By the dawn of the 17th century, despite several disastrous attempts England still lacked a viable claim to some part of the New World. In 1606, James I tried once more to fruitfully impregnate the mythically rich, virgin land. He established 2 companies made up of merchant-adventurers eager to plumb the tantalizing riches of North America--these were the London Company and the Plymouth Company. The first to embark was the London Company, which sent forth three ships in December of 1606. James gave them three objectives: find gold, find a route to the South Seas, and find the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Adverse winds held their ship near England for 6 weeks, and seriously depleted their food reserves. Forty-five died on the voyage, but 101 men and 4 boys finally landed on a in May, 1607. A record log tells us that within a month they were able to complete the building of a large triangular fort on the banks of a river the Indians knew as "Powhatan's River," or "Powhatan's Flu." The settlers named it the James, after their King. At first the climate seemed mild, the Indians friendly. As John Smith wrote, "heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man's habitations Then came blistering heat, swarms of insects spawned in the nearby wetlands, unfit water supplies, typhus, starvation, fierce winters, Indian attacks, shiploads of inappropriately-prepared "Colonists" (sent from a changing England that had no other place for them), and even a period of tyrannical martial law when missing church 3 times was a capital offense. Find this interesting? Read the entire article at: http://britishhistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www tobacco.org/History/Jamestown.html [URL is more than 2-lines] Sally Rolls Pavia Sun City, AZ [email protected] List Owner: [email protected] "Today is tomorrow's history." All incoming and outgoing email checked by Norton Anti-Virus 2002 . .