A Brave Vessel: The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown and Inspired Shakespeare'sThe Tempest (31 page)

A 1630 English narrative in
NAR
, 245, complicates the matter by mentioning a Powhatan traveler to England identified as “Nanawack,” who is said to have come to England when Delaware was colonial governor (between June 1610 and March 1611), stayed “a year or two” and died in England. Despite the similarity in the names
Nanawack
and
Namontack,
the strength of the Van Meteren evidence forces the conclusion that either Nanawack was a different man or the account is a distorted version of Namontack’s story. Vaughan,
Transatlantic
, 51-52, 278, argues that they were different people.

Machumps is mentioned as alive after the
Sea Venture
wreck by Strachey in
HIS
, 26, 54, 94 (
NAR
, 596, 619-20, 655). In one case, Strachey states that Machumps spent time in England, a significant point, since there were few opportunities for him to go abroad and return unless he rode the
Sea Venture
. Whitaker in
NAR
, 550, makes the last known allusion to Machumps in August 1611.

The most significant obstacle to the claim that Namontack and Machumps were on Bermuda is the absence of English prosecution of Machumps’s alleged murder of Namontack. Crimes by Powhatans living among the English would likely have been prosecuted under English law. In light of this, I have depicted Namontack as disappearing on Bermuda, Machumps (whether innocent or guilty) claiming ignorance of his companion’s fate, Gates assuming foul play but lacking evidence of a crime, and in 1624 John Smith (or one of his reporters) exaggerating details of Namontack’s presumed death (perhaps confusing it with that of Samuel, who was murdered on the island by a fellow sailor). An enticing but speculative possibility is that whoever provided the bloody portrait of Machumps conflated the biography of the Powhatan castaway and Shakespeare’s portrait of the fictional and monstrous Caliban.

Virtually all scholars to date who have addressed the question of Namontack ’s and Machumps’s presence on the
Sea Venture
have been aware only of the Smith and Purchas passages. They include Malone,
Account
, 3-4 (published in 1808); Rountree and Turner,
Before
, 81 (accept Smith’s statement); Horn,
Land
, 144 (places Machumps on the
Sea Venture
without mention of murder); Kelso,
Buried
, 36 (dates Namontack’s death as 1610 without comment); and Vaughan,
Transatlantic
, 45-51, 276-78 (expresses doubt about Smith’s story). The question must now be reevaluated in light of Linebaugh and Rediker’s notice of the Van Meteren passage in
Hydra
and the overlooked circumstantial evidence of the presence of canoes, which together erase reasonable doubt that the Powhatan emissaries were on the
Sea Venture
.

Stracheys’ Crowhurst residency: Culliford,
Strachey
, 32-33, 59. Household items described: Picard,
Elizabeth’s
, 60-63, 127-31, 144-47. Items carried by colonists: Hughes,
Letter
[10];
REL
, 215-16. “For the comfort”: Hughes [10]. Writing implements described: Picard,
Elizabeth’s
, 198; Kelso,
Buried
, 189. Strachey carried the books by Willes and Acosta: Culliford,
Strachey
, 165-71. Copy of Willes signed and dated by Strachey: James,
Dream
, 202-3. “You all know”: Price,
Sauls
[44]. “The sickness increases”: Brown,
Republic
, 83.

“Though fools”: 3.3.27,
ARD
, 236. Woolwich departure: Archer in
PIL
, 4:1733 (
FIR
, 2:279). Since Archer was on board, I have accepted his account over that of Londoner Powle, who claims a Blackwall departure in Quinn, “Pious,” 554. Woolwich description: Weinreb and Hibbert,
London
, 971. Carriage transport: Picard,
Elizabeth’s
, 31-35. Vessels’ names:
PIL
, 4:1733 (
FIR
, 2:280). The vessel called “Catch” was either named
Catch
or was a ketch. Given the prevalence of the ketch class, as noted in Baker,
Vessels
, 119-44, I have called it an unnamed ketch. Fleet makeup:
PIL
, 4:1733 (
FIR
, 2:279);
PIL
, 4:1734 (
NAR
, 383);
DIS
, 4 (
VOY
, 105). Five hundred colonists:
TRU
, 7 (
NAR
, 360);
FIR
, 2:255, 276;
SMI,
2:219; Bernhard, “Response,” 668. One hundred and sixty mariners: estimate based on Lavery,
Merchantman
, 24; Mainwaring,
Dictionary
, 183; Barbour,
Pocahontas
, 97; Gill,
Plymouth: 1603
, 7; Camfield, “Worms,” 654-55. The best formula is Lavery’s inferred adjusted average of one crewman for every 8.6 tons burden of a ship.

