Starving Time (Jamestown)

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The Starving Time at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony occurred during the winter of 1609–1610. Only 60 of 500 English colonists survived.

The colonists, the first group of whom had originally arrived at Jamestown on May 14, 1607, had never planned to grow all of their own food. Instead, their plans also depended upon trade with the local Native Americans to supply them with enough food between the arrival of periodic supply ships from England, upon which they also relied.

This period of extreme hardship for the colonists began in 1609 with a drought which caused their already limited farming activities to produce even less crops than usual. Then, there were problems with both of their other sources for food.

An unexpected delay occurred during the Virginia Company of London's Third Supply mission from England due to a major hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. A large portion of the food and supplies had been aboard the new flagship Sea Venture which became shipwrecked at Bermuda and separated from the other ships, seven of which arrived at the colony with even more new colonists to feed.

The impending hardship was further compounded by the loss of their most skillful leader in dealing with the Powhatan Confederacy in trading for food: Captain John Smith. He became injured that summer in a gunpowder accident, and was forced to return to England for medical attention in October 1609. After Smith left, Chief Powhatan severely curtailed trading with the colonists for food. Neither the missing Sea Venture nor any other supply ship arrived as winter set upon the 500 inhabitants of the young colony in late 1609.

When the survivors of the shipwreck of the third supply mission's flagship, the Sea Venture, arrived at Jamestown the following May 23 in two makeshift ships they had constructed while stranded on Bermuda for nine months, they found fewer than 100 colonists still alive, and many of those were sick. Worse yet, the Bermuda survivors had brought few supplies and only a small amount of food with them, expecting to find a thriving colony at Jamestown.

Thus, even with the arrival of the two small ships from Bermuda under Captain Christopher Newport, they were faced with abandoning Jamestown and returning to England. On June 7, 1610, both groups of survivors (from Jamestown and Bermuda) boarded ships, and they all set sail down the James River towards the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

As they were departing, they met another fleet of three supply ships arriving from England, commanded by a new governor, Thomas West, Baron De La Warr. The two groups met on the James River on June 9, 1610 near Mulberry Island (adjacent to present-day Fort Eustis in Newport News).

With the new supply mission, Governor West, known in modern times as "Lord Delaware", brought additional colonists, a doctor, food, and much-needed supplies. He also was of a strong determination that Jamestown and the colony were not to be abandoned. He turned the departing ships around and brought the entire group back to Jamestown. This was certainly not a popular decision at the time with at least some of the group, but Lord Delaware was to prove a new kind of leader for Virginia.

Included in those returning to Jamestown was a colonist whose wife and child had died during the shipwreck of the Sea Venture and the time at Bermuda. A businessman, he had with him some seeds for a new strain of tobacco and also some untried marketing ideas. That colonist was John Rolfe. Despite his misfortune to that point, history records that he would change the future of the colony as much as Lord Delaware's timely arrival had.

Main article: Jamestown, Virginia

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[edit] Jamestown: dependent upon outside resources

The English settlement at Jamestown had been established on May 14, 1607, with the arrival of three ships commanded by Captain Christopher Newport. The small initial group of 104 men and boys chose the location because it was favorable for defensive purposes, but it offered poor hunting prospects and a shortage of drinking water. Although they did some farming, few of the original settlers were accustomed to manual labor or familiar with farming. They failed to plant crops early enough to ensure a successful harvest. Hunting on the island was very poor, and they quickly exhausted the supply of small game.

The colonists were largely dependent upon trade with the Native Americans and periodic supply ships from England for their food.

[edit] First and second supply trips

After dropping off the settlers, and returning to England, Christopher Newport returned to Jamestown again in January 1608 from England with what was called the "First Supply" and about 100 new settlers. Many of the original settlers had died. He found only thirty-eight survivors.

Newport sailed for England again in April 1608, returning to Jamestown that October with the "Second Supply". On board were the colony's first two women - Mistress Forrest and her maid Anne Burras - as well as more supplies and additional settlers, including craftsmen trained to make glass.

[edit] Trading with the natives for food

Among the leaders, Captain John Smith had emerged as most capable of successfully trading with the Natives. Using the Discovery, the smallest of the three ships which had been left behind for their use, the colonists explored the surrounding area including the Chesapeake Bay. Smith successfully traded for food with the Native American Nansemonds, who were located along the Nansemond River in the modern-day City of Suffolk. Unfortunately, he had only mixed results dealing with the various other tribes, most of whom were affiliated with the Powhatan Confederacy.

