e flux surprised
me, and kept me many daies: then the crampe assaulted my weak body,
with strong paines; and afterwards the gout (with which I had
heeretofore beene sometime troubled) afflicted mee in such sort,
that making my body through weakenesse unable to stirre, or to use
any maner of exercies, drew upon me the disease called the scurvy;
which though in others it be a sicknesse of slothfulnesse, yet was
in me an effect of weaknesse, which never left me, till I was upon
the point to leave the world.

When a person of strong constitution, living under the best conditions
the colony could provide, and accompanied by a well-trained physician,
found himself thus incapacitated, it is no wonder that the rank and
file of the colony failed to pursue energetically by hard work and
exemplary conduct their own best interests.

The firmness of De la Warr, who was much more indulgent of his own than
of others' disorders, brought additional stability to the colony, but
the attack of scurvy, which current opinion believed could be relieved
only by the citrous fruits of the West Indies, caused him, accompanied
by Dr. Bohun, to set sail from Virginia in the spring of 1611 for the
same island of Nevis praised so highly for its baths by the first
settlers of 1607. Disease had robbed the colony of another outstanding
leader during a period when strong leadership on the scene was
imperative.

Although the colony had experienced its worst years of hardship before
De la Warr departed and the worst years in the New World had been
caused by famine and disease, sickness and starvation were still to
have a noteworthy effect. Disease no longer threatened the colony's
life, but it shaped its history.

In 1624 the charter of the Company was annulled and, in explaining this
major development, account must be taken of the cumulative effects of
sickness and hunger upon the Company's fortunes; the first summer's
seasoning and the Starving Time, for example, had long-term economic
repercussions as well as short-term results in human suffering.

The Company had been in financial difficulties for some years and by
1624 the treasury was empty and the indebtedness heavy. If the
mortality rate had not been so high and the level of energy of the
colonists so reduced, the Company might have prospered. For example,
local trade with the Indians necessitated small ships for the effective
transportation of cargo, but sever