Prevalence of figureheads on ships like the
Sea Venture
: Lavery,
Merchantman
, 18-19.
Sea Venture
dimensions based on wreck: Wright,
Story
, 24, 27; Mardis,
Wreck
, 47-57. Three hundred tons burthen:
PIL
, 4:1747 (
NAR
, 415); Craven, “Hughes,” 75;
BER
, 11; Burrage,
Lost
, 3.
Sea Venture
a new ship: Stow,
Annales
(1615), 944. Wright,
Story
, 10; Raine, “Somers,” 91; Peterson, “Sea Venture,” 40-46, speculate about the origin of the
Sea Venture
based on records of vessels that shared the relatively common name. Wright proposes it was built in 1608 in Aldeburgh, England, based on Marsden, “Ships,” 331, 336-37, whereas Peterson suggests that it was a textile ship launched in 1603. Vessel design based on wreckage: Wingood, “Report” (1982), 335; Adams, “Report” (1985), 297. London departure date:
PIL
, 4:1733 (
FIR
, 2:279); Quinn, “Pious,” 554.

Early Jamestown:
NAR
, 3-38; Price,
Love
, 3-13. “We are fallen”:
FIR
, 1:108. Virginia Company second charter:
NEW
, 205-12;
TRU
, 6-7 (
NAR
, 360). Shift from royal control, mineral profits to king:
FIR
, 2:270, 272. Charter revision, expanded territory claim:
FIR
, 2:249-51. Ranks of expedition officers, plan for later expedition: Quinn, “Pious,” 554;
FIR,
2:254-55;
SMI
, 1:268, 2:218. “Earthly paradise,” “ravished with,” “generally very loving,” “most winds”: Johnson,
Nova
[7]- [12] (
NEW
, 237-39).

“Petty commodities”:
GEN
, 1:205. Natural resources as true treasure: Johnson,
Nova
[17]-[20], [26]-[27] (
NEW
, 241-42, 245);
HIS
, 133 (
NAR
, 688-89); Rich,
Newes
[8] (
NAR
, 378);
GEN
, 1:384-86. Virginia commodities replace Eastern European goods:
TRU
, 4, 18 (
NAR
, 359, 367) (marginal note on
TRU
, 4, is not in
NAR
). List of goods sought in Virginia:
GEN
, 1:384-86. Glassmaking at Jamestown:
PIL
, 4:1756 (
NAR
, 437); Harrington,
Glassmaking
; Kelso,
Buried
, 51-52, 183. Wine making:
HIS
, 120 (
NAR
, 678-79). Virginia furs and the Council of Jamestown:
NAR
, 121, 450. Medicinal plants:
FIR
, 1:79, 162. “This little northern”: Johnson,
Nova
[27] (
NEW
, 245). Hunt for passage to East Indies:
FIR
, 1:81; Johnson,
Nova
[26] (
NEW
, 245);
SMI
, 1:49, 102, 165-66;
HIS
, 34, 104, 126 (
NAR
, 602, 665, 683). New World trade networks: Adams,
Best
, 33.

Preachers as promoters:
FIR
, 2:259; Wright,
Religion
, 84-114; Fitzmaurice,
Humanism
, 64; Horn,
Land
, 139; Knapp,
Empire
, 238-39. “If these objectors,” “certainly our objector”: Symonds,
Sermon
, 14-15. Analysis of Symonds’s sermon:
HIS
, 17 (
NAR
, 588). “As for supplanting,” “their children”: Johnson,
Nova
[13]-[14], [32] (
NEW
, 239, 247). “To handle them”: Neill,
History
, 28. Treatment of Powhatans compared to father’s discipline: Symonds,
Sermon
, 14;
HIS
, 17 (
NAR
, 588). Lack of extant publications attacking Virginia Company: M. Fuller,
Voyages
, 90; Skura, “Discourse,” 55. “Gold is more”: Chapman, Jonson, and Marston:
Eastward
[36].

“Three most worthy”:
DIS
, 3 (
VOY
, 105). Fleet officers’ ranks:
TRU
, 12 (
NAR
, 364). Gates contends in
EST
, 19-21 (
NEW
, 252), that the three leaders had permission to ride together. Barbour in
SMI
, 2:219, rightly questions John Smith’s 1624 statement that the three rode together because they “could not agree” to alternate ship assignments. The Virginia Company was disingenuous on the question of the three sealed boxes: in its instructions to Gates in
NEW
, 217-18, it says that the boxes should remain with him, but after the loss of the
Sea Venture
it says in
TRU
, 12 (
NAR
, 364), that they should have been placed on separate ships. Price,
Love
, 17, notes that on the first expedition to Jamestown similar boxes were carried on separate ships. Crashaw,
NAR
, 704, defends Gates’s actions.

