Note 163 — Chapter IV

Captain Gosnold had been employed in several of the previous voyages. He appears to have traded direct with the Indians, in lat. 42°, in peltry, sassafras, and cedar-wood. He was also the first to sow English corn in the Island of Martha’s Vineyard (so named by him). In the following year (1603) two ships from Bristol and one from London traded successfully to the same parts (Macpherson, ii. pp. 229-246, etc.). The most remarkable of all these expeditions was that of Captain John Smith, who sailed from London in 1607, and is deservedly considered the real founder of the colony of Virginia (see ‘True Travels, Adventures, etc., of Captain John Smith,’ Lond. 1627). Captain Smith is the hero of a famous old ballad, called ‘The Honor of a London ’Prentice; being an account of his matchless manhood and boyhood.’