to build a wharf. When things were reasonably well in hand at Jamestown,
he made plans to push the decision to open a new settlement above
Jamestown which, he hoped, would become the real center of the Colony.
The reasons for such a removal of the seat of government are well known:
not sufficient high land at Jamestown, poor drinking water, too much
marsh, and a location not far enough upstream to be out of reach of the
Spanish. Too often the reality of the ever present Spanish threat to
Virginia is overlooked. Spain, still strong, had long been dominant in
the New World and had known intentions of eliminating the English. That
they never effectively moved in this direction did not lessen the fear
in the Colony in the early years. This explains the various alarms that
went out along the James from time to time. Quite naturally there was
concern when spies were landed at Point Comfort in 1611. These were kept
under careful scrutiny for several years, until disposition was made of
them.

In the very critical period of 1611-1616, during the administrations of
Gates and Dale, emphasis was away from Jamestown. Emphasis fell on newly
established Henrico and then on Bermuda together with their related
settlements. Attention was given, too, to Kecoughtan and a settlement
was made even on the Eastern Shore. Despite all of this, Jamestown
remained as Virginia's capital. In 1612, "Master George Percie ... [was
busy] with the keeping of Jamestown" while much of the Colony had been
"moved up river." The first settlement now was looked upon as chiefly a
place of safety for hogs and cattle.

In 1614 it was made up of "two faire rowes of howses, all of framed
timber, two stories, and an upper garret or corne loft high, besides
three large, and substantiall storehowses joined togeather in length
some hundred and twenty foot, and in breadth forty...." Without the town
"... in the Island [were] some very pleasant, and beutifull howses, two
blockhowses ... and certain other framed howses." In 1616 it was a post
of fifty under the command of Lieutenant John Sharpe, who was acting in
the absence of Captain Francis West. Thirty-one of these were "farmors"
and all maintained themselves with "food and raiment."

The Gates-Dale five-year administration (1611-16) actually saw Virginia
established as a going concern. The role of Dale in all of this seems to
have been a heavy, perhaps the predominant, one although the role of
Gates should not be