In 1606, the Virginia Company of London chose Newport to lead the voyage to Virginia because of his reputation as a "mariner well practised." (He was also named "principal master" of the Royal Navy in 1606.) Newport took command of the Susan Constant and received his formal instructions from the company on December 10, 1606. Because of a lawsuit over a collision that had occurred on November 23 between the Susan Constant and the Philip and Francis, the voyage did not get under way until December 20. On that date, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed (captained by Bartholomew Gosnold), and the Discovery (captained by John Ratcliffe) finally sailed down the Thames River on their way to Virginia.
The journey did not go well. Storms delayed the vessels off the coast of Kent for about six weeks, long enough for a clash of egos to emerge among two of the expedition's leaders aboard the Susan Constant. Edward Maria Wingfield and Captain John Smith locked horns, and after Newport sided with Wingfield, Smith was arrested and nearly hanged at Nevis, in the West Indies. The fleet left the West Indies on April 10 and, after surviving a violent storm, finally landed at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia on April 26.
The landing was no less difficult. Newport went ashore with Wingfield, Gosnold, and padding-right: 12px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', trebuchet, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-position: 100% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;" class="primary" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/The_Original_Jamestown_Settlers_an_excerpt_from_The_Generall_Historie_of_Virginia_New-England_and_the_Summer_Isles_by_John_Smith_1624" target="_blank">a group of about thirty men. They padding-right: 12px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', trebuchet, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-position: 100% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;" class="primary" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Arriving_in_Virginia_an_excerpt_from_Observations_gathered_out_of_a_Discourse_of_the_Plantation_of_the_Southerne_Colonie_in_Virginia_by_George_Percy_1625" target="_blank">saw "faire meddows and goodly tall Trees, with such Fresh-waters running through the woods," wrote George Percy, "as I was almost ravished at the first sight thereof." The woods, however, concealed a group of Virginia Indians who charged the newcomers as they were returning to their ships and wounded several of them with arrows before being driven off.
That night, according to padding-right: 12px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', trebuchet, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-position: 100% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;" class="primary" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Instructions_from_the_Virginia_Company_of_London_to_the_First_Settlers_1606" target="_blank">instructions
from the Virginia Company of London, Newport opened a box that contained the names of the seven councilmen who would elect a president and govern the colony. They included Newport, Wingfield, Gosnold, Ratcliffe, Smith, Captain John Martin
, and Captain George Kendall
. Smith, however, was not allowed to take his seat, which further strained relations among him, Newport, and the newly elected President Wingfield.
On April 29, Newport erected a cross at the mouth of the bay, at a place they named Cape Henry, to claim the land for the Crown. During the next two weeks, Newport directed the exploration of the lower Chesapeake Bay and the James River
. Despite the inauspicious first encounter with the Algonquian-speaking Indians of Tsenacomoco, subsequent interactions were cautiously friendly. The Englishmen took care to visit each town and greet each chief as the ships worked their way west up the James River, which Newport learned was navigable at least as far as the Appomattox River
. After debating several possible sites for the new settlement, the leaders decided on a marshy peninsula they called Jamestown Island. Once a start was made there, Newport continued his exploration of the James with a small party, sailing as far as the falls (present-day Richmond
) and erecting a cross there to mark possession of the river westward from Cape Henry. He and his men then sailed back to Jamestown.
When they returned on May 27, Newport discovered that several nearby Indian tribes had attacked the settlement only the day before. He and the other leaders immediately set the men to constructing a triangular fort with a bastion in each corner. Although the English had driven off the attackers, the colony's leaders anticipated stronger assaults from the Indians in the future. In addition, the Spaniards in present-day Florida
were threatened by the English presence and padding-right: 12px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', trebuchet, arial, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-position: 100% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;" class="primary" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Letters_between_King_Philip_III_and_Don_Pedro_de_Zuniga_1607-1608" target="_blank">inclined
to drive them off.
