Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/443

 in the Colony perished in the great massacre of 1622. It would be inferred from a letter of George Sandys to John Ferrer, written after that terrible event, that there were few if any persons then in Virginia who could lay claim to special knowledge of ship-building. It seems that a pinnace had been driven ashore at Elizabeth City, where it was lying in the state of a wreck. Sandys instructed an agent to make an examination of her condition and to proceed with his men to repair the damage which she had suffered. None of these, as well as others who were ordered to give assistance, deserved, in the opinion of Sandys, the name of shipwright. As the Treasurer was a public official who commanded the best resources of the Colony in the way of handicraftsmen, it seems unlikely that he would be content to leave the restoration of the pinnace to its original state in the hands of unskilful mechanics, if it had been in his power to obtain at Jamestown, or at any other settlement in Virginia, men who were thoroughly competent to make the repairs required.

In the interval between the revocation of the charter of the Company and the appointment of Harvey to the governorship, ship-building in Virginia apparently fell into complete decay. In 1632, Harvey informed the Lord Commissioners in England that recently some beginning had been made in this industry in the Colony. Sawmills at least had been erected to furnish the plank. This beginning must have been followed up with little energy, for only three years later, Devries, on arriving at Jamestown and discovering that his ship was in a leaky