Jamestown Essays - Replica Ships, Free Essays, Term Papers

Jamestown Essays - Replica Ships, Free Essays, Term Papers Jamestown In May of 1607, three small ships ? the Discovery, Godspeed and Susan Constant ? landed at what we know today as Jamestown. On board were 104 men and boys, plus crew members, who had left England on a bitter cold December day. Sailing down the Thames River with little fanfare, they were unnoticed by all but a few curious onlookers. The ships were packed with supplies they thought would be most needed in this new land. Sponsors of the voyage hoped the venture would become an economic prize for England. An earlier undertaking in the 1580s on Roanoke Island, in what is now North Carolina, had failed, but times had changed. England had signed a peace treaty with Spain, and was now looking westward to establish colonies along the northeastern seaboard of North America. Word was that the Spanish had found ?mountains of gold? in this new land, so these voyagers were intent on finding riches as well as a sea route to Asia. Little did the settlers know as they disembarked on this spring day, May 14, 1607, how many and what kinds of hardships they would face as they set out to fulfill their dreams of riches and adventure in Virgini