVE OF SLAVES 


75 

cause of Smith doing an involuntary voyage, but it was 
to yield a good deal of excitement and fill in a special 
gap in his otherwise complete series of happenings ; since 
it remained for this intrepid rover who had done some 
pirating whilst aboard a French merchantman in the 
Mediterranean now to have a sea-fight whilst aboard 
an English ship in the Atlantic. 

Before long they sighted a craft bound from Tenerife 
with a cargo of wine, and her they promptly took. Then 
three or four others loomed up which they chased, 
capturing two, but found little in them except a few 
passengers who gave tidings that there were five Dutch 
men-of-war around the Canaries. This information 
caused Merham to make for the African coast near Cape 
Bojador, where he descried a couple of sail. Coming 
up to them the English captain hailed them to know 
who they were, and the strangers very civilly dowsed 
their topsails, invited the English to come aboard and 
help themselves, as they were but two poor and distressed 
Biscayners. 

Were they ? Merham realized now that he had put 
himself “ in the lions pawes ” : for the artful enemies 
were none other than Spanish men-of-war, representatives 
of England’s time-honoured enemies. Merham there- 
fore went about, but the senior Spanish ship tacked after 
him and came close up under the Englishman’s lee 
quarter, fired a broadside, and luffed up to windward. 
The second Spaniard followed the same tactics, after 
which the senior, with the soimd of trumpets and firing 
all his gims that would bear as well as muskets, crashed 
alongside Merham’s weather, whilst the second vessel 
came up on the Englishman’s lee quarter. So here was 
Smith once more in the thick of fighting, but he is far 
too modest to relate his own active share. It was a hot 
enough tussle, and in spite of that tropical sunshine “ it 
was so darke, there was little light, but fire and smoke,” 



76 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

These old-fashioned tactics of bringing one ship close 
against the other were known as “ boarding.” It was 
effective thus to come alongside as these two Spaniards 
did, though the best method of boarding was to bring 
your ship “ athwart hawse,” so that the whole of your 
ordnance on one side could rake the enemy, whilst she 
could use only her chase and prow pieces. Henry VIII 
had caused to be compiled a book of orders for his Navy 
in which each captain was instructed thus : “In case 
you board your enemy, enter not till you see the smoke 
gone, and then shoot off all your pieces, your port-pieces, 
the piece of hail-shot, [your] cross-bow shot to beat his 
cage decks, and if you see his deck well rid, then enter 
with your best men, but first win his top in any wise if 
it be possible.” 

But such was the reception which these Spanish ships 
received that they stayed but a short time alongside, and 
left behind four or five of their men casualties, though 
the Spaniards then blazed away for about an -hour and 
boarded as before. Now the old custom of using grap- 
nels in sea-fights was not yet dead, and it was the custom 
for certain craft (as it had been, for instance, in the case 
of the late fifteenth-century Flemish carracks which 
traded to Spain) to carry a grapnel at the outboard end 
of the bowsprit. This several-armed grapnel or ‘ ‘ kedger ’ ’ 
was at the end of a chain and, the bowsprit of those days 
being steeved at a high angle, you had only to let go this 
chain with its grapnel on to the enemy before locking 
him alongside you. 

This time when the enemy boarded Merham, they 
“ threw foure kedgers or grapnalls in iron chaines, then 
shearing off they thought to have tome downe the grat- 
ing ” ; but the senior ship got one of her yards so en- 
tangled in Merham’s shrouds, that the latter had time to 
fire “ crosse barre shot ” and “ divers bolts of iron made 
for that purpose,” so that the enemy was holed at the bow 



SLAVE OF SLAVES 


77 


and it looked as if the attacker and attacked would both 
founder together. The senior Spaniard was therefore 
busily employed trying to slip his grapnels, whilst 
Merham was cutting away the tackling which kept the 
enemy’s yards foul of the Englishman’s shrouds. The 
second Spaniard, having got free, maintained a hot fire 
until his senior could repair that serious leak. 

Before a fight the nettings were spread over the ship’s 
deck to act as a protection against the enemy, so that 
what with long cloths stretched over the waist, wooden 
loop-holed barriers built across the ship’s deck, and these 
nettings extended to prevent falling spars killing the 
crew, every effort was made to keep off intruders. In 
this engagement at which Smith assisted, they continued 
to shoot at each other from noon till six in the evening, 
volley for volley. During the night both enemy ships 
chased Merham and in the morning at close range fired 
“ their chase, broad side, and starne ” guns one after 
the other. This went on for another hour when the 
enemy “ commanded Merham a maine for the King of 
Spaine upon faire quarter. Merham,” says Smith 
wittily, “ dranke to them and so discharged his quarter 
peeces.” 

This considerably annoyed the enemy, who now came 
crashing alongside once more and many of them leapt 
into the rigging, climbed aloft into the fighting-top and 
attempted to unsling the Englishman’s mainsail, but 
they were quickly spotted by the Englishmen’s muskets 
so that the climbers came tumbling down. It should be 
here mentioned that, before a fight, the commanding 
ofiicer was always anxious lest the enemy’s sickle-shaped 
bill-hooks (which were attached at the yard-arm) should 
in these boarding efforts cut the ties and thus cause the 
yards to carry away. For this reason the practice was 
to sling the yards in chains. But the Spaniards were now 
swarming on to the Englishman’s decks, and about the 



78 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

round house some were so hotly assailed as to be driven 
into the “ great ’* cabin aft, which was then blown up, 
the smoke and flames being such that it seemed as if the 
whole ship was on fire. The Englishmen in the fore- 
castle were likewise being so fiercely attacked that they 
were compelled to blow up a piece of the grating together 
with a good many more Spaniards. 

This finally caused the rest of the enemy to hop back 
to their own craft with all speed, and Merham then set 
his hands to quench the fires by means of wet cloths and 
water, whilst the enemy’s guns assailed the English ship 
hotly. Leaks were stopped with old sails ; but, when 
the senior Spanish ship realized his own condition and 
that Merham had put out his conflagration, the enemy 
hoisted a flag of truce. Merham, however, was having 
nothing of that sort and refused to entertain any parley : 
he knew there was but one way with “ the enemy ” 
and would have none but the report of his ordnance, 
which hee did know well how to use for his best 
advantage.” 

The engagement thus continued desperately through 
the next afternoon and half the night, but in the dark- 
ness the Spaniards disappeared. On board the English 
vessel were twenty-seven slain, and sixteen wounded : 
but she had received a himdred and forty “ great shot.” 
As to the enemy, a woimded Spanish prisoner admitted 
that the senior officer’s ship had lost a himdred men, and 
it was presumed that she was in such a parlous condition 
that she would sink before reaching port. Merham’s 
vessel was able to carry on and make sail, so that she 
reached Santa Cruz in the Canaries. From there she 
made the African shore at Cape Ghir, coasted north past 
Mogador, and so reached Saffee again. 

Smith now says laconically in his True Travels that 
“ he returned into England ’’ : but Purchas ^ adds the 
1 Pilgrimes, viii. chap. zi. (MacLchose E(Jition). 



SLAVE OF SLAVES 79 

following additional particulars ; “ Then understanding 
that the Warres of Mully Shah and Mully Sedan, the two 
brothers in Barbarie of Fez and Moroco (to which hee 
was animated by some friends) were concluded in peace, 
he imbarked himselfe for England with one thousand 
Duckets in his Purse.” We do not know whether it was 
in Merham^s vessel that he now travelled or in some 
English merchant ship, for there were a very few of the 
latter which now were trading to the north-west and west 
of Africa. There were, indeed, other English seafrrers 
who were attracted to Northern Africa in a manner quite 
different. 

History has recently repeated itself, as it always has 
done in the past. After the Great War came high prices 
and unemployment, the fighting services had to be cut 
down, and many of those who had fought most strenu- 
ously and bravely were no longer required by the State. 
Much the same sort of condition had occurred at the end 
of Elizabeth’s reign, which concluded a year before 
Smith returned to England. Prices were then high in 
proportion to wages, in every parish were many poor ; 
and, since the monasteries were gone, there was no one 
whose duty it was to relieve them. Those who had been 
wounded during the Armada actions received no pensions, 
but had to content themselves with begging-licences in 
their extreme poverty, so that they might appeal to their 
fellow countrymen “ to have a Christian and pitiful 
regard ” for one in “ his extreame want and miserie 
gotten in the service of our gracious Prince.” 

It is true that presently Ae churchwardens were per- 
mitted to invite voluntary alms, and afterwards to levy a 
rate ; but in 1601 all the acts under this category were 
re-cast, the maintenance of the impotent poor and the 
setting of able-bodied men to labour in workhouses was 
entrusted in each parish to regular guardians. But that 
did not appeal to the English sailorman, and Smith has 



8o CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

a passage written in 1629 that well illustrates the new 
problem and the solution which was attempted by some 
sailors. There were only two ways open : one was to 
engage in piracy, the other was to take part in that over- 
seas trading and colonial expansion which now was just 
beginning to seize the English mind with an entirely 
new zeal. 

Smith arrived back in the year 1 604, having been away 
from England continuously ever since the year 1600, 
and during that time, which had been so momentous to 
him, great events had occurred at home. The Tudor 
period had ended, the Stuart dynasty had begun. In 
matters of religion there was grave unrest, the Puritan 
influence was to cause three hundred to emigrate into 
Holland and, presently, in 1620 the “Mayflower” 
was to sail across the Atlantic — thus, religious troubles 
at home were to give an impetus to overseas colonization. 
The old merry, self-contented England was gone ; every- 
where there was imsettlement in politics as well as in 
religion, and the newly discovered lands on the western 
side of the Atlantic Ocean were already a strong mag- 
netism. In the English life at home there were, too, 
all sorts of under-currents, and the Gunpowder Plot was 
not the only conspiracy that was hatched. Raleigh’s 
advocacy of war with Spain had increased his unpopu- 
larity with James I and, great soldier though he was, 
Sir Walter had been committed to the Tower on a con- 
viction of complicity in plotting. 

Everywhere, then, there was change and in some 
places decay : it was not the England Smith had known 
in his^ school days. But the East India Company had 
been inaugurated which some day was to lead up to a 
British Indian Empire. For the present, as in religion 
and politics and national aspirations, there was that 
general restlessness which is usually the prelude to 
important settlements in thought and action, And 



SLAVE OF SLAVES 


8f 

when in 1604 James made a naval peace with Spain, 
after all these years of international rivalry, gone was the 
leading motive which had animated jEnglish sailormen 
through generation after generation. 

“ After the death of our most gracious Queen e Eliza- 
beth of blessed memory,” wrote Smith, “ our Royall 
King James, who ftrom his infancie had reigned in peace 
with all Nations, had no imployment for those men of 
warre, so that those that were rich rested with that they 
had ; those that were poore, and had nothing but from 
hand to mouth, turned Pirats ; some, because they 
became sleighted of those for whom they had got much 
wealth ; some, that had lived bravely, would not abase 
themselves to poverty ; some vainly, only to get a name ; 
others, for revenge, covetousnesse, or as ill ; and as they 
found themselves more and more oppressed, their passions 
increasing with discontent, made them turne Pirats.” 

It was thus that these hardy veterans, compelled to 
use the sea somehow, drifted south to Barbary and taught 
the Moors a good deal in regard to square-rigged seaman- 
ship, becoming so invaluable that certain of these rose 
to the rank of pasha. But this decadence, having once 
set in, these otherwise able seamen became quarrelsome, 
jealous, treacherous ; “ and all they got, they basely 
consumed it amongst Jewes, Turks, Moores, and 
whores.” And the final condition was that they lived 
ashore, gave up going to sea, and were slaves subject to 
the Moors of Barbary. 

From this Smith was careful to draw the following 
lesson : 

“ I could wish Merchants, Gentlemen, and all setters 
forth of ships, not to bee sparing of a competent pay, nor 
true payment ; for neither Souldiers nor Sea-men can 
live without meanes, but necessity will force them to 
steale ; and when they are once entered into that trade, 
they are hardly reclaimed. Those titles of Sea-men 

F 



§2 


captain JOHN SMITH 

and Souldiers,” he adds with justifiable pride, " have 
beene most worthily honoured and esteemed, but now 
regarded for the most part, but as the scumme of the 
world.” 

And for this pathetic anti-climax Smith had the follow- 
ing remedy : “Regaine therefore your wonted reputations, 
and endevour rather to adventure to those faire planta- 
tions of our English Nation,” where even the poorest 
person would get “more in one yeare, than you by 
piracie in seven.” Smith’s far-sightedness, his humanity, 
his deep sense of patriotism were no mere empty vapour- 
ings, but the expression of his own single-mindedness 
and honesty. He had seen so much of men and things, 
he had mixed so considerably among sailors and soldiers, 
he realized so intently the different order of affairs and 
the fresh outlook, with the wonderful possibilities which 
were offered by the New World. Hitherto he had sought 
out wars wherever they happened to exist, and even the 
rumour of hostilities had always attracted him irresistibly. 
Everything now was for peace and reconstruction and 
overseas settlement. And, notwithstanding all his love 
of roving, Smith had the good sense to realize all this, 
to readjust his mentality and activity. 

It is from now therefore that we enter upon a totally 
different phase of his career, in which fighting gives way 
to planting, and adventuring becomes rather pioneering 
on a grand scale. 



CHAPTER VIIl 


THE COLONIAL IDEA 

N the mind of every man who is a big 
personality and driving force, there lies 
some outstanding idea which labels him 
and distinguishes him from the rest of 
his fellows ; and this second part of 
John Smith’s life is dominated by the 
plantation notion which was to colour 
the rest of his career. It was not that 
this well-travelled Englishman had “ a bee in his bonnet,” 
but rather that he saw the fullness of a grand opportimity 
and was resolved that this should be manifested to others. 
And there can be no doubt but that, looking back on his 
past, he regarded those early experiences, which we have 
noted, as a fitting preparation for his great constructive 
work. 

“ The Warres in Europe, Asia, and Affrica,” he wrote 
in the year before he died, “ taught me how to subdue 
the wilde Salvages in Virginia arid New-England, in 
America.” With a character such as his, with all his 
landfaring and seafaring, all his experience of handling 
difficult situations as they arose, it was inevitable that he 
must distinguish himself if ever he found himself in- 
volved in a big problem of pioneering enterprise far 
away from headquarters and immediate instructions. It 
would, indeed, be impossible to conceive of a more 
drastic early training than his. 

The growth of this colonial idea is interesting . During 

83 





84 Captain joiiN smith 

the sixteenth century parochialism with its confined 
outlook received its first shock when Europe began to 
send its emigrants to the West Indies. Columbus 
setting out from Spain had discovered the Bahamas, 
Cuba, Dominica and Haiti ; and thus at the beginning 
of the sixteenth century to the last mentioned island had 
come the first Spanish settlers. In spite of any Papal 
regulation or any Spanish exclusiveness ships from 
England also had presently burst into the Caribbean. 
Those Englishmen who visited Hispaniola (otherwise 
Haiti), such as Ralph Lane in 1585, reported on the 
infinite riches which this island possessed, and set the 
minds of those at home thinking. During that sixteenth 
century had come the beginnings of the capitalist con- 
ception and the introduction of moneyed power ; of 
which the famous Fugger family on the European conti- 
nent were to be the leaders. 

Merchants who visited distant markets with cargoes 
in ships needed this capital for their enterprise. For 
example, in the closing years of Elizabeth’s reign English 
merchants made a memorial to the Queen setting forth 
the benefits that would accrue from a direct overseas trade 
to India, got together the necessary capital, fitted out 
ships, and thus formed the first English East India 
Company. In a similar manner others with wealth 
joined together and got permission from the Queen “ to 
discover and take possession of all remote and barbarous 
lands unoccupied by any Christian Prince or people.” 
The territory of the New World opened up quite new 
possibilities for employing existing capital in the hands 
of English noblemen and gentlemen. Unlike Spain, 
England had comparatively little hoarded actual bullion, 
seeing that she possessed no silver mines. But she 
possessed men of gold who were chiefly tillers of the soil, 
or seamen : the two essential classes for the colonial 
idea. 



THE COLONIAL IDEA 


85 


And it was because of the poverty in England men- 
tioned in the last chapter, not less than those political 
and religious uncertainties, that there was ready at hand 
a large body of potential planters inclined to exchange 
bad conditions for better prospects. Additional to this 
was the fact that the sea and ships were fast becoming 
more attractive as a result of the Armada’s defeat and 
other Elizabethan achievements afloat ; and, with this 
fresh means of finding a road to new markets for the 
English wool, there was already a way for attracting 
into England some of that bullion which had come from 
the west side of the Atlantic. 

There was yet another influence, and that was to be 
traced to Richard Hakluyt, whose period is sufficiently 
indicated by the dates, 1552-1616. This geographer, 
lecturer and compiler of the Principall Navigations, 
Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation was to do 
much by his teaching to make his countrymen perceive 
the possibilities of the sea ; at a time when ignorance was 
dark and abysmal, he was the first to introduce such 
articles as maps, globes and spheres into the common 
schools. In a word, then, by the year 1604, when 
Smith arrived back home from his very practical study 
of European geography, the time was ripe for inducing 
both rich men with money to invest, and poor men with 
their knowledge of pasturing and tillage, to get enthusi- 
astic about transatlantic territory. 

Elizabeth, with all her zeal for the country’s welfare, 
had on occasions positively acted in restraint of trade, as 
for instance by her royal proclamation in the year 1601, 
when by reason of “ the experience of manie yeares ” 
hostility she now prohibited “ all and every one, of what 
condition realme or land soever, none excepted, to lade, 
ship, carry or transport by sea, directly or indirectly, 
under what coirlor or pretence soever, any ships, goods, 
wares, or marchandises, for or to any haven, towne, 



S6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

dtie or place ” in Spain or Portugal.^ But with Janies I 
anxious to be on friendly terms towards Spain an entirely 
new impetus was given to sea-borne trade. 

To Smith, with his belief that “ truly there is no pleasure 
comparable to that of a generous spirit ; as good em- 
ployment in noble actions, especially amongst Turks, 
Heathens and Infidels ; to see daily new countries, 
people, fashions, governments, stratagems . life in 
England on his return from the south must have seemed 
a very dull affair, and not to be tolerated for long. 
Practically the only corner of Europe that he had not 
visited was Ireland, if we except Denmark and the Scan- 
dinavian countries. Now Ireland had recently become 
of much greater interest to Englishmen and attracted 
English settlers. The Tudors had steadily pursued the 
policy of taking land firom tribal chiefs and allotting it 
to these settlers, with the result that rebellions and 
assassinations, massacres and burnings had followed. 

Whether it was in the hope of engaging in further 
adventures, or with a view to settling there, cannot be 
ascertained, but Smith now went on a walking tour in 
that island. His enemy Wingfield is responsible for the 
statement that “ it was proued to his face, that he begged 
in Ireland like a rogue, without a lycence.” But, apart 
from this being a prejudiced statement from an unfriendly 
source, it is a distortion of the truth. Smith was not 
without means and he had brought home a thousand 
ducats, part of which was doubtless his share in that 
capture of the three craft off the Canaries. It is a further 
evidence of his financial soundness that he was able to 
spend between the year 1604 and 1609 “ more than fiue 
hundred pounds in procuring the Letters Patent, and 
neere as much more about New England &c.” ^ Smith 

^ Law and Custom of the Sea, by R. G. Marsden (Navy Records 
Society), i. p. 315. 

* Thf Gtntrall Historie of Virginia, Bk. 4. 



THE COLONIAL IDEA 


87 

cannot possibly have gone through Ireland in the con- 
dition or a pauper, but of one who was still anxious to see 
new sights. 

Certainly he let very little time elapse, on his return 
from Africa, before getting to work on the overseas 
settlement idea ; for we have his own statement that 
“ In the yeare 1 605 Captaine Ley, brother to that noble 
Knight Sir Oliver Ley, with divers others, planted him- 
selfe in the River Weapoco, wherein I should have beene 
a partie ; but hee dyed, and there lyes buried : and the 
supply miscarrying, the rest escaped as they could.” 
The “ Weapoco ” is that great River Cyapock which 
to-day forms the boundary between French Guiana and 
Brazil. It was only in 1500 that Brazil had been dis- 
covered and that the Portuguese had taken possession 
of it by the confirmation of the Papal Bull of 1506. 
Raleigh had gone in 1595 to look for gold in Guiana, 
and had left behind Francis Sparrow, who spent the next 
fifteen years in that locality and then came home to die. 
And it was but the chance of Ley dying that John Smith 
did not go colonizing in South instead of North America. 

Colonization throughout history has proceeded along 
various lines. The Greek idea was that of a community 
which was united to the mother state by sentiment ana 
religion, yet politically independent. The Roman colony 
was rather an administrative unit of the empire and of 
military origin. The enterprise of the Jesuits in 
Paraguay in the direction of a Christian Utopia, the fac- 
tory system of the East India Company, the penal settle- 
ments in Australia are all separate examples of the basis 
of colonial organizations. The Spanish colonial efforts 
in the New World consisted in governing the natives in 
order to provide security for trade, but in actual practice 
this consisted in protecting the mines and (in Haiti, for 
example) treating the natives with cruel and murderous 
treachery. 



88 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

In those early English colonies called plantations we 
have at the beginning a number of enthusiasts willing to 
pool their wealth and in many cases their lives. The 
motive was partly with a view of presenting Christianity 
to the heathens or “ savages,” but partly in the expecta- 
tion of obtaining good interest on the capital expended. 
The method was to obtain letters-patent from the Sove- 
reign giving permission to discover and take possession 
of fresh territory. This done, it remained only to collect 
the gentlemen, carpenters, labourers, boys, minister of 
religion and the surgeon, with all firearms, tools and so 
on. A small squadron of ships was then hired, and the 
Company (with its headquarters in England) issued its 
instructions to those entrusted with the responsibility of 
establishing the enterprise in the strange land that was 
to be the objective. At home the Company was ad- 
ministered by those who to-day would be called a Board 
of Directors : those who represented them in the strange 
land were selected to form a council over whom was the 
President. The great weakness of this scheme was that 
the latter were awkwardly restricted in their initiative 
and development ; for, when the council on the spot were 
possessed of more complete information regarding local 
problems, and there was long delay in getting com- 
munications back to England and out to the new land, 
it was inevitable that friction and misunderstandings, 
jealousies and suspicions should arise. The controlling 
board, or Court, at home, consisting of members who in 
many cases had never been abroad, might find themselves 
laying down a certain policy much resented by those on 
the spot who knew better. 

But how it came about that Smith should proceed 
rather to Virginia than the West Indies must now be 
explained. The first English book mentioning 
America appeared in 1511, but it was Richard Eden’s 
translations and compilations, printed at London in 1553 



THE COLONIAL IDEA 


89 

and 1555, which were the forerunners of our great dis- 
coveries by sea. By narrating the deeds of other nations, 
especially of the Spaniards, by exciting an interest in 
matters connected with India, and then concerning that 
“ newe India ” across the Western Ocean, Eden was 
creating in the minds of the English gentry and mer- 
chants an overwhelming longing to take forth ships and 
investigate these “ mynes of golde,” this “ fyshynge for 
perles,” all " the great rychesse,” the wonderfol trees, 
miits and plants, the “ mynes of siluer.” By the year 
1 5 5 5 all who could read English and were able to obtain 
Eden’s A treatyse of the newe India^ and The Decades of the 
newe worlde or west India^ had for their benefit opened 
out an introduction to a kind of marine Fairyland : the 
summons from the west became irresistible, and when 
Drake first visited the West Indies he already had 
the opportunity of obtaining from these two books all 
the information which any English publication could 
provide. 

But if the arrogant exclusiveness of the Spaniards 
made it difficult, and at first impossible, for imaginative 
and ambitious Englishmen to inaugurate a plantation to 
the south of the Caribbean, or even in Florida, there was 
a possibility of collision if the Englishmen went right 
north, seeing that Jacques Cartier in 1534 Fad landed 
on the Gasp 6 coast of Quebec and taken possession of it 
in the King of France’s name. It therefore followed 
that North America, somewhere between the St. Lawrence 
River in the north and Florida in the south, suggested a 
suitable locality for an English wedge. 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert was the first to receive a patent 
from Queen Elizabeth. After taking possession of 
Newfoundland, he was drowned in a gale off that coast. 
But the patent then passed to his half-brother. Sir Walter 
Raleigh, who sent out expeditions which explored the 
sea-board from Florida to Newfoundland as a result of 



90 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

persistent enterprise. It was by Elizabeth’s direction 
that the coast touched at was presently called Virginia. 
After a hundred men had been taken out in 1585 by 
Raleigh’s relative, Sir Richard Grenville, and left on 
Roanoke Island, the ship had sailed home for further 
supplies. In the meantime had arrived Drake, who, at 
their own request, brought these pioneers away ; thus, 
when Grenville once more came west, he foimd his people 
had inexplicably disappeared, so he sailed again, leaving 
behind a few men as guard, though they were never seen 
again. In 1587 Raleigh sent another party consisting 
of 150 men and a few women to Roanoke Island also. 
But when four years later this scene was visited from 
England nothing was found of these planters but relics 
of their possessions. Still again, in 1602, Raleigh sent 
out one more expedition, but this also was unsuccessful. 
It will, however, be necessary to deal with this in a later 
chapter. 

Virginia, at this dawn of the seventeenth century, 
signified not just that territory to which the modern state 
of the same name belongs : it was rather a name for an 
indefinite area between French and Spanish regions. 
“ Virginia,” as Smith defined it, “is a Country in 
America, that lyeth betweene the degrees of 34 and 44 
of the north latitude. The bounds thereof on the East 
side are the great Ocean. On the South lyeth Florida : 
on the North nova Francia. As for the West thereof, 
the limits are vnknowne.” And that part which was 
planted by him and his colleagues in 1607 “ is vnder the 
degrees 37. 38. and 39.” And, notwithstanding all the 
ill-luck which hitherto had occurred, there was still in 
England a great longing to make a permanent settlement 
on the North American continent. 

It was in the year 1 606 that the Royal Virginia Com- 
pany, after much difficulty received its patent. As to 
Smith’s share in the promotion of this syndicate we have 



THE COLONIAL IDEA 


91 


his own statements that “ I haue spared neither paines 
nor money according to my abilitie, first to procure his 
Maiesties Letters pattents, and a Company here to be 
the means to raise a company to go with me to Virginia,” 
and that it “ cost me neare 5 yeares work, and more than 
500 pounds of my owne estate.” In W. Simmonds’s 
The Proceedings of the English Colony in Virginia^ pub- 
lished at Oxford in 1612, and compiled from statements 
by various officers of that colony, Thomas Studley, one 
or the “ gentlemen ” who was the ” cape-merchant ” in 
charge of the cargo, claims that Captain Bartholomew 
Gosnold or Gosnoll who was ” the first mover of this 
plantation, hauing many yeares solicited many of his 
friends, but found small assistants ; at last prevailed with 
some Gentlemen, as Maister Edward maria Wingfield, 
Captain e lohn Smith, and diverse others, who depended 
a yeare vpon his projects, but nothing could be effected, 
till by their great charge and industrie it came to be appre- 
hended by certaine of the Nobilitie, Gen trie, and Mar- 
chants, so that his Maiestie by his letters patent, gaue 
commission for establishing Councels, to direct here, 
and to governe and to execute there. To effect this, 
was spent another yeare ; and by that time, three ships 
were provided, one of 100 Tonns, another of 40. and a 
Pinnace of 20. The transportation of the company was 
committed to Captaine Christopher Newport, a Marriner 
well practised for the westerne parts of America. But 
their orders for gouernement were put in a box, not to 
be opened, nor the governours knowne vntill they arrived 
in Virginia. 

This Royal Virginia Company, with its Council of 
thirteen in London had two departments, one of which 
dealt with the Northern (afterwards called the New 
England) project, and the second with the Southern or 
Virginia enterprise, and by this means both London and 
that ardent maritime West of England could both take 



92 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

a keen interest. “ The Letters-Patents,” writes Smith in 
the sixth book of his Generali Historie, “ granted by his 
Majesty in 1606. for the limitation of Virginia, did 
extend from 34. to 44. which was diuided into two parts ; 
namely, the first Colony and the second : the first was to 
the honourable City of London, and such as would 
aduenture with them to discouer and take their choice 
where they would, betwixt the degrees of 34. and 41. 
The second was appropriated to the Cities of Bristol, 
Exeter and Plimoth, &c. and the West parts of England, 
and all those that would aduenture and joine with them, 
and they might make their choise any where betwixt the 
degrees of 38. and 44 ; prouided there should bee at 
least 100. miles distance betwixt' these 2 Colonies : each 
of which had lawes, priuileges and authoritie, for the 
gouernment and aduancing their seuerall Plantations 
alike.” 

With regard to this second half of the adventure it is 
sufficient here to say that it was organized by Sir John 
Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England, who got both 
the money and the men together in 1606, so that the 
expedition set sail from Plymouth on the last day of 
May, 1607, reached what was years afterwards 
called New England on August 1 1. But, after attempt- 
ing to make a settlement, they foimd that winter so cold 
and their provisions so small that they sent back all the 
people but forty-five. Then, in the year 1608, Captain 
Popham their President having died and some supply- 
ships having arrived with news of Sir John Popham’s 
death, they all returned to England from a region which 
Aey regarded “as a cold, barren, mountainous, rocky 
Desart.” 

Now to return to the London or Southern Virginia 
Company ; before setting out, special ordinances were 

set down by the King’s Majesty and delivered . . . 
under the Privy Seal ” as a guidance to those who should 



THE COLONIAL IDEA 


93 

form the council in the new land. But, in addition, these 
“ captains and company ” were given instructions “ by 
way of advice ” from the London headquarters, and it is 
important to note the gist of these as influencing the 
mode of the settlers’ life in Virginia. Thus, having 
arrived off that coast, they were to search out some safe 
port at the entrance to a navigable river which should 
run furthest inland, but especially one whose arm 
“ bendeth most toward the North-west.” The reason 
for this emphasis was the mistaken notion that the North 
American continent was narrow, and that not far from 
the source of the eastern rivers would be found the 
Pacific Ocean. And in this opinion the council at home 
doubtless were influenced by the fact that over thirty 
years previously Drake on crossing the Isthmus from the 
Caribbean had suddenly sighted the Pacific, or “ Southern 
Sea,” as seventeenth-century seamen called it. 

It was to be Captain Newport’s duty to find how far 
that river was navigable, and after selecting a site the 
victuals and munitions were to be landed. Then Ae 
whole party was to be given separate duties : one section 
to build and fortify a storehouse for the victuals ; a 
second to prepare the ground, to sow the corn and roots ; 
a third to act as sentinels at the river’s mouth lest they 
should be surprised by attack. If any fleet should 
suddenly be sighted, these sentries were to row up the 
river in a light boat provided. And, further, it was 
distinctly laid down that “ you must in no case suffer 
any of the native people of the country to inhabit between 
you and the sea coast.” But whilst one portion of the 
company were doing all the above, forty others under 
the leadership of Captains Newport and Gosnold could 
be employed for a couple of months exploring the river 
and neighbouring country. 

Captain Gosnold was held in high repute at home, 
and it was he who, leaving Falmouth on Lady Day, 



94 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

1602, had crossed the Atlantic and discovered Cape 
Cod with the ships “ Concord ” and “ Dartmouth ” on 
May 14. Afterwards he landed on what is now called 
Cuttyhunk Island, where he built a house and a “ little 
fort ** : but he stayed here only from May 24 till June 1 7, 
when he made sail and reached Exmouth on July 23. 
Still, he had thus effected the first, if temporary, English 
settlement in New England. A rotmd tower on the 
island to-day stands as a memorial to him.^ Thus, with 
this achievement behind him, he was regarded in London 
as an expert, and his word had become a great induce- 
ment to form this Virginia Company. It was therefore 
not surprising that the following instruction was insisted 
upon ; “ When they do espie any high lands or hills. 
Captain Gosnold may take twenty of the company to 
cross over the lands, and carrying a half dozen pickaxes 
to try if they can find any minerals.” 

At the back of this you will recognize that the company 
founders had still fresh in their minds the silver and gold 
which Richard Eden and others had suggested. In fact, 
you will find that through the seventeenth century wher- 
ever an English ship nosed her way into some strange 
land — ^Arctic regions not excepted — ^there was always a 
half expectation that gold, or at least that yellow dirt 
which was thought to be impregnated with the precious 
metal, might be located. 

In these Virginia instructions the settlers were ad- 
monished to “ have great care not to offend the naturals,” 
but they could trade with them for corn. However tired 
the English soldiers might be, they must never allow the 
natives to carry their weapons. The selected “ seat for 
habitation ” must not be in a low, marshy place nor close 
to a forest that would act as a “ covert for your enemies.” 
The 2o-ton pinnace was to be hauled up under the 

^ A photograph, of this will be seen facing p. 130 in my Whalers and 
Whaling. (London, 1925.) 



THE COLONIAL IDEA 


95 

fort, the sails and anchors taken out of her, but a small 
hedge left with her. Before any private person’s house 
was erected, the carpenters and workmen were to build 
the storehouse and other publick rooms. “ Let them all 
work together first for the company and then for private 
men.” 

Nor did this London council omit scarcely any detail : 
they had thought out even the town planning. “ wAjnd 
seeing order is at the same price with confusion,” they 
decided, ” it shall be adviseably done to set your houses 
even and by a line, that your streets may have a good 
breadth, and be carried square about your market place, 
and every street’s end opening into it ; that from thence, 
with a few field pieces, you may command every street 
throughout ; which market place you may also fortify 
if you think it needfull.” So also they must take care 
“ that your marriners that go for wages, do not marr 
your trade. ’ ’ English sailors were not exactly as innocent 
as statues in a Gothic cathedral, and the chance of doing 
a bit of bartering on their own was likely to spoil the 
rate of exchange with the natives, so the mariners were 
forbidden to buy from the “ naturals ” anything what- 
soever. Smith endeavours to make quite a strong case 
against these sailormen ; for the latter had ” alwayes 
good fare, and good pay for the most part, and part out 
of our owne purses : never caring how long they stayed 
upon their voyage, daily feasting before our faces ; when 
wee lived upon a little come and water.” Inasmuch as 
they were not “ adventurers ” or settlers, but were under 
contract, this attitude of the seamen was perhaps hardly 
sxirprising. 

It was further laid down that when Captain Newport 
returned home presently in the loo-ton ship, a full 
accoimt was to be sent to London concerning the situa- 
tion of the settlement, what commodities had been foimd, 
and so on, no one being permitted to come home or send 



96 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

a letter except with the permission of the plantation’s 
President and Council. Finally the instructions end 
with this bit of advice : “ the way to prosper and achieve 
good success is to make yourselves all of one mind for 
the good of your country and your own, and to serve and 
fear God the Giver of all Goodness, for every plantation 
which our Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be 
rooted out.” 

By December of 1606 the expedition of three ships 
was ready up the Thames, the officers and men on board, 
and now the first successful attempt to make an English 
settlement in North America was to be undertaken. As 
we look back to that winter’s day and to those little ships, 
we have one of the most historic incidents in the world’s 
history ; for here, at last, was the first chapter in the 
building up of the United .States. 



CHAPTER IX 


THE VOYAGE OUT 

IE village of Blackwall, in the parish 
of Poplar, on the north bank of the 
River Thames, has linked its name to 
the development of the English Mer- 
cantile Marine and the development of 
maritime prosperity in a manner that 
is unique among seaports right down 
till the advent of steam. 

From here have commenced voyages that were to 
guide the progress of civilization along certain definite 
and particular lines, just as certainly as the land caravan 
routes in earlier days affected the trend of European 
settlement. From the sixteenth century for the next 
three hundred years sailing ship after sailing ship voyaged 
out to the Orient and back, thus building up under Ae 
East India Company that rich section of the British 
Empire. Here that unique Company had its ofiices and 
superintended the building of its ships ; hither came 
Pepys by barge to see the largest wet dock in England 
and the “ brave new merchantman ‘ Royal Oake ’ ” that 
was being completed : hither also travelled Evelyn with 
the Duke of York to go aboard an East Indiaman and 
taste the “ canary that had been carried to and brought 
from the Indies.” Then, during the first part of the 
nineteenth century the village had earned a new reputa- 
tion under the famous Wigrams and Greens when those 
magnificent Blackwall frigates were built and sent on 
their way to India, China, Australia as the most pictur- 





98 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

esque merchantmen of their day. Altogether, during 
so many generations, this part of the Thames played a 
wonderful part in commercial expansion. 

Therefore most fitting was it that the Virginian expedi- 
tion should start from Blackwall, likewise, and the date 
was the 19th of December, 1606. The total number 
of the plantation party setting out comprised about 
150. These consisted of gentlemen, one minister 
of religion, a surgeon, blacksmith, sailor, barber, tailor, 
drummer, mason, several bricklayers, a number of 
labourers and some boys. It will be convenient here to 
mention some of the most prominent gentlemen, since 
their names will crop up before us again. Thus the 
Council was to be composed of Master Edward Maria 
Wingfield, a liberal Catholic by religion, but one of those 
self-opinionated, unpractical, awkward characters never 
likely to get on with pioneers ; Captain Bartholomew 
Gosnold, the experienced discoverer ; Captain John 
Ratcliffe, alias Sicklemore, who also became one of 
Smith’s chief enemies ; Captain George Kendal, who 
was afterwards executed for plotting ; Master George 
Percy, the Earl of Northumberland’s brother, not a 
strong character but anxious for the colony’s good ; 
Master Robert Hunt, the patient and pious cleric ; 
Captain Gabriel Archer, another of Smith’s enemies 
belonging to the officious intolerant type which succeeds 
better in a town than a plantation ; Captain John 
Martin, who did the best his weak body would permit ; 
and finally there was Captain John Smith, full of bursting 
energy but somewhat inclined to ride roughshod over 
others who lacked his driving force. Unquestionably 
Smith’s was the master-mind of the party, yet his deter- 
mination and strength were capable of creating in those 
who misunderstood him suspicion and hostility. 

Captain Christopher Newport, the senior transport 
officer, had the loo-ton “ Susan Constant ” as his flag- 



THE VOYAGE OUT 99 

ship, in which seventy of the passengers travelled. The 
40-tonner was the “ God Speed,” in which was Captain 
Gosnold, carrying fifty people. The 20-ton pinnace, 
called “ Discovery,” was a decked vessel of a class that 
ranged firom fifteen to eighty tons. These three ships 
were square-rigged on fore and main masts, but carried 
no topgallant sails : just a topsail on these two masts. 
All three vessels set a lateen mizzen, the pinnace being a 
small edition of the bigger ocean-going craft, yet without 
those built-up decks. She was able to carry over twenty 
people in this voyage, her commanding officer being the 
above-mentioned Captain Ratcliffe. 

Life aboard such vessels was not merely unpleasant 
but to landsmen oftentimes a terror, for no one of the 
latter in those days ever went to sea if he could possibly 
avoid it. The dividing line between them and seafarers 
was something real : they seemed to speak different 
languages. “ The sea language,” wrote one of Smith’s 
contemporaries. Sir William Monson, in his Naval 
Tracts^ “ is not soon learned, much less understood, being 
only proper to him that has served his apprenticeship : 
besides that, a boisterous sea and stormy weather will 
make a man not bred on it so sick, that it bereaves him 
of legs and stomach and courage, so much as to fight with 
his meat. And in such weather, when he hears the 
seamen cry starboard, or port, or to bide alooff, or flat a 
sheet, or haul home a cluling, he thinks he hears a bar- 
barous speech, which he conceives not the meaning of.” 

It was the cook aboard these ships who, besides dressing 
and “ delivering ” the victuals was responsible for the 
cans, platters, spoons and lanterns, but there was a 
cooper who looked after the casks for the wine, beer, 
cider and fresh water, whilst a ” swabber ” washed the 
decks down and kept the ship clean. For food stores 
these ships carried such things as rice, currants, sugar, 
prunes, spices, oil, butter, cheese, vinegar, canary sack, 



loo CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

aqua-vitae, biscuit, oatmeal, gammons of bacon, roast 
beef pickled in vinegar, legs of mutton minced and 
stewed and then packed up with butter in earthenware 
pots, salt fish, pork ; and as luxuries marmalade, almonds 
and “ comfits.” The principal ofiicers were the Captain, 
Master, Mates, Gunners, Carpenter, Boatswain and 
Marshal — ^who saw that delinquents were punished by 
such severities as ducking from the yard-arm, keel- 
hauling and so on — ^but there were also the corporal, 
chirurgeon, steward, cook, coxswain, and trumpeter, in 
addition to the sailors and boys. A Lieutenant was 
carried in some vessels to assist the Captain and to 
see that both Marshal and Corporal did their duties. 

The Virginia Company were accustomed to reckon 
that it cost them in seventeenth-century money about 
,^20 for every planter’s passage out, this sum covering 
food, cost of journey in the ship, and carriage of half a 
ton of provisions for each man. Each planter would 
take with him his Monmouth cap, three shirts, a waist- 
coat, one “ suit of canvase ” which cost seven shillings 
and sixpence, one suit “ of frize,” and one of cloth. 
Three pairs of Irish stockings were taken that had cost 
four shillings, four pairs of shoes, one pair of garters, 
one pair of canvas sheets, seven ells of canvas to make a 
bed and bolster for two men in Virginia, five ells of coarse 
canvas to make a bed at sea for two men, and one coarse 
rug for sea also. In addition to all these had to be 
provided iron pots, kettles, large frying-pans, gridirons, 
platters, dishes, wooden spoons and so on. There were 
such planters’ tools as hoes, axes, handsaws, hammers, 
augers, chisels, gimblets, nails, hatchets and grindstones. 
The arms consisted of muskets and swords, there were 
complete suits of light armour, and the requisite amount 
of powder and shot was also included in the list. 

Now the first essential to success in fitting out any 
expedition is that the personnel should be picked 



the voyage out 16 ! 

carefully. Discipline, obedience cheerfully rendered, 
loyalty, good-fellowship, willingness to put up with 
inconvenience, skill on the part of the leaders in hand- 
ling men, and finally an entire absence of underhand 
plotting : these are absolute requisites unless the enter- 
prise is to fail. Unfortunately the three shiploads of 
intending colonists, in spite of all the money and effort 
which Smith and his fellow investors had expended, 
contained such a mixture of idlers, ne’er-do-weels, and 
incompetent craftsmen that there was all the possibility 
of trouble. 

Neither soft-handed sons of squires, nor indolent 
careless labourers, nor the undisciplined mass of self- 
expressed opinions, nor “ such delinquents as here cannot 
be ruled by all the lawes in England,” nor those who 
“ goe onely to get the fruits of other mens labours by the 
title of an office,” nor those who were quitting Europe 
merely to escape justice were likely to bring about the 
ideal , colony or any harmonious community. Smith 
later on in life realized the cause of the trouble exactly ; 
” yet,” he added with his charitableness, “ grosse errors 
haue beene committed, but no man Hues without his 
fault. For my owne part, I haue so much adoe to 
amend my owne, I haue no leisure to looke into any mans 
particular [fault], but those in generall I conceiue to be 
true.” 

The shipowners were well rewarded, and there was 
not a little trickery amongst those who were supplying 
the stores. “ Most of the Tradesmen in London that 
would adventure but twelue pounds ten shillings had the 
furnishing of the Company of all such things as belonged 
to his trade, such juggling there was betwixt them, and 
such intruding Committies their associats, that all the 
trash they could get in London was sent us to Virginia, 
they being well payed as for that which was good.” 

Smith later criticized the Council at home in the follow- 



16 a CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

ing scathing terms ; he wondered “ how it was possible 
such wise men could so torment themselves and us with 
such strange absurdities and impossibilities : making 
Religion their colour, when all their aime was nothing 
but present profit, as most plainly appeared, by sending 
us so many Refiners, Gold-smiths, lewellers. Lapidaries, 
Stone-cutters, Tobacco-pipe-makers, Imbroderers, Per- 
fumers, Silkemen.” And, again, he castigates that im- 
patient London Council for their unreasonable adminis- 
tration. ** Much they blamed us,” he says, “ for not 
converting the Salvages, when those they sent us were 
little better, if not worse ; nor did they all convert any 
of those [natives] we sent them to England for that 
purpose. So doating of Mines of gold, and the South 
Sea ; that all the world could not have devised better 
courses to bring us to ruine than they did themselves, 
with many more such like strange conceits.” 

