Thence they made sail-in search of Virginia, but the mariners lost their
reckoning for three days and made no land; the crews were discomfited,
and Captain Ratcliffe, of the pinnace, wanted to up helm and return to
England. But a violent storm, which obliged them “to hull all night,”
drove them to the port desired. On the 26th of April they saw a bit
of land none of them had ever seen before. This, the first land they
descried, they named Cape Henry, in honor of the Prince of Wales; as the
opposite cape was called Cape Charles, for the Duke of York, afterwards
Charles I. Within these capes they found one of the most pleasant places
in the world, majestic navigable rivers, beautiful mountains, hills, and
plains, and a fruitful and delightsome land.
Mr. George Percy was ravished at the sight of the fair meadows and
goodly tall trees. As much to his taste were the large and delicate
oysters, which the natives roasted, and in which were found many pearls.
The ground was covered with fine and beautiful strawberries, four times
bigger than those in England.
Masters Wingfield, Newport, and Gosnold., with thirty men, went ashore
on Cape Henry, where they were suddenly set upon by savages, who came
creeping upon all-fours over the hills, like bears, with their bows
in their hands; Captain Archer was hurt in both hands, and a sailor
dangerously wounded in two places on his body. It was a bad omen.
The night of their arrival they anchored at Point Comfort, now Fortress
Monroe; the box was opened and the orders read, which constituted Edward
Maria Wingfield, Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, Christopher Newport,
John Ratcliffe, John Martin, and George Kendall the Council, with power
to choose a President for a year. Until the 13th of May they were slowly
exploring the River Powhatan, now the James, seeking a place for the
settlement. They selected a peninsula on the north side of the river,
forty miles from its mouth, where there was good anchorage, and which
could be readily fortified. This settlement was Jamestown. The Council
was then sworn in, and Mr. Wingfield selected President. Smith being
under arrest was not sworn in of the Council, and an oration was made
setting forth the reason for his exclusion.
When they had pitched upon a site for the fort, every man set to work,
some to build the fort, others to pitch the tents, fell trees and make
clapboards to reload the ships, others to make gardens and nets. The
fort was in the form of a triangle with a half-moon at each corner,
intended to mount four or five guns.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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