Smith, CAPTAIN JOHN

Smith, CAPTAIN JOHN, adventurer and explorer, was born at Willoughby, Lincolnshire, in 1580, and was educated at the schools of Alford and Louth. On his father's death in 1596 he made up his mind to go to sea, but instead his guardian bound him apprentice to a merchant of Lynn. Business not being to his mind, he accompanied the second son of Lord Willoughby to France, and at Havre saw some soldiering under Henry IV. Next we find him in the Low Countries, whence he crossed to Scotland, returned to Willoughby, lived in a wood and studied Machiavelli and Marcus Aurelius, and exercised himself on a good horse with lance and ring. As the Turks were at that time ravaging Hungary he made up his mind to join the Christian army, and was robbed by four adventurers in France on his way thither. He joined a half-merchant, half-pirate, and in coasting round Italy and the north of Africa they were enriched by the capture of a Venetian argosy. Next at Grätz, in Styria, he entered the service of Ferdinand, Duke of Austria, under whom he greatly distinguished himself, and had some astonishing adventures. He was sold as a slave and marched to Adrianople, but escaped and travelled through Germany, France, Spain, and Morocco. After a sea-fight with two Spanish men-of-war he returned to England in 1604 enriched with 1000 ducats. In 1605 he joined the expedition of a London company to colonise Virginia. In April 1607 Jamestown was founded on the James River. On the way out Smith had been accused of conspiracy and narrowly escaped hanging, but in June 1607 he had his full liberty, and was admitted to the governing council. There was a desperate scarcity of food, and in endeavouring to find supplies, he fell into the hands of Powhatan, an Indian chief, and was only saved from being clubbed to death by the intervention of the Princess Pocahontas (q.v.). Smith was elected President of the colony in 1608, but returned to England disabled by an accident with gunpowder towards the end of 1609. During 1610-17 he was again in North Virginia; and he died in London, 21st June 1631. His works include A True Relation of Occurrences in Virginia (1608), A Description of New England (1616), New England's Trials (1620), General History of Virginia (1624), and True Travels of Captain John Smith (1630). In Charles Deane's edition of A True Relation (Boston, 1866) doubts were first raised as to the veracity of the Pocahontas story. Professor Arber, who edited a careful reprint of Smith's works in 1884, believes in him implicitly; but doubts are again raised in Henry Adams' Historical Essays (1892). There are Lives by Scheibler (1782), Sparks (1834), Simms (1843), Warner (1881), and Aslton (1884).