With this crew, some good men and true, some gallants 
“ that would doe nothing but complaine, curse, and 
despaire,” and labourers who would not work, and 
behind them a somewhat impatient London Coimcil 
that was hard to please, the voyage was embarked upon. 
Owing to the unfavourable winds and bad weather, 
which always prevail about Christmas-time, the squadron 
took some time to drop down the Thames, and even then 
it was compelled to anchor in the Downs on January i, 
1607 (according to our reckoning, but 1606 according to 
the old style whose year commenced with Lady Day, 
March 25). Here they were held up by “ unprosperous 
winds,” so that for six weeks they were kept in sight of 
the shore. This was an unfortunate beginning and it 
had a bad influence on the landsmen who had no affection 
for the sea and its inconveniences. 

During this enforced delay the character of Hunt 
“ our Preacher ” stands out as that of a man who was 
determined to bear what had to be suffered, and to offer 



17HE VOYAGE OUT itj 

an example to the rest. He had come on board at Black- 
wall with his library, but in the Downs became so weak 
and ill that few expected his recovery. Although his 
home was but twenty miles away, nothing would per- 
suade him to give up the voyage. In the meanwhile, 
during these winter gales and head winds, there was 
much discontent among the passengers and dissension, 
and there were plenty who wished they had never set out. 
It was Hunt’s influence which did much to quench this 
feeling. 

From the Downs a safe trip was made to the Canaries, 
where they took in fresh water, and then the squadron 
crossed the Atlantic, running before the north-east trade 
winds to the West Indies, and anchored off Dominica 
(which you will remember had been discovered one 
Sunday in 1493 by Columbus). It was now March 24, 
according to the account which Purchas obtained from 
the George Percy mentioned above. Here they traded 
with the natives in exchange for knives, hatchets, beads 
and copper rings. In the waters of the West Indies 
they were to see many sights that had never been afforded 
to men who had spent all their lives inland. Thus a 
fight between a thresher-whale and a sword-fish enter- 
tained them for a couple of hours ; and having arrived 
off Guadeloupe on March 27 they landed and found “ a 
bath so hot, as in it we boyled Porck as well as over 
the fire.” Thence passing Montserrat, St. Christopher 
islands, they anchored at the Isle of Nevis, where Captain 
Newport landed all his men, with muskets and other 
arms, and going inland discovered some mineral springs, 
where they bathed. 

This Nevis Island of the Leeward group, with its 
extinct volcano and fertile soil, was at the beginning of 
the seventeenth century inhabited solely by the natives, 
but in the year 1628 was first to be colonized by the 
English. Newport was on the defensive, fearing that 



104 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

he might be attacked by the primitive inhabitants, but 
the latter were seen only in the distance and fled away 
from the visitors. Now life aboard those old ships was, 
especially in the tropics, extremely unhealthy. The 
hulls leaked, the stench from the bilgewater was terrible, 
the food was musty and the water indifferent. It is true 
that already in i6oi Lancaster, during his first voyage 
for the East India Company, had kept his crew fit by tfre 
use of lime-juice ; but it was to be a long time before 
this knowledge could be employed by anything like 
general custom. 

Newport’s squadron had been three months under way 
and he realized that the health of his people was such that 
they needed a few days ashore to recuperate. The sight 
of this sunny place, with its pleasing slopes, persuaded 
him to give the emigrants a change of habitation : and, 
notwithstanding that he has been criticized by modern 
writers for having thus wasted time, I have no hesitation 
in saying that many an officer who has commanded ships 
and men would have done just the same as Newport. 
Count von Lucknel, one of the few German naval officers 
who distinguished themselves during the Great War, 
was similarly situated in the year 1917. You may 
remember that he took over command of a steel sailing 
ship of 1571 tons, which he named the “ Seeadler,” 
though she had once been the British “Pass of Bal- 
maha,” and in 1915 was owned by the United States of 
America. As the “ Seeadler ” she left Germany just 
before Christmas in 1916, sailed by the north of Scot- 
land, down the Atlantic, round the Horn and up the 
Pacific. It was now July, his crew needed a stretch on 
land, after all those mondis of rolling about at sea, so he 
chose out a lonely island in the Society group and anchored 
his ship. 

Newport likewise did the right thing in taking advan- 
tage of the proffered chance. “ Finding this place,” 



THE VOYAGE OUT 


105 

says the Percy account in Purchas, “ to be so conuenient 
for our men to auoid diseases ^ which will breed in so long 
a Voyage, wee incamped ourselues on this He sixe dayes, 
and spent none of our ships victuall, by reason our men, 
some went a hxmting, some a fouling, and some a fishing.”. 
So with fish, rabbits and fowl they fed quite well from 
March 28 till April 2, and, thus refreshed, set sail again 
the following day. On April 4 they passed the islands 
of Eustatius and Saba thus reaching the Virgin Isles, 
that most northern group of the Lesser Antilles, which 
Columbus had discovered only a hundred and fourteen 
years previously. Here this company of broken English 
gentlemen, wastrels, and others of Smith’s party first 
became acquainted with the iguana, “ a lothsome beast 
like a Crocodil ” ; but they caught plenty of fresh fish 
ashore and so many sea-tortoises as kept the squadron 
in food for three days. Plenty of wild-fowl they killed 
also ; but could find no fresh water for drinking. 

It was during this sojourn at Nevis that the life of John 
Smith barely escaped a tragic ending. On the way out 
from England there had been friction. Whether it was 
his masterful personality and lack of admiration for some 
of the other leaders ; whether the latter were jealous of 
his capabilities and feared that he was contemplating 
some big coup we cannot say definitely. But from 
Studley’s account we know that by the time the squadron 
had reached the Canaries Smith was in bad odour. He 
was suspected of having “ intended to vsurpe the govern- 
ment, murder the Councell, and make himselfe king.” 
Thereupon he and his immediate friends were dis- 
tributed among the three ships so as to prevent any 
concerted action. By the time Nevis was reached it had 
been resolved to put Smith to death by hanging, and a 
“ paire of gallows ” was even made, but fortunately it 

^ Scurvy and dysentery were the usual accompaniments of these 
voyages. 



io6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

was at the last decided to give him his life, though he 
remained under a cloud of suspicion. 

After having remained at anchor in a large excellent 
bay from April 4 to April 6, they continued ; passed 
Porto Rico and reached that island of Mona which lies 
between Porto Rico and Haiti. It was essential to call 
here, for the drinking water which had been obtained at 
Nevis now “ did smell so vildly that none of our men was 
able to in dure it.” It was whilst some of the sailors were 
filling the water-casks that Captain Newport, the gentle- 
men and the soldiers marched six miles inland in the hope 
of finding some food to replenish the stores. They 
managed to kill a couple of wild boars, but the groimd 
was so rough and rocky that the party, who were obviously 
not in the best of health after these long weeks of ship- 
life, began to feel fatigue. Many of the men now fainted 
on the march ; and one of the gentlemen by name 
Edward Brookes, of great girth and portliness, suc- 
cumbed ; “ whose fat melted within him, by the great 
heate and drought of the Countrey. We were not able 
to relieue him nor ourselues ; so he died in that great 
extreamitie.” 

On April 9, however, they went off in the “ Susan 
Constant’s ” boats to the rocky island of Moneta, three 
leagues away ftom Mona, where after some difficulty in 
landing and climbing to the top they fotmd fowl of all 
kinds in plenty. ” They flew ouer our heads as thicke 
as drops of Haile. Besides they made such a noise, that 
wee were not able to heare one another speake. Further- 
more, we were not able to set our feet on the ground, 
but either on Fowles or Egges which lay so thicke in the 
grasse. Wee laded two Boats full in the space of three 
houres, to our great refreshing,” and on April 10 sailed 
again. Thus clearing the West Indies, leaving astern 
Columbus’ Hispaniola and the other Caribbean colonies 
of Spain, the little squadron which was to inaugurate the 



THE VOYAGE OUT 


to7 

first English colony in North America sailed northwards 
and on April 14 passed out of the tropic of Cancer, with 
Florida away to the westward. 

A week later they got caught in what was evidently 
one of those Gulf Stream gales, so familiar to all who 
have sailed that coast, and often in history the cause of 
fine fiill-rigged ships foundering with all hands or com- 
pelled to stagger into port with most of the gear gone 
over the side. Newport’s squadron was forced all night 
therefore “ to lie at hull,” which was the recognized sea- 
farers’ expression for heaving-to, with the “ helme a ley.” 
Newport was a little anxious as to his position and expected 
to be near the land. Next morning, April 22, and for 
the following three days they sounded but could find no 
bottom at a hundred fathoms. It was not imtil dawn 
on April 26 that Virginia was sighted, and that same 
afternoon, having closed the soutibern shore, the three 
ships found themselves off a promontory,^ and thus 
entered the Chesupioc Bay, better known to us as 
Chesapeake. 

In the contemporary account written by Thomas 
Studley and others of the party we see quite clearly that 
Newport’s navigation was at fault ; though when we 
consider what few instruments he and his pilots possessed, 
and the amoimt of leeway which these extremely unhandy 
craft made, we can hardly wonder that in the absence of 
reliable charts he should have made a bad landfall. In 
fact the most he could know was that vaguely somewhere 
to the west of a certain position the shore should loom 
up. “ The company was not a little discomforted, 
seeing the Marriners had 3 dayes passed their reckoning 
and found no land ; so that Captaine Ratcliffe (Captaine 
of the Pinnace) rather desired to beare up the helme to 
returne for England, then make further search. But 
God the guider of all good actions, forcing them by an 

1 See Chapter X. 



io8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

extreame storme to hull all night, did driue them by his 
providence to their desired Port, beyond all their expec- 
tations ; for never any of them had seene that coast.” 

The gale had set the squadron to the north, so that it 
was quite a surprise when the leaders of the party found 
themselves off the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. After 
rounding the southern headland they anchored, and on 
this historic 26th of April, 1607, the first of these 
English colonizers, who had been travelling from Black- 
wall ever since the 1 9 th of December, went ashore. Only 
about twenty or thirty landed immediately, and it is 
interesting that the first impressions of Virginia should 
be registered. In the words of the Hon. G. Percy, 
already quoted, “ There wee landed and discouered a 
little way : but wee could find nothing worth the speak- 
ing of, but faire meddowes and goodly tall Trees : with 
such Fresh-waters rimning through the woods, as I was 
almost rauished at the first sight thereof.” 

Now that same night, whilst the Englishmen were 
leaving to go aboard their craft, the native Indians came 
creeping down from the hills to the sea on all fours like 
bears, but carrying their bows in their mouths. They 
then shot their arrows against the visitors with such 
success that Captain Gabriel Archer was wounded in 
both hands, and one of the sailors named Matthew 
Morton ^ received two very dangerous wounds in his 
body. But Captain Newport fired at the Red Indians 
who, having used up all their arrows, retired into the 
woods. 

Having thus reached Virginia, the box which had 
been brought out from England was opened and the 
orders from London were read. From this it was learned 
the Council for the new plantation was to consist of 

1 Heafterwardsrecovered,and as Captain Matthew Morton, who had 

done exploration work on the River Amazon, he made several voyages 
m command to the East Indies. 



THE VOYAGE OUT 


109 

Master Edward Maria Wingfield, Captain Christopher 
Newport, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, Captain John 
Smith,^ Captain John RatclifFe, Captain John Martin, 
and Captain George Kendal. These seven were in- 
structed to choose from themselves their President who 
should hold office for a year and with the council govern. 
“ Matters of moment were to be examined by a lury, but 
determined by the maior part of the Councell, in which 
the President had two voyces.” 

Little time was wasted, for on April 27 they began to 
put together their shallop or sloop. This was a small 
craft capable of carrying about twenty-five men, rigged 
with a fore staysail and sprit mainsail, the latter being 
laced to the mast. She was clinker-built, and in actual 
rig was just a very small example of the modern Thames 
barge. It was the practice diiring the sixteenth century, 
as you will find from the old voyages, that when a ship 
of say one hundred or three hundred tons was going on a 
long voyage of exploration around part of the globe, or 
up into the Arctic regions searching for the North-West 
passage, she should take with her a shallop, not fully 
constructed, but with the frames and planking all ready. 
The advantage of this was that the very limited deck 
space at the waist of the ship was not taken up. There 
were no boat-davits in those days, and in any case the 
shallop would have been a heavy top weight for the ships. 

It was, however, easy enough for the carpenter and his 
mates to hammer together the shallop as soon as they 
had arrived at an estuary or bay ; and then there was at 
hand a serviceable little craft which could be used for 
tracing rivers to their source, traversing shallow bights, 
and generally doing the work for which the bigger ship 
was unsuitable. In some cases it was the sloops which 
were able to save lives when the big ship had been 

1 For the reason already mentioned Smith was not yet admitted to the 
Council. 



no 


CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

wrecked, as for example among the Arctic ice. And 
even down to the early nineteenth century there were 
some whaling vessels which used to take even much 
bigger fore-and-afters out in frame to be employed locally 
as soon as the whaling groimds were reached. So, in 
the case of this Virginia expedition, they very speedily 
had ready a suitable boat for carrying out the London 
Company’s instructions “ to discover how far that river 
may be found navigable, that you may make election of 
the strongest, most wholesome and fertile place.” 



T 


T 



CHAPTER X 


THE FOUNDING OF JAMESTOWN 

ROM now, then, begins the creation of 
the Southern colony, with its long and 
dramatic history, its disappointments 
and hardships, its deaths and gradual 
determined progress towards brilliant 
accomplishment, which was to be the 
foundation of Anglo-Saxon America. 
Whilst the shallop was being put to- 
gether, John Smith, with the rest of the gentlemen and 
soldiers, landed and marched eight miles inland, and 
came to a place where the Indians had recently been 
roasting oysters, whereupon the natives fled and left the 
Englishmen to eat the oysters “ which were very large 
and delicate in taste.” 

So rapidly had the shallop been built up that even by 
the next day, April 28, she was finished and launched. 
Captain Newport and certain of the gentlemen went in 
her and did some exploring during that day around the 
lower portion of Chesapeake Bay, landing on the south 
side and finding abundant oysters as well as mussels. 
The country, as they marched inland for three or four 
miles, was looking very beautiful and attractive in its 
spring dress of coloured flowers and noble trees in foliage. 
Strawberries, too, were found but ” foure times bigger 
and better than ours in England.” Thus the first im- 
pressions of Virginia were by no means unpleasant. 

Before night came on they made a series of soundings, 
and on rowing over towards the northern shore — ^the 





II2 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

three ships having been anchored on the first coming at 
the mouth of what we know by the name of the James 
River — they discovered a channel with from six to 
twelve fathoms of water, “ which put vs in good comfort. 
Therefore wee named that point of Land, Cape Comfort.” 
And to-day, as every one is well aware. Old Point 
Comfort is still the name by which that popular seaside 
resort on the small peninsula is known, with the Atlantic 
Ocean straight in front and Chesapeake Bay stretching 
away to the north. On the following day a cross was 
erected, and the promontory which marks the southern 
extremity of the Bay, and will always be historic as the 
landfall which the squadron had made, was now given 
(in honour of “ our most noble Prince ”) that name Cape 
Henry which still survives. The opposite Cape Charles 
on the northern shore was thus called after “ the worthy 
Duke of Yorke.”^ Now, partly by navigational skill 
but partly by the bad luck of the gale and the good fortvme 
of sighting land when they did, this London squadron 
had come to the most suitable spot along the coast, having 
regard to their limitations in respect of area, and of ship 
handiness. A wide, easy entrance, such as the Chesa- 
peake mouth between these two capes, with rivers reach- 
ing away well inland, was the very kind of locality which 
they desired. As they came in that memorable day. 
Cape Henry with its white hilly sands, its shores green 
with pines and fir-trees, seemed in the vernal sunshine 
a strangely pleasant land to those who had been afloat in 
unhealthy ships for so many months since the wintry 
fields of Blackwall disappeared from view. 

Within the two capes, wrote Smith several years later, 

^ James I had two sons. Heniy was the elder, a prince of considerable 
promise, who was the hope of all those who disliked Spain, and therefore 
much beloved by the English colonists. He died in 1612. It was 
James’s second son, Charles, who was destined to become successor to the 
throne in 1625. 



THE FOUNDING OF JAMESTOWN iij 

“ is a country that may haue the prerogatiue over the 
most pleasant places of Europe, Asia, Africa, or America, 
for large and pleasant navigable rivers : heaven and earth 
never agreed better to frame a place for man’s habitation 
being of our constitutions, were it fully manured and 
inhabited by industrious people. Here are mountaines, 
hills, plaines, valleyes, rivers and brookes all running 
most pleasantly into a faire Bay compassed but for the 
mouth with fruitfull and delightsome land.” 

On April 30 the three ships shifted their anchorage 
from the mouth of the James River — then known as 
Powhatan River — across to Point Comfort. Some 
natives being seen at the latter. Captain Newport had the 
shallop manned, rowed ashore, and with signs of friend- 
ship persuaded them not to be hostile or run away. The 
Englishmen were invited ashore and well entertained 
with tobacco, food and dancing. Thus the contact 
between the Redskins and the White Men, the original 
inhabitants and the new race of settlers destined some 
day to control North America, had now been made : a 
second milestone in the progress of American civilization 
had been passed. 

The shallop with its party was strictly carrying out the 
instructions from London, for it was exploring the Pow- 
hatan River, namely “ that which bendeth most toward 
the North-West ” ; and, inspired by those in authority 
at home, the pioneers in the boat evidently expected to 
find before long that this would lead them very near to 
the Pacific. Whilst the squadron remained under Point 
Comfort, the shallop continued her way up the river 
and on May 4 reached Paspahegh, where they became 
acquainted with the local Red Indian chief, who enter- 
tained them well. After this the explorers returned 
down the river to the squadron for the night, but on 
May 5 the up-river journey was continued in the shallop, 
and another chief treated them with hospitality. Percy, 

H 



114 CAfTAIN JOHN SMITH 

who was one of this pioneer party, wrote most enthusi- 
astically of the scenery which this other chief showed 
them. “ Wee passed through the Woods in fine paths, 
hauing most pleasant Springs which issued from the 
Mountaines. Wee also went through the goodliest 
Gjrne fieldes that euer was seene in any Countrey,” 

On May 8 they resumed their journey up Powhatan 
and got right up to Appamatuck, landed and made 
friends with the natives, and four days later went back 
to the squadron, which on May 13, after this preliminary 
exploration, were now able to move up to the neigh- 
bourhood of Paspahegh. The three ships could lie 
“ so neere the shoare that they are moored to the Trees 
in six fathom water.” The party had thus decided, 
though not without some dispute, that here was to be 
their “ seating place ” or settlement, and thus we see the 
first plantation commence. On May 14 the ships landed 
all their men, and whilst some acted as guards the rest set 
to work and made fortifications in accordance with the 
London instructions. The chief of Paspahegh came in 
state to call on them, but unfortunately one of the 
latter’s men stole a hatchet from an Englishman who 
recovered it only by force, smiting the Redskin on the 
arm. This in turn roused the anger of a second Indian 
who threatened to beat the Englishman’s brains out with 
a wooden sword ; and when the chief saw the pioneers 
take to their arms, he considered it advisable to withdraw 
himself and company : with great anger therefore they 
all went away. 

In further obedience to the London Virginia Com- 
pany’s orders, the time had now come for certain of them 
to discover “ the river above you, and on the country 
about you.” The site of what was to become James- 
town, after that preliminary investigation, had been 
transformed immediately into a scene of great activity. 
The Council had been sworn, Wingfield had been chosen 



the founding of JAMESTOWN ti$ 

President, and a speech had been made why John Smith 
had not been admitted to this Council. Wingfield 
quarrelled with Captain Gosnold as to whether the site 
was “ a verie fit place for the erecting of a great citie ” ; 
and also with Captain Archer. According to Wingfield’s 
own statement, “ Master Archers quarrell to me was, 
because hee had not the choise of the place for our plan- 
tation ; because I misliked his leying out of our towne, 
in the pinnasse,” though Wingfield also adds “ because 
I would not sware him of the Councell for Virginia, 
which neyther I could doe or he deserve.” Thus, 
already, dissensions had set in before the settlement was 
even laid out, and no impartial person can acquit Wing- 
field of having been a most difficult officer under whom 
to serve ; for, out of the President’s nervousness lest 
they might offend the natives, he would allow neither 
“ exercise at armes ” nor any fortification other than the 
branches of trees put together crescent-shaped by the 
skill of Captain Kendal. 

It was on May 22, then, that according to the London 
instructions the Powhatan or James River began to be 
explored by a party consisting of the Hon. George Percy, 
Captain Gabriel Archer (in spite of his wounds). Captain 
John Smith, Master John Brookes and Master Thomas 
Wotton, gentlemen ; Francis Nelson, John Collson, 
Matthew Fitch and Robert Tyndall described as 
“ Maryners,” together with fourteen sailors ; but the 
whole party of twenty-three being under the command 
of Captain Newport. Tyndall, who was Gunner to 
Prince Henry, wrote from Jamestown a few weeks later 
to the Prince concerning the country “ of the whiche 
wee haue taken a Reall and publicke possession in the 
name and to the vse of your Royall father and our 
gratious kinge and soueraigne ” ; but he also enclosed 
“ a dearnall of our voyage and draughts of our Riuer.” 
Unfortunately both the ” dearnall ” and the “ draughte ” 



ti6 captain JOHN SMITH 

have been lost, though Tyndall’s letter is preserved among 
the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum. But we 
have, happily, an account from May 2 1 till June 22, 1 607, 
of this further up-river discovery, written by “ A gentle- 
man of the Colony,” who is almost certainly that Captain 
Gabriel Archer just mentioned. We have also Smith’s 
own relation, Percy’s “ discourse ” in Purchas, and a 
brief narrative by Studley. 

The shallop having been fitted out with provisions and 
all necessaries “ belonging to a discovery,” Captain 
Newport with his five gentlemen, four mariners and 
fourteen sailors set out from the newly started Jamestown 
plantation about noon. There was satisfaction in the 
pioneers’ hearts that the selected site, joined as it was to 
the shore by a narrow neck — ^making it nearly an island — 
was strategically strong against any intruders from the 
land. And it was unlikely that it could be surprised 
from the water, seeing that it was about fifty miles above 
Point Comfort at the river mouth. Men and material 
had been landed, that which was to be for three-quarters 
of a century the capital of the colony was fast being 
turned into something resembling a town ; and, in the 
glory of May-time blooms and blossoms with the exhilara- 
tion of the spring, it was well that not yet should they 
realize the location was unhealthy and unsuited. To-day 
the only remains of the old town are the tower of a ruined 
church and a few tombstones ; though the oyster-boats 
still remind one of the food which the first inhabitants 
roasted. 

Captain Archer’s account of this up-river expedition 
was the official one brought home by Newport, and from 
it we have interesting details. The distance from James- 
town to the Falls measured 68 miles, and it was by making 
friends with the natives at different places en route that so 
much valuable local information was obtained. Thus 
eight “ salvages ” being espied in a canoe, “ we haled 



THE FOUNDING OF JAMESTOWN 117 

them by our words of kyndnes . . . one seemed to 
understand our intentyon, and ofFred with his foote to 
describe the river to us : So I gave him a pen and 
paper (shewing first y« use) and he layd out the whole 
River from the Chesseian [Chesapeake] bay to the end 
of it so farr as passadge was for boats.” 

On the way up the English pioneers were to receive, 
as presents or by barter, oysters, mulberries, strawberries, 
“ sweete nuttes like Acorns,** wheat, beans, cakes, roasted 
deer, bread, fish and so on. Friendship was made with 
chiefs, who banqueted the party and gave them tobacco. 
Having got well up the river, they made the acquaint- 
ance of and were well entertained by Powhatan, but he 
was not that Powhatan the Indian chief who will in due 
course enter our story as a figure of great prominence 
though the former was subject to the latter. Newport 
presented him with “ penny knyves, sheeres, belles, 
beades, glass toyes,** and Powhatan lent him five men 
to act as guides up the river. A little later Archer 
indicated the wounds now “ scarce whole ” which had 
been received from Powhatan’s enemies when the 
Englishmen first landed that April afternoon. The 
pioneers signified that they vowed revenge, and this 
created between Newport’s companions and the chief 
“ a leauge of fryndship.” 

After proceeding two or three miles further up stream 
they “ came to an overfall, impassable for boates any 
further. Here the water falles Downe through great 
mayne Rockes, from ledges of Rockes aboue 2. fadome 
highe : in which fall it maketh Divers little Iletts, on 
which might be placed 100. water milnes for any vses. 
Our mayne Ryver ebbs and flowes 4. foote even to y® 
skert of this Downfall. Shippes of 200. or 300. tonne 
may come to within 5 myle hereof, and the rest Deepe 
inoughe for Barges, or small vessells that Drawe not 
aboue 6. foote water.” 



ii8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Now on the site of Powhatan’s home, which Newport, 
Smith and the others visited, there was to be founded in 
1737 that capital of Virginia which to-day we know as 
Richmond, with its numerous falls and islands. And 
just below Richmond, on the left bank, this historic 
chiefs habitation can be noted by the traveller voyaging 
down the river by steamer. The sudden full stop to 
their boating expedition filled Newport’s party with 
mixed feelings, so that they were “ betweene Content 
and greefe.” The rocks and rapids upon which Rich- 
mond looks down from its seven hills put an end to 
all possibility of finding a passage for ships through to 
the South Sea. So on Whitsunday, May 24, the party 
tarried a while, boiled their pork and peas for a meal, 
to which Powhatan was invited, and after dinner inquired 
of him as to how far it might be to the river’s head. 
Newport was intending to march overland for a few days 
and investigate, but later on Powhatan “ sitting vpon the 
banck by the overfall beholding the same, he began to 
tell vs of the tedyous travell we should haue if wee pro- 
ceeded any further . . .” with the result that Captain 
Newport “ out of his Discreyton (though he would faine 
have scene further, yea and himself as desirous also) 
Checkt his intentyon and returned to his boate.” 

He set up a cross on one of the islands at the mouth 
of the falls this Whitsunday with the inscription 
“Jacobus Rex, 1607,” and Newport’s name below, 
proclaiming “ lames King of England to haue the most 
right vnto ” the river. “ At the erecting hereof we 
prayed for our kyng and our owne prosperous succes in 
this his Actyon, and proclaymed him kyng, with a greate 
showte. . . . Having ended thus of force our Dis- 
covery, ” there was nothing for it but to start back down 
the river. “ This Riuer,” wrote Percy enthusiastically, 
“ which wee haue discouered is one of the famousest 
Riuers that euer was found by any Christian. It ebbes 



THE FOUNDING OF JAMESTOWN 119 

and flowes a hundred and threescore miles, where ships 
of great burthen may harbour in safetie. Wheresoeuer 
we landed vpon this Riuer, wee saw the goodliest Woods 
as Beech, Oke, Cedar, Cypresse, Wal-nuts, Sassafras, 
and Vines in great abundance which hang in great 
clusters on many Trees, and other Trees vnknowne ; 
and all the grounds bespred with many sweet and delicate 
flowres of diuers colours and kindes.” 

On the way down Captain Newport, says Smith, 
became suspicious that the natives had been causing 
trouble at Jamestown, and “ the instant change of the 
winde being faire for our return we repaired to the fort 
with all speed,” where the shallop, arrived on May 27, 
only to learn that on the previous day several hundred 
of the Indians had assaulted these newly made fortifica- 
tions. It was only by means of the artillery and muskets 
of the three English ships that the enemy was compelled 
to retire : for the Redskins had very nearly succeeded 
in overthrowing this incipient settlement, having entered 
almost to the fort. About a dozen Englishmen were 
wounded, of whom one died and a boy was killed in the 
pinnace. An unknown number of the attackers were 
slain, but the Indians’ assault had been valiant and 
determined. The incident had begun whilst most of 
the Englishmen were busy sowing their corn, unarmed 
and unprepared : but it was the gentlemen who first 
resisted the attack, and four of the Council standing in 
front of the fort were wounded. Wingfield, the Presi- 
dent, had a marvellously narrow escape, for one arrow 
went clean through his beard without hurting him. 

“ Thus having ended our Discovery ” of the James 
River, wrote Archer, “ which we hope may tend to the 
glory of God, his Maiestes Renowne, our Countryes 
profytt, our own advaimcing and fame to all posterity : 
we settled our selues to our owne safety, and began to 
fortefye ; Captain Newport worthely of his owne accord 



120 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

causing his Sea men to ayde vs in the best parte therof.” 
The plantation had emerged so narrowly from being 
wiped out, that Wingfield in his capacity of President 
no longer objected to the settlement being made as strong 
as possible. It is true that the London authorities had 
included the instruction to “ have great care not to offend 
the naturals,” but they had also clearly ordered the 
settlement to be fortified. 

That arrow in his beard possibly had something to do 
with his change of mind, for on Thursday, May 28, the 
day of the boat-expedition’s return, they all began with 
speed to palisade the plantation, and on Friday the 
enemy made but a mild attack barely within musket shot. 
On Sunday, however, the Indians came stealthily through 
the thickets and long grass, and one of the gentlemen, 
Eustace Clovell by name, received six arrows whilst 
wandering outside the fort. It was he who came 
running in with the alarm, and died eight days later. 
On the following Thursday, June 4, another Englishman 
was shot in the head. 

The rest of that month was full of incidents which 
affected this young plantation both externally and inter- 
nally ; for all was not peace within or without. On 
June 6 there were among both the gentlemen and all 
the company murmurs and grudges “ against certayne 
preposterous proceedings, and inconvenyent Courses,” 
as Archer considered them ; so the dissatisfied “ put 
up a Petytion to the Counsell for reformatyon.” Four 
days later the Council “ scanned the Gentlemans Peti- 
tyon,” and it was by Captain Newport’s tact, and the 
colony’s affection for him, that anger was cooled and 
brotherly love resiuned. It would seem that the dis- 
satisfection was against Wingfield and others in their 
administration, for the final entry of that day is : 
“ Captaine Smyth was this Day sworne one of the Coun- 
sell, who was elected in England.” Thus, at last, after 



THE FOUNDING OF JAMESTOWN 121 

having been for thirteen weeks unjustly suspected of 
plotting, all such accusation was removed and he found 
himself where he should long since have been, a partner 
in the government of Jamestown. 

This imity, difficult enough under the circumstances, 
was immediately essential owing to the menace of the 
Indians. The work of hewing down trees and clearing 
the groimd was continuing, but there was unpleasant 
sniping going on, and on June 13 one of the mariners, 
Matthew Fitch who had been in the up-river party, 
was shot by the enemy lying among the weeds and long 
grass. And, finally, we come to Sunday, June 21, 
which was a day tinged with sadness. The little colony 
received Holy Communion, and later on Captain New- 
port came ashore to dine with those whom he had 
brought safely across the Atlantic and up the river. 
That evening he invited many of them aboard the 
“ Susan Constant ” to a farewell supper ; and on the 
following morning, loaded with a cargo of timber, the ship 
sailed away back to England, leaving behind 105 people 
with provisions for thirteen or fourteen weeks, as about 
thirty had either died since leaving Blackwall or had 
been sent back with the crew. 

Three or four days before leaving, Newport had asked 
Wingfield as to how the latter considered himself settled 
in his position as President ; and Wingfield had 
answered that the only disturbance which might endanger 
him or the colony must come from Captain Gosnold or 
Master Archer, of whom the former could if he would, 
and the latter would if he could. But every one respected 
and had such faith in Newport that the latter’s entreaties 
to remember their duties to King and colony patched 
matters up. We have this on the authority of a manu- 
script in the Lambeth Palace written by a scrivener and 
intended to be signed by Wingfield. 

A week before Newport’s departure the construction 



122 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

of Jamestown fort had been completed, being triangular 
in shape, with a crescent-formed bulwark at each corner 
and several pieces of artillery there mounted. Most of 
the English corn which had been sown had sprimg up 
from the ground as high as a man : but in spite of this 
the community was going to be short of victuals, for 
Captain Newport had promised that a supply should 
arrive from England only after twenty weeks. This was 
a long time for hungry men, who had been accustomed 
to the good meat and ale of Shakespeare’s England, and 
the intended period was considerably lengthened, 
although the “ Susan Constant ” got back to England 
far more quickly than she had come out. Using the 
prevailing westerlies, she most probably went across the 
North Atlantic from Cape Henry via the Azores to the 
English Channel, for she was certainly home by the 
middle of August, since, on the i8th of that month, 
Dudley Carleton, writing to John Chamberlain, refers 
to the fact of Captain Newport having arrived. Carleton 
remarks that the Virginia adventurers, whilst commend- 
ing the air and soil, had found neither silver nor gold ; 
that George Percy spoke of the colony as James-fort ; 
and, further, that the Great Council in London had 
decided to send out a double supply, i.e. two supply- 
ships, to Virginia with all diligence. 

John Smith shows that after Newport’s departure on 
June 22, 1607, content did not remain in Jamestown 
long. Wingfield became at variance with Gosnold and 
the rest of the local Council “in so much that things 
were neither carried with that discretion nor any business 
effected in such good sort as wisdome would, nor our 
owne good and safetie required, whereby, and through 
the hard dealing of our President, the rest of the counsell 
beeing diuerslie affected through his audacious com- 
maund.” But there came now another source of trouble 
when fatal sickness seized the plantation, V^ithin ten 



THE FOUNDING OF JAMESTOWN 123 

days of the “ Susan Constant’s ” departure there were 
scarcely ten of that 105 who could move or even stand : 
so ill and weak had they become. 

“ And thereat none need mervaile,” suggests Studley, 
“ if they consider the cause and reason ; which was this. 
Whilest the ships staied, our allowance was somewhat 
bettered by a daily proportion of bisket which the sailers 
would pilfer to sell, giue, or exchange with vs, for money, 
saxefras, furres or loue. But when they departed, there 
remained neither taverne, beere-house, nor place of 
releife but the common kettell. Had we beene as free 
from all sinnes as gluttony and drunkeness, we might 
haue bin canonized for Saints.” The President allowed 
each man as his daily ration half a pint of wheat and as 
much barley boiled in water, which was little enough for 
those hearty fellows brought up on good Elizabethan 
fare. Studley adds the following scornful remark con- 
cerning food and shelter : as for the wheat and barley, 
“ this having fryed some 26. weeks in the ship’s hold, 
contained as many wormes as graines, so that we might 
truely call it rather so much bran than come. Our 
drinke was water ; our lodgings, castles in the air. With 
this lodging and diet, our extreame toile in bearing and 
planting pallisadoes, so strained and bruised vs, and our 
continuall labour in the extremity of the heate had so 
weakened vs, as were cause sufficient to haue made us 
miserable in our natiue country, or any other place in 
the world.” 

Smith says that the want of good victuals and the 
strain of continuous watching, four or five of them every 
night at the three bulwarks being a considerable burden 
to them, made the living so weak that they were scarcely 
able to bury the dead. Wingfield says that in July 
“ diuers of our men fell sick. Wee myssed aboue fforty 
before September did see us ” ; and it is a credit to 
Wingfield’s charitableness that in spite of feuds and dis- 



124 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

agreements he refers to the death amongst these of “ the 
worthy and religious gentleman Captain Bartholomew 
Gosnold,^ vpon whose lief stood a great part of the 
good succes and fortime of our gouernment and Collony.’* 
Captain Ratcliffe and Captain John Smith also became 
seriously ill but recovered, and about the first week in 
September there were forty-six men who had passed 
away. 

Now the general efiFect of all this sickness, death and 
famine was to increase the feeling of dissatisfaction 
against the administration. President Wingfield had 
under his charge sack, aqua-vitae, and other stimulants 
which he used for himself and the use of his friends. 
This was a further cause of his unpopularity, but what 
with one thing and another it was clear enough that a 
change would have to be made very soon. Master 
Kendal was dismissed from the Council and imprisoned 
“ for that it did manyfestly appeare he did practize to 
sowe discord betweene the President and Councell,” 
according to Wingfield’s own account. And there 
were no houses as yet but only rotten tents, and the 
store of provisions could not hold out more than three 
weeks. They had thus to rely on the corn and bread 
brought by the Indians, and the fortunate arrival of fowl 
in Ae rivers. Therefore (as Smith expressed it) “ Captain 
Wingfield hauing ordred the affaires in such sort that he 
was generally hated of all, in which respect with one 
consent he was deposed from his presidencie, and 
Captaine Ratcliffe according to his course was elected ” 
as from the loth of September. Smith was one of the 
three who had the duty of going to Wingfield’s tent and 
showing him that by the written agreement of the rest 
they discharged him from his even serving on the Council. 
Wingfield was committed as King’s prisoner to the care 
of a sergeant and sent aboard Captain Ratcliffe’s pinnace, 
* Gosnold died on August 22, 1607. 



THE FOUNDING OF JAMESTOWN 145 

whose master was to be responsible for the late president's 
safe keeping. 

Wingfield, during his brief period of chief adminis- 
trator, had been in an unenviable position. The 
dwindling stores, the uncertainty of Newport's return, 
and the certainty that it would not be for months at 
least ; the long time that must elapse before the colony’s 
harvest could ripen, the doubtful peace which existed 
between Englishmen and natives, and the ever possible 
surprise attack when least expected; the control of 
disgruntled and mostly unsuited emigrants, the gradual 
lowering of morale the devastations by sickness and 
death ; in short, the general blackness of outlook com- 
bined with the certainty of blame from London, made 
Wingfield’s job about as difficult and unpleasant as any 
man could wish for, but unquestionably it was for the 
colony’s good that he was moved from an office in which 
he had clearly proved himself incapable. 

Thus yet another landmark in the story of a great 
adventure had been reached. 




CHAPTER XI 

RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 

ITH the fall of Wingfield there 
comes into gradually increasing 
prominence that John Smith who 
had learnt so many lessons of roving 
and overcoming exacting situations 
all over Europe. Perhaps it was 
inevitable that with his natural and 
acquired ability Smith should find 
himself at conflict with such unquestionably capable 
men as Wingfield, Newport, Gosnold and others. In 
spite of everting he had, however, been one of that 
select party which explored the Powhatan river as far 
as the falls. 

Smith was one who neither suffered fools gladly nor 

had the patience to tolerate the slightest delay. The 

possibilities of Virginia were so clear to his mind that he 

was prepared to risk every friendship, employ even 

unjustifiable means with a view to the one big end. In 

A Discourse of Firgimuy written by Wingfield himself, 

it is clear that the latter’s animosily towards Smith was 

less than the feeling against such men as Martin and 

Archer. Wingfield honestly tried to be impartial, but 

it was an age when there was rampant so much mutual 

suspicion, when politics and religious dissensions caused 

such unhappy situations. “ It is noysed that I com- 

byned with the Spanniards to the destruction of the 

Collony,” the latter protested ; “ that I ame an Atheist, 

because I carryed not a Bible with me, and because I did 
126 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 


127 


forbid the preacher to preache ” ; whereas, notwith- 
standing that he was a Roman Catholic, Wingfield had 
called on the Archbishop of Canterbury and thus Robert 
Hunt had been selected in accordance with his Grace’s 
approval. “ And the world knoweth,” Wingfield added, 
that Master Hunt was “ a man not any waie to be touched 
with the rebellious humors of a popish spirit, nor 
blemished with ye least suspition of a factious scismatick, 
whereof I had a speciall care.” 

Wingfield’s actually confirms much of Smith’s 

A True Relation of Virginia. Even Smith’s severe critic, 
Charles Deane, wrote of this Relation in 1866 that it 
was “ an apparently faithful history of the colony for the 
period which it includes. Where Captain Smith comes 
into collision with others in authority in the colony, some 
allowance, perhaps, should be made for his strong feeling 
or prejudices.” Alexander Brown in his scholarly but 
somewhat violent The Genesis of the United States attacks 
Smith for “ constantly taking off the men from their 
duties ” at Jamestown and ” going on voyages to dis- 
cover mines, the South Sea etc.” This is running 
prejudice too far. Smith quite plainly did not agree 
with these theories about finding precious metals or a 
way through to the Pacific, but by the explicit orders of 
the London Yirginia Company the attempts had to be 
undertaken. The various boat journeys which he made 
to Powhatan and other chiefs for the obtaining of corn 
were, on the other hand, extremely necessary : unless 
these trips had been carried out the colony would have 
starved. It is, however, only fair to add that Smith 
used everything he could think of — ^force as well as friend- 
ship, threats as well as tact, personal magnetism and 
superior knowledge that hoodwinked the ignorant Indian 
— to make the natives contribute as required to the pros- 
perity of the Jamestown plantation. In a word, then, if 
Smith was so single-minded that he thought only of the 



J28 captain JOHN SMITH 

colony and its good, his methods were such that he was 
bound to be in conflict with others who did not immedi- 
ately fall in with his opinions. If Wingfield was a little 
pleased with himself, then the same thing might be said 
of Smith. The greatest fault of his strong character was 
that he was so clearly convinced, so thoroughly conscious 
of his own duty, that he could not believe there was 
another method of doing the right things in a proper way. 
The fact is that when left alone Smith would do any 
dangerous or difficult undertaking with perfect success ; 
but when compelled to work imder leaders for whom he 
had little respect he might show himself at his worst and, 
quite wrongly, be suspected of mutinous intent. 

To every one of those Jamestown settlers Smith’s 
nature was known well enough, yet even an honest man’s 
repute can be a long while regaining its original value 
when a slanderous word, an idle tongue, a knowing wink 
shall have done the harm unchecked. But now that the 
chief accuser was himself the accused, there was both 
the chance and duty for Smith to clear himself. On 
September 1 7 Wingfield was sent for from the pinnace 
to the Jamestown Court in order to answer the charge 
that when president he did say that Jehu Robinson “ with 
others had consented to run awaye with the Shallop to 
Newfoundland.” The jury found Wingfield guilty of 
slander and fined him “At an other tyme,” 

admitted Wingfield, “ I must answere Master Smyth 
for that I had said hee did conceale an intended mutany.” 
The result of this was that the jury awarded Smith £ 0.00 
damages for slander, and all that the late president 
possessed had to be seized in part satisfaction, though 
with characteristic magnanimity Smith gave the award 
to the store for the general use of the colony. 

Thus officially cleared of all baseness. Smith’s energetic 
brain and body got to work, and if he were not yet the 
nominal head of the settlement he was in fact the moving 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 


129 


spirit and actual leader. The position had to be faced 
and stock taken. What was to be done ? It were 
useless complaining that the London Company had sent 
them out inadequately equipped : for the coming had 
been quite voluntary, the passage out was expected to 
take not five months but two, and thus they should by 
schedule have arrived with far more victuals and with 
the advantage of the right time to plant their seeds. The 
only thing now was to get busy and see that others did 
the same. 

The new President, it may be stated at once, was not 
a success. The planters neither loved this commanding 
officer of the pinnace nor respected his judgment^ : it 
was therefore fortunate that he had entrusted to John 
Smith the management of all out-of-door matters. By 
personal example, encouragement, kind words and always 
working hardest of all. Smith was thus able to make 
even idlers work. Some he set mowing, others binding 
thatch for the roofs, others to build houses, so that, within 
a short time, though he had no lodging for himself he 
had provided it for most of the others. This was a first 
and most excellent step towards a real settling down ; 
and the next was to institute some sort of trade with the 
natives for the colony’s very existence. 

Thus, like a salesman who goes out seeking for his 
firm’s commerce. Smith had now to become adventurer 
in quite a new department of life. Since the head of 
the firm was allowing the affair to die of neglect, it must 
be Smith who should set forth and save the whole under- 
taking. He was further encouraged by the fact that the 
natives’ previous hostility had begun to decrease. There- 
fore we see him selecting some half-dozen of his work- 
men and going off in the shallop to Kecoughtan, an Indian 
village at the mouth of the James River, to barter corn 

1 “ The Proceedings of the English Colonic,” chap. ii. in A Map of 
Virginia, 

I 



130 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

and to get fish from the river. Owing to the autumn 
gales it was not possible to fish, but by bartering hatchets, 
beads and copper, and the employment of tact. Smith 
was able to obtain and bring back fish, oysters, bread, 
deer, turkeys, fowls and nearly thirty bushels of corn. 
This caused great comfort to a lot of starving men at 
Jamestown who were rotting with idleness and despair. 

