John Ratcliffe (born John Sicklemore; 1549 – December 1609) was an early Jamestown colonist, mariner and captain of Discovery, the smallest of three ships (the other two being Susan Constant and Godspeed) that sailed from the Kingdom of England on 19 December 1606, to English-claimed Virginia to found a colony, arriving 26 April 1607. He later became the second president of the colony of Jamestown. He was killed by the Pamunkey Native Americans in late 1609.

Biography

Sicklemore was born in Lancashire. In early life, he changed his name to Ratcliffe as an alias.^[1] He served as a seaman before going to Virginia, and he may be the Captain Ratcliffe taken prisoner with Sir Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland and Captain Piggot, at Mülheim, in 1605.

Virginia colony

Ratcliffe commanded Discovery and became a councillor of the Jamestown Colony. Discovery was the smallest of all three ships; it had a crew of only 21 men. He became president of the colony upon the deposition of Edward Maria Wingfield on 10 September 1607. Ratcliffe fell out of favour with many colonists after enlisting men to build a governor's house. Many colonists also disagreed with how he handled trade with the natives and how he performed during the food shortages during the summer of 1608. Ratcliffe was removed in July 1608 and succeeded by Matthew Scrivener. During the administration of George Percy, Ratcliffe was sent in October 1609 to build a fort at Old Point Comfort, which was named "Algenourne Fort" after one of Percy's ancestors.^[2] Ratcliffe had been sick in the first summer of Jamestown, and never recovered to the change of climate.^[1]

Ratcliffe worked with explorer John Smith to remove Edward Wingfield from the presidency because he was hiding food for himself that the colony needed. Ratcliffe was elected president and asked Smith to organise work details and expeditions to trade with Native Americans. By January 1608, only 38 colonists were alive, and Ratcliffe and the Council planned to return to England on Discovery. Ratcliffe's overgenerous trading provoked Smith to complain that they would soon run out of items to trade. Ratcliffe left office (either by resignation or deposition) in July 1608, two months before the end of his term. The colonists were also enraged that as they were sick and dying, Ratcliffe ordered they build a capitol in the woods. The colonists dubbed the project "Ratcliffe's Palace." Ratcliffe accompanied Christopher Newport when he sailed from Virginia in 1608. In May 1609, he commanded Diamond, one of the ships in the Third Supply fleet of Sir Thomas Gates.^[2]

Death

During The Starving Time in December 1609 or early 1610, Ratcliffe and 25 fellow colonists were invited to a gathering with a group of Powhatan Indians.^[1] They had been promised they would receive corn by way of trade, but it was a trap; the Powhatans ambushed and killed them, and Ratcliffe was taken to the village to suffer a particularly gruesome fate. He was tied to a stake in front of a fire and flayed by the women of the tribe with mussel shells, with pieces of his skin tossed into the flames as he watched.^[3] The account of his death was relayed by the surviving Captain William Phettiplace, and recorded by George Percy. As a consequence of the man's misfortune, he was given the nickname Luckless Captain Ratcliffe.^{[citation needed]}

Butt haveinge noe expectacyon of Reliefe to Come in so shorte a Tyme I sentt Capteyne Ratliefe to Powhatan to p[ro]cure victewalls and corne by the way of comerce and trade the w[hi]ch the Subtell owlde foxe att firste made good semblanse of althoughe his intente was otherwayes onely wayteinge a fitteinge tyme for their destruction as after plainely appered. The w[hi]ch was p[ar]tly ocasyoned by Capt[eyn]e Ratliefes Creduletie for Haveinge Powhatans sonne and dowghter aboard his pinesse freely suffred them to dep[ar]te ageine on shoare, whome if he had deteyned mighte have bene a Sufficyentt pledge for his saffety. And after, nott kepeinge a p[ro]per and fitteinge Courte of guarde, butt Suffreinge his men by towe and thre and small numbers in a Company to straggle into the Salvages howses when the slye owlde kinge espyed a fitteinge Tyme Cutt them all of, onely Surprysed Capt[eyn]e Ratliefe alyve who he caused to be bownd unto a tree naked w[i]th a fyer before, and by woemen his fleshe was skraped from his bones w[i]th Mussell shelles and before his face throwne into the fyer. And so for wantt of Circumspection miserably p[er]ished.

— George Percy, A Trewe Relacyon

In popular culture

In Disney's Pocahontas (1995), Ratcliffe was portrayed as a greedy and ruthlessly ambitious man, and the film's main antagonist. His character believes that the Powhatan tribe is very barbaric and has hidden gold near the outskirts of Virginia. He wants to battle the Native Americans for it, despite the fact that there was never any gold in Virginia. Here, he was voiced by David Ogden Stiers, who gave him a Mid-Atlantic accent. In this adaptation, he is accompanied by his pug Percy (this name is derived from the English colonist George Percy) and by his servant Wiggins (also voiced by Stiers). He also appeared in the direct-to-video sequel Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998), where he plans to dupe King James I into allowing him to send a large navy armada to perpetrate a genocide against the Powhatans by attempting to sabotage the diplomatic meetings between Pocahontas and the king. He is finally exposed for his incompetence and treachery and is imprisoned by King James.