me many daies: then the cramp
assaulted my weak body, with strong paines; & afterward the Gout
afflicted me in such sort, that making my body through weaknesse unable
to stirre, ... drew upon me the disease called Scurvy ... till I was
upon the point to leave the world."[85] Realizing that it would be fatal
for him to remain longer in Virginia, the Lord Governor set sail with
Captain Argoll for the West Indies, where, he hoped, he would recover
his health.[86] As Gates had left the colony some months before, the
government fell into the experienced hands of Captain George Percy.[87]

In the meanwhile the London Company, undismayed by their former
failures, were preparing a new expedition, which they hoped would
establish the colony upon a firm footing. Three hundred immigrants,
carefully selected from the better class of working men, were assembled
under the command of Sir Thomas Dale, and, on March the twenty-seventh,
1611, embarked for Virginia. Upon the arrival of the fleet at Jamestown,
Dale received the letters patent from Captain Percy, and assumed command
of the colony as Deputy for Lord De la Warr.[88]

The new Governor seems to have perceived at once that the chief source
of disaster had been the location of the settlement upon the Jamestown
peninsula. The small area which this place afforded for the planting of
corn, and the unhealthfulness of the climate rendered it most
undesirable as the site for a colony. Former Governors had refused to
desert the peninsula because of the ease with which it could be defended
against the Indians. But Dale at once began a search for a spot which
would afford all the security of Jamestown, but be free from its many
disadvantages. This he succeeded in finding up the river, some fifty
miles from Jamestown.[89] "I have surveyed," he wrote, "a convenient
strong, healthie and sweet seate to plant the new towne in, from whence
might be no more remove of the principall Seate." This place, which he
named Henrico, was located not far from the point of juncture of the
James and the Appomattox, at what is now called Farrar's Island. Here
the river makes a sweeping curve, forming a peninsula about one square
mile in extent.

[Illustration: DALE'S SETTLEMENTS ON THE UPPER JAMES]

In August, 1611, Sir Thomas Gates, returning to assume the command of
the colony, pushed vigorously the work upon the new settlement.[90] Dale
was sent up the river with no less than three hundred men, with
d