Podcast – The Founding of Jamestown, Virginia

The Founding of Jamestown, Virginia
Britain’s first attempt at founding a colony in North America had failed at Roanoke Island in 1590. It would be almost 20 years before they would mount a second attempt at Jamestown.
From the Book:
Colonial American History Stories – 1215 – 1664

Transcript:

The Founding of Jamestown, Virginia

Britain’s first attempt at founding a colony in North America had failed at Roanoke Island in 1590. It would be almost 20 years before they would mount a second attempt.

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By the early Seventeenth Century, interest in colonizing the lands in North America was high. Spain and France were hard at work establishing overseas settlements in the New World. England was falling behind in the quest for colonies. To combat this, King James I chartered the Virginia Company of London in an attempt to settle the new lands.

The purpose of the Virginia Company, as stated by the King, was to propagate the Christian religion. The Charter stated the settlers were to engage “in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels and Savages, living in those parts, to human Civility, and to a settled and quiet Government.”

The Charter extended all the rights of an Englishman to the settlers of these lands. It gave them the normal protections that a British citizen enjoyed. The king retained ownership of the land. The shareholders and the king would share the profits of any venture. The Charter provided a governing Council both in England with a member of it in the new colonies. There were two branches of the Company, a Virginia branch and a Plymouth branch. The Virginia branch received a charter to establish colonies in the Chesapeake Bay area. The Plymouth branch obtained the New England area.

The Company hoped to profit from their ventures in the New World. To fund them they needed huge amounts of capital to finance the expeditions. They did this by selling stock in the company to investors. The stock sold for 12 pounds 10 shillings. This was equivalent to about six-month’s wages for the average worker in England at the time. After an extensive advertising effort, the Company managed to sell stock to about 1700 people. The Company would use this capital to purchase ships, supplies and recruit workers.

Recruiting workers to go to the new colonies was also a major effort. The company promised to pay for the recruit’s transport, food, clothing and tools. They had to provide their own armor and weapons. To join, workers had to indenture themselves for seven years labor for the company. At the end of the term, they would receive a portion of land in the new colony.

On December 20, 1606, three ships departed England, bound for North America with 144 men and boys. The three wooden ships were the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery.

The 120 ton Susan Constant also has references that is was really the Sarah Constant. Historians are unsure which the proper name is. At 116 feet long, she was the largest of the three ships and she carried 71 of the 104 colonists. At fifty tons, the Godspeed carried thirty-three passengers and thirteen crewmen. She would have been about sixty-eight feet long. The twenty-ton Discovery carried no passengers. Her purpose was to carry some of the cargo and navigate the shallower rivers after the colonists arrived. Replicas of all three ships reside at Jamestown National Historic Site.

The passage from England to the Virginia shores took 144 days, an unusually long voyage. The ships spent six weeks lolling in the English Channel as they waited for favorable winds that would blow them south. They arrived at Cape Henry on April 26, 1607 and native tribes promptly attacked them. They eventually chose Jamestown Island as the site for their first colony and that will be the topic of the next episode.

The episode is based upon my book, Colonial American History Stories – 1215 – 1664, available on the web site, http://www.mossyfeetbooks.com. The book is the first book in the 6 volume Timeline of United States History Series . Discover some of the famous and almost forgotten historic stories of America. The story begins with the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 and the beginnings of the concept of limited government and ends, for now, with the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775. The articles in the book have much more detail as well as articles not included in this podcast series.