That successful expedition had not been easy, for 
there was the language difiiculty, the men’s clothes were 
in bad condition, and for some reason there were now 
no sails to the boat. It had also been necessary to use 
their muskets and make a demonstration of force that 
the Indians might know the visitors were determined to 
get what they wanted. A short assault, however, soon 
settled matters, peace was made, and trade established. 
And yet this visit had no permanent good, for the com- 
munity at Jamestown seemed to be going to the bad as 
long as Smith was away from it. Some had died of 
“ the bloudie Flixe,” swellings, “ Burning Feuers ” ; 
“ some departed suddenly,” but some of them had 
perished from sheer hunger. That malarial peninsula, 
stockaded from the mainland, with the James River for 
drinking-water salty on the flood and covered with slime 
at low tide ; the bare cold ground used by some as a 
bed ; the company living from hand to mouth and 
hardly daring to consider the future — all this was to 
cause the gravest anxiety. The heat from June to 
September had been found as fierce as in Spain ; but the 
winter cold from December to March was to try them 
severely. During this winter of 1 607-8 it happened that 
the frost in Europe was particularly keen, and the same 
condition occurred in Virginia. But, still, not all this 
could prevent Smith from going ahead in his energetic 
manner and t^ing to get order out of chaos. 

He was thinking of the future and the need of pro- 
visions, so he caused the pinnace to be fitted out for a 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 131 

longer journey, and in the meantime made three or 
four trips in the shallop ; yet what he brought back 
the settlers squandered carelessly. Some of them 
were a hopeless lot and quite unworthy of sympathy 
or assistance, and Smith refers to them in one scathing 
passage thus : “ Being for most part of such tender 
educations and small experience in martiall accidents : 
because they found not English cities, nor such faire 
houses, nor at their owne wishes any of their accustomed 
dainties, with feather beds and downe pillowes, Tavernes 
and alehouses in every breathing place, neither such 
plenty of gold and siluer and dissolute liberty as they 
expected, [they] had little or no care of any thing, but to 
pamper their bellies, to fly away with our Pinnaces, or 
procure their means to returne for England. For the 
Country was to them a miserie, a mine, a death, a hell ; 
and their reports here, and their owne actions there 
according.” 

To him who had been through such strenuous times 
in Europe and Asia, all this slovenliness and idle indul- 
gence, all this ineptitude and crass stupidity were most 
infuriating. It was whilst Smith was away on one of 
these trips that some of the Jamestown people, seeing 
that Wingfield and Kendal were in disgrace, all things 
“ at randome ” and despising Ratcliffe for his weakness, 
arranged with the sailors in the pinnace to take them 
across to England ; but Smith’s unexpected return 
revealed this plot. It was no easy matter to prevent the 
pinnace getting away, but by firing at her with falcon 
balls and musket shot he gave her the opportunity of 
either remaining or being sunk in the river. Thus by 
his strong, quick action this young man at the right 
moment again saved the situation. Kendal was presently 
tried by jury, convicted and executed as having been^the 
chief instigator. And during this trial for mutiny it 
came out that RatclifiFe’s real name was Sicklemore, so 



132 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH^ 

the judgment had to be pronounced by Captain John 
Martin. James Read, the blacksmith, after trial by jury 
for insolent language and attempting to strike the Presi- 
dent, was condemned to be hanged. That settled con- 
spiracy of a kind, but a little later on during this same 
autumn, when the colony’s provisions could not last more 
than another fortnight. Captains Ratcliffe and Archer 
planned to sail away to England and obtain supplies ; 
but John Smith was able to suppress this mean plot also. 
By this time the latter was able to get on with his explora- 
tion of the country and rivers with a view to bartering 
food from the natives. There can be no doubt but that 
this work of discovery, with all its risks, was most con- 
genial to his love of geographical knowledge ; and all 
those brawls, underhand schemes and conspiracies were 
not less abhorrent. Smith dealt with life and men on 
the square, and he hated that which was mean or petty 
or false ; so these various river journeys in the neighbour- 
hood of Chesapeake Bay did much to maintain his own 
spirits away from the Jamestown worries and jealousies. 

In this manner he explored the river Chickahominy, 
which flows into the Powhatan from the north about nine 
miles above Jamestown. On November 9 with eight 
men he took the barge and started up stream, leaving 
the pinnace to follow on the next tide ; and having got 
far enough he found the Indians, bought their corn, 
came back by midnight with the ebb and unloaded seven 
hogsheads of the corn into the colony. The pinnace 
had made a mess of her duty and got aground. On the 
next day Smith again went up the river and such was 
the goodwill established that the Indians were there 
already waiting with their baskets to load up the barge ; 
in this manner he was able to add another seven hogs- 
heads to the colony’s store. 

Having thus provided adequate food for those un- 
satisfactory and dissatisfied settlers, Smith now started 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 133 

out for a third time up this Chickahominy river, dis- 
covered more native villages, obtained still more corn 
and again returned to Jamestown. On December 10 
he started out once more, for he was eager to explore, 
and there were some who criticized him for not having 
yet discovered the source of the Chickahominy. There- 
fore, since there was enough corn which his endeavours 
had provided, and since the wintry weather had brought 
to the river any number of swans, geese, ducks and 
cranes, there was a temporary lull in grumbling and 
the most disgruntled ceased desiring to leave for England. 

Proceeding up the Powhatan river in the barge, he 
turned to starboard into the Chickahominy (which is 
ninety miles long) and went for forty miles till he reached 
an Indian village named Apocant, which was the farthest 
in habitation up this tributary. After another ten miles 
the river narrowed, so he hired a canoe with a couple of 
Indians and took back the barge to Apocant, leaving her 
to ride in a broad bay with instructions that no one of 
the seven men in her was to go ashore until Smith’s 
return. The fact that certain malicious tongues had 
hinted “ I durst not ” make this exploration was like a 
lash to his honour, and forward he went relying on the 
companionship of Master Jehu Robinson, Thomas 
Emry (one of the carpenters) and the friendship of the 
two Indians. Continuing through desolate country for 
another twenty miles, the river became so encumbered 
with trees that Smith and his party landed to cook their 
food. Smith then selected one Indian and went off to 
examine the nature of the soil in his zeal for information ; 
the other Indian he left behind with Robinson and 
Emry, the two latter having their matches lighted and 
being ordered to fire a musket for Smith’s return at the 
first sight of any other Indian. 

Within fifteen minutes Smith suddenly heard a loud 
cry and a shouting of the Redskins, but no sound of a 



154 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

musket. Quick to take in a situation, and quick to act, 
he now guessed that the Indians had betrayed them, so 
bound his Indian guide’s arm fast “ to my hand in a 
garter,” at the same time having a pistol ready. The 
Indian seemed surprised at the sudden turn of events 
and advised flight, but j'ust then an arrow came hurtling 
along and struck Smith on the right thigh, yet miracu- 
lously doing no harm. Two Indians were then seen 
drawing their bows, but the Englishman’s discharge of 
his pistol stopped them. And now more arrows began 
to come flying, so, instead of digging himself in, Smith 
made the Indian’s body serve as protective armour. 

The next incident was that an Indian chief named 
Opechancanough with two himdred men surrounded 
our pioneer, so here he was yet again in one of those 
tight corners with death uncommonly close at hand. 
Each of the Redskin throng was lying on the groimd, 
hand on bow ready to shoot his death-dealing arrow : the 
moment was tense, breathless, and still they stayed their 
attack. Smith’s guide now parleyed for him, explained 
that he was a Captain and requested permission to retire 
towards his boat. The Redskins in answer demanded 
surrender of the White Man’s arms, adding the sensa- 
tional and alarming news that the rest of the White Men 
were slain but they would reserve this one. The guide 
besought Smith not to shoot, and the latter began a 
retreat but soon found himself in a quagmire where he 
stuck fast. The guide tried to help him out but stuck 
fast also. In this impossible position, nearly dead with 
cold, what could be done now .? 

Smith decided that the only thing was to appeal to 
their mercy, but not one of them dared to approach until 
the explorer had thrown away his arms, whereupon they 
seized him and led him away to the chief. Here he was. 
able to meet violence with mental cleverness. Nor can 
we help smiling at the plausible manner of his method. 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 13$ 

Just as in dealing with an infant or a lunatic one would 
seek first to side-track his interest with some toy, so did 
Smith work on the imcivilized chiefs child-like sim- 
plicity. “ I presented him with a compasse diall,’' ^ he 
wrote less than two years later, “ describing by my best 
meanes the vse therof : whereat he so amazedly admired, 
as he suffered me to proceed in a discourse of the round- 
nes of the earth, the course of the sunne, moone, starres, 
and plannets.” 

Could anything be more ludicrously brilliant than in 
the hour of death to engage an enemy’s attention in a 
geographical discussion ? It was none the less just the 
kind of surprising thing that this ingenious young warrior, 
who had extricated armies and escaped from slavery, 
would perform. And, if he were taking advantage of 
the savage mind. Smith felt the objective justified it. 
The result was that the chief became quite friendly, “ with 
kinde speeches and bread requited me, conducting 
me where ” the canoe lay — but in that canoe was 
Robinson dead, with a score of arrows in him. Emry, 
too, was gone yet whither Smith just then knew not; 
and as they went on the march Smith expected that his 
own execution would occur at any stopping-place, but he 
was taken to the chief s village as an interesting prisoner. 
He was well fed : “ my gowne, points and garters, my 
compas and my tablet they gaue me again.” 

What had happened to the barge party who had been 
left at Apocant farther down the river ? Smith had 
departed from them “ with expresse charge not any to 
go ashore till my returne.” This order was disobeyed ; 
for “ hee was not long absent, but his men went a shore, 
whose want of government gaue both occasion and 
opportunity to the Salvages to surprise one George 
Cassen, whom they slew, and much failed not to haue cut 
off the boat and all the rest.” Cassen’s disobedience, 
^ Made of ivory, and double . 



136 GAPtAiN JOHN SMITH 

with that of his shipmates, had created the crisis and 
caused the death of Robinson and Emry ; for the Indians 
extracted from Cassen the information as to where Smith 
had gone, and forthwith began to search the bends of the 
river. It was thus that Robinson and Emry were found 
and put to death, and Smith was presently discovered. 
Up to this date the colonists had lost by hostilities com- 
paratively few of their men. On May 26, you will 
remember, one man and a boy had been killed during that 
assault on Jamesfort ; on May 30 Eustace Clovell had 
been mortally wounded; on June 4 another man was 
killed ; on August 10 William Bruster, gentleman, died 
of his wounds received from the Indians ; four days later 
Ensign Jerome Alikock from the same cause, and one 
or two more also. 

But the manner of Cassen ’s execution, in accordance 
with the native savagery, had been revolting. He had 
been tied to a tree, the executioner with mussel shells 
had then cut off his joints one by one and burnt them ; 
the head had then been flayed of its skin also by mussel 
shells, and after further atrocity he and tree were burnt 
together. Having regard to the innate ferociousness of 
these “ naturals,” it is really surprising that the English 
pioneers going up and down those rivers, exploring the 
land and coming in contact as strangers with the Indians, 
did not have far more numerous fatal incidents among 
their adventures. 

When the barge brought the news to Jamestown great 
sorrow filled the planters. Smith had been captured 
about December 16, and for the next three weeks he was 
in daily expectation of death. Thus, as if Europe and 
Asia, the adventures afloat in the North Sea, the Medi- 
terranean and the Atlantic had not sufficed, he was to 
begin now a new series of trials that would have broken 
the spirit of many another man. In the account obtained 
from Studley, Harrington and Fenton supplementing 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 137 

Smith’s own facts (edited by the Rev. William Simmonds, 
“ Doctour of Divinitie ”) further details are given of that 
compass incident, and its effect on the natives. “ Much 
they marvailed at the playing of the Fly and Needle, 
which they could see so plainely, and yet not touch it, 
because of the glasse that covered them. But when he 
demonstrated by that Globe-like lewell, the roundnesse 
of the earth, and skies, the spheare of the Sunne, Moone, 
and Starres, and how the Sunne did chase the night 
round about the world continually ; the greatnesse of the 
Land and Sea, the diversitie of Nations, varietie of com- 
plexions, and how they were to them Antipodes, and 
many other such like matters, they all stood as amazed 
with admiration . N otwithstan ding, within an houre after 
they tyed him to a tree, and as many as could stand about 
him prepared to shoot him : but the King holding vp 
the Compass in his hand, they all laid downe their Bowes 
and Arrowes, and in a triumphant manner led him to 
Orapaks, where he was after their manner kindly feasted 
and well used.” 

Orapaks is shown in Smith’s map of Virginia situate 
between the upper portions of the rivers Chickahominy 
and Powhatan some distance below the falls, consisting 
of about thirty wigwams, where every woman and child 
stared in wonder at this White Man held fast at the arms 
by three great Indians. There followed strange yellings 
and dancings by the painted Redskins with their birds- 
feathered heads. 

And now Smith, in spite of his captivity and expectant 
death, was to do a good turn to his fellow colonists. The 
Redskins began preparations to attack Jamestown and 
sought his advice as how best this could be done, promis- 
ing him in return life, liberty, land and women. Smith’s 
cunning brain, however, invented a plan for getting in- 
formation through to warn the planters at Jamestown, 
which was in the area known to the natives as Paspahegh { 



138 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

the colony must be saved at all costs, and he was resource- 
ful enough, plucky enough, to contrive the following 
risk. He begged that a messenger might take to James- 
town a letter which Smith would write. For what 
purpose ? That his compatriots might know that he 
was well, being kindly treated, and thus they would not 
come forth and avenge his death. That idea appealed 
to these primitives when their prisoner had impressed on 
them how powerful were the Jamestown guns, how well 
mined were the surrounding fields, and how assuredly 
Captain Newport on his return from England would 
punish the Indians for any damage done to Jamestown. 
He wrote down “ in part of a table booke ” the Indians’ 
intentions to attack the fort, and requested that the 
colonists would send him certain articles in an accom- 
panying list. 

The December weather was bitter with frost and 
snow, yet the three Redskin messengers went down to 
Jamestown. In the meantime on the following day 
another native came furiously to where Smith was lodged, 
and with his sword would have slain the Englishman 
had not the guard prevented, yet soon the cause of this 
anger was learned. The intruder was the father of a 
man Smith had mortally wounded with his pistol when 
the first collision had occurred after leaving Robinson 
and Emry. And now, with a desire to save the dying 
man s life, and thinking evidently of the colony’s store 
of aqua-vitae, he proffered the information that at James- 
town “ he had a water ” that would restore the man, if 
only Smith might be allowed to fetch it ; but permission 
was refused. 

One day later the three messengers returned from 
Jamestown ; the effect on their untutored minds of 
writing and reading was like some wizardry. For every- 
Aing had happened exactly as Smith had foretold them. 
He had written requesting the planters to sally forth to 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 


139 

frighten the messengers, and they had done so. He had 
told these messengers that if they returned to the sanie 
place by Jamestown at night an answer and certain 
articles should there be waiting them : they came back 
to that spot and found everything as he had promised. 
Thus they went hurrying thence to where their master 
detained Smith, themselves and their companions mar- 
velling that Smith had the power of divination or that 
the paper could speak ! 

This instance of a simple native’s surprise at the 
White Man’s reliance on the written word is not unique. 

I have elsewhere^ quoted the case of Robert Drury, a 
young English prisoner on the island of Madagascar 
during the early eighteenth century. Drury wanted to 
get a message through to the captain of an English ship 
newly arrived and, taking a big leaf, managed to mark 
thereon the lettering. A native was instructed to take 
this message down to the sea and deliver it ; but the 
negro on the journey dropped the leaf, plucked another 
from a tree, duly delivered it, and marvelled how it was 
that it was not appreciated. His mind could not grasp 
the fact that words could be conveyed without speaking. 
In just the same manner the American Indians failed to 
appreciate Smith’s action and thought it wizardry. 
Smith was smart enough always to take advantage of 
such simple credulity, and used it both for his own ends 
and the good of the Jamestown plantation. He had 
confidence in the superiority of the White face and his 
own ability ; and whether he was overpleased with him- 
self and his cuteness may be disputed. The fact remains 
that all those travels and exciting incidents in Europe, 
those single combats and personal escapes, had developed 
his character in such a direction as to make him more 
self-reliant than capable of working with others. Team 
work was never his ideal : pioneering alone was his 

^ Windjammers and SkelliackSyi()z(>m 



140 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

greatest j’oy. He was ever too strong-minded and master- 
ful to co-operate successfully and amicably with col- 
leagues, and to this characteristic may be traced some of 
those powerful enmities which were created. 

But now he was to be carried about the country, from 
one tribe to another, on exhibition, and in this manner 
was to visit the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers 
which flow out into the Chesapeake Bay. And during 
this period he was to witness strange, weird ceremonies 
which were not comforting to a man in the hands of 
savage people. Thus with fearful incantations, his body 
painted all over, his head covered with the skins of 
snakes and weasels, some grim fellow would come 
dancing forth making extraordinary gestures. It was 
all like some hideous dream, witli grotesque cacophonous 
noises, such as when the mind is delirious and the ear 
not attuned. 

But at last after all this wandering about Virginia 
they brought him to Werowocomoco on the Pamunkey 
(or York) River on the 5th of January, 1 608, to the Great 
Powhatan who ruled over the territory which included 
the region where the lesser Powhatan lived near the falls 
of the river similarly named. Here in the royal wig- 
wam the big chief received him in state, sitting amidst 
his two hundred subjects on a matted platform with a 
fire burning in front of him. Smith was struck by the 
grave and majestic demeanour of this semi-naked savage. 
Of this great ruler the English planters had never yet 
heard, and Smith was “ the first Christian this proud 
King and his grim attendants euer saw.” 

Powhatan welcomed the White Man with kindly words 
” and great Platters of sundrie victuals.” “ So fat they 
fed mee,” Smith reasoned, “ that I much doubted they 
intended to haue sacrificed mee.” Powhatan demanded 
to know the reason of the White Men’s coming, and in 
reply Smith told him a suitable story : how that “ being 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 141 

in fight with the Spaniards our enemie, beeing ouer- 
poweredj neare put to retreat, and by extreame weather 
put to this shore : where landing at Chesipiack, the 
people shot at vs, but at Kequoughtan they kindly vsed 
vs : we by signes demaunded fresh water, they de- 
scribed vs vp the Riuer was all fresh water : at Paspa- 
hegh also they kindly vsed vs : our Pinnasse being lealae, 
we were inforced to stay to mend her, till Captaine New- 
port, my father came to conduct vs away. He de- 
maunded why we went further with our Boate. I tolde 
him, in that I would haue occasion to talke of the blacke 
Sea, that on the other side the maine, where was salt 
water. My father had a chiide slaine, whiche wee sup- 
posed Monocan his enemie had done : whose death we 
intended to reuenge.*’ 

But, with alarming contrast, kindly entertainment was 
to precede tragedy ; for now a long consultation was 
hela, two great stones were brought before Powhatan 
which were to form the executioners’ block. Smith was 
seized, his head laid on the stones and the men with their 
clubs were just about to beat out his brains when Poca- 
hontas, the young daughter of Powhatan, rushed forward 
and laying her own head upon Smith’s thus saved him 
from death. The appeal of this child, so dear to the 
chief, prevailed : the White Man’s life should be spared 
and he should live to make hatchets for the chief ; bells, 
beads and copper for her. This dramatic incident is 
of course known to every school in England and America : 
it has been used as a one-act play, and as the foundation 
for romances in fiction. “ La Belle Sauvage ” has given 
her name to legends and taverns and even localities, yet 
the truth of her saving Smith’s life has been quite un- 
reasonably doubted. 

Let us clear the ground a little. In the first place we 
can rule out all sentimental, sexual romance from the 
incident. It was rather a case where that natural human 



142 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

pity and abhorrence of death, which are characteristic 
of womanhood and girlhood, entered to stop the painful 
sight of suffering : and, further, as Mr. A. G. Bradley 
in his critical introduction to Smith’s works long since 
pointed out, Pocahontas “ merely exercised the right 
common to the women of Indian tribes, old or young, 
and claimed his person and his life as her own property 
and for adoption into the tribe.” There may, it is true, 
have been something in feminine curiosity. This was 
the first white male specimen she had ever seen : so why 
kill him, and why not preserve him as the unusual ? 

Smith’s age was just '28, seeing that he was baptized 
on January 9, 1580 (modern style), and this was the first 
week of January, 1608. His charm of manner, his 
brave presence and so on, would certainly make him not 
unattractive to the opposite sex, as he had been to Trag- 
bigzanda and Callamata : but Pocahontas was a mere 
child. He refers to her, when writing in 1 6 1 6, as having 
been in 1608 “ the King’s most deare and wel-beloued 
daughter, being but a childe of twelue or thirteene yeeres 
of age.” This is further confirmed in the pages of that 
manifesto got together by W. Simmonds and published 
at Oxford in 1 6 1 2,^ where some of Smith’s companions 
speak of the daughter of Powhatan thus : “ It is true 
she was the very Nomparell of his kingdome, and at most 
not past 13 or 14 yeares of age. Very oft: shee came to 
our fort, with what shee could get for Captaine Smith ; 
that ever loued and vsed all the Countrie well, but her 
especially he ever much respected : and she so well 
requited it, that when her father intended to haue sur- 
prized him, shee by stealth in the darke night came 
through the wild woods and told him of it. But her 
marriage could no way haue intitled him by any right to 
the kingdome, nor was it ever suspected hee had ever 
such a thought ; or more regarded her, or any of them, 

^ Tie Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia ... by W. S. 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 


143 

than in honest reason and discreation might.” Thus 
testified Richard Pots and W. Phettiplace less than four 
years afterwards. 

It is true that Wingfield in his A Discourse of Virginia 
says nothing of the Pocahontas incident. Nor did Smith 
mention it in The True Relation written immediately after 
his deliverance in 1608, which became the earliest printed 
account of the Jamestown settlement. But this had been 
written “ to a worshipfull friend of his in England ” not 
with a view to publication. As we know from the 
preface “ to the Courteous Reader ” by one whose 
initials are “ I, H.,” this editor “ happening vpon this 
relation by chance . . . thought good to publish it : 
but the Author being absent from the presse, it cannot 
be doubted but that some faults haue escaped in the 
printing . . . somewhat more was by him written, 
which being as I thought (fit to be priuate) I would not 
aduenture to make it publicke.” 

It is quite probable that the Pocahontas affair was 
intentionally omitted by the editor as being “fit to be 
private ” and likely to be misunderstood by those who 
are always seeking sensation and scandal. It is equally 
possible that Smith, for his own good reasons, and seeing 
that he was writing not history but a narrative to a friend, 
considered it quite imnecessary to mention this child at 
that place. When, however, long after his return he 
sat down quietly to write The Generali Historie of Virginia 
(which appeared in 1624) and was free to give a full and 
detailed narrative, then he presented the plain, simple 
account of this Pocahontas intervention. 

The fact is that when Smith’s adverse critics state he 
invented this romantic story they not merely fail to 
understand the type of man but they are introducing an 
atmosphere which is false, a note that is out of harmony 
with the rest. Smith looked upon this young girl’s aid 
as divine intervention. In BQok 4 of the above history 



144 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

he refers to her fearless friendship in such passages as 
these : “she hazarded the beating out of her owne 
braines to saue mine ; and not onely that, but so pre- 
uailed with her father, that I was safely conducted to 
lames towne. . . . lames towne with her wild traine 
she as freely frequented, as her fathers habitation ; and 
during the time of two or three yeeres [i.e. from January 
1 608 to 1 609], she next vnder God, was still the instru- 
ment to preserue this Colonie from death, famine and 
vtter conmsion.” 

If therefore ifre Pocahontas story is to be regarded 
merely as a late invention, how shall we possibly account 
for Powhatan preserving at the last minute the life of 
Smith when Cassen, Robinson and Emry had paid the 
pen^ty, and Smith’s own pistol had caused death to the 
Indians ? There is no possible suggestion that Poca- 
hontas was a mythical personage : on the contrary she is 
a picturesque figure of history who in 1614 married 
Captain Rolfe in that Jamestown church whose tower 
still stands, two years later made a visit to England, and 
died at Gravesend in 1617. Nor is it mere legend that 
she came in and out of Jamestown during Smith’s time. 
Therefore every planter seeing her bringing in those 
grateful supplies of foodj and noting her genuine friend* 
ship towards the colony, would of course believe, un- 
questioning, Smith’s account. 

*^^omas Fuller, the English divine and historian who 
lived from 1608 to 1661 (when he was carried out of his 
pulpit to die) left The Worthies of England fox his son to 
complete. In this publication a slighting reference to 
John Smith was the first and only suggestion ever made 
against the traveller’s accepted statements until in the 
Charles Deane in the privately printed edition 
of A Discourse of Virginia by Edward Maria Wingfield^ 
which appeared in Boston, U.S.A., started a line of criti- 
cism that for many years was supported. Referring to 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 145 

this Pocahontas incident Deane wrote : “The story is an 
interesting and romantic one. But the critical reader of 
the account of Smith’s adventures in Virginia will be 
struck with the fact that no mention whatever is made 
of this incident in his minute personal narrative covering 
this period, written at the time, on the spot, and pub- 
lished in 1608.” Deane did, however, admit that in 
Smith’s New Englands Trials a brief incidental allusion 
in an ambiguous form is given to his having been de- 
livered by Pocahontas. But this critic takes the view 
that the whole of this intervention by the Indian girl is 
a later “ embellishment ” by Smith “ with his strong love 
of the marvellous ” ; and Deane believes that, as Poca- 
hontas caused on her arrival in England considerable 
curiosity. Smith was tempted “ to bring her on the stage 
as a heroine in a new character.” 

In A True Relation of Virginia hy Captain John Smith 
with an introduction and notes hy Charles Deane, which 
appeared at Boston in 1866, this censor rather modifies 
his previous remarks by saying that this story “ is one 
of the embellishments with which Smith’s later works 
were sometimes adorned ” yet Smith “ alone of the 
colonists could tell the story of his capture and imprison- 
ment.” He then goes on to make the unwarranted 
suggestion that Smith “ had probably fallen into the 
hands of Michael Sparks, the publisher.” In citing the 
reference in New Englands Trials of 1622 where Smith 
mentions that he was “ delivered ” by Pocahontas, Deane 
now glosses over this important fact by merely saying “ it 
is safer, I think, to follow the simple, original narrative, 
written on the spot.” The answer to this is, as already 
stated : the narrative of 1608 was a private and incom- 
plete letter never intended for publication. 

It cannot be denied that Ralph Hamor in A True 
Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia, printed in 1615, 
omits the Pocahontas story, though itmust be remembered 

K 



146 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

that this publication appeared seven years after Smith’s 
A True Relation. Why did not Hamor mention the 
incident ? The reason is that it was left out deliber- 
ately because only Smith was capable of relating it ; but 
Smith was able to make up this omission in the following 
year, when Pocahontas with her English husband, Rolfe, 
was about to arrive in London. Smith, mindful of what 
he owed to this Indian princess, wrote in 1 6 1 6 to Queen 
Anne, consort of James I on her behalf. “ Hir birth, 
vertue, want and simplicitie, doth make mee thus bold, 
humbly to beseech your Maiestie to take this knowledge 
of her,^ though it be from one so vnworthy to be tiie 
reporter, as my selfe.” In this petition to the Queen 
Smith deliberately states of Pocahontas these words : 
“ At the minute of my execution, she hazarded the 
beating out of her owne braines to saue mine.” 

It is all very well for Deane ^ to scoff at Smith and call 
him “ a true knight errant ” who “ was always ready to 
go down on his ^ees to the fair sex, and to confess the 
obligations he owed to many frmous ladies,” but this 
does not get away from the fact that Smith here makes a 
statement to the Queen which is either truth or a He. 
Would he have been so fond of “ the marvellous ” as to 
risk making a false statement to the Queen ? I think 
not. He even took the trouble to perpetuate this petition, 
and therefore accentuate his attitude, by printing it in 
the fourth book of his Generali Historie. 

Mr. A. G. Bradley in his critical introduction to 
Smith’s works, referring to those writers who affirm that 
Smith invented this event of the great deliverance says : 
“ They ignore the fact that strict orders had been given 
by the London Company that nothing should be pub- 
lished likely to frighten intending colonists, and that the 

^ Pocahontas had “ openly renounced her countries idolatry, confessed 
the faith of Christ,and was baptized.” {^he Generali Hutorie^ Bk. 4.) 

* A True Relation. 



RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 44? 

publisher of Smith’s first letter had implied that some- 
thing was left out. The late Professor Fiske makes an 
admirable point in the fact that George Percy, whose 
reputation for wisdom had suffered somewhat in the 
General History^ and who the next year wrote a pamphlet 
hostile to it and to Smith, would have seized with delight 
on such a monstrous fable if, as one of the original James- 
town colonists, he had not known it to be true ; whereas 
he made no allusion to it whatever.” 

The late Professor Arber in his introduction to Smith’s 
writings, after devoting many years to the subject, is 
equally emphatic in his belief that what Smith said was 
true. “ To deny the truth of the Pocahontas incident 
is to create more difficulties than are involved in its 
acceptance. . . . The subsequent uniform and un- 
wearied friendship shewn by the Indian girl to the colony 
at large, and to Smith in particular, is the strongest 
possible confirmation of his narrative ; and it is other- 
wise inexplicable.” And, again, he remarks : “The 
advent of Smith was a momentous event in Pocahontas’s 
life, but a very small one in his own ; so small indeed 
that he did not see occasion to dwell upon it.” 

To me this interpretation seems more reliable than 
that of Alexander Brown, already cited, who discredits 
Smith’s account of his own life, calls him vain and a mere 
adventurer. One may admit frankly that in Smith’s 
writings there are inexactitudes and a lack of preciseness 
and even an occasional inconsistency. As a whole, how- 
ever, there is nothing that is intentionally false or incred- 
ible. We must remember that the age was unscientific, 
and — as every one knows who has consulted origin^ 
manuscripts of about this period — even such simple 
arithmetic as adding up figures was frequently done 
inaccurately though not criminally. 

The matter of sex hardly comes into this Pocahontas 
affair. I take the view that Smith was so consumed (as 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

well physically as mentally) by his love of adventures, 
so entirely zealous for the success of Virginian coloniza- 
tion that the love of women was of distinctly minor con- 
sideration. Like Cecil Rhodes, and other pioneers, he 
never married : a great colonial work was my wife, 
my hawks, my hounds,” etc. We know, too,^ that he 
looked upon even this Indian princess as his social 
superior. Those were the days when the regard for 
royalty was singularly high. And if, in his remarks 
about the women who were kind, he uses what seems to 
us extravagant language, let us not forget that it was in 
accordance with the spirit of the seventeenth century. 



T 



CHAPTER XII 


ORGANIZATION AND 
ADMINISTRATION 

N January 7, that is two days after 
the interrupted execution, Smith 
was again brought before the Great 
Powhatan and informed that he 
should be allowed to go to James- 
town, but that he must send from 
the latter a present of two guns 
and a grindstone. On that same 
day Smith with a dozen guides started off, and the night 
was spent in the woods. All the way across he still 
expected at each hour to be executed, in spite of his 
good treatment. But on the following morning they 
all reached Jamesfort, where he courteously showed one 
of the Indians a couple of demi-culverins and a mill- 
stone for Powhatan. 

Now a demi-culverin was a gun which weighed 
4500 lbs., and fired a shot of 9 lbs. about 800 yards. The 
Indians therefore found the gifts “ somewhat too heavie,” 
and when Smith had the guns discharged after being 
loaded with stones, and the visitors saw the boughs of a 
great tree that was covered with icicles come crashing 
down, the visitors ran away half dead with fear. With 
some difficulty, the latter were pacified, given some 
toys and presents for Powhatan, his women and 
children. 

It was when they had gone that Smith, having been 
away these weeks, began to size up Jamestown’s con- 

149 





150 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

dition. Certainly he had been received with the truest 
signs of joy by all with the exception of Archer and several 
of the latter’s friends ; for during Smith’s absence 
Ratcliffe had sworn Archer in as one of the council 
and without Martin’s consent. Archer, thus seated in 
authority, had taken a serious and pedantic view con- 
cerning the loss of Robinson and Emry. Immediately 
therefore on Smith’s return, the latter was indicted in 
accordance with the Levitical law, and Smith’s trial was 
so speedy that our pioneer would have been hanged by 
January 9. It was a terrible homecoming after his 
recent condemnation to death that his own people should 
convict him and send him to the scaffold. Poor Smith I 
He seemed destined at every stage to be setting out for 
eternity ; and yet, as ever happened with him through- 
out his marvellous life, something occurred in the nick of 
time, with such strange coincidence that no modern 
novelist would ever dare to use that truth which is 
stranger than any fiction. The soldier who had sur- 
vived from the Battle of Rothenthurm and only yesterday 
had been" delivered from Powhatan’s sentence was, in 
spite of his having saved Jamestown colony, to die in 
obedience to that officious Archer whom Wingfield 
hated and considered unworthy to be a councillor. 
“ But in the midst of my miseries, it pleased God to send 
Captaine Nuport : who arriuing there the same night, 
so tripled our joy as for a while these plots against me were 
deferred ; though with much malice against me, which 
captain Newport in short time did plainly see.” 

That January 8th was a full day. The first thing 
Smith had discovered at the colony was that Ratcliffe 
and others had formed a plot to take the pinnace and sail 
off on January 9 to England. This at once angered 
Smith who ” wiffi the hazard of his life, with Sakre [a 
gun firing a lb. shot], falcon [firing a 2 J lb. shot] and 
musket shot ” compelled them now for the third occasion 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 151 

to remain or be sunk. Then had come Smith’s trial, 
and finally the dramatic arrival of that sane old sea-dog 
Captain Newport from England with his ship, which 
meant such a very great deal. 

He had left Jamestown, you will recollect, on June 22, 
1607, and thus had been away much longer than those 
twenty weeks promised ; but now he found that of the 
original 105 planters whom he had left, when leaving 
for England, 67 were already dead, so that Jamestown 
numbered only 38 before Newport’s “ First Supply ” 
landed. The London Council had decided as far back 
as August 1607 that two ships or “ a dubble supplie ” 
should be sent out with all diligence, but Newport’s 
vessel was the first to arrive, the second being the 
“ Phoenix ” under the command of Captain Nelson, 
which did not reach Jamestown until April 20. 

Newport’s sudden arrival, as Wingfield remarked, 
saved both Smith’s and Wingfield’s lives. The latter 
was now allowed to come ashore from the pinnace and 
remain in the town. Newport, having landed and rested 
his men on land, set them making a store house, a stove 
and building a church. But for heavy weather and the 
frost that pinnace would have got away before the return 
of Smith and Newport, and there would have remained 
only “ some ten or twelue of them who were called the 
better sort, and haue left Master Hunt our Preacher, 
Master Antony Gosnoll, a most honest, worthy, and 
industrious Gentleman, Master Thomas Wotton, and 
some 27 others of his Countrymen to the fury of the 
Salvages, famine, and all manner of mischiefes, and 
inconveniences.” The fact was that at Jamestown every- 
body was in a state of unhappiness, and “ all in com- 
bustion.” And yet such was tifcie national pride of those 
early settlers, such was their jealousy for the honour of 
this young colony that in the later account written by 
Fenton, Harrington and Smith care is taken to show 



152 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

that the Virginia adventure was in no way different from 
other plantations with respect to these imfortunate 
occurrences. England was as yet without experience 
in colonizing : her great rival and enemy Spain had for 
many years specialized in this expansion. “ And if any 
deeme it a shame to our Nation to haue any mention 
made of those inormities, let him pervse the Histories of 
the Spanyards Discoveries and Plantations, where they 
may see how many mutinies, disorders, and dissensions 
haue accompanied them, and crossed their attempts ; 
which being knowne to be particular mens offences ; 
doth take away the generall scorne and contempt, which 
malice, presumption, covetousnesse, or ignorance might 
produce.” 

Smith on his return from captivity had revived the 
spirits of his fellow countrymen by telling them of all 
the corn that existed in Powhatan’s territory ; and now 
the arrival of Newport’s ship not merely with more 
emi^^ts but with the supplies of all requisite com- 
modities from the council in England so gladdened men’s 
hearts that for a time at least there was no talk about 
abandoning Virginia. And every few days Pocahontas 
with her attendants would come bringing into James- 
town quantities of provisions which meant so much to 
the half-starved inhabitants. Thus arrived bread, fish, 
turkeys, squirrels, venison and so on. Part of these 
were free gifts, but the rest were purchased by Smith at 
his own price ; for he had altogether fascinated the 
Indians “ in demonstrating vnto them the roundnesse of 
the world, the course of the moone and starres, the cause 
of the day and night, the largenes of the seas, the quallities 
of our ships shot and powder, the devision of the world, 
with the diversity of the people, their complexions 
customes and conditions.” And the further feet that 
Captain Newport “ his father ” now arrived as “ prophe- 
cied ” still further increased the natives’ regard for Smith. 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 153 

It was to give Smith an upper hand over the Redskins, 
and this must turn out for the colony’s good. 

Unfortunately, happiness at Jamestown was usually 
modified at once by some catastrophe or error. About 
the middle of January the fort accidentally caught on 
fire. The conflagration began in the living quarters, 
and, the roofs being of thatch made from dried reeds, the 
whole place, including the palisades ten yards away, was 
soon ablaze. Thus arms, bedding, clothes and many pro- 
visions were consumed. Master Hunt, the peace-making 
cleric, lost all his library and all he possessed save the 
clothes on his back, “ yet none neuer heard him repine 
at his losse.” But this fire occurring when the country 
was all frozen caused the deaths of many who had first 
come out last year, and of those who had only just arrived : 
for there were no houses. Unhappily, too, Ratcliffe 
and the council became jealous of Smith’s popularity 
with the natives and sought to win favour by paying the 
latter four times more for the commodities than Smith 
considered reasonable. Furthermore, the arrival of 
Newport’s ship had made the settlers so excited that they 
could do nothing too much for the mariners. The latter 
were accordingly allowed to trade with the Indians with 
perfect freedom. This was entirely contrary to the 
London Council’s instructions, and very quickly the 
natives became so spoilt that what could previously be 
obtained for an ounce of copper not now could be 
exchanged for a pound. 

The net result of this was that in Powhatan’s regard 
Smith was partially eclipsed and Newport by his presents 
and extravagant dealing was highly regarded. The big 
chief was anxious to meet Newport, so in February the 
pinnace was fitted out ; Newport, Smith, ten gentlemen 
and ten others, as well as a guard of about thirty, making 
a total of over fifty, went up the river, landed and^duly 
reached Powhatan’s. Among this English party were 



154 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Master Scrivener, Michael Phettiplace and William 
Phettiplace. All three had just come out from England, 
and the first mentioned had been already admitted to the 
Jamestown council. 

Smith’s personality had by this date inspired so much 
respect and confidence with the Indians that whenever 
these used to bring food towards Jamestown they would 
at first remain some little distance away imtil Smith should 
come out to them. All of them, calling him by name, 
refused to sell until first they had given him their presents. 
Later on the visitors would come straight in, but it was 
entirely through regard for their late prisoner that so 
much trade and understanding had been possible. Now 
on this present expedition to Powhatan, the journey was 
made down the James River, round Point Comfort, then 
up that wide estuary we know to-day as York River and 
so up the Pamxmkey, till they reached Werowocomoco. 
SmiA having gone on ahead and renewed acquaintance- 
ship with the Great Powhatan, and having received as 
much bread as each of his men could carry, went back 
to the river to fetch Newport and Scrivener. But by 
this time the tide had ebbed, the barge was agroimd 
(“ though,” says Smith, “ I had giuen order and oft sent 
to preuent the same ”), it was also raining ; so finally 
Smith was housed on land for the night. On the next 
day Newport and Smith came ashore and were well 
received by the chief. After three or four days were 
spent in feasting, dancing and trading. Smith acting as 
interpreter and smoothing over awkward corners in the 
negotiations, they returned to Jamestown on March 9. 

Between Smith and Newport there was some little 
friction, the older man seeking to please the somewhat 
avaricious Indian, whilst Smith was trying to make the 
savage please the White Man. Finally, by knowing how 
to excite the great chief’s cupidity for a few worthless 
blue beads, the party had been able to bring back to the 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 155 

colony 250 bushels of corn. Captain Newport then 
began to prepare his ship for the voyage home across 
the Atlantic, and on April 10 he set sail, Smith and 
Scrivener in the shallop accompanying him down the 
James River as far as Cape Henry. During those 
thirteen weeks and two days a considerable part of the 
supplies sent out from England had been consumed by 
the addition to the colony of emigrants and of seafrrers. 
And, now that the sailors were gone, there was not too 
much of meal, oatmeal and corn for those who remained : 
nearly all that the ship had brought out had since been 
consumed. Leakage and rats (which had come ashore 
from the ships) accounted for further encroachments 
on the diminished stores, and what with having to live 
on meal and water during those bitter days the percentage 
of mortality went up by leaps and bounds. 

Before leaving, Newport and the Council had made 
some alterations in the personnel, in order that the 
management might be carried on more efficiently in the 
colony. He took back to England those two awkward 
officers, Wingfield and Archer, who had been thorns in 
Smith’s side and were disliked by so many. They went 
for the good of the plantation “ to seeke some better place 
of imployment.” The voyage from Cape Henry to 
Blackwall up the Thames took from April 10 till May 21, 
1608 : that is to say, six weeks. This would not be 
reckoned nowadays as a quick passage, eastward bound, 
with the favourable westerlies on which to rely, but it is 
most interesting to know this detail as to the speed of the 
vessel xmder the command of the first officer to carry 
passengers and freights regularly between England and 
America. Those who to-day think nothing of making 
several Atlantic trips a year in all safety and luxury may 
well cast their minds back to Newport’s rat-infested, 
unhygienic ship. His contemporaries criticized him for 
having remained in Virginia thirteen weeks instead of 



156 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

two, as a “ ship idely loy taring ” ; but, apart from that 
visit to Powhatan and the necessary business at the colony, 
it was essential to give the unhappy seamen some respite 
before starting back. We have no further details as to 
the weather up the English Channel, but it is only frir 
to suppose that, being the middle of May, light head- 
winds, which so often prevail at that time, may have 
delayed her. 

It would have been well if Newport had taken home 
also certain others. The President, Captain Ratcliffs, 
was not satisfactory and was too bent on scheming. In 
addition to this, he was a sick man and now “ in dis- 
charging his Piece, brake and split his hand off.” But 
the most unsuitable lot of settlers ever sent out to a young 
colony were those “ guilded refiners with their golden 
promises,” which Newport in that second trip had 
brought out. Initially it was of course the fault of the 
London Council who had inspired them with the idea 
that gold would be most easily found. Thus, amongst 
these unfortunately chosen emigrants always “ there was 
no talke, no hope, no worke, but dig gold, wash gold, 
refine gold, loade gold, such a bruit of gold ” that one 
wag “ desired to be bxoried in the sands least they should 
by theire art make gold of his bones.” Smith himself 
was infuriated with this class of men who neglected the 
real duties of planters for the get-rich-quick quest that 
failed to be substantiated. 

After that loth of April life at Jamestown settled down 
as best it might under the miserable circumstances of 
short rations, dying men and ill-fitted reinforcements. 
The Indians could never quite be trusted at the best of 
times, and caused annoyance by coming in from the 
mainland to the Jamestown peninsula pilfering tools and 
hatchets. These incidents frequently led to skirmishes, 
which did not make for peace. But with the returning 
of spring, Smith and Scrivener began the rebuilding of 



organization and administration 157 

the burnt Jamestown, repairing its church and the pali- 
sades. Between the two of them this community was 
turned into a busy hive for a while. And on the doth 
of April, whilst all this was going on, whilst some were 
hewing down trees for the new houses, others making 
a fresh roof for the storehouse, some sowing the corn in 
the fields, there was raised a sudden alarm which caused 
every man to drop his job and leap to his arms. 

