Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 1.djvu/106

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

of the expedition sent out under the second charter, which left Falmouth June 8, 1609. There were nine ships carrying Sir Thomas Gates as governor, and about 500 persons, some of them women. Two of the vessels were wrecked and Newport himself was cast away on the Bermudas with Gov. Gates and 150 other passengers and a large portion of the stores for the colony. He finally got away from the islands, and made his way to \'ir- ginia just in time to save the colony from starvation. The casting away of Newport's ship, the "Sea X'enture." was the occasion of Shakespeare's great play, "The Tempest," in- terest in the subject having most probably been communicated to him by Southampton. After one more voyage to X'irginia, Capt. Newport's connection with the colony ceased. He resigned his position with the X'irginia Company and was appointed one of the six masters of the Royal Navy, and performed several voyages for the East India Company. On the third of these his death occurred about August 15, 1617, while his fleet lay at anchor in a Javan port. The stalwart captain died thus as he had lived, in command of his ship, in the midst of new lands and untried seas.

Wingfield, Edward Maria, first president of the council (q. v.).

Largely instrumental in bringing about the successful exi)edition of 1607, was

Gosnold, Bartholomew, a seasoned mariner who had been associated with Raleigh in his attempts to colonize Virginia, and not less was he the leaven of peace among the discordant elements in the first Jamestown council, of which he was a member. Respected by all the diverse factions as no one else was, he was able to effect something like a concert of pur- pose and action among his fellows, and stave

off, in a measure, the dissensions which broke out so violently after his death. Upon the failure of Raleigh's expeditions, Gosnold had returned to England still hopeful, and in 1602 he took command of a vessel fitted out by the Earl of Southampton, the friend and patron of Shakespeare. Gosnold's intended destination uas \'irginia, but. the ship being driven from her course by adverse winds, they touched upon the New England coast, where they were the first Englishmen to land and where they named Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. Those who had proposed remaining as colo- nists lost heart, however, and returned to England, but Gosnold, undisheartened, con- tinued his efforts and finally beheld his hopes* fruition in Jamestown. His voice, indeed, was raised against the site chosen, on the ground of its obvious unhealthfulness, but, being overruled, he turned to with heart and soul to give success to the enterprise. He was spared the pain of beholding the pains and horrors the colony was doomed to undergo, his death occurring before the close of the first summer, Aug. 22, 1607, when fate seemed still auspicious. All record unite in praising his singleness of purpose and hardihood, and Pres. Wingfield made him his sole confidant in matters of importance such as that of the diminishing supplies. It is possible, there- fore, that, while it may have been a personal good fortune to have escaped the misfortunes of his fellows he might, had he lived, have done much to alleviate their sorrows by uniting them in a more harmonious eff'ort.

Smith, John, councillor and president of the council ( q. v.).

Ratcliffe, John, councillor and president of the council (q. v.).