Quotes from Kieran Doherty

In exchange, he was given a note "with the armes of Englande testifying the receipt therof."24 Because of the size of his investment—£50, or roughly $10,000 in modern money, compared with the single share price of £12 10s (12 pounds, 10 shillings), or about $2,500 in modern terms—and because of his legal background, he was also appointed to the Virginia Council, the group of men whose job it would be to oversee operations of the colony from London.

The spy also warned his monarch that the English would set about converting the Indians not to the Roman Catholic faith, but to the hated Protestant faith. "The preparations they are making here are the most urgent they know how to make, for they have seen to it that the ministers, in their sermons, stress the importance of filling the world with their religion.… In this way a good sum of money is being collected.

Of course, he had heard of Virginia. He was obviously fond of the theater, fond enough to put some of his money at risk as a shareholder of the Blackfriars Theatre Company.

William Strachey and the others who had battled for four days to survive the hurricane threw themselves to the sand above the high-water mark to rest and to dry their sodden clothing.

For that voyage, Frobisher packed one pound of biscuit and one gallon of beer per man per day, one pound of salt meat (beef or pork) per man for each "flesh" day, as well as one dried codfish for every four men on fast days. Each man was supplied with a quarter pound of butter daily, along with a half pound of cheese, as well as four bushels of peas (pease) per man during the voyage.

The Sea Venture, the "admiral" of the fleet, docked at Woolwich, the bustling royal dockyards about eight miles down the Thames from central London. There she and six other ships of the fleet—the Diamond, the Falcon, the Blessing, the Unity, the Lion, and the Virginia—anchored

Ravens and the others were able to find water deep enough to handle the longboat's twenty-inch draft. Before his departure, Ravens promised Gates and Somers and Strachey and the other survivors that if he lived and arrived safe in Virginia, he would return by the time of the next new moon, or by late September. Ravens, in turn, was told that the survivors would light a signal fire to guide him back.

In mid-1608, or at about the time that Strachey started thinking of emigrating, Captain John Smith, the Virginia settler, had written a long letter to a friend about conditions in Jamestown.

Slop buckets filled and quickly spilled over. Floor planks were slick with waste and vomit.

minister who addressed the original Virginia settlers before their departure from London in 1606. Now he praised Smythe and the adventurers for again backing the Virginia Company, and he ended his sermon with a fervent prayer that the company would be successful in its goals.

For almost seven weeks, the ships of the fleet sailed their leisurely way across the Atlantic. Since the ships' captains wanted to stay in contact, the fleet could sail no faster than its slowest vessel. That meant even the larger, faster vessels only made about five or six knots under ideal circumstances.

They sit roughly 900 miles north and east of the Bahamas; roughly 600 miles east of Virginia; and about 3,500 miles south and west of London.

Captain John Smith, the "president" of the colony during much of its earliest history, regularly complained of the quality of those sent to establish the settlement. The colony, he said, would have been better off if the company in London had sent "one hundred good labourers (in place of) a thousand such Gallants as were sent me, that would doe nothing but complaine, curse, and despaire."15

Even as the Virginia Company presented its plans to the king—through his privy council—for royal approval, Smythe set out to promote the company's new venture. Sir Thomas (he was knighted by James I soon after the king took the throne) was one of England's wealthiest and most powerful merchants. He had long been involved in foreign trade with Russia, through the Muscovy Company, and he was the head of the East India Company. He was also a marketing genius.

William Strachey, who would later write the most detailed account of the storm, must have made his way from his quarters to the deck so he could see conditions for himself.

By mid-April, Zúñiga's warnings were growing shrill. He told the king that the English planned to quickly establish a presence so large that by the time "they open their eyes in Spain" it will be too late to take action. "Your Majesty will appreciate how important this is to your royal interests, and so I hope [you] will quickly command the extirpation of these insolents.

The largest of the Bermudas is only about fourteen miles long and about a mile wide at its widest point. The highest point of land in Bermuda, now known as Town Hill, has an elevation of just 250 feet. It is much easier to miss a Bermuda-sized target in the middle of the ocean than it is to hit it.

By 1609 Strachey, like other Englishmen, knew that Seagull's words were not true. He knew that no diamonds had been found on Virginia's beaches, that no golden chamber pots had been discovered. But he also knew that the land across the Atlantic still held hope for men like himself who wanted to flee their problems in search of a new opportunity. And so, in the spring of 1609, William Strachey decided that Virginia was the answer to his troubles.

the islands remained uninhabited and unpeopled, visited only by sailors under duress.

Still, John Smith knew he had to have backing if he was to lead the colony successfully even for a few weeks. He would have deeply felt his responsibility to both the four hundred or so newcomers who had survived the hurricane as well as the approximately two hundred already living in Jamestown when the remnants of the 1609 fleet arrived.

In addition to the stored foods, livestock—chickens and pigs and probably a few goats and geese—were penned on Sea Venture's deck, both to provide fresh meat during the voyage and to help stock Jamestown's farms.

One unlucky sailor, who had been branded a liar by his shipmates, was given the unenviable job of cleaning the slop buckets and swabbing the privy in the ship's beak.

hurricanes" in honor of Huracan, a god of evil and destruction recognized by the Tainos, an ancient Central American tribe.

In exchange for the parcel of land, Smith promised copper and "gave" Parahunt a teenaged English boy named Henry Spelman to serve as a translator. With the deal closed, Smith ordered West to move into the Indian village with his men and then made his way back to the ship for his journey downriver to Jamestown.