But fears gave way to happiness when it was realized 
that the ship under sail coming up the James River was 
no Spanish enemy but the “ Phoenix,” under the com- 
mand of Captain Francis Nelson, who had been long since 
given up for lost. She had started out from England 
in consort with Newport’s ship, and had been detained 
by gales and head-winds. But Nelson had been careful 
to preserve the supplies intended for Virginia, and this 
broken voyage had no serious effects, for he had obtained 
additional food at the West Indies. He had brought, 
too, further emigrants as well as hatchets and other tools 
that were so valuable to planters. His arrival indeed did 
“ so rauish vs with exceeding joy, that now we thought 
our selues as well fitted as our harts could wish,” wrote 
the optimistic Smith, who was not immensely attracted 
towards mariners as a whole. Rather he seems to have 
found them grasping and more anxious to make money 
than to help in the prosperity of Virginia ; but Nelson 
he admired whole-heartedly for his honest dealing. 

It was unfortunate that after being three months over- 
due Nelson should have missed Newport by just ten days, 
as the latter would have this further bad news .of her non- 
arrival to offer the Council in London. But those two 
ships between them — officially known as “ the First 
Supply ” — had brought out 120 colonists, which included 
twenty-nine gentlemen, twenty-one labourers, half a 
dozen tailors ; six jewellers, refiners, perfumers and 
goldsmiths, a couple of apothecaries, a surgeon, and on? 



158 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

tobacco-pipe maker. Thus, if we add this supply to the 
survivors remaining of the original settlers, we have a 
total of 158, though from this must be deducted others 
who had died since the town was burnt down. 

Now as it was hoped to send back in the “ Phoenix ” 
some good tidings as well as good freight, it was decided 
to explore that country of the Monacans lying up the 
James River right above the falls, where, you will remem- 
ber, at the first arrival in Virginia the pioneer party had 
stopped short. It was hoped now that this unknown 
tract might frirnish some commodities which would de- 
light the Council in London. President Ratcliffe not 
caring to leave Jamesfort, it was arranged that Smith 
and Scrivener should go with seventy men. About a 
week was first spent training the men in marching, fight- 
ing and skirmishing tactics in the woods. But, just 
when the expedition was ready to start. Captain Nelson 
declined to go himself or to allow the volunteer mariners 
out of “ Phoenix,” unless payment was made for the 
demurrage of ship and men. There was further criticism 
by some that this exploration was unlawful, since only 
Captain Newport possessed the right to make discoveries. 
Captain Martin could think of nothing but finding that 
elusive mysterious “ gold dirt ” with which to lade the 
ship ; whilst the more practical-minded Smith preferred 
rather to fill her holds with cedar wood. 

And, whilst the colony was thus in doubt, the explora- 
tion scheme was temporarily laid aside ; applying them- 
selves to husbandry, fifty of the settlers went on felling 
trees and sowing their corn whilst the rest kept guard. 
Certain of the Indians in the meanwhile had become 
insolent and troublesome at the very entrance to the 
town and badly needed a sharp lesson : yet the instruc- 
tions from England had been so strict that most of the 
Jamestown leaders feared to break even the letter of the 
law. But Smith, being unable to endure the Redskins’ 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 159 

spying, thieving of tools, laying of ambushes and so on, 
took prompt, sharp action such as the native properly 
understands. He hunted them up and down the 
peninsula, and even received the Council’s permission to 
terrify them and cross-examine them by torture. One 
Indian prisoner Smith therefore had secured to the 
“ Phoenix’s ” mainmast and threatened with muskets ; 
a second was then frightened by the rack and then by 
muskets, so by this means a confession of treachery was 
extracted. Smith admittedly acted drastically, but the 
customs of that age were not delicate, and he had to be 
firm. 

Smith was no bully, but he could play the stern, iron 
master over men just as easily as he could be the diplomat 
and charming envoy. His whole mind and enthusiasm 
were so wrapped up in this fi-ail, shallow-planted colony, 
that any Englishman or Indian who seemed to endanger 
this scarcely flourishing flower roused Smith’s ire. 
Above all he was no tolerator of slackness, or nonsense, 
or folly. Now, just before leaving for England, New- 
port had been presented by the Great Powhatan with 
twenty turkeys — but on condition that Newport sent in 
return to the chief twenty swords. Newport immedi- 
ately did so, in flagrant disobedience of the London 
Council’s rule, and the action was very ill-advised, for it 
was in eflFect arming the Red man against the White. 

Thus, when Powhatan presently sent Smith a score 
of turkeys hoping for the like number of swords, there 
was a cool refusal to reciprocate : Smith was not to be 
caught in that manner. This had annoyed the big chief 
who sent his men to lie in ambush by the Jamestown 
entrances in order to surprise the planters whilst at work 
and steal their arms. Thus, having now thoroughly 
put fear into these prisoners, but having fed them well, 
one day in May Pocahontas arrived from her father. 
To her Smith handed back these men alive and none the 



t6o CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

worse, but in so doing he had the courtesy to pretend 
that it was only for the sake of this little princess that 
their lives had been spared. The net result of this was 
a diminution of those annoying attacks, the Indians 
went back home with their bows and arrows but with 
such a sense of fear and obedience that Smith’s very name 
inspired a deep sense of respect. 

By the end of May, then, it was determined to waste 
no more time. The “ Phoenix ” was given her cargo 
of cedar, and on June 2, 1608, Captain Nelson set sail 
for England, Smith at the same time starting off in an 
open barge of nearly 3-tons burthen which accompanied 
“ Phoenix ” down the river as far as Cape Henry. Nelson 
made a much better passage home, for he was back in 
London some time before July 7. “ I heare not of any 

nouelties or other commodities she hath brought,” wrote 
John Chamberlain to Dudley Carleton,^ “ more than 
sweet woode.” Just after loading and before sailing. 
Smith was able to send by her that True Relation to “ a 
worshipfull friend of his in England,” which was printed 
and entered for publication at Stationers’ Hall on 
August 13 of that year as a news pamphlet. In the 
” Phoenix ” was allowed to go as passenger to England 
the Captain Martin who was always so very ill and use- 
less but had ever been so eager “ to inioy the credit of 
his supposed Art of finding ftie golden Mine.” 

The rest of the settlers, benefiting by the summer 
weather, the superior organization and the consequently 
improved temper after the absence of mutinous plotting, 
created a hope that, in future, relations with the Indians 
might continue peaceful, and that the colony might now 
at last prosper. 

^ S.P. Dm., James I (1608), vol. 35, No. 13. 



CHAPTER XIII 


EXPLORING VIRGINIA 

HUS free to leave Jamestown for a 
while and carry on with exploration, 
Smith was again most happy. With 
him in that barge went thirteen con- 
sisting of a “ doctour of physicke,” six 
gentlemen, three soldiers, a blacksmith 
and two fishing experts. The scene 
was to be that wonderful Chesapeake 
Bay, nearly two hundred miles long, where so many 
rivers, estuaries and creeks join this truly magnificent 
sheet of water. Chesapeake, from the Algonquin 
K’tchisipik, means Great Water, and with its beautiful 
placid indentations bordered by fragments of woodland 
and green fields it is to this day a veritable paradise for 
yachts and small sailing craft. It has, however, a repu- 
tation for heavy squalls during the summer months, 
and during the War of 1812 one British frigate up the 
Potomac on the west side of the bay had her jib-boom 
blown away whilst her after deck was in a flat calm. But 
this bold estuary is especially notorious for its fierce 
north-westers and strange calms. Right at the southern 
end of Chesapeake’s Bay Hampton to-day stands where 
in Smith’s time the Indian village, Kecoughtan, existed. 

On this bright 2nd of June Smith and his companions 
came along past Kecoughtan and across the sparkling 
waters to the eastern shore by Cape Charles, where they 
called a group Smith Islands, by which name they are 
still known to this day. This was the first of two expedi- 
te 





i 62 captain JOHN SMITH 

tions during which Smith was to make the first map of 
Virginia, that was such a wonderfully good representa- 
tion of outline considering the time occupied. In it 
he was to give the location of the Indian tribes — a most 
valuable piece of information to all students of Virginia 
as it was when the first settlers arrived — and he managed 
also to get in the most important features of those various 
creeks, not altogether accurately, but uncommonly well. 
This map was afterwards printed in 1612 as the first to 
be issued to the world of this unknown area ; he was 
here engaged on pioneer work that was to be illuminative 
and valuable for future development. 

Smith soon made friends ashore on this Virginian 
peninsula with the Accowmack Indians, and since he 
found they spoke the same language as Powhatan he was 
able to learn from them all about the bay, its islands and 
rivers. He then went sailing up the Chesapeake, looking 
into every inlet and creek that might be suitable some day 
for harbours or habitation. In the middle of the Bay 
lies Tangier Island — Smith called this group Russells 
Isles — and on sighting them he bore up, but before he 
could reach them down came one of those local squalls. 
“ Such an extreame gust of wind, raine, thunder, and 
lightning happened, that with great daunger, we escaped 
the vnmercifull raging of that ocean-like water.” 

They came to the River Wighcocomoco on the eastern 
side of Chesapeake and thence to a headland which Smith 
named Point Ployer, in remembrance of the kindness 
which he had received eight years previously from the 
Earl of Ployer when passing through Brittany : and it 
was a feature of Smith’s character that even long after 
the event he never forgot a kindness. In our own day 
certain benefactors to Polar expeditions have in return 
received the compliment of certain geographical features 
being associated on the maps with their names ; but 
in this early seventeenth century, when the New World 



EXPLORING VIRGINIA 163 

was being revealed to a wondering Europe, the honour 
of having one’s patronymic associated with fresh territory 
was most highly esteemed. 

Now this little barge was rigged with a couple of masts, 
having a squaresail on each ; and whilst cruising in the 
neighbourhood there came another squall, accompanied 
by thunder, lightning and rain, so that the foremast was 
carried over the side. The seas became so bad that the 
craft nearly sank and was kept afloat only by energetic 
bailing. After two days they repaired the foresail with 
their shirts and continued their discoveries, finding ashore 
wolves, bears, deer “ and other wild beasts.” All this 
enterprise was interesting Smith vastly, not merely 
because it exactly fitted in with his venturesome spirit 
but for the reason that he was consciously gathering 
knowledge for the colony’s future good. To those 
gentlemen of fashion, however, who had never roughed 
it before and ought never to have left England, the dis- 
comforts of this open-boat cruising began to be extremely 
unpleasant before the first fortnight was up. 

They had come out from Jamestown imagining some 
picnic, but it annoyed them considerably to find that they 
often had to pull at the oars till fatigued, that their bread 
became saturated with rain and sea water ; so continual 
protests were made to the leader, who had to upbraid 
than severely. It was now the 13 th of June and he 
reminded them how shameful it would be to return 
towards Jamestown with a month’s provisions yet 
“ scarce able to say where we haue bin, nor yet heard of 
that wee were sent to seeke. You cannot say but I haue 
shared with you of the worst [that] is past ; and for 
what is to come, of lodging, diet, or whatsoever, I am 
contented you allot the worst part to my selfe. As for 
your feares, that I will lose my selfe in these vnknowne 
large waters, or be swallowed vp in some stormie gust : 
abandon those childish feares, for worse then is past 



i 64 captain JOHN SMITH 

cannot happen, and there is as much danger to returne, 
as to proceed forward. Regaine therefore your old 
spirits : for returne I wil not (if God assist me) til I haue 
seene the Massawomekes, found Patawomeck, or the 
head of this great water you conceit to be endlesse.” 

Several days of wind and weather made the lot of the 
malcontents no better, and some of them fell ill ; but 
on June i6 the river Patawomeck (better known to us 
as the Potomac) was discovered. The sight of this bold 
inlet eight or nine miles wide caused the murmurs to 
cease and the sick to recover. Smith, however, with his 
thoroughness and zeal for knowledge, was anxious to 
find out the river’s name. For the first thirty miles there 
was no sign of a human being, but at length they came 
across a couple of Indians who conducted them up a 
creek towards Onawmament on the port hand where the 
woods had been ambuscaded with several hundred natives 
all “ painted, grimed, and disguised, showting, yelling 
and crying, as we rather supposed them so many divels,” 

Smith soon settled all this exhibition of hostility ; for 
the firing of English muskets, the grazing of bullets, and 
the strange sound of these weapons echoing through the 
forest so amazed the Indians as to cause them to lay down 
their bows and arrows. Hostages were exchanged, 
friendly relationship was established, but it was learned 
that the malcontents at Jamestown had persuaded Pow- 
hatan to stir up these natives and betray Smith’s party. 
Now the object in having come forth on this Chesapeake 
expedition was especially to find the Potomac, where it 
was alleged there was some “ glistering mettal ” ; and, 
further, to ascertain what other metals, furs, fruits, 
victuals and fishing ; also what tribes, woods and so on 
existed hereabouts. Another point to be settled was 
whether this long bay reached through to the Pacific 
Ocean. 

About ten miles up country they found the mine, but 



EXPLORING VIRGINIA 


165 

it proved of no value. Otters, beavers and sables were 
also seen ; but the fish were “ lying so thicke with their 
heads aboue the water, as for want of nets (our barge 
driving amongst them) we attempted to catch them with 
a fiying pan; but,” quaintly a^dds the account written by 
Walter Russell (the expedition’s ‘Doctour of Physicke’) 
and Anas Todkill (one of the soldiers) “ we found it a 
bad instrument to catch fish with.” They were not to 
be caught with frying-pans. 

In the area between the Potomac and the Rappa- 
hannock rivers lay Tappahannock, on the banks of the 
latter, which Smith had first seen when he was a prisoner 
among the Indians that previous winter. Smith very 
much wanted to have visited again this scene, but the 
tide had ebbed, leaving the barge aground ; and then a 
number of fish were seen among the weeds on the sands, 
so he began spearing them with his sword, by which 
device the party got more in an hour than they could eat. 
Unfortunately Smith was stung by one of the fish, which 
poisoned him so seriously that his arm swelled. The 
companions became sorrow-stricken, awaited his death, 
and by his directions even began on a neighbouring 
island to dig his grave. But once again Smith was to 
enter the portals of death and come out : for Dr. Russell 
“ by the helpe of a precious oile ” eased the pain. 

But having regard to his illness, and another of the 
party having broken his shin, it was decided that the 
expedition should now return to Jamestown. In spite 
of these depressing incidents, there was not absent a 
keen sense of humour ; for having passed next day the 
mouth of the Pamunkey (or York) River, they reached 
Kecoughtan village by Point Comfort. Here the natives, 
seeing Captain Smith hurt and the other man bloodstained 
as to his leg, and the barge full of bows, arrows, swords, 
furs, came to the conclusion that the Englishmen had 
been fighting some tribe. But which tribe ? “ Finding 



i66 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

their aptnes to beleeue, we failed not (as a great secret) 
to tel them any thing that might affright Aem,” so pre- 
tended that all this spoil had been obtained from the 
Masawomekes. This yarn sped faster up the James 
River than the barge, and the latter having reached 
Weraskoyack on the southern bank a short distance 
below Jamestown, they there trimmed her “with painted 
streamers and such devises, we made the Fort iealious of 
a Spanish frigot.” Smith had lied to the Indians inten- 
tionally. It was a part of his policy for getting the upper 
hand over them with a view to the security of Jamestown. 

It was now July 21, and they had been away since 
June 2. Smith was next to find that all those who had 
come out from England in that “ First Supply ” under 
Newport and Nelson were ill. As for the rest of the 
planters they were either lame or inftiriated against “ their 
sillie President” Ratcliffe, whose unreasonable cruelty, 
prodigality of precious victuals and foolish building of a 
fine house in the woods had worked everybody up to 
such a pitch that they would have mutinied had not 
Smith returned when he did. The immediate result of 
this event, with the good news which had been brought by 
the Chesapeake expedition, was to raise Smith still further 
in the estimation of the colony as the one man who could 
lead and rule. They insisted that Ratcliffe should be 
deposed and that Captain Smith should take over the 
rule. It is, however, very characteristic of the latter 
that, in spite of his natural gifts for governing, his heart 
was all the time in the direction of discovery. 

Therefore he accepted the honour, but for the present 
made his particular friend. Scrivener, acting President, 
whilst Smith himself carried on with his further dis- 
coveries of the Chesapeake. Before setting out he 
was careful to redistribute those provisions which had 
been wrongly and selfishly hoarded, and he appointed 
a more honest staff of officers to assist Scrivener. The 



EXPLORING VIRGINIA 


lii 

latter was at present a sick man, in delirium, and the 
rest of the company were suffering from the lassitude 
and weakness caused by the intense summer heat, but 
Smith, having forgotten about his poisoned arm and 
turning his back on the Jamestown slackers, went aboard 
the litde barge and set off to complete his exploration, 
which had been temporarily interrupted. 

On this trip he took with him five of the six gentlemen 
who had previously accompanied him ; but of the remain- 
ing seven only four belonged to the first party. Such 
was his eagerness to be under way that he had remained 
at Jamestown only from July 21 to 24, yet after dropping 
down to Kecoughtan he was held up two or three days 
by head-winds ; but he took the opportunity of impres- 
sing the Indians with the wonderful abilities of the 
White Man, for several rockets were fired that “ so terri- 
fied the poore Salvages, they supposed nothing impossible 
wee attempted.” 

So, during this second journey, they were able to 
proceed with confidence past Point Comfort, the Potomac, 
and right up till they encountered seven or eight canoes 
full of Massawomeke Indians. Now, out of the barge’s 
complement of thirteen, half of them had become sick 
men since leaving Point Comfort, being of those un- 
seasoned settlers who had come out with the last supply. 
Since it seemed as if the Indian canoes meant to attack. 
Smith proceeded under sail and kept the invalids under 
tarpaulin. Then, very artfully, he had their hats put on 
sticks showing over the barge’s side and between hats a 
man in order to make it appear that the crew were 
numerous. This so frightened the Indians that they 
fled. 

On entering the River Tockwogh towards the north- 
east end of Chesapeake yet another tribe’s acquaintance 
was made, from whom Smith obtained information of 
the Sasquesahanocks, a tribe who lived two days higher 



td8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Up t hflm the barge could proceed owing to rocks. The 
river Susquehanna, as it is better known to-day, flows 
into the head of Chesapeake Bay, and thus Smith had 
now explored from the south to the north. But it was 
in accordance with his exhaustive zeal for completion 
that he should send an invitation to the Sasquesahanocks 
persuading them to come to the head of the bay. After 
a few days sixty of this giant-like people did come with 
presents of venison, three-foot tobacco-pipes, and so on. 
It was Smith’s custom to have daily prayers with a psalm, 
“ at which solemnitie the poor Salvages much wondred.” 
But after a short stay and having learned from them 
information concerning people who “ inhabit vpon a 
great water beyond the mountaines, which we vnder- 
stood to be some great lake, or the river of Canada ; and 
from the French to haue their hatchets and Com- 
modities by trade,” they parted the best of friends. 
Smith promising to visit them again next year. 

Having made so many explorations, he selected 
names that suggested himself and his friends. Thus 
that river up which the Massawomekes had fled, and is 
probably to be identified with what we nowadays call 
Gun Powder River, was designated Willoughby’s river^ 
in commemoration of his own natal place in Lincoln- 
shire as well as of his honoured friend, Lord Willoughby 
d’Eresby. The rocky portion of the Susquehanna 
River was named Smith’s Falls, various other features — 
headlands, islands and bays — ^were named after his 
companions in the barge. Thus, for example, those 
which are marked in our maps to-day as Poole (more 
accurately Powell) Islands were after Nathaniel Powell. 
And wherever Smith reached the point of furthest pene- 
tration he cut in the trees crosses to mark the fact, and in 
certain places left notes in holes of the trees to signify 
that Englishmen had been there. 

^ Cp. also Willoughby Spit, Bank and Bay opposite Point Comfort. 



EXPLORING VIRGINIA 169 

Having thus investigated all the creeks, estuaries and 
rivers worth noting, Smith took his people to explore 
the Patuxent river and thence to the Rappahannock 
river (“ which many called the Toppahanock ”). This 
latter was followed right up as far as the boat would float, 
crosses being set up and the party’s names engraved on 
the trees. But before reaching the river’s head Richard 
Fetherstone, one of the gentlemen, died. They buried 
him “ with a volley of shot ” in a bay which they named 
after him. It was on the next day that there was an 
attack made on them by the Mannahoack Indians, during 
which one of the latter was shot in the knee. But Smith 
had brought on this second trip from Jamestown a surgeon 
named Anthony Bagnall, who accompanied them in order 
to look after Smith’s poisoned arm. Bagnall now was 
able to dress and heal the Indian’s wounds. Eventually 
peace was concluded with this tribe, and then the barge 
set sail down the river and . went into the Piankatank 
river to anchor for the night. 

The next stopping place was Gosnold’s Bay, to the 
north of Point Comfort, for the wind had died away 
and they had begun to row. But during the night all 
of a sudden came one of those squalls with the usual 
thunder and rain, so they had to clear out and none in 
that barge ever expected to see Jamestown again. Smith 
ran the craft before the wind, the night was pitch black, 
and it was only the lightning flashes which enabled them 
to avoid getting ashore ; at length by the flashing they 
were able to pick up Point Comfort where they spent a 
little time refreshing themselves. When one thinks of 
these gallants and others living and sleeping in a crowded 
craft of less than three tons, with no deck or cabin, always 
under way, with poor food as the rule, no charts, and 
always in danger either from the natives or the coast, one 
cannot but admire Smith for his incessant driving power, 
and his shipmates for their patient endurance. 



17 © Captain john smith 

Quite apart from his pluck (when he had every right 
to remain behind at Jamestown to get fit from his poison- 
ing) and his example in making others keen and in- 
dustrious, Smith had by these two coastal cruises made 
invaluable contributions in regard to the future of 
Virginia. He had gathered such quantities of data • 
concerning the geography, the peoples, the products of 
Chesapeake territory that he was easily the greatest 
European expert on the colony, as indeed he had been 
the first White Man to show himself to one tribe after 
another. But on the top of all this must be added that 
touch of genius which first impresses the savage man 
by a display of strength and the exactment of punishment 
where due, but afterwards secures the loyalty and friend- 
ship and admiration of the very men who yesterday were 
violent enemies to the colonizers. It has been the peculiar 
gift of the English nation to employ such tactics in her 
overseas expansion to the mutual benefit of dominions 
and mother country ; and on the whole, notwithstanding 
some appalling and ever regrettable mistakes, this policy 
has worked well. Smith, with his thoroughly English 
birth and upbringing, but his mind and body exception- 
ally trained by active service and lengthy travel on the 
Continent, his will so strengthened and tempered in the 
furnace of adversity, was able to create a tradition in 
America that needed only faithful following to ensure 
future prosperity. 

But, like Lord Nelson, nothing save perfection and . 
outright completion in carrying out a job ever satisfied 
this remarkable man. Having arrived at the entrance 
of the James River, it occurred to him that some further 
useful work might be done on the southern shore where 
dwelt the Chesapeake and Nandsamund tribes, whom 
the planters knew by name only. But now “ we thought 
it as fit to know all our neighbours neare home, as so 
many Nations abroad. So setting sayle for the Southerne 



EXPLORlN<5 VIRGINIA t?t 

shorCj we sayled vp the narrow river vp the country of 
Chisapeack ” for half a dozen miles, evidently up the 
Elizabeth River, but saw no people whatsoever. Return- 
ing to James River they coasted the shore towards Nand- 
samund and at the mouth of that tributary espied some 
Indians. 

Having proceeded several miles up the Nandsamund 
they sighted cornfields on the western shore, and it was 
thought that friendship had been established with the 
people, though treachery was afoot. Some of the natives 
were ashore and some in canoes, and presently came a 
shower of arrows against Smith’s barge ; but the English- 
men fired at their opponents, causing most of those in 
the canoes to swim ashore. The enemy being thus 
compelled to retire behind some trees, Smith seized the 
deserted canoes and moored them in the river. Fortun- 
ately no Englishman had been hit, although the surgeon, 
Antony Bagnall, received an arrow in his hat, and 
another man one in his sleeve. The barge now lay by 
the moored canoes, and Smith began to ponder whether 
it would be better to burn them or to let the enemy pur- 
chase them back by food for Jamestown. 

He made a beginning to hack the canoes to bits, 
whereupon the Indians laid down their bows and showed 
signs of peace. Smith informed them that they must 
deliver up their chief’s bows and arrows, a chain of pearl 
and four hundred baskets of corn ; otherwise canoes, 
corn, houses and all the natives’ possessions should be 
burnt. The reply was in the affirmative provided they 
had a canoe ; Smith therefore let one boat adrift and told 
them to swim to fetch her, but he would continue to 
smash up the craft until their promise was fulfilled. They 
cried out imploring him to stay his hand, and finally 
brought him their bows, arrows and as many baskets of 
corn as the barge could carry. Thus peace was made, 
the Indians had learnt to respect both the strength and 



172 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

word of the White Man, trade had been established, and 
now the barge continued up the James River, arriving 
back at the colony on September 7, 1608. Thus, yet 
again. Smith had acted harshly — even perhaps cruelly 
— but he had no other alternative. The situation de- 
manded firmness. 

It was a relief to Smith that Scrivener was now restored 
to health as were some others, and that this acting presi- 
dent had gathered in the harvest ; but rain had un- 
fortunately spoiled part of the provisions in the store, 
some of the planters were ill, many had died, and the late 
president, Ratcliffe, was in prison for mutiny. Smith, 
by the will of the council and request of the company 
three days later, received the letters patent and took up 
the office of president, and began his reforms at once. 
Thus he stopped the building .of Ratcliffe’s palace, 
rethatched the store-house, began preparing new build- 
ings for the next “ supply that would arrive from 
England before long, altered the shape of the fort, 
renewed the watch, exercised every Saturday the whole 
company in military tactics on an adjacent plain which 
became known as Smithfield, and it was by no means 
a disadvantage that a crowd of Indians would collect to 
watch the excellent musket practice. 

Thus, gradually by sheer personality Smith had risen 
from the depths of suspicion to become the colony’s 
third and most efficient ruler. By his incessant thought- 
fulness, his energy, firmness, far-sighted explorations 
and intrepid bravery he had done more in setting the 
young colony on its feet than had Wingfield and Rat- 
cliffe together. And not the least important aspect was 
that, on the one hand, by all these boat trips and all that 
walking on foot through regions where never a white 
man had trod, the native had learned if not to love yet at 
least to respect the new-comers from Europe ; but, 
further, by never missing an opportunity to gather 



EXPLORING VIRGINIA 


173 

intelligence concerning even the most distant parts of 
this Virginia known to one tribe or another, Smith had 
amassed a body of knowledge that had to be gathered 
before real progress could be made, otherwise it was like 
working in the dark. If all Raleigh’s schemes had 
ended disastrously, this other undertaking had succeeded 
not because its personnel or its equipment was superior, 
but for the reason that among that company of idle 
gallants and ill-fitted planters there was a man sent whose 
name was John, whose character was as tough as a 
blacksmith’s iron, but his enthusiasm as invaluable as 
refiner’s gold. 

Strength and endurance, worth and reliability, were 
in that active body ; and the pity was that those inade- 
quately informed theorists who controlled affairs of the 
Virginia Company from London had neither the sense nor 
imagination to leave him alone with a free hand. Instead 
of giving the plantation time to mature and develop along 
steady principles, those London Councillors were in too 
great a hurry to see results ; and the means thereto must 
be by concentrating on the discovery (a) of gold, (b) of 
that passage to the South Sea. Nothing short of this 
could satisfy these authorities, and thus with all their 
ignorance of Virginia, and its limitations, they were to 
try and impose their will on John Smith, whose special 
knowledge was beyond all question. Thus sooner or 
later, but having regard to the new president’s nature 
it must happen pretty speedily, there would be a clash 
of temperaments with the inevitable loss to a community 
that so much needed careful guidance. 



176 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

he could get back home. At this stage Sir Walter 
Raleigh enters with his colonizing projects. Obtaining 
letters-patent, he persuaded a number of distinguished 
English gentlemen to adventure with him so as to find 
a suitable place for a plantation. A ship and a pinnace 
were fitted out, which he sent under Captain Philip 
Amadas and Captain Arthur Barlow. 

These left the Thames on April 27, 1584, and went 
by the usual sailing-ship route, first of all south to the 
Canaries (which they reached on May 10) and then having 
picked up the North-east trades reached the West Indies 
on June 10. A good deal of ill-health was suffered 
owing to the tropics, but on July 2 their nostrils smelt a 
delicate land perfume and soon espied Florida. They 
sailed on and on, but could find no harbour till they 
reached the coast of what is now called North Carolina, 
with its sand bars, behind which are the shallow Pam- 
plico and Albemarle Sounds and low marshy country. 
With difficulty they got their ships inside by one 
of the inlets to Pamplico Sound and anchored; and 
then, after thanks to God, they went to examine the 
land and take possession of it on behalf of Queen 
Elizabeth. 

On the third day they saw the first natives, rowed 
ashore and fetched one of them on board, entertained 
him well and received from him presents of fish. On 
the following day came other boats, and the expedition 
learned that this country was called Wingandacoa and 
then Captain Amadas went exploring in the ship’s boat, 
discovering Roanoke Island, which is separated from the 
mainland by Croatan Sound. This they reckoned as 
seven leagues distant from “ the harbour where we 
entred.” With the luck which belongs to beginners 
they had thus managed to navigate past a coast that is 
notoriously dangerous and frequented by heavy weather. 
The expedition got back to England about the middle of 



PROBLEMS OF PIONEERING 177 

September, 1584, and thus for the first time a temporary 
footing had been made by Englishmen on the North 
American continent. The net result was that a way 
to America had been found, that a dangerous series of 
entrances into Pamplico Sound had been discovered, 
that the soil of the country was proved to be fertile and 
rich with timber, and that there were numerous bays, 
inlets and islands. This caused very great interest in 
England, and it pleased Elizabeth with feminine vanity 
to have this region called no longer Wingandacoa but 
Virginia. 

In the following year Sir Walter Raleigh sent out a 
second expedition, consisting of seven ships, under the 
direction of his relative. Sir Richard Grenville ; and 
among the senior officers were such distinguished men as 
Sir Ralph Lane ; Thomas Cavendish ; the pioneer, 
Philip Amadas ; Thomas Haryot ; and others. The 
squadron left Plymouth on April 9, picked up the 
Canaries fourteen days out, reached Dominica on May 7, 
sighted the Florida coast on May 20, nearly got wrecked 
on Cape Fear and got inside Pamplico Sound. Amadas 
in the flagship went on to the Croatan Sound, further 
explorations were made along the mainland, and finally 
Grenville, leaving behind under Ralph Lane 108 colonists 
consisting of 20 gentlemen and the rest, sailed home, 
reaching Plymouth on September 18, 1585. 

This colony settled themselves on Roanoke Island 
from August 17 of that year until June 18, 1586, and 
during this period they even went as far north as a village 
in the Chesapeake country, by means of the northern 
end of the shallow sound. Having regard to subse- 
quent events, it is not without importance to note that 
they regarded this northern territory as excellent for 
settling on, with fertile soil. This valuable informa- 
tion was in their possession when Gosnold, Smith and 
the others were to start the Virginia Company and 

M 



^7S CAPfAlN JOHN SMITH 

influenced them in seeking an area somewhere near to 
that latitude. 

In view of another boat expedition which we shall 
shortly see Smith despatching, it is also to be mentioned 
that Ralph Lane penetrated to the north-west from 
Roanoke Island as far as Chawonock where the channel 
was as the Thames at Lambeth ; further to the south- 
ward dwelt the Mangoacks, whose region will likewise 
presently concern us. Lane was particularly anxious 
to visit Ae neighbourhood for there “ is a mine of copper 
they call Wassador ; they say they take it out of a riuer 
that falleth swiftly from high rocks.” And I think we 
can see quite clearly how the London Virginia Company 
which sent out Newport, Gosnold, Smith, Wingfield and 
comrades, was affected in its policy by the meagre in- 
formation that already existed. For Lane had summed up 
his report as follows : “ I conclude a good Mine, or the 
South Sea will make this Country quickly inhabited, and 
so for pleasure and profit comparable with any in the 
world : otherwise there will be nothing worth the 
fetching. Provided there be found a better harbour 
than yet there is, which must be Northward if there be 
any. Master Vaughan no lesse hoped of the goodnesse 
of the Mine, then Master Heriot that the riuer Mora- 
tocks head, either riseth by the Bay of Mexico, or very 
neare the South Sea, or some part that openeth neare 
the same.” 

In this we have that tradition of the mines and the 
Pacific Ocean’s proximity still perpetuated like an un- 
dying legend. But the Roanoke colony fell on hard 
times, famine seized it, and parties were sent to keep a 
watch for any ships that might come along the Atlantic 
coast. Thus, when Sir Francis Drake, in June, 1586, 
sailed along and there seemed no hope of Sir Richard 
Grenville returning, it was unanimously decided to 
accompany Drake back to England. Lane’s party there- 



PROBLEMS OF PIONEERING 179 

fore set sail on June 1 8 and got to Portsmouth on 
July 27. 

Haryot reported that in the visited country there were 
such commodities as iron ore, “ copper that held silver,” 
pearls, dyes, and tobacco which the Indians “ esteeme 
their chiefe physicke.” Now Lane and his people had 
really abandoned hope just a little too soon, for on Easter 
Day, in that same year 1586, a ship freighted plentifully 
with all mecessary supplies had sailed from England 
and did actually arrive at the colony. After seeking up 
and down the country, they found of course no one, so 
sailed back to England with all the provisions. About 
a fortnight after this ship had left America came also 
Sir Richard Grenville with three well -filled vessels. 
Grenville was surprised to find neither the Easter Day 
ship nor any of Lane’s men whom Grenville had left 
in the previous year. Inasmuch as the colony was 
uninhabited and he was unwilling to lose possession of 
the claimed territory, he now landed a few men on to 
Roanoke Island with adequate provisions for two years 
and then returned to England. 

In the following spring there sailed from England 
another expedition of three ships under John White, 
who related that “ we went the old course by the West 
Indies, and Simon Ferdinando our continuall Pilot 
mistaking Virginia for Cape Fear, we fayled not much 
to haue beene cast away, vpon the conceit of our all- 
knowing Ferdinando, had it not beene prevented by the 
vigilancy of Captain Stafford,” who had previously been 
out with Lane’s party and returned with the latter. 
White’s ship arrived off its destination at Hatteras on 
July 22, 1587, and then forty of them went to Roanoke 
hoping to find the fifty men whom Grenville had left. 
What they discovered, however, were the houses over- 
grown with weeds, the fort defaced, and the bones of 
one man. It was learnt that the fifty Englishmen had 



iSo CAI>TAIN JOHN SMITH 

been set upon by three hundred natives, that some of 
the colonists had been thus slain, but the remainder had 
departed to some unknown destination. 

The domestic details may be mentioned in connection 
with John White’s 1587 trip. On August 13 Manteo, 
one of the Indians (and a good friend to the English), was 
baptized, being the first of his race to become a Christian. 
Five days later Mistress Eleanor Dare, wife of Ananias 
Dare and daughter of John White, gave birth to a 
daughter whilst at Roanoke. Her husband was one 
of the party of about 1 1 5 who had landed with this lot 
of planters, and one can but admire the pluck of a 
woman to have crossed the Atlantic in such an uncom- 
fortable vessel. Her daughter was the first Christian 
ever to be born in this Southern colony and was accord- 
ingly named Virginia. 

Having thus put the band of settlers to inhabit Roanoke 
Island, ^e three ships prepared for their return to 
England, and White was requested to proceed to 
England also, as no one was so likely to obtain the 
necessary supplies. The setting out was attended by 
accidents, for whilst lying at anchor waiting, they were 
caught in such a gale that the flagship had to cut her 
cables, whilst most of her best hands were ashore. She 
put to sea but it was six days before she could make the 
land again. When, finally, that smaller unit of the 
squadron, a flyboat, was winding in her cable, twelve of 
the crew were thrown from the capstan by the breaking 
of a capstan-bar and some of them so injured that they 
never recovered. On attempting to weigh a second 
time, the same thing occurred, so they ultimately cut the 
cable. Nor was the return voyage quite uneventful, for 
she was shorthanded with only fifteen men. She and 
the flagship kept together as far as the Azores, but the 
flyboat’s crew became so weak as to be unable to work 
ship, and she was driven to the west of Ireland ; the 



PROBLEMS OF PIONEERING i8i 

other two vessels duly reached England the same 
year. 

John White, with three ships and supplies for the 
Roanoke Island settlement, sailed from England on 
March 20, 1589, south by Mogador on the north-west 
African coast and thence employed the North-east trades 
across to Dominica in the West Indies. It was not 
until August 3 that they fell in with the low sandy islands 
of the Atlantic shore of North America, anchoring 
twelve days later outside the Pamplico Sound, expect- 
ing to see the smoke of Roanoke colony. Ordnance was 
fired to give the latter warning, but when the ships’ 
boats landed there was not a sign of any inhabitant. 
Unfortunately as another journey was being made 
ashore, the flagship’s boat was caught by a sea when 
crossing the bar running before a hard north-easter. 
She was half filled yet managed to escape. 

The second boat, however, was not so well handled, 
and when half-way across the bar was capsized, some of 
her crew managed to catch hold of her, but the next 
wave threw her on to the bar where those who let go of 
her were drowned. Four who could swim were picked 
up by the first boat, but the other seven perished. After 
this there was some difficulty in persuading others to go 
ashore, but at last a couple of boats put off to Roanoke 
and still there was no sign of human existence. White 
had arranged before leaving here last year that if the 
planters should, as they intended, give up Roanoke and 
go fifty miles inland they should mark the name of that 
place on a Roanoke tree, door or. post. And should they 
be in distress, they were also to make over the name a 
cross. 

White went up and down the island and at last found 
carved in Roman letters “ C. R. O.” He could, all the 
same, discover no cross of distress, but farther on he 
noticed that their houses had been pulled down and the 



i 82 captain JOHN SMITH 

place strongly palisaded. Upon one of the posts he 
observed the letters C R O A T A N, still without a 
cross, and inferred that they had moved to Croatan which 
gives its name to the sound on which Roanoke is situated. 
In the meantime the sailors found that various chests had 
been hidden, dug up again and their contents scattered, 
some of which belonged to White himself. All this was 
very disquieting, but it was a comfort to suppose that his 
daughter, son-in-law and the planters generally were 
safe, so White and his companions returned aboard 
their ships. But on the next morning when getting 
under way for Croatan, his ship broke her cable and 
lost a couple of anchors, which left them with only one. 
Luckily this anchor held just in time to prevent her from 
drifting on to a lee shore. It was now decided that, as 
she needed more ground tackle and the provisions were 
nearly finished, she and the other ships should clear out 
and make their way across the Atlantic, intending the 
next spring to return and seek out their colonial country- 
men. But the latter were never seen again, and firom 
1590 until 1602 England gave up Virginia as a hopeless 
proposition until Captain Gosnold set sail from Dart- 
mouth and reached New England. That, however, is 
not part of the present investigation and we shall deal 
with New England exploration in another chapter. We 
are, however, now in a position to appreciate what was 
in the minds of that Virginia Council in London as 
distinct from Smith’s aims. 

Whilst the latter was bent on the constructive policy 
of making the Jamestown settlement self-supporting ; 
whilst he was doing all he could to find out the natural 
resources of the neighbourhood, to establish trade with 
the Indians with a view always to obtaining adequate 
supplies of corn, yet never relying on the natives’ honesty 
or freedom from treachery, the authorities in London 
were in a state of impatience and wanted tangible results 




Map of Old Virginia 

Between Cape Pear and Cape ffenry, shewing Koanoke Island 







PROBLEMS OF PIONEERING 183 

before the preliminary work was really completed. 
Profiting by the inexperience of those who had first 
attempted a plantation in the neighbourhood of latitude 
36° North, and by the good fortune in having sighted 
the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, Smith’s original party 
had fallen upon the right kind of harbour. The foun- 
dation of the Virginia scheme of' 1606-7 thus 

reasonable, even if the location of Jamestown, with its 
fever-breeding soil, was ill-chosen. But, whilst Smith 
with a wider and longer vision was looking forward to a 
powerful and some day expanding colony, those in 
England wished at once to obtain returns for their in- 
vestment and enterprise. It was thus that there occurred 
such clashing of temperaments between officialdom, 
without complete knowledge, and the strong-man-on-the 
spot anxious to do his duty but chafing against inter- 
ference. Such situations have since occurred many 
times throughout history in regard to the conduct of 
naval, military and colonial campaigns. And those who 
know the story of the Battle of Coronel are aware, 
even in these days of telegraph cables and wireless, 
how difficult it is to effect perfect, unequivocal com- 
prehension between home authority and its distant 
representative. 

It will be convenient, in order to prevent confusion, 
to call that area from about Lat. 34° extending^ to just 
short of Cape Henry by the name of Old Virginia, for 
this section beginning from Cape Fear (as it is still marked 
on all maps) represents the sphere of those fatal Raleigh 
attempts ; and Old Virginia, with its central attraction 
at Roanoke Island, was the title by which that land was 
known in Smith’s time. In his M.ap of Quid Virginia he 
adds this note : “ The Countrey wee now call Virginia 
beginneth at Cape Henry distant from Roanoack 60 miles, 
where was S’^. Walter Raleigh’s plantation.” Such 
appellations as Cape Amidas, Heriot’s Isle, Point 



i84 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Vaughan, Greenevil’s Rode thereon marked were a 
reminder of its first discoverers. Old Virginia, then, 
was for the present dead ; but Virginia was a young 
and virile creature. 

It was therefore a little hard on Smith to learn that with 
the arrival in October 1608 of Newport the instructions 
were to find gold, discover the South Sea, search for the 
missing Raleigh planters, crown Powhatan, and employ 
the Poles and Dutchmen to make pitch, tar, glass and 
other articles. Each of these duties could be well argued 
both for and against ; but the first and all-important 
consideration was not to waste time on such projects but 
rather be employed in obtaining all the possible corn 
firom the natives now that the latter had gathered their 
harvest and they were friendly disposed towards the 
settlers. “ To loose that time, spend that victuall we 
had, tire and starue our men, having no means to carry 
victuall, munition, the hurt or sicke, but their owne 
backs : how or by whom they were invented I know 
not.” 

But “ the direction from England ” had to be obeyed, 
even though Smith and Newport found themselves in 
direct opposition. Notwithstanding that the former was 
President, yet the Council at Jamestown were rather in 
agreement with the latter. And first of all came this 
absurd notion of carrying out Powhatan’s coronation. 
Smith was anxious to give proof that he would both obey 
superior authority and that he was not, as alleged, 
frightened of the Indians whom he was accused by 
Newport of having treated with cruelty. So taking 
only four companions (whereas Newport dared not go 
with less than a hundred and twenty). Smith went a 
dozen miles overland to Werowocomoco, crossed the 
Pamunk (or York) River in an Indian canoe, and was 
entertained first by Pocahontas until Powhatan returned 
from up country. Smith informed the latter that 



PROBLEMS OF PIONEERING 185 

presents had arrived from England and requested the 
Indian chief to visit “ Father ” Newport ; but with 
great dignity and independence Powhatan preferred that 
the presents should come to him. “ I also am a King, 
and this is my land : eight days I will stay to receive 
them. Your father is to come to me, not I to him.” 
All this was a dreadful waste of precious time, but Smith 
went back to Jamestown, the presents were sent most 
of a hundred miles by water, whilst Smith, Newport 
and others went by land to Werowocomoco. 

On the next day followed that comic coronation, when 
the presents were made. “ But a fowle trouble there 
was to make him kneele to receaue his crowne. ... At 
last, by leaning hard on his shoulders, he a little stooped, 
and Newport put the Crowne on his head.” And ^er 
obtaining only fourteen bushels of corn, the Englishmen 
returned to Jamestown. This fatuous ceremony, and 
the accompanying gift of scarlet cloak and bedroom 
furniture, had been carried out in accordance with the 
London directors’ absurd conception ; and it was to 
have no lasting benefit to the colony, as Smith well 
realized. How could those people in England, who 
had never seen American Indians, possibly understand 
the subtle mentality of the savage in the way that the 
new President of the colony comprehended him 

Arrived back at Jamestown, Newport’s ship was 
unloaded and, whilst Smith remained at the fort with 
eighty men to reload her with commodities for England, 
Newport, taking a hundred and twenty people, set out 
up the James River in that quest for gold and the Southern 
Sea. After reaching the falls they marched forty miles, 
discovered a couple of Indian villages, searched many 
places for mines and even dug into the earth. William 
Callicut, a refiner with the party, tried to persuade his 
companions that he had extracted a small quantity of 
silver, but Newport’s expedition had failed. It came 



i86 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

back to Jamestown disillusioned, the men in bad health, 
tired, starving and discontented. 

