ent out in 1602 to
search for White's lost colony, all Raleigh's interest in the Virginia
colony had, by his attainder, escheated to the crown. But he never
gave up his faith in Virginia: neither the failure of nine several
expeditions nor twelve years imprisonment shook it. On the eve of his
fall he had written, "I shall yet live to see it an English nation:" and
he lived to see his prediction come true.

The first or Virginian colony, chartered with the Plymouth colony in
April, 1606, was at last organized by the appointment of Sir Thomas
Smith, the 'Chief of Raleigh's assignees, a wealthy London merchant, who
had been ambassador to Persia, and was then, or shortly after, governor
of the East India Company, treasurer and president of the meetings of
the council in London; and by the assignment of the transportation of
the colony to Captain Christopher Newport, a mariner of experience in
voyages to the West Indies and in plundering the Spaniards, who had the
power to appoint different captains and mariners, and the sole charge of
the voyage. No local councilors were named for Virginia, but to Captain
Newport, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, and Captain John Ratcliffe were
delivered sealed instructions, to be opened within twenty-four hours
after their arrival in Virginia, wherein would be found the names of the
persons designated for the Council.

This colony, which was accompanied by the prayers and hopes of London,
left the Thames December 19, 1606, in three vessels--the Susan Constant,
one hundred tons, Captain Newport, with seventy-one persons; the
God-Speed, forty tons, Captain Gosnold, with fifty-two persons; and a
pinnace of twenty tons, the Discovery, Captain Ratcliffe, with twenty
persons. The Mercure Francais, Paris, 1619, says some of the passengers
were women and children, but there is no other mention of women. Of the
persons embarked, one hundred and five were planters, the rest crews.
Among the planters were Edward Maria Wingfield, Captain John Smith,
Captain John Martin, Captain Gabriel Archer, Captain George Kendall,
Mr. Robert Hunt, preacher, and Mr. George Percie, brother of the Earl of
Northumberland, subsequently governor for a brief period, and one of the
writers from whom Purchas compiled. Most of the planters were shipped
as gentlemen, but there were four carpenters, twelve laborers, a
blacksmith, a sailor, a barber, a bricklayer, a mason, a tailor, a
drummer, and a chirurgeon.

The composition