On July io, 1609, there arrived a ship under Captain Samuel Argall, to fish for sturgeon and to trade, and Captain Smith found it advisable to commandeer the provisions brought out, with the understanding, of course, that they would be paid for by the company. The ship brought out letters much less welcome to Smith than the supplies. In them he was much criticized for what the Council was pleased to think his harsh treatment of the In dians and for failure to send back to England more valuable cargoes. Smith bridled at the injustice. His letter to the Council sent by Newport the preceding November had had little effect. News was also brought that the London Company had obtained a new charter, providing for a reorganization of the plan of gov ernment of the colony. There was to be a governor-general, who was, or whose deputy was, to be in real control. Lord De la Warr was to be this governor ; nine supply ships were coming over. Smith understood, of course, that this change in the government was wise, but he did not relish being set aside, and he honestly thought that he with his experience, especially with his knowledge of the Indians, was the best man that could be found for the position. And almost certainly he was correct, though it may be argued that Smith had by his overbearing and impatient manner with his equals—though not with his inferiors—in station made so many enemies among influential members of the company and colony that the time had come for a new man to be put in con trol, who would be sure, however, to profit by the experience of his predecessor.
Lord De la Warr did not at first intend to come to Virginia himself till much later but to remain in England and there give attention to its affairs. He was to be represented in Virginia by Sir Thomas Gates, lieutenant-governor. The "Sea Venture," carrying Sir Thomas Gates, lieutenant-governor, Sir George Som ers, admiral, Sir Thomas Dale, high marshal, and Captain Chris topher Newport, vice-admiral, was wrecked on one of the Ber muda Islands, and the arrival in Virginia of these high officials was much delayed. This vessel also carried instructions. The other ships were dispersed and much distressed by the same storm that wrecked the "Sea Venture," but four of them sailed up the James on August I1 and others came in later, all in a very dilapi dated condition. These ships brought Ratcliffe, Martin and Archer, former members of the Council in Virginia. When these demanded that Smith give up his office, he refused, since neither the new governor nor the lieutenant-governor was at hand, nor had he been officially informed of the changes made. He chose, however, to recognize Martin as a member of the Council, though maintaining that the other two were not now legally members, and a few days before his year's term as president was to expire on Sept. 1o, he named Martin as his successor, who immediately, however, resigned in favour of Smith. Smith now sent Martin to make a settlement among the Nansemond Indians and he himself went to inspect a settlement he had previously sent Captain West to make at the falls of the James. He found affairs going badly. When he was returning to Jamestown, he was dangerously burned by an explosion of gunpowder and his return to England was necessitated. With him went charges drawn up by his enemies in Virginia, which, however, were not pressed. But Smith was never employed again by the London Company. He had made too many enemies.
When he left, the harvest was newly gathered and the colony was otherwise in a sufficiently stable condition to ensure its steady growth if only a competent administrator had been in charge.
We cannot, however, go further into the history of the colony except to say that things at once went to pieces. The winter of 1609-10 is known as the "starving time." The colony was only saved from extinction by the arrival in the spring of Sir Thomas Gates and a little later of Lord De la Warr.
Though Captain Smith saw no more service with the Virginia Company of London, he, when he recovered his health, carried on his work in the interests of colonization and in the establish ment of fisheries. With two ships he made a fishing and exploring voyage in 1614, and, as he had done in the case of the Chesapeake Bay country, made a surprisingly accurate map of the New England coast from the Penobscot to Cape Cod. He called the country "New England" and he assigned the name "Plymouth" to the mainland opposite Cape Cod.
Smith gained the favour of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, one of the principal members of the Virginia Company of Bristol. Under his patronage he made in 1615 two attempts to reach New England for purposes of settlement, the first of which failed on account of stress of weather, and the next attempt was frustrated by his being captured by pirates. In 1617 he made another unsuccessful attempt. He had been given by the Virginia Company of Bristol the vain title of admiral of New England. In 1618 he endeavoured without success to enlist the support of Lord Bacon for his colonization plans. In 1619 he offered to pilot the Pilgrim Fathers to North Virginia, that is, New England, but the offer was not accepted. After this he was mainly engaged in producing pam phlets, books, and maps, the design of which was to excite an interest in the colonization of America and now especially that part of it he had named New England. He died in June, 1631. He was buried in St. Sepulchre's Church, London.
Smith's principal writings, the titles being given in modern spelling and abbreviated form and in the order of their publica tion, are as follows : A True Relation (1608); A Map of Virginia (1612); A Description of New England (1616); New England's Trials (162o) ; The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (1624) ; An Accidence for All Young Seamen (1626) ; the same work recast and enlarged and given the title A Sea Grammar (1627); The True Travels (1630); Advertise ments for the Unexperienced Planters (1631).
The best edition of Smith's works is that edited by Professor Edward Arber, and published in Birmingham, England, in 1884. In this are also printed most of the pamphlets of his contempo raries, including those unfriendly to Smith, so that the reader may be able to examine without trouble all the first-hand accounts of the settlement of Jamestown. The latest biography is by E. K. Chatterton. This was published in 1927 as one of the Golden Hind Series, which contains the biographies of the great Elizabethan seamen and explorers who gave lustre to that age. This book con tains a full bibliography of Smith's own writings, and a very extensive list of the writings in reference to him. An engraving was made of Captain John Smith from life by Simon van der Pass, which has been reproduced many times. There is in the Virginia State Library a recently acquired portrait of an English man dressed in Turkish costume, which experts pronounce an original portrait of Captain Smith. (H. R. McI.)