Smith then got them busy with the other jobs. Some 
were employed in the manufacture of glass, tar and pitch ; 
others he took five miles down the river to hew trees, and 
in this work he employed Gabriel Beadle and John 
Russell, two gallants who had just come out with 
Newport’s last supply, “ and both proper Gentlemen. 
Strange were these pleasures to their conditions ; yet 
lodging, eating, and drinking, working or playing, they 
but doing as the President did himselfe. All these 
things were carried so pleasantly as within a weeke they 
became Masters : making it their delight to heare the 
trees thunder as they fell ; but the axes so oft blistered 
their tender fingers, that many times every third blow 
had a loud othe ^ to drowne the eccho ; for remedie of 
which sinne, the President devised how to haue every 
mans othes numbred, and at night for every othe to haue 
a Cann of water powred down his sleeue, with which every 
offender was so washed (himselfe and all) that a man 
should scarce heare an othe ^ in a weeke.” 

Such was Smith’s stern discipline, but he proved that 
thirty gentlemen volunteers did better work in one day 
than a hundred compulsory labourers. Then, on his 
return to Jamestown, Smith found that time was here 
being wasted, no com being fetched and Newport’s ship 
lying idle. He therefore went himself with a couple of 
barges up river to the Chickahominy country and in 
spite of native reluctance obtained what was required ; 
yet, instead of the Jamestown community being grate- 
ful for having been saved from famine, some became 
jealous of his ability. Newport and Ratcliffe even 
contemplated that he should be deposed from the 
presidency. 

Another difficulty to worry him was the control of 

1 Oath. 



PROBLEMS OF PIONEERING 187 

those sailors in Newport’s ship who would purloin the 
colony’s axes, chisels, hoes, pickaxes, powder, shot to 
sell ; or they would barter butter, cheese, beef, pork, 
aqua-vitas, beer, biscuit and oatmeal with the natives 
for furs, baskets and so forth, which would be taken 
to England and sold privately. But the seamen of this 
time were a rough, unruly lot, and it is necessary only to 
quote from two of Smith’s contemporaries. Thus Sir 
Thomas Overbury (1581-1613) wrote of the sailor : 

“ He sees God’s wonders in the deep, but so as rather 
they appear his playfellows than stirrers of his zeal. 
Nothing but hunger and hard rocks can convert him, 
and then but his upper deck neither ; for his hold neither 
fears nor hopes. . . . His keel is the emblem of his 
conscience. Till it be split he never repents ; and then 
no farther than the land allows him.” So, also, that 
other Lincolnshire captain, Sir William Monson (1568- 
1643) in his celebrated Naval Tracts remarked : “ The 
seamen are stubborn or perverse when they perceive their 
commander is ignorant of the discipline of the sea, and 
cannot speak to them in their own language.” In 
Jamestown it was particularly annoying that, whilst food 
for the planters was scarce and difficult to obtain, the 
sailors aboard the supply ship had always their meat, 
drink and wages and this illicit but profitable trade. 
Smith put a stop to the latter, and presently sent 
Scrivener to fetch more corn and red roots firom 
W erowocomoco. 

Then, having loaded the ship with pitch, tar, glass, 
frankincense, boards and wainscot, he despatched New- 
port back to England. This was about November, 
1608, and she evidently reached home during the follow- 
ing January ; for John Chamberlain writing to Dudley 
Carleton on January 23 says ; “ Here is likewise a ship 
newly come from Virginia with some petty commodities 
and hope of more, as divers sorts of woode for wainscot 



i88 


CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

and other vses, sope ashes, some pitch and tarre, certain 
unknowne kindes of herbes for dieng, not without sus- 
picion (as they terme yt) of Cuchenilia.” 

But in that ship did Smith send also three important 
documents, consisting of a letter, a “ Mappe of the Bay 
and Rivers ” which was the result of his boat-voyages 
in and out of the Chesapeake, and a duplicate of this 
map. These are of such interest that we must examine 
them in some detail, and to the third of them belongs an 
historical value that has been inadequately appreciated. 








CHAPTER XV 


THE CORN SUPPLY 

HE epistle written by Smith to the 
Treasurer and Council of Virginia in 
London was a plain, honest statement of 
a loyal officer who felt that the colony 
was being treated not quite fairly, and 
its administration unjustly criticized. 

“ I received your letter,” he began, 
“ wherein you write, that our minds are 
so set upon faction, and idle conceits in diuiding the 
Country without your consents, and that we feed you 
but with ifs and ands, hopes, and some few proofes ; as 
if we would keepe the mystery of the businesse to our 
selues : and that we must expresly follow your instruc- 
tions sent by Captaine Newport : the charge of whose 
voyage amounts to neare two thousand pounds, the 
which if we cannot defray by the Ships returne, we are 
like to remain as banished men. To these particulars 
I humbly intreat your Pardons if I offend you with my 
rude Answer.” 

The factions, he proceeded, it was impossible to 
prevent. He referred lightly to the hazards that he’ had 
run, pointed out that, though he was directly opposed 
to the instructions sent through Newport yet he had 
them carried out and the Council now saw that they were 
a mistake. Of the ,^2000 spent on this last voyage, the 
colony had not received the value of ;fioo. The under- 
taking “ to find in the South Sea, a Mine of gold, or any 
of them sent by Sir Walter Raleigh : at our Consulta- 





tgo CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

tion I told them was as likely as the rest.” The corona- 
tion of Powhatan and the presents he criticized severely. 
“ Giue me leaue to tell you I feare they will be the con- 
fusion of vs all ere we heare jfrom you againe.” 

As to the provisions sent out to Jamestown they were 
not worth ;^ 20 , and yet there were 200 people to be fed. 
“For the Saylers (I confesse) they daily make good 
cheare, but our dyet is a little meale and water, and not 
sufficient of that.” In order that the Council in London 
should know that Smith had made as much discovery as 
Newport, he sent this “ Mappe ” with an account of the 
country and peoples. He also sent some specimens of 
what he took to be iron ore. The rest of the letter dealt 
chiefly with the matter of personnel. He complained 
that Newport was paid ,^100 a year for carrying news, 
whereas “ every master you haue yet sent can find the 
way as well as he. Captain Ratcliffe, whose real name 
SicHemore was that by which he was now always known. 
Smith sent home in this ship, lest the company should 
cut his throat. 

Blundy Smith informed the directors that when they 
sent another “ supply ” he would rather have thirty 
carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners, fishermen, black- 
smiths, masons and men to dig up trees, than a thousand 
fellows, of the kind that had so far arrived. The im- 
necessary^ cost^ of wages to sailors through Newport’s 
so long lingering at Jamestown, the fact of having to 
give him corn out of their small supply for his return 
voyage, and the inadequate amounts which the ship had 
brought to Jamestown, were points which the writer 
carefully stressed. “ I humbly in treat you hereafter, 
let us know what we should receiue, and not stand to the 
Saylers courtesie to leaue vs what they please ^ els you 
may charge vs with what you will, but we not you with 
any thing.” And, finally, he summed up : “ These 
are the causes that haue kept vs in Virginia, from laying 



THE CORN SUPPLY 


191 

such a foundation, that ere this might haue given much 
better content and satisfaction ; but as yet you must 
not looke for any profitable returnes.” 

Smith’s map of Virginia, with nothing to go upon 
except that which he obtained through his own eyes 
and what he heard from the Indians, is alone evidence 
of the new president’s industry ; and he was careful 
to discriminate between the geographical information 
obtained at first hand and that which was only “ by 
relation ” ; a cross signifying the dividing line. It was 
an exceedingly praiseworthy effort to have done all that 
travelling, and systematized the intelligence thus obtained, 
for the benefit of those at home and all who should come 
out in later ships. Within the entrance between Capes 
Henry and Charles “ is a Country (as you may perceiue 
by the description. in a Booke and Map printed in my 
name of that little I there discouered) [that] may well 
suffice 300000 people to inhabit,” he wrote modestly 
eight years later, when he was explaining that “ Virginia 
is no He (as many doe imagine) but part of the Continent 
adioyning to Florida.” 

But most intriguing is it to note that in Newport’s 
ship he sent a duplicate of this map to Henry Hudson, 
and that shortly after receiving it Hudson went to 
Holland, whence he set forth on March 25, 1609, on 
that voyage during which he was in the little “ Half 
Moon ” to explore what we now call the Hudson River, 
as far as Albany. Hudson was trying to find that 
mythical waterway across the American continent to the 
Southern Sea, and it was entirely owing to John Smith 
that this idea had been suggested through the informa- 
tion despatched by Virginia’s president. Of Hudson 
John Smith had the highest regard, and in A description 
of New England referred to him as an English mariner 
who “ did make the greatest discouerie of any Christian 
I know of.” Thus there is an intimate connection 



192 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

between the northern and southern states of modern 
North America in respect of two very great English 
adventurers. 

But, with the approach of winter. Smith’s duties were 
such as required anxious attention and most careful 
performance. Still hampered by that ever present need, 
Jamestown would have fared disastrously had not her 
president proved himself both father and mother to these 
men of childlike helplessness. The primary need was 
to ensure adequate corn supplies for the coming bitter 
months, but this food was obtainable through the willing- 
ness of the Indians only ; for that which was grown at 
Jamestown was of really small account. The problem 
that must sooner or later arise was this. The Indians 
would realize that the pale-faced English people could 
be starved out and driven from the count^ merely by 
the former declining to sell : thus the natives were in 
a very strong strategic position. It was accordingly 
Smith’s delicate task to apply just that amount of com- 
pulsion which would cause the particular tribes to regard 
these settlers with awe and obedience ; yet at the sairift 
time this force should not be so excessive as to rouse up 
fanatical indignation and determined opposition. 

Only a personality such as Smitli’s, only one who was 
a true master of himself and the great business entrusted 
to him, could have handled these recurrent crises in such 
a manner as not to upset the balance. A weak and 
impulsive man might have ruined the whole of the colony’s 
existence in one of these foraging expeditions ; a 
blustering bully would have so terrorized Jamestown’s 
neighbours that they would either flee from the neigh- 
bourhood and their cornfields or they might consider 
some sort of mutual alliance against the White Men. In 
either case it would have been for the colony a most 
serious matter. But it was because her present President 
knew by personal contact exactly how much aggression 



THE CORN SUPPLY 


193 


the Indian would tolerate, knew when to be fierce and 
when to be friendly, that ^ose ill-deserving countrymen 
from England were kept alive. Famine is a terrible 
phantom, and it was always there to worry him in his 
waking and sleeping hours. Jamestown was like a city 
besieged by the enemy starvation, whose army occa- 
sionally withdrew a short distance but never fully de- 
parted. The mismanaged supplies from England were 
of so little practical value that these planters existed 
only by the will of that encircling army. If the time 
should come when the Indians realized their power ; if 
they should mass against this imposed pressure from the 
pale-faces ; if the presents of beads and toys and bits of 
copper should begin to lose attraction — ^then the English- 
men were finished and could only perish as those earlier 
settlers had in Old Virginia. Smith knew, as the 
London directors so conspicuously failed to appreciate, 
that the subtle, treacherous, savage Redskin respected 
only fear and superior strength : to treat him as an 
equal, to trust him as an honest being was merely to 
court trouble. 

Kindness is a gesture to be used only towards those 
who are capable of understanding goodwill : it is utterly 
misplaced when extended to primitives not yet removed 
from barbarism, who regard it merely as confessed weak- 
ness. -Smith, finding that those people in the Nandsa- 
mund region not only went back on their promise to 
provide corn but even declined to trade at all, forthwith 
showed that he would not be trifled with ; and the 
display of force was to be the language of persuasion. 
He therefore ordered the English soldiers of a food- 
finding party visiting that region to discharge their 
muskets ; whereupon the natives fled without firing an 
arrow. He next had the first house of the village set on 
fire, but when the Nands^unds saw this they implored 
him to desist, saying they would provide half or what 



194 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

they possessed of corn. This was all that the President 
required of them, and somehow the corn was instantly 
brought forward and the three English boats filled. 

In like manner he was able to obtain some supplies 
from other parts, and it was by means of one expedition 
up the James River that on turning to port along the 
Apamatuck tributary he discovered the people of that 
name. But the unfortunate position for Smith was 
that his was largely a one-man enterprise and no one else 
could be trusted to carry out a job with definite efficiency. 
Thus, whatever the difficulties and opposition. Smith 
would never fail and return to Jamestown empty ; but, 
even when he sent such men as Scrivener and Percy, 
they would come back with nothing to show but failure. 
And unfortunately the former, whom once it had been 
possible to regard as a friend, now could not be con- 
sidered as free from that wretched underhand plotting. 

The difficulty was that Powhatan’s great power was 
being used to make the petty chiefs in various districts 
reluctant to trade their corn, and Smith determined that 
there could be nothing for it but to surprise the big chief 
and commandeer his food stores. To this end the 
President worked out a plan with Captain Waldo ; but 
Winne and Scrivener did their best to hinder the pro- 
ject, and eventually even Waldo failed. Scrivener had 
received from England letters inciting him to make 
himself supreme in the colony, and had been fool enough 
to be influenced by this suggestion ; but how he was 
to be punished for this deceit we shall presently see. In 
the meanwhile no persuasion could turn Smith aside 
from a very necessary duty, whilst Scrivener was quietly 
preparing to carry out the meanest of schemes. 

Powhatan sent word that if the President would lend 
men to build the chief a house, give him a present of a 
grindstone, a cock and hen as well as other presents, 
then Smith should have a cargo of corn. The latter 



THE CORN SUPPLY 


195 

quite realized that there was something of a snare in 
this request, yet felt he could not afford to refuse, so 
despatched about a dozen English and Dutch twelve 
miles overland to Werowocomoco in order to build 
Powhatan’s house, whilst the President with his party 
would proceed by water. The food problem had become 
acute once more, but enough victuals for three or four 
days were put in the “ Discovery’s ” barge, one other 
barge, and the pinnace. Waldo, Winne and Scrivener 
were left behind and only volunteers to the number of 
about forty were chosen. And even some of those 
selected managed to find excuses to remain at the 
plantation. 

It was four days after Christmas when this further 
little voyage started off. So often had their leader 
sailed in and about the Chesapeake Bay, with nothing to 
eat and drink save a little meal and water or some fish, 
and here he was again with scarcely a mariner “ that had 
skill to trim their sayles, use their oares, or any businesse 
belonging to the barge ” of which he himself took 
command. In the pinnace William Phettiplace was 
Captain and James Profit was Master ; the rest con- 
sisted mostly of gentlemen or soldiers ignorant of such 
seamanlike work ; and yet, as before, Captain Smith by 
much patience and effort was soon to teach them. 
Dropping down the James River the two craft anchored 
the first night at Warraskoyack on the southern bank, 
where he obtained some provisions from the local chief 
who tried to dissuade him from proceeding on his trip, 
warning him that on no account should Powhatan be 
trusted. Smith took this opportunity of the friendly 
chief to obtain from him two guides who knew the 
Chawonock country, whither you will remember Sir 
Ralph Lane had penetrated in the expedition of 1585-6. 
In accordance with the Virginia Company’s wishes, and 
in the very doubtful hope that some of the lost company 



196 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

brought out by John White in 1587 might still survive, 
and with the further object of finding some “ silke grasse,” 
Smith now despatched Michael Sicklemore (not to be 
confused, of course, with that other Sicklemore who 
had been returned to England), a very valiant and reliable 
soldier. It will clear the story if we say at once that 
when eventually Sicklemore came back from this quest 
in Old Virginia he reported that he “ found little hope 
and lesse certaintie of them [that] were left by Sir Walter 
Raleigh.” The Chawonock ^ river that he saw “ was not 
great,” the country mostly overgrown with pines, but 
here and there flourished some “ silke grasse.” It is 
not without interest, by the way, to mention that in the 
map which Smith gives of “ Ould Virginia ” he marks 
this territory between the James River and the Chawonock 
as “ Alice Smith,” which was the name of his mother 
and his sister. 

It was characteristic of him to make the best of a good 
chance ; and, since by his manner he had won the 
Warraskoyack chieFs goodwill, the President left here 
his page, Samuel Collier, in order to learn the native 
language. On the next day the two craft continued 
down the river and brought up off their favourite 
anchorage, Kecoughtan, where they were held up for a 
week by gales of wind, rain, firost and snow ; but they 
managed to celebrate one aspect of Christmas with 
plenty of oysters, fish, flesh, wild fowl and good bread 
ashore. They were so pleased that they considered they 
had “ never had better fires in England, then in the dry 
smoaky houses of Kecoughtan.” 

From there they sailed round northward and so into 
the Pamunk, or York River, up which they proceeded 

^ Nowadays called the Chowan, which flows into Albemarle Sound. 
Evidently Sicklemore did not follow this down to its mouth, or he would 
certainly have called it “ great,” But he was doubtless concerned only 
with the upper reaches. 



THE CORN SUPPLY 


19? 

till they reached Kiskiack on the southern bank, where 
they remained several days owing to the head-winds and 
frost. The natives were found to be truculent, but 
Smith suppressed them, lodged in their houses, obtained 
the necessary provisions, and on the 12th of January 
reached Werowocomoco. Here the river was frozen 
near the shore, so he had the ice broken and brought his 
barge right in till the ebb left her resting on slimy mud, 
“ yet rather then to lye there frozen to death, by his 
owne example he taught them to march neere middle 
deepe, a flight shot through this muddy frozen oase.” 
When the barge floated, he sent two or three men back 
to bring her alongside the pinnace, whose company had 
run out of drinking-water so had to content themselves 
with melting ice. This winter trip from Jamestown 
through bleak and cruel weather tried them all, and one 
of them now overcome with cold and toil nearly 
succumbed. 

On the next day Smith had his interview with the 
Great Powhatan, who at first pretended he had never 
sent for the White Men and adopted an irritating atti- 
tude. The artful savage, realizing the corn’s value, 
had now begun to raise the price ; copper was of little 
use to him, so he demanded guns and swords instead. 
Smith met this behaviour by a brief, forceful and business- 
like speech. “Powhatan, , . . beleeving your promises 
to supply my wants . . . and to testifie my loue, I sent 
you my men for your building. ... What your people 
had, you haue engrossed, forbidding them our trade : 
and now you thinke by consuming the time, we shall 
consume for want. ... As for swords and gunnes, I 
told you long agoe I had none to spare ... yet steale 
or wrong you I will not, nor dissolue that friendship we 
haue mutually promised, except you constraine me by 
our bad vsage.” 

Powhatan consented that within a couple of days he 



198 CAfTAlN JOHN SMITH 

would spare what corn he could, but endeavoured to 
cause Smith to leave aboard all arms. They are need- 
less here ! Are we not all friends ? In the meantime 
Smith was not mistaken, or likely to put his head into a 
most obvious trap. The building of Powhatan’s house 
went on, but these Dutch workmen, being mere imported 
foreign hirelings, began to look out for themselves. 
Impressed with the want at Jamestown and the abun- 
dance at Werowocomoco, and perceiving that Powhatan 
was making preparations to surprise the English, the 
hirelings preferred to place themselves on the side which 
was likely to win and quietly revealed to Powhatan 
Smith’s intentions. Most unfortunately Smith had 
selected one of these Dutchmen for his own spy to find 
out what Powhatan was planning ; nor was it until 
some months afterwards that the President learned his 
mistake. 

In the preliminary encounter between Powhatan and 
Smith each was concealing his own mind under an out- 
ward show of courtesy. Thus, when the former fancied 
a certain copper kettle it was traded for a small portion 
of corn with which to carry on till the rest of the supply 
should arrive. Powhatan even made the effort to speak 
on the blessings of peace as superior to war, adding a 
promise that every year he would always be willing to 
trade with the settlers for corn provided the visitors 
came not with guns and swords as if to invade. But 
Smith, in effect, replied that was all very well. “ As for 
your promise I find it every day violated by some of your 
subjects,” seeing that the subordinate chiefs were doing 
their best to refuse commercial intercourse, but “ we shall 
not so vnadvisedly starue as you conclude, your friendly 
care in that behalfe is needlesse ” ; for the White Men 
had a means of finding what they wanted not included in 
Powhatan’s knowledge. 

Presently the buying and selling began, but the Great 



the corn supply 


19$ 

Chief was annoyed still to observe Smith’s guard had 
not been dismissed nor disarmed, so he tried to use per- 
suasion. “ Captain Newport,” argued the Indian, “ gave 
me swords or whatever I wanted ; and he used to send 
away his guns when I entreated him. If you intend to 
be friendly, you also must send away your weapons that 
I may believe you.” Smith, with his vast knowledge of 
tricky enemies, European, Turkish and Indian, was not 
fooled by this device : rather he perceived that Powhatan 
was merely creating an opportunity for massacre. 
Therefore, after obtaining some natives to break the ice 
so that the barge could fetch himself as well as the corn, 
he gave orders for more men to come ashore. This 
was with a view of protection, and even surprising the 
Chief at the right time ; but to assuage suspicion and to 
create necessary delay, Smith also made a bluffing speech. 
“ To-morrow — ^yes. I will leave my arms and trust 
entirely to your promise of goodwill.” 

But Powhatan, having presently ascertained that the 
Indians were ready to cut the Englishman’s throat, took 
the opportunity, whilst the ice was being broken, to hurry 
away into the country with his wives and children. Those 
allotted the task of slaying the President now surrounded 
the house and would have fallen upon Smith and quickly 
sent him to his doom ; but the warrior who had destroyed 
chosen Turks in single duel, and had survived many a 
peril in battle by land and sea, grasped the position of 
affairs just as it seemed too late. He was besieged now, 
with only that young gallant, John Russell, by his side ; 
and as it was two men against a crowd — ^for the danger 
had developed rapidly — there was no time for anything 
but immediate and violent action. So, in the best 
Smith manner, with his pistol and sword he blazed and 
hacked his way through those naked savages with the 
result that the first line of enemy went tumbling over 
each other, and the rest took refuge in flight. Thus, 



200 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

totally unhurt, Smith extricated himself and his com- 
panion, and reached his body of eighteen men who had 
now come ashore from the craft in the river. The 
Indian’s cowp de main had failed utterly, and its ill success 
had finally revealed Powhatan as no friend but a 
treacherous person whose word was to be mistrusted. 

Powhatan was never again seen by Smith to the end 
of his days, but the former sought to cover up his flight 
and his people’s assault by all sorts of excuses, and even 
sent the President a bracelet and chain of pearls as 
presents. Smith, however, had come not to be em- 
broiled in trouble but to preserve Jamestown from 
winter’s starvation, so he concentrated straight away 
on the corn. This was carried down to the boats by the 
English, and by the Indians who needed no ftirther 
orders on seeing the muskets ready to speak with far 
mightier eloquence than any strange words. By this 
time the tide had ebbed, and high water would not be 
until midnight ; so, leaving the craft on the mud. Smith 
and his companions spent the time ashore, during which 
the Indians returned to Powhatan. 

In the darkness of that night came that faithful girl, 
Pocahontas, bravely through the woods and informed 
Captain Smith that her father, Powhatan, was still plan- 
ning to kill the English expedition, and therefore advised 
them to be gone. Smith, touched by this fidelity and 
imselfish risk, desired to offer her gifts ; but with tears 
running down her cheeks she replied that she dared not 
be seen with any, for Powhatan would put her to death. 
Within an hour of her departure came a handful of 
Indians carrying great platters of venison and other 
victuals. Smith, of course, suspected poison, made 
the messengers taste every dish and then sent these 
“ lusty fellowes ” back to Powhatan : this further 
scheme had failed. And yet it was part of Smith’s 
cleverness that, on setting out at midnight, he left, as 



THE CORN SUPPLY 


201 


the Great Chief had requested, Edward Brinton (one 
of the soldiers) to teach Powhatan how to kill fowl, and 
the Dutchmen for the purpose of completing the house. 
For this was only to be for a time, since Smith was pro- 
ceeding up river, and the men coxild if necessary be taken 
off on the down trip. It was evidently part of Smith’s 
belief that to break with Powhatan utterly would mean 
that no more corn would be forthcoming ; whereas this 
frustration of the Great ChiePs treachery would cause the 
Red Men to think more highly of the power and ability 
of the White-faces. Smith even instructed Brinton and 
fellow-workers to give Powhatan “ all the content they 
could, that we might injoy his company at our return 
from Pamaunke.” The procedure seems to us a little 
lacking in logic, yet Smith knew the native character 
and above all was anxious only to get that precious corn 
with the least possible friction and the fewest casualties. 
But the energetic and usually far-sighted leader had 
failed to realize that Powhatan and the Dutchmen were 
already plotting together. 

No sooner had the expedition got under way, pro- 
ceeding up the Pamunk River, than Powhatan came 
back to Werow’ocomoco and sent off to Jamestown two 
Dutchmen known respectively as Adam and Francis. 
These travelling overland pretended to Captain Winne 
that all was well with Smith’s expedition but the latter 
had required their arms : therefore they had come for 
some more, together with additional tools and clothes. 
All these were obtained, as the story seemed plausible. 
They managed also to obtain from others in the colony 
such articles as swords, shot, powder and muskets. 
Brinton (the fowling expert) and another Englishman at 
Werowocomoco realizing that the Dutch were arming 
the savages, tried to rush off to Jamestown with the 
news, but were caught. 

Smith and his party knew none of this ; but, having 



262 ■ CAfTAlN JOHN SMITH 

ascended the Pamunk River about twenty-five miles to 
the position where now stands West Point, he with 
fourteen others went up to the house of that chief, 
Opechancanough, whose prisoner Smith had become on 
that memorable day when the quagmire showed itself 
so tenacious. Opechancanough (doubtless owing to the 
influence of his brother Powhatan) now showed himself 
more inclined to fight than to trade, but by means of a 
carefully worded speech the anxious President managed 
to win once more his friendship : at least so it appeared. 
“ Lastyearyou kindly freighted my ship,” Smith reminded 
him, “ but now you have invited me to starve with 
hunger. You know my want, and I your plenty, of 
which by some means I must have part. Remember it 
is for kings to keep their promise. Here are my com- 
modities, of which take your choice.” 

The chief sold them some corn forthwith, and pro- 
mised more for the morrow ; but a new situation was 
just about ripe. Leaving the barge and pinnace next 
day under the care of Phettiplace, the same party as 
before marched up to the chief’s house, who “with a 
strained cheerfulnesse ” began to -explain how difficult 
it had been to keep his promise. At this moment came 
running in that gallant John Russell with the news that 
they were trapped : the place was surrounded by seven 
hmidred well-armed Indians. 

This sensational intelligence dismayed some of the 
party, but with cool courage their President steadied 
them by his speech which blended the need for bravery 
with the desirability of wisdom. “ If wee should each 
kill our man, and so proceed with all in the house, the 
rest will all fly : then,” he emphasized, “ shall wee get 
no more than the bodies that are slaine, and so starue for 
victuall.” At the same time, he exhorted, “ let vs fight 
like men, and not die like sheepe : for by that meanes 
you know that God hath oft deliuered mee, and so I trust 



the corn supply 203 

will now. But first, I will deale with them, to bring it 
to passe wee may fight for something, and draw them to 
it by conditions.” 

All agreed to do whatsoever their Captain attempted, 
or die, and then Smith addressed Opechancanough 
very sternly. “ I see your plot to murder me, but I 
fear it not. Take therefore your arms, you see mine : 
my body shall be as naked as yours. That island in your 
river is a good place for a contest : let ’s fight it out, and 
whoever wins shall be lord and master over all our men. 
We are but a handful against yours, but if you need more 
take time and fetch them, and let every one bring a basket 
of corn and I will stake the value thereof in copper. 
Come on, let us fight it out, and the victor take every- 
thing.” This suggestion was met as usual with an 
attempt to ease his suspicion, but there was a further 
effort to entice him out of doors to accept a present, in 
order that he should fall into an ambush of armed men. 
Smith was suspicious, commanded one of his own 
soldiers to go and see what the trap was and accept the 
present ; but the soldier was too afraid. All the rest 
of the party, being angered against a coward, begged 
leave to carry out the order ; but Smith first had the 
house and door secured and then, mad with rage, seizing 
the chief by his long coil of hair, pushed the muzzle of 
a good English pistol against the chiefs bare breast. 

This sharp, swift determination surprised the Indian 
who trembled for fear, with the result that he yielded 
up his bow and arrows ; his men were so astounded that 
any one dared so use their ruler that they, too, threw down 
their arms. Appreciating the importance of striking 
hard whilst the opportunity lasted. Smith tried to knock 
into their minds a severe lesson : and, still holding their 
chief by the hair, he spoke his mind to these treacherous 
Redskins plainly. “ My having suffered so long your 
injuries has emboldened you. I have suffered your 



204 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

insults because I promised before God to be your friend 
till you should give me just cause to become your enemy. 
If I keep this vow, God will keep me and you cannot 
hurt me : if I break it, he will destroy me. But if you 
shoot one arrow to shed one drop of blood of any of my 
men, or steal the least of these beads or copper, you shall 
see I shall not cease revenge.” 

Briefly this was his scathing denunciation, and then 
he reminded them that he was no longer “ at Rassaweak 
halfe drowned with myre, where you tooke me prisoner. 
. . . But if I be the marke you ayme at, here I stand, 
shoot he that dare. You promised to fraught my ship 
ere I departed, and so you shall ; or I meane to load her 
with your dead carcasses ; yet if as friends you will 
come and trade, I once more promise not to trouble you, 
except you give me the first occasion ; and your king 
shall be free and be my friend, for I am not come to hurt 
him or any of you.” This straightforward speech, 
coupled with Smith's bold energy not merely saved the 
lives of his companions, but the native men, women 
and children brought along their commodities to trade 
and for the next few hours so thronged about him and 
wearied him that at last he retired to rest. It was then 
that these foolish creatures, living like the mere oppor- 
tunists they were, with no more thought for the future 
than any animal, imagined they could profit by the 
present. Perceiving him asleep and the guard not 
close up, some fifty armed Indians followed by a crowd 
four times that number began to enter the house where 
he lay ; but the noise and vibration caused him to wake 
in time to escape death yet again. “ Halfe amazed with 
this suddaine sight,” he rushed for his sword, and with 
the assistance of his own guard drove the enemy away. 
The net result of this visit to Opechancanough, then, 
was that in spite of Powhatan’s influence and every 
obstacle, corn in large quantities had been obtained for 



THE CORN SUPPLY 


205 


Jamestown. But nothing save the zest and resolute 
perseverance, the tenacity of purpose and singleness of 
aim which Smith exercised so handsomely, could ever 
have overcome so many soul- depressing disappoint- 
ments. 

Nor were they by any means ended. 





CHAPTER XVI 


DANGERS AND ADVERSITIES 

if all these hazards and anxieties were 
not quite enough for Smith’s endur- 
ance, Scrivener, who once was the 
President’s trusted friend, had with 
singular baseness and with a treachery 
that deserved the heaviest condemna- 
tion actually employed the time during 
his friend’s absence in working for 
Powhatan’s interest. Scrivener’s plan was to thwart any 
strategy against the Great Chief and forestall Smith’s 
efforts. 

Therefore, some time after Smith’s departure from 
Jamestown, Scrivener with Captain Waldo, Anthony 
Gosnold (another excellent man corrupted by this dis- 
satisfaction and disloyalty) as well as eight others set off 
by water. But the bitter winter gale caused the heavily- 
laden craft to sink, where and exactly how was never 
known, but all this party were drowned and the first 
to find the bodies were the Indians. When the news of 
this disaster reached Jamestown and it became essential 
that the President should be informed, every one refused 
to undertake the journey until Richard Wiffing finally 
travelled alone. On reaching Werowocomoco, and 
finding the President not there but observing Powhatan’s 
preparations for hostilities, he realized that trouble was 
brewing. Wiffing had come out from England with 
the “ First Supply ” in 1608, and was one of those who 

could be called distinctly friendly to Smith, 

206 




DANGERS AND ADVERSITIES 207 

Wiffing was in danger of his life at Werowocomoco, 
but the ever faithful Pocahontas hid him for a time, sent his 
pursuers off in the wrong direction, and by her immense 
trouble brought it about that he was able after three days 
to reach Smith on the day the latter had been compelled 
to seize Opechancanough. The news which Wiffing 
brought was indeed serious, and it could have only a 
bad effect if generally made known just then. Smith 
received it with sorrow, but made Wiffing swear not to 
inform the others of the tragedy. Scrivener and those 
other fools had paid the price of deceit with their lives, 
and no good object could be achieved by relating this 
incident just yet. 

It was now about the 22nd of January, Smith, in 
accordance with his promise, released Opechancanough 
and went aboard his barge. But Powhatan had made 
very determined arrangements to have Smith killed, and 
promised the Indian subjects that, unless by some means 
they succeeded in effecting this, they themselves should 
be put to death. This they were not willing to perform, 
well knowing the Englishman’s prowess ; but they had 
to obey superior orders. The trap was laid the next 
morning by a concentrated effort ; for no sooner was the 
sun risen than the fields were seen covered with people 
and corn baskets so as to tempt Smith and companions 
on land. The President was in a quandary : he needed 
the corn for his colony, and yet they would yield not a 
bushel unless he himself came ashore. He, on the other 
hand, appreciated that here was a trap baited to betray 
him. 

What to do, then ? He remained until some of the 
Indians got tired of waiting and they departed. He then 
went ashore with Percy, West and Russell all armed, as 
well as some others unarmed who were to receive the 
corn. The treacherous Opechancanough sent two or 
three hundred men massed in the shape of two half- 



2o8 captain JOHN SMITH 

moons with a score of other men and many women 
carrying baskets. No sooner had the latter approached 
than they fled, thus leaving Smith’s shore party sur- 
rounded : it seemed a dead certainty that Opechan- 
canough could now carry out Powhatan’s order with 
ease. But the resourceful Smith had provided against 
this move by creating an ambush, who now suddenly 
revealed themselves, thus causing the enemy to flee for 
their lives whilst Smith and companions went back to 
their craft. 

That night Smith sent one of the barges with two of 
the gentlemen to Jamestown. On the way between 
Werowocomoco and the colony — evidently after they had 
come ashore farther down and whilst proceeding over- 
land — ^they encountered five of those disgruntled Dutch- 
men on their jotirney to join Powhatan ; but these 
foreigners, to save their faces, now returned to James- 
town also. The shrewd savages, however, hearing that 
barge starting off down the Pamunk River, became 
frightened. The White Men were surely sending for 
reinforcements ! Presently they would arrive and 
destroy everything as Smith had threatened ! This 
caused such excitement that Opechancanough sent the 
President a chain of pearls with the hope of altering his 
purpose and even consented to supply the required corn. 
Thus it was that less than a week later the whole country 
for ten or twelve miles around sent in a large supply on 
the naked backs of the Indians tramping through frost 
and snow down to Smith’s craft waiting in the river. 

It was really extremely diflicult for any one less ex- 
perienced than Smith to comprehend the ways of these 
savages with all their changeability, their varying kind- 
ness and artful enmity. How could the directors in 
London, or the most recently arrived planters, possibly 
penetrate into the workings of such minds ? There- 
fore it was because of his wonderful patience, self-control 



DANGERS AND ADVERSITIES 209 

and extraordinary study of these primitive people that 
Smith was able by using force at the right moment, 
and his brains always, to get what he wanted in the end. 
“ Men may thinke it strange,” remarked Richard 
Wiffing, William Phettiplace, Jeffrey Abbot and Anas 
Todkill in their account which Simmon ds edited, 
“ there should be such a stirre for a little come, but had 
it beene gold with more ease wee might haue got it ; and 
had it wanted, the whole Colony had starued. Wee 
may be thought very patient to endure all those iniuries, 
yet onely with fearing them wee got what they had. 
Whereas if we had taken revenge ; then by their losse, 
we should haue lost our selues.” 

Amidst all this intercourse with natives who one day 
were warm friends and the next bitter enemies, it was 
inevitable that risks should be run lest offence might be 
taken and future trade prohibited. Thus the affair of 
this visit was not concluded before Smith and some of 
the other Englishmen became poisoned. Fortunately 
this made them vomit and so their lives were saved. 
The President rewarded the poison culprit by giving him 
a good thrashing, after which the villagers were only 
too glad to load the barge and be rid of the W^hite Men, 
who now dropped away down to Werowocomoco. Smith 
had, in temporizing with Opechancanough and then 
parting quite friendly, the intention of giving that 
dangerous fellow, Powhatan, a severe lesson by falling 
upon him and his supplies. Powhatan must not become 
suspicious and take to flight. 

Having now arrived before Werowocomoco, Smith 
sent Wiffing and another ashore to reconnoitre. “ But ” 
(quoting the above account by Wiffing and the other 
three mentioned), “ they found that those damned 
Dutch-men had caused Powhatan to abandon his new 
house and Werowocomoco, and to carry away all his 
come and provision : and the people they found so ill 



410 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

affected, that they were in great doubt how to escape 
with their lives. So the President finding his intent 
frustrated, and that there was nothing now to be had, 
and therefore an vnfit time to revenge their abuses, sent 
Master Michael Phittiplace by Land to lames towne, 
whether we sayled with all the speed we could ; wee 
having in this Journey (for 25 l[bs]. of Copper, and 
50 l[bs]. of Iron and Beads) enough to keepe 46 men 
six weekes, and every man for his reward a moneths 
provision extraordinary (no Trade being allowed but for 
the store). We got neare 200 l[b]. waight of deere 
suet, and delivered to the Cape Merchant 479 Bushels 
of Come.” 

This expedition, carried out as it had been in spite of 
every danger and discouragement, was back at James- 
town about February 8, 1609. Here Smith found 
immediate need for his active and organizing enterprise. 
Scrivener, who had been left in charge of the colony, 
was of course dead. Those provisions which had been 
left in the store had rotted owing to last summer’s rain, 
and the rats had devoured part. The pigs refused to 
touch this decayed, worm-eaten stuff, yet it had to suffice 
for the soldiers’ food until Smith now arrived with the 
hard-gotten bushels of corn. What, in short, the 
President, tired and travel-stained, found after cmising 
up icy rivers was that no progress at Jamestown had 
been made ; but that the victuals were spent, neglect 
had suffered everything to fall into decay. Most of the 
valuable tools and arms, brought out from England and 
impossible to replace, had been wickedly conveyed to 
the Indians. 

Smith got busy forthwith ; there was never for him 
any respite. Thanks to his patient toils there was now 
enough food stored which should last through the 
winter until the next harvest, and thus that dreadful 
bogy, starvation, was banished for a while. He then 



Dangers and adversities ±tt 

divided the colony into companies of tens or fifteens as 
the duties required, and instituted a six-hour work day, 
the rest of the time to be spent in recreation. But even 
this caused among the idle, good-for-nothing wasters 
considerable “ untowardness.” He was fighting, little 
more than single-handed, a campaign for order and 
industry against slackness and culpable inefficiency, and 
it was a desperate job. Further, just as recently physical 
pluck had been so frequently demanded of him, so now 
it required moral courage to stand up and tell them to 
their faces the bare, unpleasant truth — ^whether they 
liked it or not, whether they mutinied or plotted for his 
deposition from this thankless but essential office. 
Briefly, this is how he addressed them : 

“ Countrymen,” he began, “ the long experience of 
our late miseries, I hope is sufficient to perswade every 
one to a present correction of himselfe, and thinke not 
that either my pains, nor the Adventurers purses, will 
ever maintaine you in idlenesse and sloath.” You 
“ must be more industrious, or starue, how euer you 
haue beene heretofore tollerated by the authoritie of the 
Councell, from that I haue often commanded you . . . 
he that will not worke shall not eate (except by sicknesse 
he be disabled).” In his vigorous, trenchant manner 
he informed them that the labours of forty honest and 
industrious men should not be consumed by a hundred 
and fifty idlers. “ And though you presume the 
authoritie here is but a shadow, and that I dare not touch 
the Hues of any but my owne must answer it : the Letters 
patents shall each weeke be read to you, whose Contents 
will tell you the contrary. . . . Therefore he that 
offendeth, let him assuredly expect his due punishment.” 

This outspoken pronouncement could not fail to have 
effect on those imfortunate colonists who had come out 
expecting gold and found only the necessity of irksome 
toil. Smith, as a further example of his thoroughness, 



iti Captain John smith 

also had a notice-board set up, on which was a public 
record of each man’s deserts. This served to encourage 
the well-behaved and to shame the slackers towards 
amendment. The result of all this reorganization was 
that many men did actually become industrious, yet in 
most cases it was rather from fear of punishment, and the 
President allowed no excuses to deceive either him or 
them. In this manner the young colony took on a new 
lease of existence ; but those untrustworthy Dutchmen 
were still a source of trouble to him, nor were Smith’s 
relations with the neighbouring Indians as yet free from 
anxiety. 

For some time it was difficult to find how it was that 
the fort was being pilfered of so much powder and shot, 
so many swords and tools. There now were still being 
loaned to Powhatan, for diplomatic reasons, the men 
from the Low Countries. One of them — that same 
Francis already mentioned — ^was sent, disguised as an 
Indian, to a rendezvous in the woods about a mile from 
Jamestown. Forty men were obtained who were to lie 
in ambush and kill Captain Smith, but the latter got to 
know of the trap and sent out to have the plotter caught. 
It was too late, for Ftancis had fled. The President, 
however, despatched a party of twenty men to stop him 
before he should get back to Powhatan’s village. In 
the meantime Smith returned homewards alone. 

It was whilst thus proceeding that he encountered the 
Chief of Paspahegh, whose territory, it may be remem- 
bered, was farther west up the River James, above the 
settlement. The Indian tried unsuccessfully to lure 
Smith into the ambush, and then, seeing that the Presi- 
dent was armed only with a broad, curved sword, tried 
to shoot him. Smith prevented this by immediately 
grappling with him, and then a fierce evenly-matched 
struggle took place which is reminiscent of his earlier 
days in Eastern Europe. The Chief was big and strong 



DANGERS AND ADVERSITIES 


213 


and determined, and the duel's result hung uncertainly 
for some time. The former was able to prevent Smith 
from drawing his sword and even succeeded in dragging 
the White Man into the river. Here the latter was nearly 
drowned, but the two continued to struggle until Smith 
managed to get such a hold on the ChieFs throat that 
the Indian was nearly dead. Finally, now able to draw 
his sword. Smith was about to cut off the savage’s head 
just as he had done in the case of the three Turks years 
ago ; but he yielded to his adversary’s entreaties, led him 
back alive to Jamestown and there put him in chains. 

Shortly afterwards was brought in Francis the Dutch- 
man, who was found to have stolen all the missing articles. 
Francis was an imaginative liar. He tried to make 
believe that, in order to save his own life and the lives 
of his fellow countrymen, Powhatan compelled him to 
obtain arms ; that Francis had therefore run away from 
Powhatan and at the moment when caught this Dutch- 
man was only strolling about the woods to gather walnuts. 
Smith’s reply to this was to place the man promptly in 
irons. The rest of the Dutchmen declined to return, 
and one day the Paspahegh Chief, owing to the slackness 
of the guard, escaped, chained though he was. 

But, in accordance with the London Company’s 
orders, John Smith never forgot that he had been sent 
to Virginia to build and not to destroy, that therefore 
friendship with the natives when practicable was to be 
chosen rather than war. An understanding was thus 
reached with the inhabitants of Paspahegh, which con- 
tinued as long as Smith remained in the colony. During 
that same spring of 1609 Powhatan came to perceive 
that the White Men could best be endured in goodwill 
than in hatred ; so, with exemplary conduct, he sent 
back to Jamestown not merely many stolen articles but 
even the thieves themselves. With this improved 
condition of affairs Smith could certainly feel that what- 



2T4 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

ever might be the criticism and lack of appreciation in 
London, whatever the mistakes and regrettable neglect 
on the part of his fellow planters, Jamestown could stand 
comparison with similar efforts made by the Spaniards, 
whose methods and procedme were still very much in 
the Englishmen’s minds. 

