America's Dusty Files - December 20, 1606 - English Colonists Sail From London to Found Jamestown

A Year of Colonial American Frontier History

December 20, 1606 - English Colonists Sail From London to Found Jamestown
On December 20, 1606, three ships departed England, bound for North America. The three wooden ships were the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery.
The Ships
The 120 ton Susan Constant also has references that is was really the Sarah Constant. Historians are unsure which the proper name is. At 116 feet long, she was the largest of the three ships and she carried 71 of the 104 colonists. At fifty tons, the Godspeed carried thirty-three passengers and thirteen crewmen. She would have been about sixty-eight feet long. The twenty-ton Discovery carried no passengers. Her purpose was to carry some of the cargo and navigate the shallower rivers after the colonists arrived. Replicas of all three ships reside at Jamestown National Historic Site.
The Voyage
The passage from England to the Virginia shores took 144 days, an unusually long voyage. The ships spent six weeks lolling in the English Channel as they waited for favorable winds that would blow them south. They arrived at Cape Henry on April 26, 1607.
Jamestown National Historic Site
1368 Colonial Pkwy
Jamestown, VA 23081
Hours Daily 9 AM to 5 PM, except Thanksgiving, Dec. 25 and Jan. 1
(757) 856-125
First Landing State Park
2500 Shore Dr.
Virginia Beach
VA 23451
Phone: 757-412-2300;

Indiana's history begins many decades before December 11, 1816 when Indiana became a state. The first foundations of Indiana's were laid with the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the settlement that came later. The American History A Day at A Time - 2015 series is in an easy to read "This Day in History," format and includes articles by the author from that series. The reader may read the articles as they appear, or purchase the book:
A Year of Colonial American Frontier History

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