A Man Most Driven by Peter Firstbrook

Author:Peter Firstbrook
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography, Exploration, New World, America, Captain John Smith, Pocahontas, Riveting, Enlightening, Empire
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 2014-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

The backwaters of the Chickahominy River in winter (photo by Peter Firstbrook)

Kendall had already come under scrutiny when he and Wingfield had crossed each other some weeks previously. Rumours had begun to circulate that he was not to be trusted; now he was accused of being a spy. Dispensing justice was speedy in Jamestown: Read was pardoned and Kendall was shot.

Kendall’s death sentence did little to calm the colonists. Wingfield argued in favour of abandoning Jamestown and making haste to England in the Discovery. It was an unrealistic proposal, for the boat would not accommodate even the depleted number of Jamestown residents. Even so, Ratcliffe threw his support behind the idea. The other two councillors, Martin and Smith, were adamantly against it. With the council stuck in a stalemate, Smith became aggressive and ordered warning shots to be fired. There was a brief discussion, and it was agreed the colonists would hold out for a little longer. The standoff was over, at least for the time being.

November passed into December, and there was still no sign of Newport’s supply ships. Temperatures were falling close to freezing, and the long nights and short days offered little time for hunting and trading. The Powhatan too were beginning to settle in for the long winter and had less food for barter.

In early December, the council again despatched Smith up the Chickahominy River to find its source, and perhaps a continental passage to the South Seas. As president, Ratcliffe was keen to fulfil at least one of the London Company’s main objectives. This time, Smith took nine men and the party rowed and sailed the shallop up the snaking river until they reached the village of Apokant, forty miles upstream from the confluence with the James. Beyond the village, all they could see was wilderness. They continued another ten miles up the waterway, and Smith felt sure they were getting close to the river’s headwaters. Alas, a tree blocked any further progress. He seemed to be cursed at every turn.

Smith knew he could not return empty-handed from the expedition, for if he did, there were many “malicious tungs [tongues]” who would rejoice in his failure. So he and his men returned to Apokant under a pretext – they told the villagers they wanted to hunt. Smith recruited two of the villagers to take him upstream in a canoe on this bogus quest. He chose two colonists to accompany him, the carpenter Thomas Emry and a gentleman called Jehu (or John) Robinson. The party of three Englishmen and two Chickahominy men got a couple of miles beyond the fallen tree, at which point they pulled ashore to rest and eat.

The seven other colonists had been left in the shallop anchored in the river, “with expresse charge not any to go ashore til my returne”.17 Smith’s instincts when it came to military matters were sound, as usual. However, the men on the shallop noticed some women on the riverbank who seemed to return their admiring glances. Disregarding Smith’s orders, the men went ashore to see where things might lead.

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