If there had been an occasional Indian death in 
Virginia, this was nothing compared with the wholesale 
massacres which had disgraced the Spanish West Indies. 
Perhaps it was because in Virginia there had been no 
spectacular discovery of gold and silver mines that Smith 
and his associates were held in scorn. But, whilst it 
was natural enough to think of Virginia and the West 
Indies in the same category, yet it was not a fair means 
of arguing. The Spaniards had the good fortune to 
discover a region whose ground had been well prepared 
by many inhabitants already, so it was ripe for the 
Europeans to come and gather its produce. Virginia, 
on the other hand, was ill peopled, little planted and but 
primitively prepared, lacking also in precious metals. 
In the words of those early settlers in Jamestown, “ we 
chanced in a Land even as God made it, where we foimd 
onely an idle, improvident, scattered people, ignorant 
of the knowledge of gold and silver, or any commodities, 
and carelesse of any thing but from hand to mouth, 
except ba[u]bles of no worth ; nothing to incourage 
vs ; but what accidentally we found Nature afforded.” 

And, before any remuneration could be earned to pay 
the pioneering costs. Smith and his fellows had to explore 
territory, rivers, bays and so on, bring the natives into a 
civil and tractable condition, teach them trades that the 
fruits of their labours might make the colony financially 
self-supporting. It was an uphill work and few men 
could have gone on month after month with utter dis- 
couragement as did Smith in those trying days : only 
his immovable belief in his country, himself, as well as 



DANGERS AND ADVERSITIES 215 

the future possibilities of Virginia to the benefit of 
England’s king and the glory of God, prevented him 
from losing his enthusiasm. 

Ever since he got back from that last boat expedition 
up the Pamunk River, he had been hard at work making 
his improvements ; so that by April 1609 they had 
manufactured quantities of tar and pitch, experimented 
with glass-making, prepared boards and timber all in 
readiness for export to England. He had caused a well 
of “ excellent sweet water ” to be made in the fort for the 
first time, built twenty houses, put a new roof on the 
church, provided nets and weirs for fishing, and built 
a blockhouse at the neck of the peninsula which joined 
Jamestown to the land. This was to prevent both 
Indians and such dishonest persons as the Dutch from 
coming in and out as they liked ; for by Smith’s definite 
orders the garrison were to allow neither Christian nor 
savage to pass or repass without Presidential permission. 
Another fort had also been constructed by the river, but 
on a high commanding hill where it could easily be 
defended and it would be difficult to assault. Smith 
foresaw that some day possibly superior hostile strength 
might drive them out of Jamestown, and this retreat 
would be required. 

In addition to all these activities within less than three 
months, his people had dug and planted about forty 
acres. The three sows brought from England had 
provided twenty times that number of pigs ; five hundred 
chickens had brought themselves up, so that gradually 
things were beginning to look in better shape, though 
very much still was required to be done. On Hogs’ 
Island down the river a block-house had been erected 
with a garrison so as to give warning of any approach of 
shipping. But the alarming increase of rats by thousands 
at Jamestown became a problem of prime importance, 
since so much invaluable corn was thus lost ; and this 



2i6, captain JOHN SMITH 

lack of grain was now to reach such an acute stage that 
instead of all hands being profitably engaged on con- 
structive schemes they had to confine their energies 
towards obtaining provisions. 

As a proof of the newly-established friendship, the 
neighbouring Indians for sixteen days brought to the 
Jamestonians turkeys, deer, squirrels and other meat ; 
but that could not last for ever and Smith had to invent 
other methods for obtaining food. One officer was sent 
down the river to live on oysters ; a party of twenty 
under Percy were sent to try the fishing at Point Comfort, 
but he had burnt himself in a gunpowder accident, was 
in bad health and his men quarrelled. The result was 
that after six weeks they returned without ever having 
cast their nets. Another officer Smith sent up river to 
the Falls, but this company found nothing to eat except 
acorns. 

Fortunately the James River yielded the colony even 
more sturgeon than could be eaten, and by the ingenuity 
of some it was dried, mixed with herbs and made into a 
kind of bread. But the trouble in the colony was with 
its 150 work-shy men who much resented having to 
gather and prepare their food, and preferred rather to 
exchange such things as kettles, hoes and even swords 
or firearms for Indian corn. Smith put his foot down on 
this uneconomical trafficking, and in consequence caused 
such violent opposition that they would have driven him 
out of the country ; but he found that the ringleader 
was a very crafty fellow named William Dyer, who a 
year ago had accompanied Smith to Werowocomoco. 
For a long time Dyer had been a thorn in the President’s 
flesh, but he was now promptly punished, and then 
Captain Smith had another straight-to-the-mark talk 
with the rest, as one soldier to another. Lack of food 
was causing a mutinous spirit such as has broken out 
innumerable times, and from the same cause, in those 



DANGERS AND ADVERSITIES 417 

bad, old days of the sailing ships. The President could 
not shut his ears to the fact that some of the community 
were even planning to run away aboard the pinnace to 
Newfoundland ; but for once and all he must eradicate 
the futile idea that Powhatan had plenty of corn which 
Smith had only to fetch for a lot of worthless drones to 
consume. 

“ Fellow souldiers,” he banged into them, I did 
little thinke any so false to report, or so many to be so 
simple to be perswaded, that I either intend to starue 
you, or that Powhatan at this present hath corne for 
himselfe, much lesse for you ; or that I would not haue 
it, if I knew where it were to be had.” Whilst willing 
to do his best even for his worst maligner, yet ” if I finde 
any more runners for Newfoundland with the Pinnace, 
let him assuredly looke to ar[r]iue at the Gallows. You 
cannot deny but that by the hazard of my life many a 
time I haue saued yours, when (might your owne wills 
haue preuailed) you would haue starued ; and will doe 
still whether I will or noe.” Finally he told them, 
pointedly, that “ you shall not onely gather for your 
selues, but those that are sicke . . . and he that gathereth 
not every day as much as I doe, the next day shall be set 
beyond the riuer, and be banished from the Fort as a 
drone, till he amend his conditions or starue.” 

The upshot of this was that which usually happens 
under similar circumstances of incipient mutiny halted 
by the determination of a fearless leader. The crowd 
murmured that this order was very cruel, but after they 
had finished complaining most of them bestirred them- 
selves and got on with the job. Once again had Smith 
saved Virginia from perishing in its infancy. 

Captain Winne, Master Leigh and five others were 
the only colonists who had died out of the two hundred 
since the previous November (excepting of course those 
drowned in Scrivener’s ill-planned plot), and it was now 



ai8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

the month of April with the winter past, the spring at 
hand. Therefore it was no small triumph of manage- 
ment and organization that in spite of climate and every- 
thing else the President had pulled his awkward people 
through with a death rate of about 3^ per cent. And 
now, instead of that communal and centralized life, this 
want of food supplies caused him to split the people up 
into small groups so that they could fend for themselves 
and gather from the river, or the trees, food as best they 
might. Many of them were billeted among the Indians, 
from whom they learnt useful knowledge about the local 
products ; and, incidentally, by this association the good 
understanding between natives and planters became 
considerably strengthened. By a curious mental process 
the way also was being paved towards Christianity ; for 
the Indian “ would confesse our God as much exceeded 
his as our Gunns did his Bow and Arrowes, often sending 
our President many presents, to pray to his God for raine 
or his come would perish, for his Gods were angry.” ^ 
The drawback to this dispersion and decentralization 
was obvious ; it meant an absence of that unity which 
is strength, and it weakened Smith’s supervising control. 
Such discreditable people as William Volday were well 
alive to this. It was being hoped by the Dutch and 
certain ill-disposed English that the Spaniards would 
one day come sailing up the James River and make a clean 
sweep ; but in the meantime the worst section of settlers 
were hoping to persuade Powhatan to lend his forces to 
destroy the hogs, burn Jamestown and enable the mal- 
contents to get away in the pinnace, after which the 
remainder of the settlement could easily be subjected by 
the Red Men. Fortunately this plot was revealed to the 
President, who took the necessary steps ; and Powhatan, 
like the rest of the country, held Smith in so much respect 
and awe that there was no intention on the part of the 
native to co-operate with the Dutch and disgruntled. 



DANGERS AND ADVERSITIES 


219 


It was a matter for satisfaction that, notwithstanding all 
the adversities and disappointments, he could feel that 
a good solid foundation had been laid for Virginia’s 
future welfare. With the limited means at his disposal 
he had tried to extract order out of chaos, stability out of 
discontent, but it was impossible to please those who 
were idlers or mere deceitml drones. He had done his 
best, and Smith’s efforts were before long to show them- 
selves in the light of subsequent events as productive 
of that which others could not effect. 



X 



CHAPTER XVII 


THE END OF ENDEAVOUR 

HUS had life gone on in Jamestown. 
Nathaniel Powell and Anas Todkill 
had supplemented the investigation of 
Michael Sicklemore (who had visited 
the Chawonock country) by penetrat- 
ing south into the Mangoacks’ region, 
which lay inland west of Roanoke 
Island, and had endeavoured to ascer- 
tain if any of the Raleigh settlers could possibly be found. 
“ But nothing,” reported these two men, “ could we 
learne but they were all dead.” That finally decided a 
matter which had caused some suspense in England, 
though it could give no great pleasure to Smith except 
as a confirmation of his own opinion. 

But in London during this spring of 1609 consider- 
able activity was being exercised in regard to the Virginia 
colony and its future ; so that by the early summer 
Jamestown was to have a series of surprises. A certain 
Master Cornelius had obtained permission from the 
London Council to send out firom home a vessel under 
the command of Captain S. Argal, with leave to trade 
and also to fish for sturgeon. She sailed across the 
Atlantic not as the other ships had done via the Canaries 
but by “ the ready way ” : that is, instead of going so 
far east as those islands, she made for the Azores and 
thence after going a little further south struck westward, 
just as Captain Bartholomew Gosnold had in 1602, and 





the end' op endeavour Hit 

Captain Martin Pring in 1603, and Captain George 
Waymouth in 1605. 

ArgaPs vessel arrived in the James River on July 10, 
1609, and found a condition somewhat different from 
that which Captain Newport and others had reported to 
London. Had the latter told the real truth of poverty, 
no doubt the Council would have sent out adequate 
supplies of victuals ; but it surprised Argal to note that 
the colony was in such distress that many were dispersed 
in the Indian villages and living on what could be 
exchanged for an ounce of copper a day. Fourscore 
were existing twenty miles from Jamestown with nothing 
whatsoever to eat for eight weeks except oysters. Now 
Argal’s vessel was well freighted with provisions and 
wine which had been sent as a present from the London 
directors, but necessity compelled Smith to commandeer 
such welcome stores at a price, and the colony regarded 
such an arrival as an act of God. 

It was, however, the news brought by Captain Argal 
which caused Smith furiously to think over matters ; for 
the authorities at home had begun a new policy. A 
squadron of nine supply ships was coming out, with Lord 
De la Warr as Governor and a considerable number of 
emigrants. Letters were also brought out much criticizing 
Smith for his alleged cruel treatment of the Indians, and 
for not having sent back in the ships to England ade- 
quate cargoes. Coming on the top of his other anxieties 
this was a bitter grief for the President. And yet he had 
dealt harshly, and firmly, with the natives because there 
was no other way. His time had been spent perhaps 
more in exploring than in developing ; but now he 
decided to detain Argal’s ship until the Company’s 
squadron should arrive. 

It was on May 1 5, 1 609, that seven vessels sailed from 
the River Thames at Woolwich, proceeded down Channel 
and reached Plymouth on May 20, where there were 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 


waiting two more ships under Sir George Somers, the 
senior officer of the whole squadron. For the original 
London Virginia Company, not satisfied with the return 
on their investment, returned their commission to 
the King and reconstituted themselves with the re- 
ceipt of a fresh • one. Under this new scheme Lord 
De la Warr was to be Governor of Virginia ; Sir Thomas 
Gates, Lieutenant-Governor ; Sir George Somers, 
Admiral ; Sir Thomas Dale, High Marshal ; Sir 
Fardinando Wainman, General of the Horse ; and 


Captain Newport, Vice-Admiral. This new corpora- 
tion was at once able to obtain such large sums of money 
that Gkites, Somers and Newport, together with five 
hundred colonists, were sent forward in these nine ships. 
No regard was paid to Smith and his brother officers who 
had borne the toil and dangers of early pioneering : 
Gates, Somers and Newport were to call in and super- 
sede the existing authority. 

Whilst it is very true that human nature, broadly 
speaking, is little changing in its transition from one 
century to another, yet to any student of past history 
it seems as if our ancestors were singularly prone to 
suspicion and mutual jealousy. Before setting out, 
Gates, Somers and Newport being unable to agree “ for 


place. It was decided that all three should travel in the 
“ Sea-Venture ” which was the flagship. In addition to 
these high officers, she carried the bills of lading, certain 
important documentary instructions, most of the pro- 
visions, as well as a hundred and fifty men. In view of 
what happened to her these facts deserve bearing in 
mind. 


It was characteristic of the new Company’s disregard 
for Smith that they ignored his feelings by sending out 
in the seven ships RatclifFe, Martin and Archer, who 
had at one time been in Virginia. These tiresome 
fellows had given trouble at Jamestown, and unable to 



THE END OF ENDEAVOUR 223 

change their characters they were a source of annoyance 
on this other voyage as afterwards they were to be 
ashore. Nothing could more effectually indicate the new 
directors’ ignorance of Virginia’s requirements, as to 
personnel or the mistrust of Smith, than the deliberate 
selection of three men who had once been sent home for 
the colony’s good. Archer travelled from Woolwich in 
a vessel named “ Blessing,” and he has left for us an 
account of the voyage out. 

After the latter had taken aboard half a dozen mares 
and two horses and the squadron had embarked all 
requisite stores, they left Plymouth Sound on June 2 , 
but in the Channel met with south-west winds which 
compelled them to enter Falmouth, where they remained 
until June 8. Their sailing instructions were to leave 
the Canaries a hundred leases to the eastward and “ to 
steere away directly for Virginia, without touching at 
the West Indies ” unless the squadron got separated, in 
which case they were to assemble at Bermudas, which 
the Spaniards had discovered only^ as recently as the ye^ 
1515 but were not colonized until three years after this 
year, 1609, of which we are now speaking. If, after 
waiting there seven days the flagship aid not arrive, then 
the squadron was to carry on to Virginia. 

Now the squadron consisted of the following ships: 
“ Sea-Venture ” (flagship), “ Diamond ” (flagship of 
Vice-Admiral), “ Falcon ” (flagship of Rear-Admiral), 
“ Blessing,” “ Unity,” ” Lion,” “ Swallow,” a ketch and 
a pinnace which after six days out from the Cornish 
port bore up for England. The course^ out was as 
follows. They sailed down to the Tropic of Cancer 
“where hauing the Sun within sixe or seuen degrees 
right ouer our head in July, we bore away West.” 
Owing to the heat many became ill “ and out of two 
ships was throwne ouer-board thirtie two persons.” 
The “ Blessing ” was fortunate, inasmuch as, although 



424 captain JOHN SMITH 

she carried a score of women and children, there was 
no illness. 

It was on July 2 5 that, when in the neighbourhood of 
the Bahamas, the squadron were caught and scattered 
by the tail end of a hurricane which continued for forty 
hours. Every ship now continued independently, but 
about Au^st 3 the “ Blessing,” “ Lion,” “ Falcon ” 
and “ Unity ” sighted each other and sailed straight 
away for Virginia “ finding neither current nor winde 
opposite, as some haue reported, to the great charge of 
our Counsell and Aduenturers.” But the “ Unity ” 
came up in great distress. Of her seventy landsmen 
not ten were now fit, and all her seamen “ were downe ” 
with the exception of the Master, a sailor and a boy, so 
“ Blessing ” lent them hands. In “ Unity ” also two 
boys had been born during the voyage — but both had died. 

These four of the eight ships sailed into the James 
River on August 1 1 : they had thus been three months 
out from the Thames, and of course they found Argal’s 
ship already arrived. Four days later came Ratcliffe in 
the “ Diamond.” She had won through that hurricane, 
but she had been compelled to cut away her mainmast 
and many of her people were very ill and weak. On 
August 18 sailed in the “Swallow,” also minus main- 
mast and leaking badly. That meant six had reached 
port; but two, namely the flagship “Sea-Venture,” 
with the three most important officials aboard, and the 
ketch were still missing and no one had news of either. 
Now when Smith’s look-outs informed him of the 
approaching half squadron, the President assumed that 
here was a Spanish expedition coming to invade Virginia. 
But so sound were his preparations that there was no 
panic in Jamestown, every man went to his post and 
even the Indians were there to render every assistance. 
A strange sight these vessels presented in the river, 
lacking spars and much of their canvas. 



THE END OF ENDEAVOUR 225 

But the worst was still to come, and when Smith met 
his old enemies RatclifFe, Martin and Archer the trouble 
began. These three, seeing that Somers, Gates and the 
flagship had not arrived but that in all probability these 
were lost, now began to show their efforts to poison the 
minds of the new-comers against the President. Lord 
De la Warr himself had not accompanied this squadron 
but was to sail from England at a later date, and to arrive 
only after Smith had left the colony. We have two 
aspects of the inevitable quarrel as viewed from opposite 
sides. Thus Archer on August 31 wrote : “ Now did 
we all lament the absence of our Gouernour, for 
contentions began to grow, and factions, and partak- 
ings, &c. Insomuch as the President, to strengthen 
his authority, accorded with the Mariners, and gaue not 
any due respect to many worthy Gentlemen that came 
in our Ships . . . they . . . chose Master West, my 
Lord de la Wars brother, to be their Gouernour. . . . 
For the Kings Patent we ratified, but refused to be 
gouerned by the President that now is, after his time 
was expired ; and onely subjected our selues to Master 
West, whom we labour to haue next President.” 

In the account given by Potts, Tankard and Percy we 
have the version as seen from the angle of Smith’s sup- 
porters, who resented the arrival and ambitions of Rat- 
cliffe, Martin and Archer. “ To a thousand mischiefes 
those lewd Captaines led this lewd company, wherein 
were many vnruly Gallants packed thither by their 
friends to escape ill destinies. . . . Happie had we 
beene had they never arrived, and we for ever abandoned, 
and as we were left to our fortunes. . . . The President 
seeing the desire those Braues had to rule ; seeing how 
his authoritie was so vnexpectedly changed, would 
willingly haue left all, and haue returned for England,” 

For this is what happened : Smith, now faced with 
all this plotting, ** quickly layd by the heeles ” the ring- 



226 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

leaders, and then got on with extending the colony. For 
this reason he sent West with i2o selected men up river 
to start a plantation at the Falls, and Martin with a 
similar number he despatched to the Nandsamund 
country. It was now within a few days of Smith’s 
twelvemonths’ completion of office and therefore, as a 
new president had to be elected every year, he had chosen^ 
this Martin to succeed him. Martin, however, after 
accepting it, resigned the honour to Smith after only 
three hours, well realizing that he was less suitable than 
Smith himself, and so went off to Nandsamund. In 
the latter mission Martin with his tactless ignorance of 
how to treat the Indians made a bungle and caused them 
to attack him, killing some of his men ; it was therefore 
lucky that Martin had not remained in office. 

West also showed himself inept. Having settled his 
men at the Falls, he was returning to Jamestown when 
Smith on his way up to inspect met West “ wondering 
at his so quicke returne.” Smith on reaching the Falls 
found that West had selected a site eminently unsuitable. 
The reader will remember that in the earlier part of our 
story we referred to a village named Powhatan belonging 
to the lesser Powhatan, a chief subordinate to the Great 
Powhatan. Smith accordingly bought from the lesser 
chief this village, but even then the stupid planters up 
there now established could not be trusted, for they so 
infuriated the natives by stealing their corn, robbing 
their gardens and houses, and detaining their people 
that once more the peace which had existed was now 
broken, and bloodshed followed. It needled all the 
President’s ability to straighten things out."^ Powhatan 

^ In this action Smith was justified ; for, of the council, the only legal 
member at this date apart from Martin was Smith. The new Governor 
with a fresh authority had not yet arrived, and the tjme had come for the 
next year’s president to be appointed. (See TAf Generali Historie^ Bk. 
Chapter xii.) '' 



THE END OF ENDEAVOUR 


227 


village now fortified, with two hundred acres of ground 
ready to be planted, was so well approved that the colonists 
named it Nonesuch. 

But this utterly unsuitable crowd, with still those mad 
“ guilded hopes of the South Sea Mines,” their imreason- 
able plots and factions, became beyond all endurance. 
Smith therefore left them to their own fortunes and they 
abandoned Nonesuch, whilst he returned to Jamestown. 
It was now about the beginning of September and the 
climax of his long and varied energies in this Virginia 
colony was at last to be reached. On his way back 
from his up-river trip and whilst sleeping in the open 
boat, some clumsy fellow accidentally fired Smith’s 
powder-bag. This injured the President severely, tear- 
ing the flesh for nine or ten inches square from the poor 
man’s thighs and body. In order to save himself from 
being burned to death by his blazing clothes, he had 
the presence of mind to leap overboard into the deep 
river. The flames were quenched, but he was nearly 
drowned and with difficulty his companions rescued 
him. 

In great pain, still very anxious over his colony, he was 
carried seventy odd miles down by water to Jamestown, 
where he still contrived to carry on that state of prepara- 
tion for any attacks, and detailed efforts to keep these 
emigrants in food. But Ratcliffe, Archer and the 
other confederates whom Smith had “ layd by the 
heeles ” previously, and were now about to be tried, 
feared that they would presently pay the penalty in 
death. Seeing how ill the President was, imable to 
stand on his feet, and driven nearly frantic by pain, they 
plotted to have him murdered in his bed. This duty 
fell to a couple of men named Coe and Dyer — the latter 
we have mentioned on a previous page as an old enemy 
of Smith. Fortimately when the last moment came, 
the hand that should have fired the pistol desisted : the 



228 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

assassin lacked the courage. In this manner did the 
amazing Captain Smith yet again come within the 
nearest distance to death. 

But he was in a bad way, there was no surgeon at 
Jamestown to tend his wounds, his enemies were now 
able to take the rule of the colony into their own hands, 
so he sent for the masters of the ships lying in the river 
and ordered them to get ready for England. It was 
the second week of September, he was taken on board 
yet few expected that he would live. Had that unfor- 
tunate accident not occurred he would have been able to 
settle these mutineers, but he had done his great work 
and laid the foundations on which a great colony and a 
new nation of civilization should rise. 

He left the Jamestonians with three ocean-going ships, 
and seven boats with which to carry on trade. The 
harvest was newly gathered in, ten weeks’ provisions in 
the store, and plenty of ordnance, muskets, powder, 
swords and pikes with which to defend the colony against 
all intruders. He had taught a hundred soldiers not 
merely military tactics but 3ie language and terrain of 
the Indians. There were pigs, poultry, goats, sheep 
and horses : it remained only for his successors to carry 
on with the good work. Jamestown was not an ideal or 
suitable site, but for that he was not responsible, though 
he had recently by the purchase of the Powhatan 
property paved the way for the removal of the colony 
from an unhealthy neighbourhood to that on which the 
future Richmond was to be built. Jamestown he left 
as a stoongly palisaded place with fifty or sixty houses 
and with several further outposts. And when we con- 
sider how hampered he had been with having a crowd of 
ne’er-do-weels, footmen for labourers, libertines, poor 
useless gentlemen, adventurers all in the worst of senses, 
who respected neither God, man’s law, shame, nor the 
respect of their friends, the wonder is indeed that he was 



THE END OF ENDEAVOUR 

able to keep going and to advance such a rabble towards 
any sort of well-being. 

It was not until October 4 that Smith sailed away 
from Jamestown, for the ships had been delayed tlmee 
weeks by his enemies in order to frame some “ colourable 
complaints ” against him : it was a fine opportunity for 
such men to have their revenge on an invalid. “ Now 
all those Smith had either whipped, punished, or any 
way disgraced,” writes the account supposedly written 
by Pots and W. Phettiplace, “ had free power and liberty 
to say or sweare any thing ” ; and “ from a whole 
armefull ” of accusations may be mentioned the 
following which are sufficiently unconvincing to need 
refutation : 

It was suggested that he it was who caused the Indians 
to attack West’s expedition at the Falls ; that he would 
not submit to the stolen authority of the Council, of 
which, in fact. Smith was the only lawful member ; that 
he had treated Powhatan in a bullying manner in order 
to get corn ; that he had driven from Jamestown some 
settlers to live on oysters. But less than a dozen wit- 
nesses could be found to swear against him, and some 
were lucky enough to get their passages to England 
under promise to testify contrary to their late President. 
And Ratcliffe, on the very day that the ships sailed, 
sent a letter ^ to the Earl of Salisbury referring to Smith 
as “ This man is sent home to answere some misdea- 
meanors, whereof I perswade me he can scarcely clear 
him selfe from great imputation of blame. . . . Master 
George- Pearcye my Lord of Northumberlands brother 
is elected our President, and Master West my Lord 
la Wars brother, of the councell, with me and Captaine 
Martine ; and some few of the best and worthyest that 
inhabite at James towne are assistantes in ther advise 
vnto vs.” 

1 State Papers, Colonial (1574-1621), vol. i. No. 19. 



ijo CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

But nothing is more eloquent of Smith’s value, whilst 
at Jamestown, than the fact that the colony went all to 
pieces after his departure. We are not investigating the 
history of Virginia but only Smith’s relation thereto ; 
it will suffice, then, if we sum up briefly what occurred 
during the next few months. Those two sly Dutchmen, 
Adam and Francis, in the coming winter (1609-10) 
deserted again to the Great Powhatan, who also now 
mistrusted them and beat out their brains. On 
October 3, the day before Smith left, there arrived at 
Jamestown one of the nine vessels which had left Ply- 
mouth on June 2, 1609. This pinnace was evidently 
the one which had shortly afterwards separated from the 
rest and seemed to be on her way back to England. 
Named the “ Virginia ” and described as having been 
built in the North Colony,” she had now come with 
sixteen men. Two vessels were thus still missing, which 
we shall mention presently. 

To this crew were added some more Jamestonians 
under Ratcliffe, and they were sent to live down at 
Point Comfort. Now, when the Indians learnt that 
Captain Smith had left the country, they rebelled, 
despoiled and murdered all whom they encountered. It 
was in this way that Martin and West lost their boats, 
nearly half their men, but succeeded in reaching James- 
town. Percy became so ill that his presidency was a 
farce “ and now haue we 20 Presidents.” The food 
shortage became acute. West and Ratcliffe, each with 
a small craft and about thirty men, were sent out to 
forage. The latter went to the Great Powhatan ; but, 
after some dispute as to whether full measure of corn 
was being delivered, Ratcliffe and nearly the whole party 
were massacred. It was entirely owing to Pocahontas 
that Henry Spelman (third son of Sir Henry Spelman, 
the antiquary) who had come out from England “ being 
in displeasuer of my frendes, and desirous to see other 



the end Of endeavour iit 

ciintryes ’* had his life preserved though taken prisoner. 
West at a later date went back to England. 

That winter — ^from October to May — so proved the 
loss to the colony of Smith, that even his worst traducers 
now longed for his return. No corn could be got from 
the Indians he had taught to trade : nothing but mortal 
wounds, arrows and clubs. The pigs and poultry were 
consumed by the olRcers ; swords, arms and everything 
of value gradually disappeared in efforts to extract some 
food from the natives. Each month got worse and this 
winter was for ever after known as “ The Starving Time,” 
during which the population dropped from about 500 to 
about 60 men, women and children, who eked out a terrible 
existence on roots, herbs, berries, nuts and a little fish. 
Then they ate the horses, even to the skins, and finally 
these wretched people, who had once lived in England 
on beef, now were reduced to cannibalism. “ Nay, so 
great was our famine,” says one account collected by 
Dr. Simmonds, “ that a Saluage we slew and buried, the 
poorer sort tooke him vp againe and eat him ; and so 
did diuers one another boyled and stewed with roots and 
herbs : And one amongst the rest did kill his wife, 
powdered [i.e. salted] her, and had eaten part of her 
before it was knowne ; for which hee was executed, as 
hee well deserued : now whether shee was better roasted, 
boyled or carbonado’d, I know not ; but of such a dish 
as powdered wife I neuer heard of.” ^ 

Thus, with contrast with Smith’s prevision, industrious 
providence and good governing, Jamestown encoun- 
tered its worst famine ; nor would these very few have 
survived another day but for the dramatic arrival on 
May 24 of those missing officers. Sir Thomas Gates, 
Sir George Somers and 150 people who had left England 
with the nine ships just a year ago and had been given 
up for lost. For this is what had happened. The two 
^ Tie Generali Historie of Virginia, Bk. 4. 



232 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

missing craft, you will remember, were the ketch and 
the flagship “ Sea-Venture.” In that hurricane the 
former went down with all hands, but the latter during 
the storm sprang a leak, so that the men standing 
on the ballast wi5i buckets, barricoes and kettles to bail 
out were up to their middles in water. After pumping 
and bailing for three days and nights, the work was 
hopeless. Just then, however, Sir George Somers 
sitting on the poop of the sinking ship, trying to keep 
her on an even keel, suddenly sighted land. All sail 
was set, she reached the shore, and miraculously bumped 
from rock to rock till finally she stuck fast upright 
between two. 

It was an amazing incident, for the wind gave way 
to calm, the sea went down, the boats were able to land 
people and provisions without the loss of a man. This 
was none other than the uninhabited Bermudas. Here 
they lived, fished, hunted pigs, and then decked over 
the ship’s long-boat with the “ Sea-Venture’s ” hatches, 
and sent her off with nine men to reach Virginia. 
Evidently she got caught in heavy weather, for she was 
never heard of again. But those left on the island 
continued, a boy was bom and named Bermudas, a girl 
was born and named Bermuda, and a marriage also took 
place. There were built two craft of cedar-wood, which 
they called “ Patience ” and “ Deliuerance,” that were 
rigged and provisioned. On May lo, i 6 io, these two 
pinnaces started off with all hands except two men who 
were left behind for bad behaviour, and a fortnight later 
arrived at Jamestown. When the two knights perceived 
the sixty scarcely living survivors of what Smith had 
left as a vital village, it was decided to quit the colony. 
Every one was put aboard and on June 7 they said good- 
bye to the settlement, made sail and at noon anchored at 
Hogs’ Island, evidently to wait till the next tide. On 
the next day they started off from the abandoned colony 



THE END OF ENDEAVOUR 233 

that had cost so much to Smith and were on their way 
to England ; and then, before many hours had passed, 
happened one of those events which prove that nothing 
in me whole realm of imaginative fiction can be so 
startlingly dramatic, so tense with surprise, as some 
events in history. 

They had got no further down on June 8 than Mulbery 
Point when, lo and behold, there was a ship’s longboat. 
No, it was not the two men left on Bermuda, but coming 
from the ship that had just brought Lord de la Warr 
across firom England to take up his work as Governor 
of Virginia, and with his vessel had come two others full 
of all requisite supplies. Thus on June 9 they all went 
up to Jamestown and the continuity of Virginia was thus 
virtually unbroken. From that date, in spite of all that 
had to be done and endured, the colony took on a new 
history which is too well known for us here to consider. 
If Jamestown had to go and a new capital be chosen, those 
who to-day go down the river, past the ruined church 
and a few tombstones, may still remember with gratitude 
the name of John Smith who preserved the fragile idea 
alive till it could be handed on to the first Governor. 
Just as the James River still yields its oysters and sturgeon, 
so it must always associate itself with that great-minded, 
long-suffering Englishman who used to sail up and down 
between its banks wondering from where the next bushels 
of corn were coming in order to fill the bellies of unde- 
serving drones. 

For if ever there existed a link between England and 
America, surely it lies somewhere inside Capes Henry 
and Charles, buried yet living, invisible yet most truly 
wrought ; by one who according to all Anglo-Saxon 
standards was every inch a man. 



CHAPTER XVIII 


AT SEA AGAIN 


okb^^^^^MITH arrived in England by Decern- 
ber, 1 609, and was therefore not yet 
"w years old ; yet already he had 

packed into his span at least half a 
dozen remarkable lives. Looking 
> back in later life on that Virginia 
experience, he referred to it as having 
fBmSr^ 11 1 cost me neare hue yeares worke, 
and more then hue hundred pound of my owne estate ; 
beside all the dangers, miseries, and incomberances and 
losse of other imployments I endured gratis. From 
which blessed Virgin, where I stayed till I left fiue 
hundred English, better prouided than euer I was (ere 
I returned), sprung the fortunate habitation of Somer 
Isles,” better known as Bermudas. 


“ This Virgins Sister, now called New England ” 
was presently to occupy his attention in the same thorough, 
painstaking manner after his serious wounds had at last 
been healed. This, of course, took some time, but we 


know perfectly well that no man of his exceptional energy, 
who had felt and listened to the call of the wild, could 
possibly remain long in England idle. There are blanks 
during the next few months that may legitimately be 
filled up by a discerning imagination. He was too 
modest to tell us anything more concerning his excruciat- 
ing physical suffering either during those weeks crossing 
the Atlantic or in the subsequent winter at home ; but 
we know that to his active spirit this compulsory quietude 

231 




AT SEA AOaIN 435 

must have been as irksome as it was to be out of 
a job. 

His detailed experience, his outspoken critical atti- 
tude towards the London Company’s policy and methods, 
made him from their point of view a dangerous man to 
be in ^England and unemployed ; just as in our own 
time there are few more feared censors of Service matters 
than retired admirals and generals. But the reconstitu- 
tion of the company, the new regime of aristocratic rather 
than military governors, did not prevent his being occa- 
sionally consulted. There is on record a list of seven 
questions which His Majesty’s commissioners for the 
reformation of Virginia put to him in 1624, and his 
answers are singularly clear, direct and practical. “ If 
I be too plaine,” he completed the questionnaire, “ I 
humbly craue your pardon but you requested me, 
therefore I doe but my duty.” 

The first actual evidence of how he began to occupy 
his time is manifested by the publication at Oxford in 
the year 1612 of A Map of Virginia^ With a Description of 
the Covntrey^ The Commodities^ People^ Government and 
Religion. W ritten hy Captaine Smithy sometimes Govemour 
of the Countrey., to which were added as a second part 
The Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia since 
their first beginning from England in the yeare ^ our Lord 
j6o 6^ till this present 1612 . . . written not by Smith 
but containing a number of historical statements by 
certain gentlemen and soldiers of the original. First and 
Second “ Supplies,” edited by the Rev. Dr. William 
Simmonds. 

The first portion — ^that is to say that part of which 
Smith was author — ^was really a foller and more con- 
sidered version of that Relation of the Countries and Nations 
inhabiting the Chesapeake region shown in the Mappe 
of the Bay and Rivers which Smith had sent home to the 
London Company in 1608. In 1625 Purchas in his 



236 captain JOHN SMITH 

Pilgrimes published an abridgement of A Map of Virginia. 
Smith was in effect providing a monograph which should 
give intending planters a useful handbook containing a 
vocabulary of Indian words and phrases, particulars 
about the soil, inhabitants, geography and the like. It 
was a work of love, enthusiastic for England’s expansion 
by colonization, but it was, too, a warning how not to 
proceed. He wrote, as he said, in this book “ as much 
as my memory can call to mind worthie of note ; which 
I haue purposely collected, to satisfie my friends of the 
true worth and qualitie of Virginia.” 

His love for this his colony-child and the desire for 
her prosperity never died so long as he lived ; but his 
concentration now was devoted towards New England 
“ when nothing was knowne, but that there was a vast 
land.” It was to be the counterpart of his valuable 
work in the south, but not being a wealthy man or a peer 
of the realm the undertaking was difficult enough. As 
he wittily expresses, “ I neuer had power and meanes 
to do anything (though more hath bene spent in formall 
delayes then would haue done the businesse) but in such 
a penurious and miserable maner, as if I had gone a 
begging to builde an Vniversity. . . . Thus betwixt the 
spmre of Desire, and the bridle of Reason, I am neare 
ridden to death in a ring of Despaire.” 

The debt which we owe to Smith as a pioneer in that 
northern territory that he named, and ever since has 
been called. New England is not much less than was 
earned in the Chesapeake country and neighbourhood ; 
for, whatever else he might have achieved or left undone, 
his exploration of New England would alone have earned 
his right to future fame. Little had been attempted 
before his arrival there. On March 24, 1 602, Captain 
Bartholomew Gosnold had sailed from Dartmouth, gone 
as far south as the Azores, run west from there and made, 
the American land on May ii, having evidently altered 



AT SEA AGAIN 


237 

course farther north, for in the account written by John 
Brierton, who was on board, they arrived in “ about 
latitude 43.’* At length they came to some “ fayre 
lies ” some distance off the shore which were beautiful 
with vines, blossoms and fowl so that the name Martha’s 
Vineyard suggested itself and has remained ever since. 
On May 14 he had discovered Cape Cod, but no per- 
manent settlement was made in North America, and on 
July 23, 1602, Gosnold’s ship was back in England up 
the Exe. 

Owing to the encouragement and influence of Richard 
Hakluyt, the citizens of Bristol in the following year 
raised j^iooo and sent out a couple of small vessels. 
Robert Salterne, who had been with Gosnold, went as 
pilot ; they proceeded by the Azores and about the 
7th of June reached 43® North likewise. This voyage 
confirmed Gosnold’s work and they came home reporting 
abundance of fish. On March 5, 1 605, Captain George 
Waymouth left the Thames, called at Dartmouth, on 
April 24 reached the Azores and afterwards crossed to 
the North American coast where during May they found 
plenty of cod and whales. Their primitive charts he 
found (not surprisingly) “ most directly false.” No 
permanent settlement was made and on July 18, 1605, 
they were back in England at Dartmouth. 

Then in 1606 letters-patent granted by James I for 
the limitation of Virginia defined that area as extending 
from Lat. 34° to 44® North. That portion lying 
between 34® and 41® was available for the City of 
London ; that between 38® and 44® was for the 
adventurers of Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and the West 
of England. But between the two colonies there was 
to be a distance of at least a hundred miles. With the 
founding of the Roanoke and Jamestown sections we are 
already familiar, but there was still a wide vagueness 
concerning the character of that vast territory to the 



238 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

north of Cape Charles. The West Countrymen’s area 
had been known under such names as Norumbega and 
Nusconcus. In the year 1607 Sir John Popham, Lord 
Chief Justice of England, sent out an expedition to take 
possession of this land, but after a temporary settlement 
they all returned to England, in 1608, as we have men- 
tioned already in an earlier chapter. 

Then the Earl of Southampton had despatched an 
expedition which proved that Cape Cod was not an 
island but part of the mainland. Some five Indians 
they brought home, but apart from the above details and 
further discovery that the charts were very inaccurate, 
little knowledge had been gained. It is at this point 
that John Smith, recovered from his lacerated thigh, 
and laying aside his literary work, now enters again as 
the traveller by sea, explorer and map-maker : thus 
we are off again with that rover whom England could 
never hold by her fireside for long. It may be surmised 
how for over four years he had chafed restlessly, like a 
ship at anchor but with all sails set longing to be off 
towards unknown shores. 

In order to get the correct emphasis, we cannot omit 
from om: consideration to note that from the seventeenth 
century there comes into nautical history, with a much 
stronger importance than ever, the industry of fishing. 
It meant not merely an increase of maritime effort, but 
a keener incitement to use the sea and build craft. From 
this larger seamanhood were to be obtained the personnel 
for the men-of-war, privateers. East Indiamen, and so on. 
But it meant something more than that. Spain as a 
naval rival had reached her climax ; Holland and France 
were, in turn, before long to become first-rate powers 
afloat and thus inevitably challenge and collide with 
English pride. Holland, especially, by reason of her 
contiguity to the North Sea, and the rich harvest of the 
herring off her coasts, was encouraged to raise up a mighty 



AT SEA AGAIN 


239 

marine and personnel. Any one with a little vision could 
have foretold the coming Anglo-Dutch wars. 

But the English and Scottish fishermen learnt quickly 
and extensively from the Dutch, and thus enter, as a 
great motive for jealousy, not merely the herring but the 
whale. The subject need not be more than referred to 
here : in another volume I have dealt with its develop- 
ment from early days. It will suffice to say that the 
Dutch had been catching whales ever since the sixteenth 
century, that the Biscayans had been harpooning even 
still longer. A Dutch Whaling Company had sent out 
seven well-armed ships, and in 1618 there was an un- 
fortunate affair when some of the Hollanders captured 
an English whaler and sailed her off to Amsterdam. It 
was four years before this incident that four Englishmen 
— Captain Marmaduke Royden, Captain George Langam, 
Master John Buley and Master William Skelton — ^had 
fitted out two ships. These were put under the com- 
mand of Captain John Smith with orders to proceed to 
that part of the North American coast lying in “ 43^ of 
Northerly latitude ” in order to do two things : “ there 
to take Whales and make tryalls of a Myne of Gold and 
Copper. If those failed. Fish and Furres was then our 
refuge.” We can dismiss that undying but futile lust 
for precious metal as readily as Smith did ; but there was 
certainly much in the fishery idea, and one Samuel 
Cramton and others went witi him as whaling experts. 
It was rather the owner-masters of the ships who en- 
couraged the gold idea, with a view to getting their craft 
chartered. 

The vessels under Smith were two in number, with 
a crew of only forty-five men and boys. After setting 
out from London, they departed from the Downs on 
March 3, 1614, crossed the Atlantic, and reached their 
destination on the last day of April. Had the whaling 
turned out as anticipated, Smiffi was to remain there 



240 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

ashore in the neighbourhood of Portsmouth (New 
Hampshire) with about ten men so as to take possession 
of that large American territory. Whales were certainly 
sighted in numbers, much time was spent in hunting 
them, but none could be killed, nor were they the right 
kind. Attention was therefore concentrated on fishing 
and obtaining furs. Seven small boats they built — the 
custom of those days being to take such small craft out 
in sections on board — and, whilst thirty-seven of his 
people were employed catching 47,000 fish. Smith with 
eight men went off in a small boat along the coast, 
explored, made a map, got acquainted with the natives, 
bartered for a few trifles some thousands of furs and skins, 
and then set sail on the 1 8 th of July for England, arriv- 
ing safely back home at the end of August. Thus in 
less than six months he had been there and back and 
made £ 1^00 (in current money) ; for the dried fish was 
sold to Spain ; the furs, oil and other fish being sold in 
England. 

Smith had taken out with him six or seven charts or 
maps of those parts, but found them “ so vnlike each 
other, and most so differing from any true proportion or 
resemblance of the Countrey, as they did mee no more 
good then so much waste paper, though they cost me 
more.” For the convenience of others “ I haue drawen 
a Map from Point to Point, He to He, and Harbour to 
Harbour, with the Soundings, Sands, Rocks, and Land- 
marks as I passed close aboard the Shore in a little Boat ; 
although there be many things to be obserued which the 
haste of other affaires did cause me omit. For being 
sent more to get present commodities then knowledge 
by discoueries for any future good, I had not power to 
search as I would. . . . Thus you may see, of this 
2000 miles more then halfe is yet vnknowne to any 
purpose.” 

This map he presented to Prince Charles (the future 







AT SEA again 


241 

Charles I of England, then only fourteen years old) 
begging His Royal Highness to change “ their bar- 
barous names for such English, as posteritie might say 
Prince Charles was their God-father.” Thus it was 
that Cape Cod was changed by the boy to Cape James, 
though to-day we know it by its original appellation. 
Massachusetts River was named Charles River, Cape 
Tragabigzanda (in commemoration of his slave days) 
was changed to the present Cape Ann ; but those which 
to-day are called Isles of Shoals lying off the New Hamp- 
shire shore to the south-east of Portsmouth were named 
by their map-maker “ Smith’s lies,” and the boy prince 
left the title at that. 

