a a 2 James I, Naval Expeditions, Scc t of the English, Book IlL

1606. incorporated them, in one Charter, intotwo distinct Colonies, to make two fe-Contents of parate Companies, (a)the Charter. This Charter was granted to " Sir" Thomas Gates, Sir George Sommers,“ Knights, Mr. Richard Elackiuyt," Clerk, Prebend of Westminster, andEdward-Maria Wingfield, Esq. Ad-venturers of the Csty of London, and" such others as should be joined unto“ them of that Colony, which lhould(t be called, The first Company ; with" Liberty to begin their first Plan-ic tation and Seat, at any Place upon" the Coast of Virginia, where they“ should think fit and convenient, be-tween the Degrees of four and thirty“ and one and forty, of Northern La-<r titude : And that they should extend" their Bounds, from the said first Seat" of their Plantation and Habitation," fifty Miles along the Sea-Coasts, eachWay; And include all the Islands<c within a Hundred Miles directly o-<c ver against the fame Sea-Coast, and<c also back into the main Land one< c Hundred Miles from the Sea-Coast:" And that no other should be permit-" ted or suffered to plant or inhabit be-" hind, or on theBack of them, towardste the Main Land, without the express" License of the Council of that Colony" thereunto in Writing first had and ob-" tained. And for the second Colony,

“ Thomas Hanham, Rawleigh Gilbert,

“ William Parker, and George Popham,

<c Esquires, of the Town of Plymouth,

" and all others who should be joined" to them, of that Colony, with Liber-" ty to begin their first Plantation andtc Seat, at any Place upon the Coast oftc Virginia, where they should think" fit, between the Degrees of eight and" thirty and five and forty, or Nor-' " thern Latitude, with the like Liber-ties and Bounds, as the first Colony :Provided they did not seat within an" Hundred Miles of them,

This Patent included Maryland, Vir-ginia, and Carolina, as they are now

distinguished from each other, for the 1606.London Adventurers; And New Eng-land, New York, New Jersey and Pen-sylvania, as they are now divided intoseveral Provinces, for the Plymouth-Adventurers; But the whole was thencalled Virginia, as well that which wasgranted to the one as to the other.

By Virtue of this Patent, the London Ships fitted^Company fitted out two Ships, under JfEa 6V^the Command of Captain Christopher ny.Newport ; And with him went the Ho-nourable Mr. Percy, Brother to theEarl of Northumberland, and many o-ther Gentlemen, as likewise, CaptainGosnoll, Captain Smith, (b) CaptainRatcliff, Captain Martin, Captain Keti-dal, and Mr. Wingfield, which last six,together with Captain Newport, were,as it afterwards appeared, nominated tobe a Council; Besides these, they tooka Minister and Abundance of Handi-craft-Tradesmen with them, making to-gether to the Number of upwards of aHundred Persons. We have in Smith 'a List of the most of these first Adven-turers.

The Company gave Captain NewportOrders, when he set out, which wasnot till the nineteenth of December, tofail to that Part of Virginia, where Mr.

White left his miserable Colony; tho’there was no Security of Harbour there.

Captain Smith, whom the Companyhad taken into their Service, with aResolution to omit nothing that couldcontribute towards carrying on theirDesign with Vigour, was a noted Sea-man, who, from a mean Extraction,had acquired a great Reputation, byhis Adventures, and him they had madePilot of this little Fleet. Nevertheless,as good a Seaman as he was, he wentthe old round-about Way, by theWestern- and Caribbee- Islands, and pass’dhis OWn Accounts in Navigation twiceor thrice ; Insomuch that his Compani-ons began to despair of reaching thePlace they were bound for, and tothink of returning for England . By

good

(s) These are the same Letters Patent ofwhich Mention is made, and some Particulars aregiven, in the foregoing Chapter; But I havethought it necessary to give a more circumstantialAccount of it here.

(b) Some Authors distinguish Captain Smith ’sVoyage from Captain Newport’s ; and affirm, thatthe first Settlement which remained, was made bySmith , who, they fay, went thither as chiefCommander of three small Ships; But othersmake Captain Newport’s Voyage prior to Cap-tain Smith’s. I must leave this Matter to be de-

cided by those who have inspected the Compa-ny’s Books, and can only follow the Accounts,which to me seem the most authentick. Amongthese, that which we find in Captain Smith’s Ge-neral History, £9V. seems to deserve Credit inthis particular. And there it is said, the Compa-ny fitted out two Ships, one of a Hundred, andthe other of forty, and a Pinnace of twentyTuns. The Transportation of the Companywas committed to Captain Christopher New-port, &c.