Somers meets fleet in Plymouth:
PIL
, 4:1733 (
FIR
, 2:279);
GEN
, 1:320. Newport biography: Andrews, “Newport,” 28, 30-32, 37-38, 40; Quinn, “Newport”; Stow,
Annales
(1632), 1018; Ransome, “Newport,” 354. “A mariner”:
SMI
, 1:204. Whittingham is cape merchant:
PIL
, 4:1742 (
NAR
, 402). “Men of all”:
SMI
, 3:28. Sailors feared by colonists: Greenblatt,
Shakespearean
, 149, 196. “Persons of rank”:
TRU
, 12 (
NAR
, 364). “Their accustomed dainties”:
SMI
, 1:175-76. “Common people,” “hot bloods,” “gentlemen of quality,” “the idle,” “the better sort”:
PIL
, 4:1739, 1742-44 (
NAR
, 396, 402, 405, 407). Status of elite colonists: Canny, “Permissive,” 37; Kelso,
Buried
, 186. Virginia Company stock policy, “go in their persons,” “thither to remain”: Johnson,
Nova
[26]-[30] (
NEW
, 245-46). Lists of tradesmen wanted:
TRU
, 26 (
NAR
, 371); Johnson,
Nova
[25] (
NEW
, 244). Established tradesmen reluctant to go: Harrington,
Glassmaking
, 6. Guilds support Virginia enterprise:
NEW
, 206, 233-34. Enclosure of farmland: Linebaugh and Rediker,
Hydra
, 15-20. Population growth in England: Holland in Shakespeare,
Tempest
(Pelican), vii; Picard,
Elizabeth’s
, xxii; Adams,
Best
, 133-34. “Our land abounding”: Johnson,
Nova
[21]-[22] (
NEW
, 243). Virginia Company accepts indigent laborers:
GEN
, 1:252-53; Canny, “Permissive,” 25-27.

“Calm seas”: 5.1.315,
ARD
, 284. Plymouth details: Gill,
Plymouth: Ice
, 196, 199, 202, 205, 211, and
Plymouth: 1603
, 10. “From Woolwich”:
PIL
, 4:1733 (
FIR
, 2:279). Somers with two vessels joins at Plymouth: Quinn, “Pious,” 554;
PIL
, 4:1733 (
FIR
, 2:279-80). History of the pinnace
Virginia
: Neill
History
, 30;
GEN
, 1:197; Evans,
Shipping
, 4. “Three score years,” “worthy and valiant”:
DIS
, 22 (
VOY
, 115-16). “A man very”: Stow,
Annales
(1632), 1018. “A gentleman”:
PIL
, 4:1735 (
NAR
, 383). “Sir George Somers”: T. Fuller,
Worthies
, 283. Somers’s biography: Darrell, “Admiral,” and
Links
, 4-6, 10. “Intending to pass”: Broadley, “Will,” 25. Matthew Somers on the
Swallow
:
PIL
, 4:1733 (
FIR
, 2:280). Life in Plymouth: Gill,
Plymouth: Ice
, 198, 210, and
Plymouth: 1603
, 7-8. Names of officers:
PIL
, 4:1733 (
FIR
, 2:280). “Expert captains”: Stow,
Annales
(1632), 1018.

Number of people on
Sea Venture
(colonists
and
mariners):
PIL
, 4:1747 (
NAR
, 415);
EST
, 23 (
NEW
, 252);
SMI
, 1:268, 276, 2:219;
NAR
, 545; Craven, “Hughes,” 57 (claims 140); Stow,
Annales
(1615), 943 (claims 160). Elizabeth Persons on
Sea Venture
:
PIL
, 4:1746 (
NAR
, 413). Rolfe biography:
NAR
, 55. Buck biography: Dorman,
Purse
, 1:427 (a flawed Buck biography in the 1987 3rd ed. of
Purse
was corrected in the 4th ed.); Chorley, “Planting,” 200. “An able”:
NAR
, 707. Hopkins biography: Johnson, “Origin,” 164-66, 169-70; Christensen, “Parentage,” 243-46. “A fellow”:
PIL
, 4:1744 (
NAR
, 406).

Ballast characteristics: Mainwaring,
Dictionary
, 92-93; Wingood, “Report” (1982), 335; Adams, “Report” (1985), 280, 282, 284; Bermuda Maritime Museum, “
Sea Venture
.” Cargo layout: Lavery,
Merchantman
, 88. Food storage: Mainwaring,
Dictionary
, 237; Bermuda Maritime Museum, “
Sea Venture
.” Cod bones found in wreck likely from Plymouth: Armitage, “Rats,” 145, 159. “Butter, cheese”: Strachey,
For the Colony
(1612), 9 (1969 ed., 16). Food on voyages, “the juice of lemons,” “suckets,” “comfits”:
SMI
, 3:28-29. Devonshire pottery in wreck: Wingood, “Report” (1982), 341, and “Artefacts,” 151; Bermuda Maritime Museum, “
Sea Venture
.” Chinese porcelain: Wingood, “Report” (1982), 341, 344. German casting counter: Wingood, “Artefacts,” 156. Bartmann bottles and Spanish olive jars: Wingood, “Report” (1982), 341-42; Bermuda Maritime Museum, “
Sea Venture
.” Other items found in wreck: Wingood, “Report” (1982), 337, 341-45, and “Artefacts,” 151-55; Adams, “Report” (1985), 279, 281. “Quarter cans”:
SMI
, 3:15-17.