In May, 1607, three ships belonging to the London company, the Susan B. Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery, arrived in the Chesapeake area under the command of Captain Christopher Newport. The ship put over 100 colonists ashore, and England had what would become its first permanent settlement in North America. 7 Things began badly. The location-in a swamp-had been a mistake, but even worse was the failure of the colonists to work together for the common good. Captain John Smith saved the colonists by imposing order, but conditions became so bad by 1610 that the colony was almost abandoned. As late as 1616 the colony seemed to be incapable of returning a profit to the investors. Eventually it went bankrupt and its charter was revoked.
Buildings inside the Fort at Jamestown Photo by Kathy R. Tennessee.
It is not clear why the Virginia settlers were so reluctant to work, but it may have had to do with attitudes from home. Because there was not enough work to go around, the chronic condition of English workers was one of underemployment. Even when work was available, it was cyclical or irregular. Furthermore, probably as a result of those conditions, English workers lacked what we would call a work ethic. People were used to being idle and were frequently short of basic necessities. The working poor lived marginal lives at best. They knew that there must be greener pastures somewhere, and many came to believe that "Utopia" could literally be found across the Atlantic. And so they came, by the hundreds, thousands, and eventually by the millions.
For an account of the difficulties in Jamestown, read the excerpt from Captain John Smith's "Generall Historie of Virginia," which was printed in 1624. He describes his own adventures but also offers a grim account of the "starving time." (Appendix)
Summary: The Jamestown experience was ten disastrous years—every possible mistake was made and then some. Murphy's law was in effect—everything that could go wrong did go wrong, or so it seemed.
World History
