The trips aboard the ships Susan Constant, Discovery, and the Godspeed, and the settlement itself, were sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, whose stockholders hoped to make a profit from the resources of the New World. The community suffered terrible hardships in its early years, including starvation and native attacks. With resupply and additional immigrants, it managed to endure, becoming America's first permanent English colony.[2]
Aboard the John and Francis (captained by Christopher Newport) and the Phoenix (captained by Francis Nelson), 120 settlers left England in October 1607. Only 100 made it to Virginia to settle. When they arrived at Jamestown, there were only 38 to 40 men that had survived the summer and autumn.[10][11][12]
Jefrey Abots, Gentleman
Robert Alberton, Perfumer
Robert Barnes, Gentleman
William Bayley, Gentleman
William Beckwith, Tailor
Richard Belfield, Refiner
William Bentley, Labourer
John Bouth, Labourer
Richard Brislow, Labourer
William Burket, Labourer
James Burne
William Cantril, Gentleman
William Causey, Gentleman
Thomas Coo, Gentleman
Robert Cotton, Tobacco-pipe-maker
Robert Cutler, Gentleman
William Dawson, Refiner
Richard Dole, Blacksmith
Thomas Feld, Apothecary
Richard Fetherstone
George Forest, Gentleman
Post Gittnat, Surgeon
Raymond Goodyson, Labourer
Richard Gradon, Labourer
William Gryvill, Gentleman
Edward Gurganay, Gentleman
John Harford, Apothecary
John Harper, Gentleman
George Hill, Gentleman
Thomas Hope, Tailor
William Johnson, Refiner
Peter Keffer, Gunner
Richard Killingbeck, Gentleman
Timothy Leeds, Gentleman
John Lewes, Cooper
William May, Labourer
Michaell
Richard Miler, Labourer
Richard Molynex, Gentleman
Ralfe Morton, Gentleman
Rowland Nelstrop, Labourer
John Nickoles, Gentleman
William Perce, Labourer
Francis Perkins, Labourer
Michaell Phetyplace, Gentleman
Captain William Phetyplace (Phettiplace), Gentleman
Quickly after the first supply, Captain Newport boarded 70 new colonists to the Mary and Margaret[note 2]. First women colonists are noted with female sign (♀️).
Thomas Abbey, Gentleman
Gabriell Bedle (Bedell),[15] Gentleman and Lumberjack
With 500 to 600 persons, a fleet of nine ships set sail in May 1609 led by Thomas Gates and George Somers. The ships were named Sea Venture, Catch, Diamond, Falcon, Blessing, Unitie [sic], Lion, Swallow, and Virginia.[19] In July, a tropical storm struck the flotilla. The Catch vanished with all aboard, and the Sea Venture shipwrecked on Bermuda, inadvertently colonizing the island.[20] The seven remaining ships arrived at Jamestown only to bring diseased and hungry passengers to the stressed colony.[21][22]
George Yeardley, Captain of the Guard for Thomas Gates (d. 1627)
Settlers from Fourth Supply (June 1610)
Survivors from Bermuda (137-142 passengers and crew)[33] salvaged the Sea Venture, and built two ships: Deliverance and Patience.[34] The ships made it to Jamestown on May 23rd to find only 60 starving colonists, and chose to abandon the colony.
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr and Samuel Argall (after hearing of John Smith's adventures) led a humanitarian mission from England with 150 men (including a doctor) and supplies.[35] Aboard the Hercules of Rye, Blessing of Plymouth, and De La Warr[note 5] ships, they intercepted the weary colonists departing Virginia and compelled them to return to Jamestown with the new provisions and passengers.[36]
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Both Thomas Dale and Thomas Gates both led flotillas to Virginia. Thomas Dale headed to the colony with 300 labourers, at the request of the London Company. The Starr, the Elizabeth, and Prosperous also carried horses, poultry, goats, and rabbits.[37][38] Thomas Gates had ships Sarah,[39]Tryall [sic][note 6], Swan[note 7] which arrived just after the Dale flotilla.
^Dates are in Old Style calendar (the New Year begins on March 25).[6]
^Ship name, Mary and Margaret is sometimes documented as Mary Ann Margett
^It is unclear which ship William Capps arrived on. Capps potentially was marooned on Bermuda with the Sea Venture (most likely) or could have arrived safely to Virginia with Thomas Gates remaining flotilla.[26]
^There is conflicting data on whether Jane Pierce (daughter of William and Joan) sailed with her father aboard Sea Venture or her mother on the Blessinge.[24][31] It is also debated if the found remains of a "Jane" are the same girl.[32]
^A third ship, De La Warr name is debated, and even the ship itself to exist
^Ship name is an alternate spelling of "Trial", sometimes written as Triall[40]
^Swan ship might have been called Swan of Barnsataple[41]
^Woodward, Hobson (2009). "A brave vessel: the true tale of the castaways who rescued Jamestown and inspired Shakespeare's The tempest". Viking. ISBN9780670020966.
Bernard Bailyn, The Barbarous Years: The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675 (Vintage, 2012)
Warren M. Billings (Editor), The Old Dominion in the Seventeenth Century: A Documentary History of Virginia, 1606-1700 (University of North Carolina Press, 2007)
James Horn, A Land as God Made It (Perseus Books, 2005)
Margaret Huber, Powhatan Lords of Life and Death: Command and Consent in Seventeenth-Century Virginia (University of Nebraska Press, 2008)
William M. Kelso, Jamestown, The Buried Truth (University of Virginia Press, 2006)
David A. Price, Love and Hate in Jamestown (Alfred A. Knopf, 2003)
Helen C. Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture (University of Oklahoma Press, 2013)
Ed Southern (Editor), Jamestown Adventure, The: Accounts of the Virginia Colony, 1605-1614 (Blair, 2011)
Tony Williams, "The Jamestown Experiment: The Remarkable Story of the Enterprising Colony and the Unexpected Results that Shaped America" (Sourcebooks Inc, 2011)
Jocelyn R. Wingfield, Virginia's True Founder: Edward Maria Wingfield and His Times (Booksurge, 2007)
Benjamin Woolley, Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America (Harper Perennial, 2008)
William M. Kelso, Nicholas M. Luccketti, Beverly A. Straube, The Jamestown Rediscovery Archaeology Project