In the days when all these adventurers were in a 
hurry to get rich ; when poverty was so widespread 
and honest men so freg^uently broke their promises under 
the strain of temptation, it is well to note how John 
Smith fared. On his way up the English Channel 
from this voyage he put into Plymouth, where in course 
of conversation with certain investors he agreed to go to 
New England next time on their behalf. Proceeding 
from Plymouth to London, “ I found so many promised 
me such assistance ” that they wished him to go out 
again with four good ships before the Plymouth people 
had made the necessary preparations. But Smith, as 
a matter of honour, even at the cost of causing offence 
to his London friends “ whose loue and fauour I exceed- 
ingly desired ” had to refuse this employment ; “ for 
hauing ingaged my selfe in this businesse to the West 
Countrey, I beene very dishonest to haue broke my 
promise.” "The point may be small and not worth 
stressing, yet it is by such actions that a man’s true 
character is illumined. He was, as the modern ex- 
pression puts it, anxious “ to play the game ” ; or, as he 
remarked, “ so that the businesse prosper, I haue my 
desire ; be it Londoner, Scot, Welch, or English, that 



Ha CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

are true subiects to our King and Countrey : the good 
of my Coimtrey is that I seeke ; and there is more 
than enough for all, if they could bee content but to 
proceed.’’ And yet whom could Smith reckon a 
friend when even Thomas Hunt, master of the ship 
which had accompanied Smith on the first New 
England voyage, “ practiced to haue robbed mee of my 
plots ” ? 

“ Plots,” of course, were the maps or charts which 
Smith had plotted of the New England coast. 

The West Countrymen, owing to the interest of Sir 
Ferdinando George and the Dean of Exeter and a few 
of Smith’s London friends, at last fitted out a ship of 
200 tons and one a quarter that size. But after starting 
out from Plymouth in March, 1615, when less than 
four hrmdred miles had been covered, they were caught 
in such heavy weather that the bigger vessel carried 
away all her masts and began leaking seriously. During 
each watch they pumped as many as five thousand 
strokes, and with only that little square spritsail, which 
Was normally set just below the high-steeved bowsprit, 
she went scudding before the wind until such time as 
the weather allowed them to make a jury mast, re-rig 
her as best they could, and then return to Plymouth. 
The smaller ship had lost sight of the senior, so pro- 
ceeded on her voyage. 

The object of this intended voyage by Smith had been 
“ to beginne a Plantation ” in New England and do 
whatever else he could for his investors. " Much 
labour I had taken,” he wrote, “ to bring the Londoners 
and them [i.e. the West Countrymen] to joyne together, 
because the Londoners haue most Money, and the 
Westerne men are most proper for fishing ; and it is 
neere as much trouble, but much more danger, to saile 
from London to Plimoth, then from Plimoth to New 
England, so that halfe the voiage would thus be saued ; 



AT SEA again 


H3 

yet by n6 meanes I could preuaile, so desirous they were 
both to be Lords of this fishing.” 

It is interesting, thus, to note how little our ancestors 
feared the deep open ocean when once clear of the land, 
yet how much they dreaded the unbuoyed Thames 
estuary with its many shoals, and hated coastal naviga- 
tion down Channel. The fact must always be remem- 
bered that these were unhandy ships which had to wait 
for a fair wind ; and if caught on a lee shore they were 
finished. Their gear and spars were not reliable, and 
any one who has read a few voyages of English seamen 
of the late Elizabethans or early Stuarts knows well 
enough that gales of wind were always springing their 
masts. But now from Plymouth he obtained a vessel of 
6o tons, he transferred to her the remainder of the pro- 
visions and with a crew of thirty sailed from Plymouth 
on June 24, 1 6 1 5. On this voyage he was to experience 
such an exciting series of events that he might be living 
over again that period when he had sailed about the 
Mediterranean ; for this is what happened, ^ and if 
you will picture in your mind his little craft, with only 
four guns and small crew but with a captain whose 
character we well know, there is for us a slice of sea- 
faring life that might have come from the pages of a 
boy’s story-book. 

Out in the Atlantic, whilst sailing south, a fine vessel 
of 140 tons was sighted who gave chase to Smith’s little 
craft. She turned out to be a pirate armed with thirty- 
six guns and carrying a crew of eighty experienced 
seamen and soldiers. These had actually been taken 
prisoners by those pests of civilization, the Barbarian 
corsairs, who had become so bold and impudent that 
they harassed European shipping on its lawful occasions, 
not merely in the Mediterranean but the eastern side of 
the Atlantic. Few, precious few indeed, were those 
who when once captured and condemned to slavery ever 



544 GAPTAII^ JOHN SMITH 

got back to England, France or anywhere else : they 
remained in Tunis, Algiers or other North African 
port to end their miserable days. And it may here be 
mentioned that in 1617 — only two years after the date 
we are discussing — ^the danger had become so serious 
that France was compelled to send a great fleet of fifty 
ships against these detestable people. Three years 
later, too, the English navy of James I performed its 
only active service when a fleet of eighteen vessels was 
sent against Algiers, as previously noted. 

Now the remarkable thing about the English pirate- 
ship chasing Smith was that she was commanded by one 
named Fry, with Chambers as her master. Miller as her 
mate and Digby as pilot or navigator, but they and the 
crew had recently been captured by the corsairs, taken 
into Tunis, whence they had desperately stolen this ship 
and got away : they were thus a pretty tough crowd 
and were uncomfortably short of provisions, determined 
to help themselves from Smith’s ship. It was an uneven 
contest from the first, but for two long days the chase 
continued, and the heavy weather prevented the pirate 
from coming alongside. Finally the latter ranged up 
and insisted that Smith should yield, proving the obvious 
that it was impossible for the small vessel to defend her- 
self. Smith had sufficient sense and experience of pirates 
to know this was perfectly true. The enemy further 
demanded — ^as a German submarine molesting an armed 
merchantman during the Great War used to insist — ^that, 
as the attackers had no boat, the other craft should send 
hers. Smith argued the point, and so held his own 
that he was able to extract from that hopeless situation 
such good terms that every one marvelled so inferior a 
vessel should be able to dictate her conditions to one 
superior. But Smith told them that, unless the pirates 
kept the agreement, he would sink the ship. 

Smith sent his boat alongside, and Fry vowed not to 



AT SEA AGAIN 2+5 

take anything from the late President that might upset 
the intended voyage to New England, nor should more 
pirates be sent on board than Smith approved : other- 
wise there should be bloodshed. And then a remark- 
able coincidence happened : for many of this pirate crew, 
lately of Tunis, were soldiers who had formerly served 
under Smith, whom they loved. Nay, they would have 
yielded all to his protection now, but unfortunately 
Smith’s present crew contained a lot of mutineers and 
cowards so the offer was rejected. 

Smith was lucky to have emerged as he had, for more 
than fifty per cent, of Fry’s crew consisted of first-class 
or “ master ” gunners against whom the smaller ship 
had no earthly chance. The next incident occurred off 
Fayal, Azores, where they encountered a couple more 
pirates, both French, one ship being of 200 tons, the other 
of 30 tons. Smith’s ship having been chased for a time, 
the late President of Virginia had some trouble with 
Chambers, Miller, Digby and others, who were so terri- 
fied and so certain the enemy were* Barbarian corsairs 
who would cast them all into slavery that they at first 
mutinied and refused to fight and begged their captain 
to give in. If, they added, the enemy should turn out 
to be Frenchmen, and the English ship fired so much as 
one gun, then Chambers, Smith and every one would be 
thrown into the sea. “We came out in this ship to fish, 
not to fight,” was their argument. 

We all know that type of sailor, so did Smith ; and 
since fear of disgrace could not enthuse them, he shook 
them heartily by threatening to blow up the ship if they 
did not “ stand to their defence.” This had the desired 
eflFect, the guns were fired, and at last the ship managed 
to sail away clear in spite of the pirates’ hot attack. A 
little later whilst still in the Azores area, but now near 
Flores, four French privateers chased them “ all with 
their close fights afore and after,” stated Daniel Baker, 



246 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

who was Captain Smith’s steward and a witness ; so they 
were clearly prepared for action. The senior enemy was 
a vessel of 140 tons, 12 guns, 90 men with pistols, 
muskets, swords and poignards ; the second ship was of 
100 tons, the third of 60 tons, the fourth of 80 tons, the 
total privateer personnel being 250. 

The result of the fight was a foregone conclusion, but 
Smith had placed his ship in a state of defence ; and, as 
before, Chambers with his associates begged their 
Captain to yield, saying there was nothing but ruin in 
fighting. They suggested that, as Smith could speak 
French, he might go aboard, win the pirates* courtesy 
and thus freedom. A good deal of talk ensued, but 
since the enemy professed themselves to be out of La 
Rochelle and had a commission (i.e. letters of marque) 
only to capture Portuguese, Spaniards and pirates, and 
would like to show Captain Smith their sealed com- 
mission, the latter was invited on board. He went 
accompanied by some of his shipmates, but the privateers 
turned out to be no respecter of vows, for they detained 
Smith and next day rifled his ship, dispersed the English 
crew in the four French vessels and manned the Plymouth 
craft with some of their own Frenchmen. 

For a while there were thus five privateers, with which 
they chased other vessels so that within a week the 
squadron numbered nine. But at last, possibly owing 
to Smith’s tactful activity (though he was too modest 
ever to relate his part in the affair) the enemy released the 
English craft together with most of her provisions. It 
would seem that the French realized the late President’s 
unique knowledge in naval tactics and considerably 
profited by his advice ; for Smith, having now returned 
to his own command, was about to continue the voyage 
to New England. The crew, however, were so uneasy 
that they insisted on returning to Devonshire. It was 
pointed out that already so much of the journey had been 



AT SEA AGAIN 


247 

accomplished that it was just as near to carry on to North 
America ; finally, Smith succeeded in persuading most 
of them to carry on. But, if they preferred, he would 
agree to Newfoundland, whence the ship could return 
to England with a cargo of fish whilst he would find 
some means of getting on with that plantation scheme 
for which he had been sent out. 

Some inevitable but unfortunate delay followed whilst 
the Englishmen were going round the fleet collecting the 
various articles that had been taken from them — ^arms, 
clothes, powder, navigational instruments, the Captain’s 
own sword, dagger, bedding, ship’s papers, his supply 
of aqua-vitae and much else that could now be returned. 
It was just whilst this was going on that the privateers 
espied a sail, so the senior officer immediately sent his 
boat for Captain Smith to repair on board the flagship. 
The chase of the stranger continued until the night, and 
on the next day it was blowing very hard with a heavy 
sea. The Plymouth ship now manoeuvred abreast of 
the privateer flagship in which Smith still was, but that 
unsatisfactory fellow, Chambers, in so doing managed 
to split the mainsail by getting it foul of the privateer’s 
spritsail yard. After this bad bit of seamanship. 
Chambers had the impertinence to hail Smith and say 
that if the latter did not come aboard he would leave 
him. Smith commanded Chambers to send along the 
ship’s boat, to which the rascal lyingly replied that it 
had been split and if the Captain wished to come he must 
do so in the privateer’s boat. Smith’s answer was that 
he was not in a position to order the Frenchman, nor to 
come as he would. 

This suited Chambers’s cowardly, treacherous char- 
acter, so that night he let the Plymouth ship drop astern 
and then, deserting his commander, left Captain Smith 
alone among the privateers with nothing but his cap, 
breeches and waistcoat. In the meantime, whilst these 



248 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

base Englishmen sailed away, they parted amongst 
themselves his possessions and then made off for 
Plymouth. 

Aboard that French ship he was regarded now with 
suspicion, for - Chambers and Miller had spread the 
slander that Smith would revenge himself against all the 
French vessels or persons he should find off the New- 
foundland Banks or ashore. For this reason he was 
kept in captivity, the gunroom being first his prison. 
But he was able to note that after hovering about the 
Azores, waiting for the Spanish West Indian fleet to come 
eastward, bad weather separated the senior French ship 
from the other eight. And during this period he who 
had once been ruler in Virginia now in order “ to keepe 
my perplexed thoughts from too much meditation of my 
miserable estate ” wrote ^ Description of New England^ 
containing his observations and account of his dis- 
coveries in Northern America. He was hoping for an 
opportunity to send this manuscript to the Privy Council 
of James I by some chance ship, but he carried it about 
wi^ him for some months later, so it was completed and 
first published in London during the month of June, 
i6i6. In his epistolary dedication “To the right 
Worshipfull Aduenturers for the Countrey of New 
England, in the Cities of London, Bristow, Exceter, 
Plimouth, Dartmouth, Bastaple, Totneys, &c. and in all 
other Cities and Ports, in the Kingdome of England,” 
there is one significant sentence which gives us another 
sidelight on his character. For, always the man of 
action with utter contempt for drones, he makes this 
apology : “ I confesse it were more proper for mee. To 
be doing what I say, then writing what I knowe.” You 
remember his motto — “ vincere est vivere.*^ 

But now the flagship was in turn chased by Captain 
Barrow, an English pirate, whose crew were starving 
for want of provisions. Monsieur Poyrune, the flag- 



AT SEA AGAIN 


249 

ship’s captain, promised what they required, insomuch 
that Barrow’s second-in-command. Captain Wolliston, 
and several others were enticed on board. Immediately 
afterwards Barrow and the rest were captured by force, 
but afterwards released. The next prize which Poyrune 
took was a small English fishing craft of Poole, home- 
ward bound from Newfoundland. Smith, now trans- 
ferred to the flagship’s “ great caben,” from there 
watched with grief the Frenchmen pillaging his country- 
men’s property and fish. Not much later a Scottish ship 
bound from St. Michael, Azores, for Bristol was taken, 
but a boatload of sugar, marmalade and the like had 
only just been rowed aboard when four more vessels 
were descried. Now, when the French observed that 
these furled their mainsails in preparation for fight and 
perceived the red-cross flags of St. George, it seemed 
more advisable to the privateer that English men-of-war 
should be left alone. 

Shortly afterwards a Spanish West Indian squadron, 
riSombering four, was chased and fought for five 
hours, the attackers tearing the latter’s sails and sides, 
but not daring to board. And then came a poor 
caravel from Brazil, which was chased. After a brief 
resistance she surrendered, half her crew of twenty- 
eight being wounded. She was made a prize together 
with her 370 chests of sugar. The next was a Dutch- 
man, bound from the Magellan Straits, and then was 
taken a West Indiaman full of valuable hides, cochineal, 
silver, and so on to the value of 200,000 crowns. 

In this manner passed the time from August to 
October, 1615, and Poyrune cleverly employed Smith 
“ to man^e their fights ” when it was a case of attacking 
Spanish ships, but when English people were captured 
he was promptly sent down below. Repeatedly Poyrune 
had promised to land Smith at the Azores, yet now he 
was at length sent in the caravel to France, whither also 



250 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

the squadron started ofF. But that night she got separ- 
ated from them by a gale, and when Smith’s caravel 
reached her anchorage not far from La Rochelle it was 
already November. Instead of receiving his share of the 
prize money as promised to the extent of 10,000 crowns, 
he was still kept a prisoner in the caravel. 

La Rochelle is that French port on the west coast 
separated by a narrow strait from the He de R^, and in 
those times as in ours strongly associated with the New- 
foundland fishing trade. R 6 is eighteen miles long and 
also comes into our story. For, after about a week of 
captivity in that caravel, there came a heavy November 
gale, which caused the Frenchmen to remain “ under 
hatches.” Smith watched his chance, and with great 
pluck got away in the ship’s boat. The current was so 
strong and the seas so bad that he had a difficult time, 
being swept out towards the Atlantic. It was raining 
hard with heavy squalls, but still he remained afloat. 
Tired out with bailing and sculling from the boat’s stern, 
he expected every minute would be his last, but wdnd and 
tide turned together, the seas were thus moderated and 
he finally came ashore at a muddy island to the south of 
the He de R^ at the River Charente, where he was found 
by some fowlers half drowned and nearly dead with cold 
and hunger. He made them a present of the boat in 
return for means to reach La Rochelle. 

Smith, by this latest of narrow escapes, had been again 
remarkably lucky ; for about eighteen miles to the north, 
where all Poyrune’s squadron had arrived, this same 
gale caused devastation. Thirteen ships were wrecked 
on the island, Poyrune himself and half of his company 
were drowned and over 100,000 worth (in then current 
money) of treasure captured at sea was thus lost. Some 
men had escaped, and Smith promptly had them arrested 
to prove before the Admiralty judge the justice of his 
claims for prize money. After this Smith went further 



AT SEA AGAIN 


251 


south to Bordeaux, where he interviewed the English 
ambassador and met again that old shipmate, Crampton, 
with whom he had been to New England. 

At La Rochelle Madame Chanoyes, like Tragbig- 
zanda, Callamata and Pocahontas treated him charitably, 
so at last, in the knowledge that some 3600 crowns’ 
worth of goods had come ashore from the valuable West 
Indiaman, and that the caravel also was saved, and the 
judge promising that he should have justice. Smith left 
France in December and got back to Plymouth, where he 
had long since been given up for dead. Nor did he waste 
much time in obtaining justice in respect of those 
mutineers who had left him with the Frenchmen to 
proceed home. He caused to be arrested as many of 
the ringleaders as he could find, and the rest were taken 
before the proper authority, and after examination con- 
fessed the truth. 




CHAPTER XIX 


SMITH COMES ASHORE 

IIS was the last of Smith’s voyages, 
and now at the age of 36 his long list 
of adventures by land and sea had come 
to an end. He was to spend the next 
fifteen years that remained of his life 
in doing all that he could, by writing 
his books, distributing them and his 
maps, to create a great patriotic enthu- 
siasm for colonizing America. He had in Virginia and 
New England begun that great overseas expansion 
which was to mould the greater part of world civilization 
in accordance with Anglo-Saxon ideals. By personal 
sacrifice of mind, body and estate, through innumerable 
trials and afflictions, he had shown to the uttermost 
power of any human being his belief in this plantation 
principle. 

The following words written soon after his return 
from this French phase conclude A Description of New 
England ; and, without sententiousness or insincerity, 
they form the apologia for his attitude towards his life. 

“ Then seeing we are not borne for our selues, but 
each to helpe other, and our abilities are much alike at 
the houre of our birth, and the minute of our death : 
Seeing our good deedes, or our badde, by faith in Christs 
merits, is all we haue to carrie our soules to heauen, or 
hell : Seeing honour is our Hues ambition ; and our 
ambition after death, to haue an honourable memorie of 
our life : and seeing by noe meanes wee would bee 





SMITH COMES ASHORE 253 

abated of the dignities and glories of our Predecessors ; 
let vs imitate their vertues to bee worthily their 
successors.” 

In the spring of 1614 Pocahontas had at Jamestown 
married Captain John Rolfe of the colony, with the i^l 
approval of Powhatan, and two years later came with 
her husband on a visit to England. It was then Aat 
Smith, ever mindjful of those who had befriended him, 
petitioned the consort of James I on her behalf. “ She,” 
he submitted, “ next vnder God, was still the instrument 
to preserue this Colonie from death, famine and ytter 
confusion.” He speaks of her as “ the first Virginian 
euer spake English, or had a childe in mariage by an 
Englishman ” and begged Queen Anne “ to take this 
knowledge of her.” Pocahontas, now aged about 21 , 
was received both by the Queen and by the King, and 
during her stay in England made a favourable impres- 
sion wherever she went. Smith had not seen her since 
1609 ; and on going to see her she at first seemed not 
to recognize him. Later on she remembered him well, 
and reminded him that Smith called Powhatan father. 
She, too, now for courtesy called Smith her father. But 
the gallant ex-President, with full consciousness that 
she was a king’s daughter would not permit himself that 
honour. She then insisted he should call her child, and 
so would always be English like himself. ' They always 
told us you were dead,” she added, “ and until I reached 
Plymouth that was all that I knew.” As every one 
is aware, Pocahontas did not live to see America again, 
but died at Gravesend. 

When Smith had landed in December 1615 at Ply- 
mouth from France, he had immediately renewed his 
efforts towards voyaging again to New England. There 
was a good deal of bad feeling between the merchants 
of London and the West Country. “ I did my best to 
have united them,” he wrote, “ but that had beene more 



15+ CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

than a worke for Hercules, so violent is the folly of 
greedy covetousnesse.” Matters, however, got so far 
advanced that he was given a squadron of three good 
ships at Plymouth, where, like many other vessels at the 
same port and time, he was kept wind-bound for three 
months. The season was then passed, so he did not 
proceed, though the squadron was sent without him to 
Newfoundland. 

The year 1617 Captain Smith spent in the West 
Country trying to persuade the citizens, townsmen and 
gentry to undertake the financing of a plantation in New 
England, but neither the merchants nor the gentlemen 
had sufficient confidence in the scheme. They did, 
however, after considerable discussion promise him a' 
fleet of twenty ships for the next year and “ made me 
Admirall of the Country for my life ” under the seal 
for New England. But the scheme fell through and 
“ nothing but a voluntary fishing was effected, for all 
this aire.” 

In 1618 that distinguished lawyer, statesman and 
philosopher, Francis Bacon, had been made a peer and 
Lord High Chancellor of England, and Smith took the 
liberty of writing to try and interest this illustrious 
personage in colonizing New England. He began by 
seeking to convince the noble lord that the requisite 
qualifications were possessed. “This 19 yeares I haue 
encoimtred noe fewe dangers to learne what here I write 
in these fewe leaves. . . . With a stock of 5oooli ^ I 
durst venture to effect it, though more than loooooli 
hath bene spent in Virginia and the Barmudas to small 
purpose.” The petitioner pointed out that the Bis- 
cayners, French and Hollanders would back this scheme. 
“ But nature doth binde me thus to begg at home.” He 

^ Or about ^50,000 in to-day’s money. It is not too much to 
reckon that the value of money is now about ten times more rban what 
it was in the early seventeenth century. 



SMITH COMES ASHORE 455 

further desired that the King should be pleased to lend 
them a pinnace in which to lodge Smith’s men and 
protect the New England coast for eight or ten months 
until the colony had settled down. Such was the earnest 
enthusiasm^ of this incorrigible colonizer that he added 
the following entreaty : “ In the interim I humbly 
desyre your Honour would be pleased to grace me with 
the title of your Lordship’s servant. Not that I desyre,” 
he was very careful in adding, “ to shut vpp the rest of 
my dayes in the chamber of ease and idlenes, but that 
thereby I may be the better countenanced for the prose- 
cution of this my most desyred voyage.” 

Thus, to the utmost of his power, did Smith endeavour 
to continue his pioneering, and it is perhaps unfortunate 
that Bacon had to decline this application. But, for all 
these disappointments and lack of results, he was doing 
some sound constructive work. The map which he had 
made of New England had already shown itself a good 
piece of work in contradistinction to those earlier 
“ plots ” that had been found so inaccurate. This map 
dating from 1614 has been, in fact, the basis of New 
England charts. The book, A Description of New 
En^land^ however, had been printed in 1616 before 
Prince Charles had altered the nomenclature of certain 
places and points, but the map when en^aved contained 
the names in accordance with the Prince’s choice. It is 
to be noted, further, that Boston was given not to the 
locality which to-day we recognize on the River Charles, 
but to that district where the modern Portsmouth stands, 
and originally known to Smith by the name of 
Accominticus. 

It was in 1 620 that he published his tract New Englands 
Trials^ with the intent to show its capabilities of success, 
but the substance of this had been written in 1618 and 
employed in that effort to persuade Bacon. The first 
copies printed were dedicated “ To the Right Honorable 



256 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

and Worthy aduenters to all discoueries and Plantations, 
espetially to New England.” Other copies contained a 
dedication “ To the Right Worshipfvl the Maister, the 
Wardens, and the Companie of the Fish-mongers.” 
And it is characteristic that he feels it necessary to add a 
word of explanation to this piece of valuable information 
yet honest propaganda. “ Many,” he says, “ db thinke 
it strange, if this be true, I haue made no more vse of it, 
and the rest so long without employment. And I thinke 
it more strange,” he defends himself, “ they should tax 
me before they haue tried what I haue done both by Sea 
and Land, as well in Asia, and Affrica, as Europe and 
America.” His object was to influence peers of the 
realm and the City companies of London so as to get 
people “ to inhabite as good a country as ahy in the 
world, within that parallel : which with my life and 
what I haue I will endeuour to effect, if God please, and 
you permit.” 

To all these arguments and illustrative narration con- 
cerning New England under the above title we know that 
Smith gave the widest publicity that his zeal and money 
could provide. Just as he had spent the summer of 
1616 travelling about to such Western towns as Bristol, 
Exeter, Barnstaple, Bodmin, Fowey, Saltash, Dartmouth, 
Totnes, giving the Cornish and Devonshire gentry 
books and maps showing what profits the few ships sent 
out to New England had reaped, so by the year 1621 
he had caused to be printed of New Engiands Trials two 
or three thousand copies : “ one thousand with a great 
many Maps both of Virginia and New-England, I 
presented to thirty of the chiefs Companies in London 
at their Halls, desiring either generally or particularly 
(them that would) to imbrace it, and by the vse of a 
stocke of fiue thousand pound, to ease them of the super- 
fluity of the most of their companies that had but strength 
and health to labour.” 



SMITH COMES- ASHORE 


257 

But again he was disappointed, having waited most 
of a year to see what they would perform. Nothing 
could be done with these corporations, but he bore the 
disappointment with patience. “ For all this, in all 
this time,” he wrote, “ though I had divulged to my 
great labour, cost, and losse, more than seven thousand 
Bookes and Maps, and moved the particular Companies 
in London, as also Noblemen, Gentlemen, and Merchants 
for a Plantation, all availed no more than to hew Rocks 
with Oister-shels ; so fresh were the living abuses of 
Virginia and the Summer lies in their memories.” In 
1622 was printed a new edition of this tract, doubtless 
because so many copies had been distributed and he 
desired still further to urge the claims of this New 
England which he admired even more than Virginia. 
Nor, since he was unable to get finance and ships to 
voyage there himself, did he cease to employ his literary 
ability still further. In April of 1621 he began that 
much more ambitious The Generali Historie of Virginia^ 
New England^ and the Summer Isles, which was not to 
appear until three years later. 

Smith’s aim, as he explained to the London Virginia 
Company in that month, was to let the public know of 
Virginia’s “ faire and good report,” so that the high 
opinion of her might be advanced, the work of such men 
as Somers, Raleigh, Gates, De la Warr and others per- 
petuated. Such a general history written down to that 
day would go all over the kingdom. A four-page pro- 
spectus was issued to the nobility and gentry, and the 
statement was added that “ these obseruations are all I 
haue for the expences of a thousand pound, and the losse 
of eighteene yeeres of time. . . . Therefore I humbly 
entreat your Honour, either to aduenture, or giue me what 
. you please towards the impression, and I will be both 
accountable and thankful ; not doubting but that the 
Story will giue you satisfaction, and stirre vp a double 



258 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

new life in the Aduenturers, when they shall see plainely 
the causes of all those defailements, and how they may be 
amended.” 

There is something pathetic in this self-effacement 
coming on the top of his innumerable adventures and 
perils, his disappointments and rebuffs. It is yet 
another side which manifests itself to us as this man 
goes plodding along convinced, beyopd all discourage- 
ment, of his serious mission in life. This Generali 
Historie consisted of six books. The first concerns 
itself with the voyages and unsuccessful efforts to 
colonize Virginia up till 1605. The second and third 
books are revised reprints of Smith’s previously pub- 
lished accounts concerning Virginia, which we have 
already mentioned. The fourth book begins at his 
departure from Jamestown and carries the story down 
till the year 1624. The fifth book is an account of the 
discovery and settlement of the Bermudas or Somer 
(wrongly named Summer) Isles. Inasmuch as Smith 
never visited Bermuda, tlfiis portion is to be regarded 
essentially as a compilation of some historical and pro- 
paganda matter than as first-hand information. The 
sixth book consists of a reprint with variations of Smith’s 
A Description of New England and New England's Trials^ 
together with his map of New England and some 
extracts from other writers. He is not a bit frightened 
of repetition, for he is so set on getting his countrymen 
to see the vast potentialities of this New World that 
awaits them beyond the sea. 

We may count ourselves as fortunate that Smith lived 
and wrote at a time when the language of England was 
so full of beauty, containing all the excellence of Eliza- 
bethan words and phrases, together with a solemnity of 
rhythm and quaintness associated with the Bible’s 
Authorized Version. Smith brought to his task excep- 
tional powers of observation trained by long and diverse 



SMITH CbMfiS ashore 259 

travel ; clarity of thought developed by the long dis- 
cipline of organizing and ruling ; a sense of humour 
which is born of familiarity with oft encountered danger ; 
a charm that belongs to a refined mind ; an unusual 
tystraintj even when most indignant against injustice and 
inefficiency ; and, finally, an infectious enthusiasm which 
overflows from a heart that has been filled with patriotic 
and dutiful longing. The romance of attempting, the 
joy of beginning for posterity a great and noble task, 
were to him so real and lovely that all the intrigues of 
colleagues, all the indifference of superiors were but 
annoying incidents ; and in his narrations, his letters 
and his criticisms we can almost see the man who writes 
them. Always we can feel his vigorous, virile personality. 
From the many instances already afforded in these pages 
the reader is in a position to judge for himself. 

In 1622, whilst writing that fourth book of the 
Generali Historie he does not hesitate to criticize as an 
expert the failings of his successors in Virginia. But he 
does it not in any vindictive manner, yet as an expert 
with a view to the greater good and not without 
personal diffidence. Take the following as an instance, 
when he concludes his opinion ; “I confesse I am 
somewhat too bold to censure other mens actions being 
not present, but they haue done as much of me ; yea 
many here in England that were neuer there, and also 
many there that knowes little more then their Plantations, 
but as they are informed : and this doth touch the glory 
of God, the honour of my Country, and the publike 
good so much, for which there’ hath beene so many faire 
pretences, that I hope none will be angry for speaking 
my opinion.” 

In this same year, too, he begged the Virginia Com- 
pany in London most earnestly to permit him go out 
thither and make good the bad results of that massacre 
of March 22, 1622. “ If you please,” he petitioned, 



aSo CAfTfAIN JOHN SMITH 

** I may be transported with a hundred Souldiers and 
thirty Sailers by the next Michaelmas, with victuall, 
munition, and such necessary prouision ; by Gods 
assistance, we would endeuour to inforce the Saluages to 
leaue their Country, or bring them in that feare and 
subiection that euery man should follow their businesse 
securely.” He was all afire again to go forth, but whilst 
most of the Company were in favour of the project others 
could think only of the cost ; so yet again he had to 
drink the dregs of bitter failure. 

This unfortunate massacre was followed in June, 1 624, 
after mismanagement, by the bankruptcy of the London 
Virginia Company so that the King recalled their com- 
mission. Smith was about to send most of his book 
to the press at any rate by March 24, 1624, and there 
is reason to suppose that after the above dehdcle this 
Generali Historie was rushed through the printers, so as 
to check the ill-effects which bad news might have on 
England’s future colonization. The book was entered 
at Stationers’ Hall on July 1 2 of that year, and thus Smith 
was able to render by his authorship more than ordinary 
assistance to stem a terrible ebb. With his dedication in 
the first volume to the Duchess of Richmond, who in 
answer to his prospectus had contributed handsomely, 
he is able to add the proud assurance that “ I am no 
Compiler by hearsay, but haue beene a reall Actor.” 

And before we pass on to his other writings we must 
stop a moment to note how closely he was associated with 
the colonizing of North America under quite different 
auspices. Indirectly he was the cause of that party of 
74 English Nonconformists and 28 women of John 
Robinson’s church at Leyden sailing in the “ May- 
flower ” on September 6, 1620, from Plymouth. For 
after Smith had circulated seven thousand of his books 
and maps, “ At last,” he writes, “ upon these induce- 
ments, some well disposed Brownists, as they are termed, 



SMITH COMES ASHORE 261 

with some Gentlemen and Merchants of Layden and 
Amsterdam, to save charges, would try their owne con- 
clusions, though with great losse and much miserie till 
time had taught them to see their owne error ; for such 
humorists will never beleeve well, till they bee beaten 
with their owne rod.” The Brownists were a sect 
founded by Robert Browne, who died in 1633. And 
Smith with all his expert knowledge was willing to act 
in command of this emigrating party, whose services 
were declined perhaps not wholly in order “ to save 
charges ” but because Smith was a staunch member of 
the Church of England and (as we know from his 
Advertisements for the unexperienced Planters) believed in 
her “ prime authority,” hated factions and idealized 
unity in matters of religion as much as he admired the 
oneness of the Turkish Empire at that time. The 
“ Mayflower ” Pilgrim Fathers who went out and 
founded New Plymouth, who were the shock troops in 
the rebellion against the English Bishops, would never 
have consented to place themselves under the leadership 
of one who so heartily believed in sound ecclesiastical 
rule. 

Smith was naturally a little hurt that these and others 
should have availed themselves of his labours whilst 
spurning his personal assistance, and with his lack of 
sympathy towards narrow Puritanism this feeling was 
increased. Pie says in his Advertisements : “ Now since 
them called Brownists went (some few before them also 
having my bookes and maps) . . . they would not be 
knowne to have any knowledge of any but themselves, 
pretending onely Religion their governour, and frugality 
their counsell, when indeed it was onely their pride, and 
singularity, and contempt of authority.” 

The result of all his writing, travelling and canvassing 
in England was that vessels were going out from Ply- 
mouth to fish, and that an historical party of unhappy 



262 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

dissenters seeking a new land chose part of this very 
area which Smith had so ardently advocated. In that 
year 1620 already about half a dozen West Country 
vessels had gone across to New England waters but 
solely for the purpose of fishing. Without mentioning 
her name Smith gives us the information that the “ May- 
flower ” which had been provided by “ some well dis- 
posed Gentlemen and Merchants of London and other 
places,” was of 160 tons, and that she sighted Cape Cod 
on November 9 having, as stated, left Plymouth on 
September 6. The next few weeks the passengers were 
compelled to endure leaky cabins ; and then “ for want 
of experience,” he remarks with the criticism of one who 
knows and could have guided them better, “ ranging 
to and again, six weeks before they found a place they 
liked to dwell on.” 

Similarly, when in 1629 the Puritans sailed from 
England to found the Massachusetts Bay colony, he 
writes with interest that same year : ” Now this yeare 
1629. a great company of people of good ranke, zeale, 
meanes, and quality, have made a great stocke [i.e. got 
together a large capital], and with six good ships in the 
moneths of Aprill and May, they set saile from Thames, 
for the Bay of Massachusetts, otherwise called Charles 
River ” ; and these six were the ” George Bonaventure,” 
**_Talbot,” “ Lion’s Whelj),” “ Mayflower,” ” Four 
Sisters,” and ” Pilgrim,” with men, women, children, 
cattle, horses, goats and so on. It was the practical 
proof that his exploring and writing were just and 
advantageous. There can have been few things more 
comforting, just two^ years before his death, than this 
knowledge of how his great work was already showing 
the first fruits, even if for him it was forbidden to gather 
thereof. 

In 1626 appeared that classic entitled An Accidence; 
or, The Pathway to Experience, Of this there are two 



SMITH COMES ASHORE 263 

versions. The first was reissued in 1627 and 1636. 
The second version appeared in 1653, 1691 and 1692. 
Thus the two ran for some time side by side, and the fact 
that there was a demand for these six books in less than 
seventy years shows the great interest that was now taken 
during the later seventeenth century on the subject. 
Actually it was a tract on seafaring, an elementary primer 
to inform the young sea-struck mind. A modern author 
would have entitled it “ All About Seafaring.” In his 
dedications Smith mentions that “ many young Gentle- 
men and Valiant spirits of all sorts, do desire to try their 
Fortunes at sea ” ; and it was owing to his friend, Sir 
Samuel Saltonstall of London, that he was persuaded to 
write this brief discourse, “ not as instruction to 
Marriners nor Sailors. . . . But as an intraduction for 
such as wants experience, and are desirous to learne 
what belongs to a Seaman.” 

At the back of Smith’s mind was still the ardour for 
plantation ; and since ships and sailors were few but 
the essential means for colonization, therefore he felt 
the urge to do what he could towards encouraging the 
seaman’s art. Smith speaks of this as “ a subject I 
never see writ before,” but actually Sir Henry Main- 
waring’s The Seaman's Dictionary or Nomenclator Navalis^ 
though not printed till 1 644, was indeed written about 
the year 1622.^ If therefore the Accidence was the first 
book on seamanship to be printed, it was not quite the 
first to be written. Already William Bourne had pub- 
lished in 1573 his Regiment for the Sea^ which was the 
first work on navigation ever written by an Englishman. 
It is not true, as some modern critics have remarked, 
that Smith’s tract was the first to deal also with naval 
gunnery. William Bourne in the year i '587 had 
published The Arte of Shooting in Great Ordnance. John 

1 See The Life and Works of Sir Henry Main«/aring,vol. ii., hy G. E. 
Mainwaring and W. G. Perron, London, 1922. 



26 + CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Davis, the Arctic explorer, in 1594 published The Sea- 
man*s Secrets^ which became very popular and took the 
place of the Spanish Martin Cortes' handbook which 
had been used by Englishmen in a translation. There 
had been other foreigners, such as Alonso de Chavez, 
Hieronymo de Chavez, Roderigo Zamorano who had 
also written works on the seaman’s art ; therefore we 
must not claim for Smith’s little book more than rightly 
belongs. 

On the other hand certain modern writers have 
expressed surprise that Captain John Smith, the soldier, 
should have written on a subject of na,utical interest. To 
me this is in no wise startling. Nominally and by 
experience Smith was a land warrior, but in those days 
the senior officer of a ship which went exploring, or on 
an expedition, was a Captain who not necessarily had 
been a sailor. Under him immediately were the 
Master and Mate whose duties were to see that the ship 
was kept on the course given and supervise the general 
seamanship, such as the trimming of the braces and 
sheets, the setting and furling of sails, anchoring and 
so on. The pilot was the navigating officer and expert 
in charts, the use of the astrolabe and cross-staff. But 
supreme in the ship, and especially when she had to go 
into action, was the Captain. Even if he had come 
on board as ignorant of the sea as most military men, 
yet it was not long before he had picked up a good work- 
ing knowledge of ship-handling : every subsequent 
voyage made him still more familiar with this hidden art. 

But Smith was in a category different from most other 
captains in that from his boyhood’s days he had been 
using the sea in , so many vessels and such different 
waters. He had been shipwrecked, he had sailed the 
North Sea and English Channel, all round the Medi- 
terranean before reaching a military captain’s rank. 
He had sailed across to Africa and even farther south, 



SMITH COMES ASHORE 


265 

he had been in both Adriatic and Atlantic naval engage- 
ments, he had voyaged to Virginia and back, to New 
England and back, to the Azores, been in more sea- 
fighting and directed privateers’ engagements ; he had 
come north again to La Rochelle and once again sailed 
to Plymouth. But, apart from all this big-ship voyaging, 
he had, in spite of the lack of professional seamen’s 
assistance, done some capital small-craft cruising all 
over the Chesapeake Bay district and, at a later date, in 
another small boat up and down the New England coast 
surveying. And the fact that he had brought his men 
and vessel through bad weather safely gave evidence 
of his fine practical ability quite apart from his endow- 
ment as a leader of men. 

Smith therefore was not merely a soldier but a very 
fine sailor. He was a man of parts, as capable an 
administrator as he was powerful pleader for plantations. 
His Accidence^ written anyhow in an informal style, with 
little regard to arrangement, from the depths of his 
knowledge gained by experience, is so full of detail and 
so suggestive of sea life that we can almost hear the 
sounds and sense the smells of shipboard. It has to be 
read in the spirit with which it was written, and, although 
Smith gives a short list of works by other nautical writers 
which he recommends for study, yet he cannot forget 
that school in which he himself learned. “ Get some of 
those bookes,” he advises the young seaman, “ but 
practise is the best.” And there can be no doubt but 
that Smith, the soldier, was a much abler sailor than 
most of his contemporaries, who had never done one- 
tenth of his seafaring. 

In was in 1625 that there appeared in Purchas’ 
Pilgnmes a condensed account of Smith’s travels in 
Europe, and in the Appendix we have dealt with the 
source of this information. Five years later Smith 
published this narrative in full imder the title The True 



266 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captaine John 
Smith, in Europe, Asia, Affrica, and America, from Anno 
Domini 15^3 to i62g. A copy of this book in the 
British Museum, bearing the date at London of 1630, 
was entered at Stationers’ Hall on August 29, 1629. 
Smith’s travels continue down to 1604, and the Obser- 
vations, consisting chiefly of his compilation, carry on 
till 1629. 

The last book that he completed was Advertisements 
For the unexperienced Planters of New-England . . . 
It was written “ in the house of that worthy Knight 
Sir Humphrey Mildmay, so remarkable in Essex in the 
Parish of Danbery ” during October 1630 and was 
published in the year following, accompanied by the 
map of Virginia which had been engraved in 1614 and 
had appeared in some of his other works. In this final 
volume there are hints of his impending decease. It is 
dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and there 
is in the preface to the reader a little dig at those ignorant 
adventurers “ that can neither shift Sun nor Moone, 
nor say their Compasse.” He is still feeling that life 
has treated him a little hardly, and in a prefatory poem 
compares himself with a sea-mark, to warn others ftom 
disaster. 

“ If in or outward you be bound 

doe not forget to sound 
Neglect of that was cause of this 

to steare amisse.” 

So, that others may profit by his experience, he writes 
on such matters as the proper kind of people for starting 
a plantation — ^no “ Brownists, Anabaptists, Papists, 
Puritans, Separatists ” or other factious persons were 
suitable. He points out the mistakes which were made 
in his early Virginia days, the careless government and 
so on ; he tells about New England, its coast, harbours, 
habitations, and adds a number of tips likely to aid those 



SMITH COMES ASHORE 


267 

going across the Atlantic on colonizing intent. And 
yet, in spite of the way he had been treated, in spite 
of all the money and toil he had expended without 
recompense he was able to say : “ So the Country 
prosper, and Gods Name bee there praised by my 
Countrymen, I have my desire.” He was thinking of 
his beloved children, Virginia and New England, right 
till the end. 

He was planning a further work, which was to be a 
History of the Sea^ and we know how interesting, clear, 
picturesque and virile he would have made that subject. 
But he was taken ill, his tired, overworked mind and 
body had already done the labour of several men ; the 
time had come when this full career could not again 
evade death. On June 21, 1631, then living in the 
parish of St. Sepulchre, London, Captain John Smith, 
Esquiour made his will, bequeathed his Lincolnshire 
estate, left sums of money to Sir Samuel Saltonstall, and 
to certain relatives and friends, and the same day died. 
He was buried in the choir of St. Sepulchre’s and over 
his tomb were reproduced those well- won arms and his 
motto Vincere est vivere. Accordamus. The church 
was one of those unfortunately destroyed in the Great 
Fire of London thirty-five years later. 

John Smith was only fifty-one when he passed into the 
greatest of all adventures, and there can be little doubt 
but that all the intensive existence of half a century had 
already overtaxed his vigour. He who had been left on 
the field of battle as dead, to become a Turkish slave ; 
an American Indian’s captive, tied to a tree and con- 
demned to be shot, led up and down the country as some 
strange wonder, and then again sentenced to death ; he 
who had saved Jamestown over and over again from 
starvation, who was plotted against, who discovered 
bays and rivers, narrowly escaped death by poisoning, 
was blown up by gunpowder, quelled mutinies, kept the 



268 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Indians in control, fought with pirates, barely escaped 
through a gale of wind in a sinking boat ; finally, he 
who by his writing, and maps, and persuasions did even 
more for North America than if his stay had been pro- 
longed on that continent — has left behind not merely 
a romantic interest that must ever be associated with 
Virginia and New England, but a record of great achieve- 
ment in regard to both colonies. 

One has no desire to picture him as a saint. That 
his conduct was not always above reproach, that he was 
too impetuous, too full of personality to work with others 
less gifted with energy cannot be gainsaid ; but even his 
severest critics admit that he was indefatigable in his 
service to the Virginia colony. It was Neill who set 
him down as “ a quick-witted, unscrupulous, and self- 
reliant man ” ; and Alexander Brown who doubted if 
Smith ever drew his maps, suggesting that he copied 
them from some drawing. Even if that were true, it 
would not invalidate the claim for Smith as an untiring 
explorer who was the first White Man to discover the 
bays, rivers and creeks around Chesapeake. 

In regard to the family of Saltonstall it is interest- 
ing to note its connection with Smith and colonization. 
It was Sir Samuel Saltonstall, “my worthy friend,” 
whose beneficence caused Smith’s Accidence or “ Sea 
Grammar ” to be printed, and it would appear from the 
wording of the traveller’s will that he died in the house 
of this knight, who was made joint executor. It was 
his son. Captain Charles Saltonstall, who is mentioned 
by Smith in that second part of The True Travels which 
is a compilation of various narrations. The reference 
here is to the proceedings of the new plantation of St. 
Christopher in the West Indies. To this day the 
Saltonstalls of Boston are known as descendants of that 
family of early New England pioneers with whom John 
Smith was acquainted. It was Wye Saltonstall who 



SMITH COMES ASHORE 269 

translated Hondius’ Historia Mundi and gave it to the 
world in the year 1635. 

