une, 1607--_A painting by
Sidney King for Colonial National Historical Park._]

[Illustration: The Arrival of the Settlers at Jamestown on May 13, 1607.
English Merchantmen of the size and date of the _Godspeed_ 40 tons,
_Susan Constant_ 100 tons, and the "pinnessee" _Discovery_ 20 tons
maneuvering for anchorage off Jamestown Island 1607. _A pencil Study by
Griffith Bailey Coale, courtesy of Mariners Museum._]

[Illustration: Worship at Cape Henry on April 29, 1607 as depicted by
Stephen Reid. _Courtesy of the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk._]

[Illustration: Pottery-making as it may have been done in the early
years at Jamestown where such work was carried on. _A painting by Sidney
King for Colonial National Historical Park._]

[Illustration: "The Cooper" as he may have worked in early Jamestown. _A
painting by Sidney King for Colonial National Historical Park._]

[Illustration: Shipbuilding, known to have been carried on at Jamestown
as early as 1609, may have been done in this manner. _A painting by
Sidney King for Colonial National Historical Park._]

[Illustration: A winter scene suggestive of life on Jamestown Island
about 1625. _From a painting by Sidney King for Colonial National
Historical Park._]

[Illustration: A home such as could have existed at Jamestown by 1625.
_From a painting for Colonial National Historical Park by Sidney
King._]

Virginia, 1607-1624

On May 13, 1607, three small English ships approached Jamestown Island
in Virginia: the _Susan Constant_ of 100 tons, commanded by Captain
Christopher Newport and carrying seventy-one persons; the _Godspeed_ of
forty tons, commanded by Captain Bartholomew Gosnold and carrying
fifty-two persons; and the _Discovery_, a pinnace of twenty tons, under
Captain John Ratcliffe with twenty-one persons. During the day they
maneuvered the ships so close to the shore that they were "moored to the
trees in six fathom [of] water." The next day, May 14, George Percy
continues, "we landed all our men, which were set to worke about the
fortification, others some to watch and ward as it was convenient." In
this manner the first permanent English settlement in America was begun
on the shores of the James River, in Virginia, about twenty years after
the ill-fated attempts to establish a colony on Roanoke Island and
thirteen years before the Pilgrims made their historic landing at
Plymouth in New England.

THE START OF COLONIZATION

The expedition of 1607