this colony, the council for Virginia set down in writing regulations
deemed necessary for the expedition. The command of the ships and
settlers was given to Captain Christopher Newport, a famous seaman,
who in 1591 had brought into the port of London the treasure-laden
carrack the _Madre de Dios_, taken by Raleigh's ship the _Roe Buck_.
He was to take charge of the commissions of the local council, and not
to break the seals until they had been upon the coast of Virginia
twenty-four hours. Then the council were to elect their president and
assume command of the settlers; while Captain Newport was to spend two
months in discovery and loading his ships "with all such principal
commodities and merchandise there to be had."[13]

With these orders went a paper, perhaps drawn by Hakluyt, giving
valuable advice concerning the selection of the place of settlement,
dealings with the natives, and explorations for mines and the South
Sea.[14] In respect to the place of settlement, they were especially
advised to choose a high and dry situation, divested of trees and up
some river, a considerable distance from the mouth. The emigrants
numbered one hundred and twenty men--no women. Besides Captain
Newport, the admiral, in the _Sarah Constant_, of a hundred tons, the
leading persons in the exploration were Bartholomew Gosnold, who
commanded the _Goodspeed_, of forty tons; Captain John Ratcliffe, who
commanded the _Discovery_, of twenty tons; Edward Maria Wingfield;
George Percy, brother of the earl of Northumberland; John Smith;
George Kendall, a cousin of Sir Edwin Sandys; Gabriel Archer; and Rev.
Robert Hunt.

Among these men John Smith was distinguished for a career combining
adventure and romance. Though he was only thirty years of age he had
already seen much service and had many hairbreadth escapes, his most