Podcast – The Disastrous Jamestown Third Supply Mission

The Disastrous Jamestown Third Supply Mission

Today I will talk about the third supply mission to Jamestown colony that ended in disaster.
From the Book:
Colonial American History Stories – 1215 – 1664

Transcript:

The Disastrous Jamestown Third Supply Mission
Greetings, today I will talk about the third supply mission to Jamestown colony that ended in disaster.

June 2, 1609 – Sea Venture – Third Supply Shipment For Jamestown Leaves Plymouth, England
Laden with supplies and between 500 – 600 passengers and crew, a nine-ship fleet departed Plymouth, England bound for the new colony at Jamestown. The Sea Venture was the largest ship in the fleet and served as the flagship for the largest fleet yet assembled for departure to the New World.

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The Sea Venture was the first ship designed as an emigrant ship and included several new interior design features. The hold was designed to accommodate passengers. Previous vessels had their defensive guns placed below decks. This placement called for a double-planked hull so it could withstand the concussion of the cannon. The Sea Venture’s guns were on the main deck, eliminating this need. The Sea Venture had a displacement of 300 tons. Many sea historians think she was the first single timbered ship built for immigration.

The fleet departed from Plymouth, England on June 2, 1609 with enough supplies and livestock to last the new colony for a year. The passenger list included many of the skilled people needed to form a self-sufficient colony. These new colonists were shipwrights, carpenters, fishermen, masons, and farmers. Previous voyages to Jamestown had included numerous gentlemen, not suited for the raw life of a colonist in a new land. The captain was an experienced seaman, Thomas Newport.

The largest ship of the largest fleet assembled by the English to go to North America foundered and sank in a hurricane on July 28, 1609. The passengers and crew found refuge on a small island in the Bermuda Island group. The mission was to take new passengers and much needed supplies to Jamestown. The fleet had departed England on June 2 and was only about eight days from Jamestown when the storm struck.

The fleet ran into a hurricane in late July, only about eight days out of Jamestown. The heavy seas with their thirty-foot waves separated the fleet. The winds and waves caused a leak to develop in the Sea Venture’s hull. In the haste to get the new vessel built, the builders had not caulked the hull properly. Water rose to nine feet in the hold despite the passenger’s frantic attempts to bail the water out. The winds drove the stricken Sea Venture to the island of Bermuda where the captain ran the leaking ship aground in the Bermuda Islands.

Thus marooned, the crew and passengers took refuge on an island where they survived for the next few months. The other ships, thinking the Sea Vulture lost in the storm, continued on to Jamestown.
Fleet commander George Somers had achieved something of a miracle in the aftermath of the hurricane. The storm stranded the 150 prospective Jamestown colonists on Bermuda. He had managed to ground the ship between two of the reefs that surrounded the island. All passengers and crew had successfully escaped from the wrecked Sea Venture and were now on the island. The date was July 28, 1609, almost two months since they had set sail from Plymouth, England.

Spanish sea captain Juan de Bermúdez discovered the islands that bear his name in 1503. He claimed the archipelago of 181 islands for Spain. He visited the islands a couple of more times, but the dangerous reefs that ringed the island prevented him from landing there. A shipwrecked Spanish ship released pigs on the island, which became feral. During this time, the common name for the island was Islands of the Devil. Spanish sailors believed that devils inhabited the islands and that it was bad luck to land there. The island remained unoccupied for the next 100 years. Then the unfortunate survivors of the Sea Venture shipwrecked there.

The shipwreck survivors knew they were on their own. The fate of the other six ships of the fleet assembled to relieve the settlers at Jamestown would not know their fate. Indeed, for all Somers knew, the other ships had perished in the storm. Somers decided that their only rescue lay in the wrecked Sea Venture. The survivors salvaged what they could from the ship. They transferred all the food and supplies to the island. The feral pigs provided a ready food supply. The only source of water they had was to save rainfall, and the water stores on the ship. Captain Somers had one of the ship’s longboats outfitted and supplied for an ocean voyage. Then he sent eight men on it, their mission to go to Jamestown to carry tidings of their fate. No one ever saw those men again.

Sir Thomas Gates, the newly appointed governor of Jamestown, was among the passengers. Soon disagreement broke out between the two men about who was in charge. Gates felt that, since they were ashore, he was the leader. Somers believed that he was in command until he delivered the passengers to Jamestown. The argument between the two men divided the colonists into two dissenting groups. In spite of the internal strife, the overriding need was to survive. So, in spite of their differences, the colonists began construction of the ship.

Somers had another stroke of luck. His passengers consisted of a number of skilled workmen. Many of the first voyages had included mostly “gentlemen” seeking fortunes in the New World. By September, they decided that they needed a ship to get off the island. Somers and the new Jamestown governor, Sir Thomas Gates would supervise the construction of the ship. The Sea Venture and the surrounding forests would supply the material. The skilled workmen and crew would provide the labor. The native Bermuda cedar would make an ideal material for shipbuilding. On September 7, 1609, they laid the keel of the Patience. The colonists spent the next nine months building a ship. When complete, Newport saw that the Patience would not carry all 150 passengers. Using more Bermuda cedar and more salvaged parts from the Sea Venture, they built a second ship, the Deliverance. By May 10, 1610, the two ships were complete. The colonists loaded as many of the supplies on the two ships as they could and departed Bermuda. Christopher Carter and Robert Waters stayed behind to maintain the English claim to the islands. Europeans have continuously occupied the island since the date of the July shipwreck. Many believe that Shakespeare based his play, The Tempest, on the colonists fight for survival on Burmuda.
The ships arrived at Jamestown on May 24 to find the colony in pitiful straits.

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.
I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for listening