The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Newport, Christopher

NEWPORT, Christopher, one of the founders of the colony at Jamestown, Va. He commanded the three vessels which carried out in 1606 the first settlers of that colony, and was one of the council appointed by the king for governing the province. After visiting Powhatan with Capt. John Smith and others, he returned to England in June, 1607. He came back the next year with supplies and 120 emigrants, chiefly goldsmiths and gentlemen, “packed hither,” says Smith, “by their friends to escape ill destinies.” As their object was gold, “there was no talk, no hope, no work, but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold;” and some yellow mica having been discovered near the present site of Richmond, Newport filled his vessels with it under the impression that it was gold, and carried it to England. He subsequently returned to Virginia in the fleet conveying Lord Delaware and the new charter to the colony, but was wrecked in the Bermudas, where they built a vessel with which they reached their destination. Newport's “Discoveries in America” was first published in vol. iv. of Archæologia Americana, in 1860.