Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/650

 the east, to sail upon a straight western line, in the hope of showing that Virginia could be safely reached by that course of navigation. The voyage proved to be successful, the time consumed being nine weeks, two weeks having been passed in a dead calm, during which no progress was made. The route of Argoll lay by way of the Bermudas. This route seems to have been followed in all subsequent voyages. Gates and Somers were wrecked on these islands while making for Virginia in 1610. Already it was said that the passage to the Colony would not require a greater length of time for its accomplishment than six weeks. The return voyage did not consume more than thirty-one days. When Dale proceeded to Virginia in 1611, he passed eight weeks on the ocean. It took Captain John Martin, in 1615, only five to complete the same course. In 1649, it was stated that a period extending from five to six weeks covered the outward voyage, while the return voyage was sometimes made in twenty days. Bullock declared in the following year that the length of the outward passage occasionally did not exceed four weeks, and that five weeks was in the great majority of cases the extreme limit.

The voyage to Virginia, even when the northern route was taken, was subject to many serious dangers. Before the ship had passed out of eastern waters, there was a