Thus the last years of Smith’s life included not merely 
a rehabilitation of his former repute (as is proved by the 
fact that the London Virginia Cotapany both asked his 
advice on colonial matters and desired him to write his 
Generali Historie) but the close friendship of gentlemen 
interested in colonial expansion. 



APPENDIX 

“THE TRUE TRAVELS” 


ROUND Smith’s account of his travels 
and adventures in Eastern Europe has grown 
up criticism whose vehemence has been 
rivalled only in regard to the credibility of 
the Pocahontas incident. That Smith’s 
experiences in Transylvania were renfiark- 
able is not to say that they are unauthentic. 
If this relation of unusual events is untrue, 
or wildly exaggerated, then Smith stands as 
a liar and a braggart. If, on the other hand, the account is 
generally correct, it does not surprise us vastly that a young man 
who went to the Continent looking for excitement was able to 
find it. The case may be presented as follows. 

A certain Francisco Farnese (a learned Italian historian who 
was secretary to Sigismund Bathori, the Transylvanian prince) 
wrote in his contemporary book dealing with the wars of Tran- 
sylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia am account of the incidents in 
which Smith figured. Purchas, who was personally acquainted 
with Smith, was in possession of the manuscript, or a copy of it by 
the year 1624, and included in the 1625 edition of his Pilgrimes 
some “Extracts of Captain Smith’s Transyluanian Acts, out of 
Fr. Fer, his storie.” This account Smith states (in chapter xi 
of The True Travels) was “ translated by Master Purchas ” from 
Francisco Ferneza. The latter’s book was translated also into 
Spanish. 

In August 1629 Smith entered for publication at Stationers’ 
Hall The True Travels^ wherein most of what was contained con- 
cerning his Hung^ian and Transylvanian experiences was nothing 
but largely a reprint of Purchas, and therefore of Farnese. Thus 
they form an impersonal account written not by a man who seeks 
his own laudation but by an Italian who, from his official position, 





APPENDIX 


271 

knew all the fects. It is impossible to dismiss them as fiction or 
just an exciting yarn, even when Smith has extended the already 
printed account to include other ventures. 

In the epistle dedicatory Smith addresses himself to three peers, 
of whom one is Robert, Earl of Lindsey, Great Chamberlain of 
England. Now this was a friend of his boyhood days, who as 
Robert Bertie had become Lord Willoughby D’Eresby in 1601, 
whom also Smith had met again in Italy after the former had been 
wounded in an affray. In 1625 Lord Willoughby had been 
created Earl of Lindsey. The question at once arises : Is it likely 
that Smith, whose father had leased the farm from the earl’s ftither, 
would invent and dedicate a pack of lies to one whom he had known 
so many years ? It was Sir Robert Cotton, who, having read 
The Generali Historie and other of Smith’s writings, “ requested 
me to fix the whole course of my passages ” through other parts of 
the world “ in a booke by it selfe.” And this was the result. 
Sir Robert Cotton (who died in the same year as Smith) was that 
celebrated antiquary whose magnificent library to-day forms one 
of the most important features of the British Museum. Cotton’s 
house was the resort of seventeenth-century intellectuals. It was 
full of books, manuscripts and other treasures, and their owner 
was too learned as a scholar not to know the difference between 
feet and feke. Can we suppose that Smith would be likely to foist 
on to this “ most learned Treasurer of Antiquitie ” a romantic 
but untruthful story of himself ? In the same letter of dedication 
Smith mentions the name of his friend, Sir Samuel Saltonstall. 
Would Smith wish to impress him with a series of felsehoods ? 

Sigismund Bathori presented Smith in 1 602 with “ three Turkes 
heads in a Shield for his Armes, by Patent, under his hand and 
Seale, with an Oath ever to weare them in his Colours.” This 
patent in 1625 — ^that is to say the year after Smith had published 
his Generali Historie and was at age forty-five held in respect 
by distinguished people — ^was officially witnessed and approved by 
Sir William Segar, Garter King of Arms, and recorded in the 
register of heraldry on August 19. Would Segar have done this 
-if he thought by such procedure he was helping to propagate a 
literary febrication ? Would not he, like Cotton, Lindsey, 
Saltonstall, Purchas and many another acquaintance, be likely to 
know whether Smith’s Travels were just a clever fraud J 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

“ M;any of the most eminent Warriers, and others,” Smith 
wrote in the dedication, “ what their swords did, their penns writ. 
Though I bee never so much their inferiour, yet I hold it no great 
errour, to follow good examples.” And in his preceding book 
An Accidence he remarks : “ As both Europe, Asia, AfFrica and 
America can partly witnesse, if all their extremities hath taught me 
any thing, I haue not kept it for my owne particuler. I know 
well I am blamed for not concealing that, that time and occasion 
hath taught mee to reueale ; as at large you may read in the life 
of Sigismundus Bathori, Prince of Transiluania, writ by his Secre- 
tary Francisco Fernezsa.” 

“We know enough of London society in the year 1629,” 
wrote Professor Arber in his introduction to Smith’s works, “ and 
of the Episcopal censorship of the English press at that time, to be 
quite sure that no man would have dared to offer to Sir Robert 
Cotton and those three Earls as true travels a deliberately made-up 
story of adventures which never happened. This alone is suffi- 
cient to show that these true travels is an honestly written narra- 
tive of personal experiences.” 

But, supposing they are not, how was it that Smith named a 
headland in Virginia “ Point Ployer,” or that promontory “ Cape 
Tragbigzanda,” or those three islands, off there, “ Three Turks 
Heads”? And this, you will remember, was done in 1614. 
Why did Sergeant Robinson testify to Smith who “hast my 
Captaine beene in the fierce wars of Transiluania ” if Smith were 
never there ? If this was all a misrepresentation, why did Smith’s 
friends allow his arms and epitaph to appear on his tomb in St. 
Sepulchre’s church with the inscription ? — 

“ Shall I report his former service done 
In honour of his God and Christendome ; 

How that he did divide from Pagans three. 

Their Heads and Lives, Types of his Chivvy ; 

For which great service in that Climate done. 

Brave Sigismundus (King of Hungarion) 

Did give him as a Coat of Armes to weare. 

Those conquer’d heads got by his Sword and Speare.” 

To me the evidence seems conclusive in its accumulation. 
There are certainly inaccuracies as to detail and times. Alexander 
Brown points out that, where Smith refers to Georgio Busca, this 



APPENDIX 


273 

celebrated Albanian General should be George Basti j and that 
Zachel Moses is properly Moses Tzekely ; but surely these are 
small points. Nor does the fact that at the time when Smith 
claimed to have killed Turks the latter were Sigismund’s allies 
weaken the story as a whole. Smith was not an accurate historian, 
but the general truth of his extraordinary adventures is, in the 
essentials, well supported, 

Alexander Brown assails “ the vain character of Smith,” but 
was Smith more than reasonably and justifiably proud of his own 
amazing experiences ? It is true that occasionally Smith “ takes 
events of several years and bunches them all together, or an event 
of one year and assigns it to another year ” ; but we must remember 
that Smith wrote concerning his early travels only many years 
after the events, when his memory had been further stored with 
remarkable incidents in other parts of the world. There is in 
the very first page of The True Travels an obvious mistake, where 
Smith says that his parents died when he was “ about thirteene 
yeeres of age.” Seeing that he was baptized in January 1580 and 
his fiither was buried in April 1 596? the lad was certainly sixteen : 
and throughout his writings there are various notable inaccuracies 
as to dates, for like many other people Smith had no genius for 
figures. Thus, he gives both July 22 and September 10, 1608, 
as the date when Ratcliffe was deposed ; and there are other slips. 

But that in an unscientific age a man of action and adventure 
should, relying on his memory, presently find his recollection a 
little blurred is natural enough : only a very prejudiced critic 
would infer that therefore Smith was a deliberate liar. If one 
looks back twenty years on certain incidents which stand out in 
one’s own life, how easy it is to err when it comes to a matter of 
exact date. So it was with Smith after living through a period so 
closely packed with breathless events ; and even Alexander Brown 
is compelled to add “ . . . However, I do not attribute all of his 
errors to selfish motives.” 

“ The world has been searching for data regarding him for 
two hundred years,” wrote the same keen critic, “ but has found 
little beside what he tells us in his own works.” And, provided 
these are read with understanding and available knowledge of the 
circumstances, we are not likely to find a few discrepancies fetal 
to the story’s validity. 


3 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 


I 

SMITH’S OWN WRITINGS 

The reader is referred to the body of the text for discussion as to the books 
which Smith completed, but it will be convenient here to collect them 
into the chronological order in which they appeared. 

A 'Trve Relation of such occurrences and accidents of mate as hath hapned 
in Virginia since the first planting of that Collony ... is the earliest 
printed account of the Jamestown plantation, ■written before June 2, 1608. 
It was sent home by Smith not for publication, but as a private account 
of the proceedings since leaving England. It fell into the hands of one 
whose initials are “ I. H.,” “ who thought good to publish it.” It was 
entered at Stationers’ Hall on August 13 of that same year, so no time 
was wasted. There are three copies in the British Museum. On the 
title-page there is a three-masted ship with topsails on fore and main. 
There is also reproduced Smith’s map of Virginia showing the Chesapeake 
district : but some copies have suffered at the edges by having the latitude 
and longitude measurements cut. Two points are to be noted concerning 
this first volume : it was supposed to have been written (a) “ by a Gentle- 
man of the said Collony to a worshipfull friend of his in England,” it was 

(b) next ascribed to “Th. Watson. Gent.,” and not till 1615 •was it 

(c) admittedly “ written by Captain Smith.” And, secondly, there is no 
n^ention of the Pocahontas rescue incident — probably because it was not 
desirable that the matter should be discussed in England and misunderstood. 

A Map of Virginia. With a Description of the Covntrey. . . . Written 
by Captaine Smith, sometimes Govemour of the Country with “ relations 
of divers other diligent observers there present then, and now many of 
them in England,” taken faithfully from their writings by the Rev. 
Dr. W. Simmonds, was printed not in London but at Oxford in 1612', 
possibly in order to prevent the influence of the London Virginia Com- 
pany from preventing its appearance. It contains also Smith’s map of 
Virginia mentioned above, but the date of the engraving (by William 
Hole) is given now inaccurately as 1606, It has been erroneously stated 

374 ; 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 


275 

b7 some of Smith’s modem critics that he merely copied this map from 
previous “ plots ” made by Gosnold and others. It is difficult to see 
how this could have been done, inasmuch as Smith was the first White 
Man to have penetrated into bays, rivers, creeks and many Indian villages 
of the Chesapeake district. This publication, as to its first part, was a 
revised and fuUer expression of his official Mappe of the Bay and RiverSy 
with an annexed Relation of the Countries and Nations that inhabit thenty 
sent to the London Virginia Company in the autumn of 1608. An 
abridged version of A Map of Virginia appeared during 1625 in Purchas’ 
Pilgrimes. 

A Description of New England was for the most part written whilst a 
prisoner on board a French privateer, “ to keepe my perplexed thoughts 
from too much meditation,” in the autumn of 1615. manuscript 

went with him during his narrow escape from drowning when he came 
ashore at the Charente that dark night of the gale. It was afterwards 
completed, the account was entered at Stationers’ Hall on June 3, 1616, 
and the printing finished fifteen days later. In some copies there is 
found an additional page beginning “ Because the Booke was printed ere 
the Prince his Highnesse had altered the names, I intreate the Reader, 
peruse this sch^ule ; which will plainely shew him the correspondence 
of the old names to the new.” There follows in parallel columns the 
names of the places as Smith had marked them, and those which the boy 
Prince preferred. This book was of such European interest that it was 
afterwards translated in Frankfurt and abridged in Leyden. 

New Englands Trials was in the main ■written by Smith not later than 
1618. It was printed in 1620, two or three thousand copies being issued, 
one thousand with maps of Virginia and New England. There is a first 
and rare edition of this in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. In the British 
Museum there is a copy dated 1620. A second and enlarged edition 
appeared in 1622, having been made ready for the press by October. 
The departure of the Pilgrim Fathers, and the reinforcements to foBow, 
had created a demand for the printed information that Smith was so 
anxious to supply. 

The Generali Historie of Virginiay New England and the Summer Isles 
had been contemplated ever since April, 1621- It was hurried through 
the press at the last, being entered for publication at Stationers’ Hall on 
July 12, 1624, to check public feeling over the collapse of the London 
Virginia Company. In this important work Smith quite rightly and 
properly gives the full account of the Pocahontas incident : for he is now 
deliberately ■writing history Avith the approval and encouragement of the 
London Company. It is a considered account after some sixteen years. 



276 ‘CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

and there is every justification for giving a more perfect rendering of the 
escape. In the Granville Library of the British Museum there is a very 
fine copy of this volume dated 1624. The title-page with its much 
reduced map of Virginia (Old and New) and New England, its medallions 
of Elizabeth, James I and Prince Charles ; the indication of ships wrecked 
in the Hatteras region ; and other details convey to the reader the impres- 
sive importance of this book. Inside it has the well-known maps of 
“ Ould ” and New Virginia, as well of New England containing Smith’s 
portrait. There is also reproduced the Rolfe portrait of Pocahontas, 
though not in the original edition. The success of this volume may be 
noted by the fact that further editions were produced in 1626, 1627 and 
1632. The last mentioned was, of course, in the year following Smith’s 
death. 

In 1626 was printed An Accidence or The Path-way to Experience, 
which we have already discussed. Two copies of these are to be seen in 
the British Museum. A year later came the edition entitled The Seaman’s 
Grammar, of which the Bodleian possesses a copy. Five years after 
Smith’s death An Accidence for the Sea, was , recast and reissued with a 
preface by another hand. In 1652 a re-arranged and much increased 
volume entitled The Sea-Man’s Grammar and now divided into chapters 
was published, further editions following in 1691 and subsequent year. 
The fact of the increasing popularity of the sea as a profession, the growth 
of Western colonization and the prosperity of the East India Company 
had created a demand for knowledge of seafaring duties. 

The True Travels, Adventvres, and Observations ofCaptaine John Smith 
appeared in 1 630, five years after their substance had appeared in Purchas’ 
Pilgrimes. Their interest caused them to be republished during that and 
the succeeding century in Dutch and English collections of voyages. The 
1630 impression may be seen in the GranviEe Library copy in the British 
Museum, which contains the weU-known New England map and portrait 
of Smith, together with his coat of arms and various iEustrations depicting 
those exciting incidents in Eastern Europe. The authenticity of these 
travels has been discussed on previous pages. 

Advertisements For the unexperienced Planters ofNew-England, of which 
there is a copy in the British Museum, was printed at London in 1631, 
and for two hundred years was never reissued until the Massachusetts 
Historical Society printed it again. Smith’s circular or prospectus for his 
Generali Historie of Virginia has been reproduced in facsimile from the 
only known copy, with notes by Luther S. Livingston. It was published 
at Cambridge in 1914. Other editions of Smith’s works have been 



BlBL10(SRAPHy iyj 

published in England and America, notably in “ The English Scholar’s 
Library ” in 1884. Edward Arber’s two-volume collection still remains 
the best has been attempted. In 1910 a new edition of this with an 
introduction by A. G. Bradley was published in Edinburgh, to which 
I acknowledge my indebtedness. Three years previously appeared at 
Glasgow the MacLehose edition of Tie Generali Histories True 
Travels and Sea Grammar. 


II 

SMITH’S BIOGRAPHERS AND CRITICS 

It was Charles Deane in his Notes on Wingfield’s Discourse of America 
(Boston, 1859) and in his introduction and notes to A True Relation 
(Boston, 1 866), who started the line of criticism adverse to Smith. Edward 
Duffield Neill in his Virginia Company in London (1869) and his English 
Colonization of America (1871) ; Charles Dudley Warner in his Study of 
the Life and Writings of John Smith (New York, 1881) ; Coit Tyler in 
his History of American Literature (1879) ; J. A. Doyle in his English in 
America (1881-2) ; Alezander Brown in The Genesis of the United States 
(Cambridge, Mass., 1890) have all been highly sceptical. On the other 
hand, William Wirt Henry (see Virginia Historical and Philosophical 
Society Proceedings, 1882, published at Richmond, Virginia) strongly 
defended him ; as did J. Poindexter in his Captain John Smith and his 
Critics (i 893) ; Professor Arber in his various writings about Smith ; and 
A. G. Bradley in his life of Captain John Smith (1905). 

Among the modern biographies and other publications may be men- 
tioned C. K. True’s monograph (1882) ; The True Story of Captain John 
Smith, by K. P. Woods (1901) ; E. P. Roberts’ The Adventures of Captain 
John Smith (1902), E. Boyd Smith’s The Story of Pocahontas and Captain 
John Smith (1905), A. L. Haydon’s Captain John Smith (1907), and 
^os^t'ex]o)xtssoTalsCaptain John Smith (1915). In 1905 appeared a fresh 
edition of The True Travels edited by A. J. Philip, and another edition 
three years later under the editorship of E. A. Benians. Such volumes as 
John Carter Brown’s New England’s Trials (1867) ; Alexander Brown’s 
New Views of Early Virginia History (1886); and J. R. Bartlett’s 
Bibliotheca Americana may be studied with profit. 

In the Library of the Congress, Washington D.C. ; among the Harleian 
MS. in the British Museum; the State Papers, Colonial, and State 



278 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

Papers, Domestic, at the Public Records Office, London ; and in the 
Lambeth Palace Library will be found original and contemporary docu- 
ments illustrating the life of Smith and the Virginia Company. Professor 
Arber by including these in his introduction to Smith’s Travels and Works 
rendered a great service to future readers, for which all modern writers 
owe a debt. 





INDEX 


Abbot, J., 209. 

Accowmack, i6z. 

Accominticus, 255. 

Actium, Battle of, 35. 

Adam, a Dutchman, 201, 230. 

Africa, 21, 23, 26, 3+, 35, 73, 79, 83, 
87, 1 13, 181, 244, 256, 264, 272. 
Alba Regalis (see Stuhlweissenberg). 
Albemarle Sound, 176, 196. 
Alexandrctta (Scanderoon), 35. 
Alexandria, 35. 

Alford, 12. 

Algiers, 26, 244. 

Algonquin, 161. 

Alikock, J., 136. 

Amadas, Captain P., 176, 177, 183. 
Amazon, River, 108. 

Ann, Cape, 62, 241. 

Anne, Queen, 146, 253. 

Antibes, 37, 38. 

Apocant, 133, 135. 

Appamatuck, 1 14, 194. j 

Arber, Professor E., 147, 272, 277. 
Archer, Captain G., 98, 108, 1 1 5, 1 1 6, 
117, 119, 120, 121, 126, 132, 150, 
155, 222, 223, 225, 227. 

Argal, Captain S., 220, 221. 

Arjish, 55. 

Arles, 30. 

Armada, Spanish, i, 6, 79, 85- 
Astrakhan, 67. 

Austria, 6, 27. 

Azores, 6, 7, 122, 180, 220, 236, 237, 
245, 248, 249, 265. 

Bacon, Sir F., Baron Verulam, 14, 
254. 

Bagnall, A., 169, 171. 

Bahamas, 4, 8, 224. 


Baker, D., 245. 

Barbados, 8. 

Barlow, Captain A., 176. 

Barnstaple, 256. 

Barrow, Captain, 248, 249. 
Baskerheld, 59. 

Basti, G. (Busca, G.), 44, 4.6, 54, 
272. 

Bathori, Sigismund, 46, 47, 52, 70, 
71, 270, 271, 272, 273. 

Bayonne, 30. 

Beadle, G., 186. 

Bermuda, 232, 233. 

Bermudas, 223, 232, 234. 

Bertie, the Hon. Peregrine, second son 
of Lord Willoughby (see Lindsey). 
Bertie, the Hon. Robert, elder son of 
Lord Willoughby (see Lindsey). 
B&iers, 30. 

Bishop, T., 60. 

Black Sea, 61, 64, 66. 

Blackwall, 97, 98, 103, 112,121,155. 
“ Blessing,” 223, 224. 

Bodmin, 256. 

Bojador, Cape, 3, 75. 

Bordeaux, 30, 251. 

Boston, 144, 255, 268. 

Bourne, William, 263. 

Bradley, A. G., 142, 146, 277. 
Brazils, 5, 87. 

Brinton, E., 201. 

Bristol, 92, 175, 237, 248, 249, 256. 
Brookes, Edward, 106. 

Brookes, John, 115. 

Brown, Alexander, 268, 272, 273. 
Brownists, 261, 266. 

Bruster, W., 136. 

Budapest, 46. 

Buley, J., 239. 


279 



28o captain JOHN SMITH 


Burgundy, Duke of, 5. 

Burrowes, Anne, 174, 175. 

Busca, G. [see Basti, G.). 

Cabot, G., 175. 

Cabot, Sebastian, 5. 

Cadiz,, 13, 7z. 

Caen, 29. 

Calicut, 4. 

Callamata, The Lady, 68, 142, 251. 
Callicut, William, 185, 

Cambia, 63, 64, 71. 

Canada, 168. 

Canary Islands, 7, 74, 75, 78, 86, 103, 
105, 176, 177, 220, 223. 
Canterbury, Archbishop of, 127, 266. 
Cape Cod, 94. 

Carcassonne, 30. 

Carleton, Dudley, 122, 160, 187* 
Carlton, South, 13* 

Carlton, Ensign T., 9, 60. 

Caspian Sea, 61, 66, 67. 

Cassen, 135, 144* 

Caudebec, 29. 

Cavendish, Thomas, 177. 

Cephalonia, 35. 

Ceuta, 73, ^ 

Chamberlain, John, 122, 160, 187. 
Chanoyes, Madame, 251. 

Charente, River, 250. 

Charles, Cape, 112, 161, 19 1, 233, 
238. 

Charles, Duke of York, afterwards 
Charles I, King of England, 112, 
240-1, 255, 276. 

Charles, River (see Massachusetts, 
River), 241, 255, 262. 

Charles V, 6. 

Charleton Magne, 12. 

Chavez, de, A. and H., 264. 
Chawonock, 178, 195, 196, 220. 
Chesapeake, 107, 108, iii, 112, 117, 
132, 141, 160, 162, 164, 167, 168, 
170, 177, 183, 195, 235, 265. 
Chickahominy, 132, 133, 137, 186. 
Chowan, 196 (note). 

Civita Vecchia, 38. 

Clement VIII, Pope, 38. 

Clovell, E., 120, 136, 

Cod, Cape, 237, 238, 241, 262. 


Coe, 227. 

Collier, S., 196. 

Collson, J., 115. 

Columbus, Christopher, 4, 5, 8, 14, 
67, 84, 103, 105, 106. 

Comfort, Point, 112, 113, 116, 154, 
165, 167, 169, 216, 230. 

Compton, F., 60* 

Concord,” 94. 

Constantinople, 25, 61, 64. 

Corfu, 35. 

Cornelius, Master, 220. 

Coronel, Battle of, 183. 

Cortes, M., 264. 

Cotton, Sir Robert, 271, 272. 
Crampton, 251. 

Crete, 35. 

Croatan, 176, 177, 182. 

Crudley, ii. 

Crusaders, 14. 

Crusades, 24, 54. 

Cuba, 4, 84. 

Cursell, 29, 30. 

Curzianvcre, 28, 29. 

Cuttyhunk Island, 94. 

Cyapock, River, 87. 

Cyprus, 35. 

Dale, Sir T,, 222. 

Danbery, 266. 

Dare, Ananias (or Anas), 180. 

Dare, Eleanor, 180. 

Dare, Virginia, 180. 

Dartmouth,” 94. 

Dartmouth, 182, 236, 237, 248, 

256. 

Davis, John, 264. 

Davison, G., 60. 

Deane, Charles, 127, 144, 145, 146, 
277. 

De la Warr, Baron, 221, 222, 225, 
233 » ^ 57 * 

“Deliverance,” 232. 
Dejjtford-on-Thames, 5. 

“Diamond,” 223, 224. 

Diaz, Bartholomew, 4. 

Dieppe, 17, 29. 

“Discovery,” 99, 195. 

Dominica, 4, 84, 103, 177. 

Dover, 17, 



INDEX 


281 


Drake, Sir Francis, 4, 13, 32, 72, 89, 
90> 93» 178. 

Drury, Robert, 139, 

Duxbury, Captain J., 16, 

Dyer, William, 216, 227. 

East Indies, 14, 21. 

Ebersbaught, Lord, 39, 41, 42, 43. 
Eden, Richard, 88, 89, 94. 

Edinburgh, 16, 18. 

Edward VI, 5. 

Elizabeth, Queen of England, 6, 7, 33, 
79, 81, 84, 90, 176, 276. 

Elizabeth River, 171. 

Emry, T., 133, 135, 136, 138, 144, 
150. 

Enkhuizen, 17, 

Erasmus, 15. 

Exc, 237. 

Exeter, 92, 242, 248, 256. 

Exmouth, 94. 

<< Falcon,” 223, 224. 

Falls (James, River), 116, 117, 216, 
226, 229. 

Falmouth, 93, 223. 

Farnese, Francisco, 270, 272. 

Fayal, Azores, 245. 

Fear, Cape, 177, 179, 183. 

Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, 39, 
44, 46. 

Ferdinando, Simon, 179 
Fethcrstone, Richard, 169. 

Fitch, M., 1 1 5, 121. 

Flanders, Count of, 5. 

Florida, 89, 90, 107, 176, 177. 

Forest, Mistress, 174. 

^‘Four Sisters,” 262. 

Fowey, 256. 

Francis, a Dutchman, 201, 212, 213, 
230. 

Frankfurt, 275. 

Fugger family, 84. 

Fuller T., 144. 

Gama, Vasco da, 4. 

Gambia, River, 4. 

Gates, Sir T., 222, 225, 231, 257. 

“ George Bonaventurc,” 262. 

George, Sir F., 242. 


Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 89, 175. 
‘*God Speed,” 99. 

Good Hope, Cape of, 4, 67. 

Gosnold, A., 206. 

Gosnold, Captain B,, 91, 93, 94, 98, 
99, 109, 1 15, 121, 122, 124, 126, 
151, 177, 178, 182, 220, 236, 237, 
^ 75 - 

Gosnold’s Bay, 169. 

Gravesend, 144. 

Graz, 39, 41. 

Grenville, Sir R., 90, 177, 178, 179, 
184. 

Grualgo, 49, 50* 

Guadeloupe, 103. 

Guevara, Antonio de, 19. 

Guiana, 87. 

Guingamp, 30. 

Haiti, 4, 5, 84, 87, 106. 

Hakluyt, Rev. R., 85, 237. 

Half Moon,” 191. 

Hamor, Captain R., 145, 146. 
Hampton (Virginia), 161. 

Hardwicke, 60. 

Haryot, T., 177, 178, 179, 183. 
Hatteras, Cape, 179. 

Havre, 16. 

Hawkins, Sir John, 6. 

Henry, Cape, 1 12, 122, 155, 183, 19 1, 
233- 

Henry VII, King of England, 175. 
Henry VIII, King of England, 76. 
Henry of Navarre, 7, 8, 30. 

Henry, Prince of Wales, 112, 115, 
Henry, Prince, the Navigator, 21, 
Herbert, Lord of Cherbury, 1 7. 
Hermanstadt, 68. 

Hispaniola, i, s, 8, 84, 106. 

Hogs’ Island, 215, 232. 

Hole, William, 274. 

Holy Island, 17. 

Holy Land, 24. 

Holy League, 8, 26, 30. 

Hondius, J., 269. 

Honfleur, 29. 

Hudson, Henry, 191. 

Hudson River, 191. 

Huguenots, 7 j 32, 33- 
Hume, David, 16, 18, 27. 



282 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 


Hungary, 25, 27, +3, +4, 

Huni^ Rev, R., 98, 102, 103, 127, 
153 - 

Hunt, T., 242* 

“I. H.,»i 43, *75- 

Ireland, 86. 

Isabel of Castile, 6. 

James, Cape, 241 (^see Cape Cod). 

James I, King of England, 7, 34, 80, 
81, 86, 112, 118, 146, 237, 244, 
253, 276. 

James, River, iiz, 113, 115, 119, 
I2g, 130, 154, 155, 157, 158, 166, 
170, 171, 172, 185, 194, 195,212, 
216, 221, 233. 

Jamesfort, 122, 136, 149, 158. 

Jamestown, in, 114, 115, 116, 119, 
121, 122, 127, 128, 130, 131, 132, 
*33> *36. 137. 138, i39> 143, i+4» 
149, 150, 151, 153, 154, 156, 157, 
159, 161, 163, 164, 166, 167, 169, 
170, 171, 174, 175, 182, 183, 184, 
185, 186, 190, 192, 193, 194, 200, 
201, 205, 206, 208, 210, 212, 214, 
218, 220, 222, 224, 226, 227, 228, 
229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 259. 

Jeremy, 55, 56, 58. 

Kanizsa, 41, 43, 44, 46. 

Kecoughtan, 129, 141, 161, 165, 167, 
196. 

Kendal, Captain G,, 98, 109, 115, 
124, 131. 

Kingston-on-Hull, 5. 

Kiscll, Baron, 39, 41, 42, 43. 

Kiskiack, 197. 

Komorn, 44, 45. 

Krim-Tartars, 56, 57, 58, 59, 

Lamballe, 30, 

Lambeth, 178. 

Lambeth Palace, 12 1. 

Lampedusa, 35. 

Lancaster, Captain, 104. 

Lane, Sir R., 84, 177, 178, 179, 195. 

La Nclic, 29, 

Langam, Captain G., 239. 

Lannion, 30, 


La Roche, Captain, 33, 34, 37, 38. 

La Rochelle, 30, 246, 250, 265. 
Laydon, J., 175. 

Leghorn, 38. 

Leigh (or Ley), Charles, 87. 

Leigh (or Ley), Sir O., 87. 

Leipzig, 69, 71. 

Lepanto, Battle of, 14, 25, 34, 35. 
Leyden, 260, 261, 275. 

Lincoln, Henry, Earl of, 21. 

Lindsey, Peregrine Bertie, Earl of, 
3 3 Willoughby, 

d’Eresby). 

Lindsey, Robert Bertie, Earl of, 38, 
271. 

^^Lion,'’ 223, 224. 

^*Lion''s Whelp,’' 262- 
Livingston, L. S., 276. 

London, 34, 91, 92, 93, 95, loi, 108, 
146, i6o, 175, 189, 214, 241, 256, 
259, 260, 272, 274. 

Louth, 12. 

Lucknel, Count von, 104. 

Lynn, 13. 

MaCHIAVELLI, 20. 

Madagascar, 139. 

Madrid, 72. 

Magellan, 4, 

Magellan Straits, 249. 

Mainwaring, Sir H., 263. 
Mangoacks, 178, 220. 

Mannahoacks, 169. 

Manteo, 180. 

Manytch, River, 64, 

Marco Polo, 3. 

Marcus Aurelius, 19, 20. 

Marseilles, 30, 31, 32. 

Martha’s Vineyard, 237, 

Martin, Captain J., 98, 109, 126, 132, 
'^5^7 225, 226, 229, 

230. 

Martin V, Pope, 3. 

Massachusetts Bay, 262. 
Massachusetts Historical Society, 
276. 

Massachusetts, River Qee Charles, 
River), 24. 

Massawomekes, 164, 166, 167, 168. 
Matapan, Cape, 34. 



INDEX 


Mathias, Archduke, 44, 

Mayflower,” 80, 260, 261, 262, 
Meldri (or Meldritch), Henry Volda, 
Earl of, 39, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 

54» 55» 57» 58* 59^ 70. 

Mercoeur, Duke de, 27, 44, 45, 
46. 

Mcrham, Captain, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 
79- 

Mexico, 178. 

Mildmay, Sir Humphrey, 266- 
Milemcr, T., 60. 

Mogador, 78, 181. 

Mohacs, Battle of, 27. 

Moldavia, 54, 55, 56, 57, 70, 270- 
Monacans, 15S. 

Monferrat, 29. 

Monson, Sir W., 13, 99, 187. 
Montpellier, 30. 

Mont St. Michel, 30. 

Montserrat, 103. 

Mortagne, 29. 

Morton, Matthew, xo8. 

Moses, Z., 273. 

Moslems, 25, 26. 

Mulbery Point, 233. | 

Mulgro, Bonny, 50, 51. 

Mullincux, Robert, 60. 

Nalbrits, 63, 64. 

Nandsamunds, 170, 171, 193, 226, 
Nantes, 30, 32, 72. 

Narbonnes, 30, 32. 

Neill, E. D., 268, 277. 

Nelson, Captain F., 115, 151, 157* 
158, 160, 166. 

Netherlands, 6, 8, 26, 27. 

Nevis, Island of, 103, 105. 
Newcastle-on-Tync, 5. 

New England, 20, 83, 86, 91, 92, 94, 
182, 191, 234, 236, 241, 242, 245, 
*57i 

267, 275. 

Newfoundland, 89, 128, 175, 217. 
New Plymouth, 261. 

Newport, Captain C., 91, 93> 9S> 98> 
103, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109, II ij 
113, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121. 
122, 125, 126, 13S, 150, 151, 152 
ifZy ^54» i55> ^57, ^59 


283 

i65, 174, 175, 178, 184, 185, 186, 
187, 189, 190, 199, 221, 222. 

Nice, 31. 

Ntmes, 30. 

Nonesuch (Powhatan village), 227. 
North, Sir Thomas, 19. 

Norumbega, 238. 

Nova Francia, 90. 

Nun, Cape, 3. 

Nuremberg, 46. 

Ober Limbach, 41, 43, 52. 

Oltul, River (Aluta, Altus), 55, 58, 
70. 

Onawmament, 164. 

Opcchancanough, 134, 202, 203, 204, 

207, 208, 209. 

Orapaks, 137. 

Orleans, 16, 72. 

Otranto, Cape, 35. 

Overbury, Sir T-, 187. 

Oxford, 91, 142, 274, 275. 

Pamplico Sound, 176, 177, 181. 
Pamunkey (or Pamunk, or York), 
River, 140, 165, 184, 196, 201, 202, 

208, 21 5. 

Paris, x6, 72. 

Parsons, Father, 38. 

Paspahegh, 113, ii4> i37> ^41 j ^^2, 
213. 

Patawomeck, River (see Potomac). 

Patience,” 232. 

Pau, 30. 

Percy, the Hon. G., 98, 103, 105, 

*47> i94> 

207, 216, 229. 

Phettiplace, M,, 9, 154, 210. 
Phcttiplace, W., 9, 143? i54i ^ 95 ^ 
209, 229. 

Philip II, 6, 8, 72. 

Philip III, 7. 

‘‘Phoenix,” 151, i 57 j ^ 59 ^ 

160. 

“Pilgrim,” 262. 

Pilgrim Fathers, 275 {see also “May- 
, flower ”). 

, Pitesti, 55. 

, Ploycr, Earl of, 30, 33> 3^> 

^ Ploycr Point, 162, 272. 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 


284 

Plymouth, 34* 92* i77>22i» 223, 237, 
241, 24a, 243, 251, 254, 260, 261, 
26Z9 265. 

Pocahontas, 14 1, 142, 143, 144, 145, 
i59> 184. 

253» 370, 274* 275> =^76- 
Podolia, 56, 68. 

Poitiers, 30. 

Pont-Audemer, 29. 

Pontorson, 29. 

Poole, 249. 

Popham, Sir F., 92. 

Popham, Sir J., Lord Chief Justice, 
92, 238. 

Porto Rico, 106. 

Portsmouth (England), 179. 
Portsmouth (New Hampshire), 240, 
^55* 

Portugal, King of, 3. 

Potomac River (or Patawomcck), 140, 
161, 164, 165, 167. 

Pots, R., 143, zzg. 

Powell Islands, 168. 

Powell, K, 220. 

Powhatan (a locality), 227, 228. 
Powhatan, River, 113, 114, 126, 132, 
137 - 

Powhatan (The Great), 140, 141, 
142, 144, 149, 150, 152, 153, 154, 
i59> i^4j 184, 185, 190, 

i94> I95 j i 97 j 198, i99> ^00, 201, 
206, 207, 208, 212, 213, 217, 218, 
226, 229, 230, 

Powhatan (The Less), 117, 118, 127, 
202, 226. 

Poyrune, Monsieur, 248, 249. 

Pring, Captain M., 221. 

Profit, James, 195. 

Purchas, Rev. S., 78, 103, 116, 265, 
270, 271, 275, 276. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 13, 72, 80, 89, 
90, i73» i75> 17^5 177, 183, 184, 

189, 196, 220, 257. 

Rappahannock, River, 140, 169. 
RatclifFe (alias Sicklemore), Captain J., 

98, 99, 107, 109, 124, 131, 132, 
IS3, 158, 166, 172, 186, 

190, 222, 224, 225, 227, 229, 230, 
^73. 


Read, James, 132. 

Rebecca (sse Pocahontas). 

Regal, 48, 52. 

R6, He de, 250. 

Rennes, 30. 

Retch, 55. 

Rhodes, 35. 

Richmond, Frances, Duchess of, 62. 
Richmond (Virginia), 118, 228, 260, 
Rimnik, Pass o^ 55. 

Roanoke Island, 90, 175, 177, 178, 
179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 220, 237. 
Robinson, Jehu, 128, 133, 135, 136, 
138, 144, 150. 

Robinson, John, 260. 

Robinson, Sergeant E., 9, 60, 272. 
Rodol, Prince, 55> 57- 

Rolfe, John, Captain, 144, 146, 253. 
Rome, 20, 38. 

Rothenthurm, Battle of, 9, 39, 57, 58, 
68, 69, 150. 

Rouen, 16. 

Royden, Captain M., 239. 

Rudolph, Emperor, 27. 

Russell, Dr. W., 165. 

Russell, J., 186, 199, 202, 207. 
Kussells Isles, 162. 

Sr. Brieuc, 30. 

St. Christopher Island, 8, 103, 268. 

St. Malo, 30, 33. 

St, Mary, Island of, 31, 33. 

St. Sepulchre’s Church, London, 267, 
272. 

St. Valery-sur-Somme, 28, 30. 

SafFee, 73, 78. 

Sagrcs, 21. 

Salisbury, Earl of, 229. 

Saltash, 256. 

Salterne R., 237. 

Saltonstall, Captain C., 268. 
Saltonstall, Sir S., 263, 267, 268, 271. 
Saltonstall, Wye, 268. 

San Lucar de Barrameda, 73. 

Santa Cruz, 78. 

Sasquesahanocks, 167. 

Scanderoon Alexandretta). 
Scrivener, M., 154, 156, 157, 158, 
166, 172, 194, 195, 206, 210, 217. 
"‘Sea- Venture,’^ 222, 224, 232. 



INDEX 


** Seeadler,’* 104. 

Segar, Sir W,, 271. 

Selim II, 25. 

Sendall, T., 13. 

Sicklemore, Michael, 196, 220. 
Sicklemore (^see Ratcliife). 

Sigismund Bathori (see Bathori). 
Simmonds, Rev. Dr. W., 91, 137, 142, 
209, 231, 235, 274. 

Skelton, W., 239. 

Smith, Alice, 12, 196. 

Smith, Captain John (passim). 

Smith, Francis, 12. 

Smith, George, ii, 12, 15. 

Smith's Falls, 16S. 

Smith's Islands, 161. 

Smith's Isles, 241. 

Soliman, the Magnificent, 25. 

Somer Isles, 234. 

Somers, Sir G., 222, 225, 23 1, 232,257. 
Southampton, Earl of, 238. 

Spain, 6, 25, 72, 84, 86, 106, 152, 
238, 240. 

Sparks, M., 145. 

Spelman, Captain H., 230. 

Stafford, Captain, 179. 

Studley, T., 91, 107, 116, 123, 136. 
Stuhlweissenberg (or Alba Regalis), 


44> 45 j 46. ^ , 

Summer (Somer) Isles 


(Bermudas), 


258. 

Susan Constant,^' 98, 106, 121, 122, 


123. 

Susquehanna, River, 168. 
Swallow," 223, 224. 


Tangier Island, 162. 
Tappahannock, 165. 

Tartars, 47, 55, 56, 58, 59, 60. 
Tattfersall, 21. 

Tchernavoda, 60. 

Tenerife, 75- 

Three Turks Heads,’' Islands, 272, 
Tockwogh, River, 167. 

Todkill, A., 165, 209, 220. 
Tonquedeck, 30. 

Toppahanock (see Rappahannock), 
Totneys (Totnes), 248, 256. 

Toulon, 31. 

Toulouse, 30. 


285 

Tragbigzanda, Cape, 62, 241, 272. 
Tragbigzanda, Charatza, 61, 62, 63, 
65, 142, 251. 

Transylvania, 27, 46, 47, 53, 68, 69, 
70, 71, 270, 272. 

Tumor, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68. 

Tunis, 26, 35, 244, 245. 

Turbashaw, 48. 

Turks, 8, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 39, 42, 
43> 44» 45> 4^? 47» 4^j 49> 5^> 

54> 55» S9» 2^73* 

Turk’s Heads, 52, 71, 271. 

Tyndall, R., 115, 116. 

Tzekely, Moses (see Moses, Z.). 

Unity,’' 223, 224. 

Varna, 64. 

Vaughan, Master, 178, 184. 

Verde Islands, Cape, 4. 

Verres Torony, 57. 

Virginia," pinnace, 230. 

Virginia Company, 90, 91, 92, 94, 
100, 102, no, 114, 122, 127, 129, 
146, 151, 156, 157, 159, 173> i 77 > 
178, 182, 189, 190, 19s, 213, 220, 
222, 229, 235, 257, 259, 260, 274> 
275- 

Virginia, Old, 175, 182, 183, 184, 
193, 196, 276. 

Virginia, 83, 90, 91, 92, 93, 101, 107, 
108, III, 115, 122, 126, 130, 137, 

140, i45> i 57 » ^ 70 , 

i73> i75» i79» ^^3> 1^7* 

191, 213, 214, 215, 217, 219, 220, 

221, 222, 223, 224, 227, 230, 233, 

^36? 237> ^57» ^5^9 ^^^9 

269, 272, 274, 276. 

Volda, Earl of Meldri or Meldntch 
(see Meldri). 

Volday, W., 218. 

Volhynia, 68. 

Wainman, Sir F., 222. 

Waldo, Captain R., 174* i 94 * 

Waldo, R., 195, 206. 

Wallachia, 25, 46, 54, 55, 56, 57, 71, 

270. 

Warraskoyack (Weraskoyack), 166, 
195, 196. 



286 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 


Wassador, 178, 

Watson, Th., 274. 

Waymouth, Captain G., 221, 237. 
Weapoco, River (Cyapock), 87. 
Werowocomoco, 140, 154, 184, 185, 
i97> *98* 206, 207, 208, 

209, 2i6. 

West, 207, 225, 226, 229, 230. 

West Indies, 4, 84, 88, 89, 103, io5, 
157, 176, 214, 223, 268. 

West Point, 202. 

White, John, 179, 180, 181, 182, 
196. 

Wiffing, R., 9, 206, 207, 209. 
Wighcocomoco, River, 162. 
Williams, N., 60. 

Willoughby by Alford (Lincolnshire), 

II, 18. 

Willoughby d’Eresby, Lord (see also 
Lindsey), ii, 12, 15, 38, 168, 271. 


Willoughby, River, 168. 

Willoughby Spit, 168 (note), 
Wingandacoa, 176, 177. 

Wingfield, Captain E. M., 86, 91, 
98, 109, 114, 115, 120^ 

121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 
128, 131, 143, 144, 151, 155, 

X78. 

Winne, Captain P., 175, 194, 19^, 
201, 217. 

Wolliston, Captain, 249. 

Woolwich, 221, 223. 

Wotton, T., 1 15, 151. 

York, Duke of, 112. 

York, River (see Pamunkey). 

Zamorano, Roderigo, 264. 

Zuyder Zee, 1 7. 



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