During one legendary encounter with the infamous warrior Opechancanough, his life was spared (according to Smith's later account) by the intervention of Pocahontas, the young daughter of Chief Powhatan. Shortly after Newport returned in early January 1608, bringing new colonists and supplies, one of the new colonists accidentally started a fire that leveled all of the colony's living quarters. The fire further deepened the colony's dependence on the native people for food. Smith's tale may be a true one, for Pocahontas, who had become something of an emissary, brought food and clothing to the colonists at Jamestown.

In August, 1609, Smith, who had gained the respect of the Powhatans, was injured in a gunpowder accident and had to return to England for medical treatment, leaving on October 4, 1609. After Smith left, Chief Powhatan began a campaign to starve the English out of Virginia. The Powhatans stopped trading with the colonists for food. John Ratcliffe, captain of the Discovery, became colony president and tried to improve the colony's situation by attempting to obtain food. While on a trade mission shortly after being elected, he was captured by Chief Powhatan and tortured to death, leaving the colony without strong leadership.

The Powhatans carried out additional attacks on other colonists who came in search of trade. Hunting also became very dangerous, as they killed any Englishmen they found outside the fort.

Even with Smith's skills, some researchers think that Jamestown may have starved anyway. It has been suggested that the Native Americans had very little food to start with. This is evidenced by the cypress trees that grow around the settlement, which are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature and water supply. The archaeological evidence of these trees strongly suggests that the Jamestown colonists arrived during the worst drought period that the region had ever seen.

[edit] Third supply: a terrible storm

The Sea Venture was the new flagship of the Virginia Company of London. The Virginia Company's "Third Supply" mission was the largest yet, led by the Sea Venture, which had been especially built for the purpose. The Sea Venture was considerably larger than the other eight ships traveling with her. It carried a large portion of the supplies intended for the Virginia Colony.

The "Third Supply" to Jamestown with a nine-vessel fleet left London on June 2, 1609. Veteran Captain Christopher Newport commanded the Sea Venture as "Vice Admiral." Also aboard the new flagship were the Admiral of the Company, Sir George Somers, Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Gates, William Strachey and other notable personages in the early history of English colonization in North America.

While crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the convoy transporting 500 new colonists and supplies ran into a strong and massive storm, possibly a hurricane, which lasted for three days. The Sea Venture and one other ship were separated from the seven other vessels of the fleet. Admiral Somers had the ship deliberately driven onto the reefs of Bermuda to prevent her sinking. The 150 passengers and crew members all landed safely on July 28, 1609, but the ship was now permanently damaged.

In the aftermath of the storm, one ship returned to England. The other seven ships arrived safely at Jamestown, delivering 200-300 men, women, and children, but relatively few supplies, since most had been aboard the large flagship. In the Colony, there was no word of the fate of the Sea Venture, its supplies, passengers, or the leaders who had been aboard her.

Captain Samuel Argall, piloting one of the ships of the Third Supply which made it to Jamestown, was also among those who hurried back to England to advise of Jamestown's plight. However, no further supply ships from England arrived that year, nor the following spring.

[edit] Winter 1609–10

At Jamestown, there had been a drought earlier in 1609 during the normal growing season, and the fields of the colonists of Virginia lay barren. Between the lack of trade with the Natives, and the failure of the Third Supply to arrive with expected supplies, the colony found itself with far too little food for the winter. And, with the new arrivals, there were many more mouths to feed.

There are few records of the hardships the colonists experienced in Virginia that winter. Arms and valuable work tools were traded to the Powhatans for a pittance in food. Houses were used as firewood. Archaeologists have found evidence that they ate cats, dogs, horses, and rats. In early 2007 at least three respected authorities concluded, based on some credible evidence, that the starvation conditions were so severe that corpses were dug up, and human flesh was eaten. [1]

A scientist has suggested an even more sinister possibility: arsenic poisoning.

[edit] Survivors of the Sea Venture

Back on Bermuda, shortly after they were shipwrecked, the survivors fitted the Sea Venture's longboat with a mast and sent it to sea to find Virginia but it and its crew were never seen again. The remaining survivors spent nine months on Bermuda building two smaller ships, the Deliverance and Patience from Bermuda cedar and materials salvaged from the Sea Venture. Then, leaving two men to maintain England's claim to the newly-discovered archipelago, the remainder sailed to Jamestown, finally arriving on May 23, 1610.

