creation of
individual estates according to the laws and customs of England, not to
mention the guarantee of full legal rights for the inhabitants of the
colony and for their children, leave no more room for speculation as to
the intended permanence of the settlement than there is doubt as to the
expected diversity of its economic activity. But for the time being,
first things must take first place. Until it had been demonstrated that
Virginia could provide profitable freightage for the ships of England,
her future rested upon an insecure foundation. Hence, the initial
emphasis on the type of activity which promised the more immediate or
the greater return.

Newport's fleet of the _Susan Constant_, the _Godspeed_, and the
_Discovery_ sailed for Virginia in December 1606. While the adventurers
waited for his return and report on the first discoveries, the Spanish
ambassador excitedly reported to Spain that the English intended to
send two vessels to Virginia each month until "they have 2,000 men in
that country." Actually the plan seems to have been quite different.
Lord Chancellor Egerton is reported to have declared in 1609: "We ...
thought at first we would send people there little by little." Whatever
the plan, this was the practice. Newport's total complement in the
first fleet was 160 men of whom 104 remained in the colony. He was back
at Plymouth by late July 1607, and from Plymouth he came on to London
in August. For cargo he carried clapboard, and his sailors had picked
up so much sassafras root that the leaders of the colony feared that
the market for this established staple of the American trade might be
ruined. He brought with him also ore which he hoped an assay would
prove to be gold, and he declared the country to be rich in copper.
With some exaggeration, he announced explorations "into the country
near two hundred miles" and the discovery of "a river navigable for
great shippes one hundred and fifty miles." The adventurers responded
by sending him out again, in October 1607, with 120 prospective
settlers and what would be greeted in Jamestown as the first supply.

All told, Captain Newport would make five round trips between England
and Virginia before ending a career that included service of the
Muscovy Company by dying on the island of Java as an agent of the East
India Company. He has found no important place in the American
tradition, partly because Captain John Smith, the Virginia colony's
first