the company's bounds to a tract fronting on the Atlantic Ocean, "from
the point of land called Cape, or Point, Comfort all along the
sea-coast to the northward two hundred miles, and from the point of
Cape Comfort all along the sea-coast to the southward two hundred
miles," and extending "up into the land, throughout from sea to sea,
west and northwest,"[11] a clause which subsequently caused much
dispute.

The governing power was still far from taking a popular form, being
centred in a treasurer and council, vacancies in which the company had
the right to fill. For the colonists it meant nothing more than change
of one tyranny for another, since the local government in Virginia was
made the rule of an absolute governor. For this office the council
selected one of the peers of the realm, Thomas West, Lord Delaware,
but as he could not go out at once they commissioned Sir Thomas Gates
as first governor of Virginia,[12] arming him with a code of martial
law which fixed the penalty of death for many offences.

All things being in readiness, the "Third Supply" left Falmouth, June
8, 1609, in nine ships, carrying about six hundred men, women, and
children, and in one of the ships called the _Sea Venture_ sailed the
governor, Sir Thomas Gates, and the two officers next in command, Sir
George Somers and Captain Christopher Newport.

When within one hundred and fifty leagues of the West Indies they were
caught in the tail of a hurricane, which scattered the fleet and sank
one of the ships. To keep the _Sea Venture_ from sinking, the men
bailed for three days without intermission, standing up to their
middle in water. Through this great danger they were preserved by
Somers, who acted as pilot, without taking food or sleep for three