The survivors of the Sea Venture, led by Gates (the new governor) and George Somers, assumed they would find a thriving colony in Virginia. Instead, they found the colony in ruins and practically abandoned. Of the 500 colonists living in Jamestown in the autumn, they found less than 100 survivors with many of those sick or dying. Worse yet, many supplies intended for Jamestown had been lost in the shipwreck at Bermuda, and Gates and Somers had brought along with them only a small food supply.

"Viewing the fort, we found the palisades torn down, the ports open, the gates from off the hinges, and the empty houses (which owners had taken from them) rent up and burnt, rather than the dwellers would step into the woods a stone's cast off from them to fetch other firewood. And it is true, the Indians killed as fast without, if our men stirred but beyond the bounds of their blockhouse, ... " William Strachey [2]

It was decided to abandon the colony. On June 7, 1610, everyone was placed aboard the ships to return to England, and they began to sail down the James River.

[edit] Lord De La Warr and more supplies

During the war period that the Sea Venture suffered its misfortune, and its survivors were struggling in Bermuda to continue on to Virginia, back in England, the publication of Captain John Smith's books of his adventures in Virginia sparked a resurgence in interest in the colony. This helped lead to new interest and investment in the Virginia Company. There was also a moral call in England by clergymen and others for support for the stranded colonists.

On April 1, 1610, three more ships were dispatched from England bound for Jamestown, equipped with additional colonists, a doctor, food, supplies. Heading this group was new governor, Thomas West, Baron De La Warr.

Better known in modern times as Lord Delaware, Governor West and his party arrived on the James River on June 9, just as the Deliverance and Patience were sailing downriver and preparing to leave Virginia. Intercepting them about 10 miles downstream from Jamestown near Mulberry Island (now a part of the massive U.S. Army Base at Fort Eustis in Newport News), the new governor forced the remaining settlers to stay, thwarting their plans to abandon the colony. Instead, the Deliverance and Patience turned back, and all the settlers were landed again at Jamestown.

[edit] Future of the colony

Main article: John Rolfe

Among the survivors of the Sea Venture who arrived at Jamestown in May of 1610, and were turned back by Lord Delaware, was a young Englishman named John Rolfe. Both his wife and young son had perished during the journey and delay at Bermuda. While it can be said that Lord Delaware literally turned the colonists around, it could be equally said that John Rolfe (among the group sent back to Jamestown on June 9) was the individual most responsible for turning the failing economy of the young colony around. His fortunes and those of the Colony were both about to change.

Rolfe, a businessman from London, had planned to become a planter upon arrival in Virginia and he had some new ideas about exporting tobacco for profit. He knew that the native tobacco from Virginia was not liked by the English settlers, nor did it appeal to the market in England. However, he brought with him some seeds for several new strains of tobacco to experiment with. Using the sweeter strains, Rolfe is credited with being the first to commercially cultivate Nicotiana tabacum tobacco plants in North America in 1611; the export of this sweeter tobacco beginning in 1612 helped turn the Virginia Colony into a profitable venture. Soon, Rolfe and others were exporting substantial quantities of the new cash crop. New plantations began growing up all along the James River, from the mouth at Hampton Roads all the way west to Henricus, and on both sides of the river, where export shipments could use wharves to ship the product.

John Rolfe became prominent and wealthy, and soon held an interest in several plantations, including a large farm on Mulberry Island, just ashore from where Lord Delaware had met the group departing Jamestown only a few years earlier. John Rolfe is said to have founded Varina Farms near Sir Thomas Dale's progressive new city of Henricus and in 1614, he married Chief Powhatan's daughter, the Native American princess Pocahontas, who had converted to Christianity and taken the name Rebecca. The couple had one son, Thomas Rolfe, who was born in 1615.

The marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe introduced a period of more peaceful relations between the colonists and the Powhatan Confederacy, albeit a relatively short one, as the conflicts between the cultures were irreconcilable. After almost forty years of tenuous coexistence, and quite a bit of bloodshed, the Powhatan Confederacy was effectively decimated by the ever-expanding Virginia Colony by 1646.

Through the descendants of Thomas Rolfe, many of the First Families of Virginia almost 400 years later trace their lineage to both the Native Americans of the Powhatan Confederacy and the English-born settlers of Jamestown. With tobacco as a successful export crop, the financial future and permanency of the Virginia Colony was assured.

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