Planning a More Successful Jamestown

Planning a More Successful Jamestown Colony

When British settlers first tried to colonize the American Continent, they experienced several setbacks that almost cause them to abandon the idea altogether. One expedition was lost at sea on the return trip back to Britain, another vanished completely without any trace in a mystery that has never been solves; and the Jamestown Colony had actually given up already and was preparing to abandon the continent when they finally received long-needed supplies and additional assistance from Britain. In retrospect, much could have been done differently to increase the likelihood of success.

Initial Planning Considerations

In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert and his party were lost at sea returning to England from the coast of Newfoundland. His half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, made a similar attempt to years later but his group abandoned their plans too, returning to England after experiencing severe food shortages and hostility from the Native American "Indians." The tremendous difficulty of maintaining adequate food stores in the new terrain and climate would have been the principal requirement of a well planned expedition, perhaps second only to adequately skilled navigation and seamanship. Therefore, the task of negotiating the open ocean in the manner undertaken by the Jamestown settlers should never have been left to English "gentlemen adventurers" as was the case at that time. The expeditions should have been led by highly experienced professional seamen or former British Royal Navy officers.

It was also irresponsible to set off to colonize a new continent without carefully planning out a reliable means of sustenance. I would have employed smaller preliminary expeditions consisting of navigators, map makers, naturalists, and experienced farmers to conduct experiments to identify the best way for future (permanent) expeditions to avoid starvation. Likewise, it would have been advisable to conduct observations at different times of year so as to be able to anticipate the range of climatic conditions. The results of those series of experiments and observations would have allowed planners to stock future vessels with the necessary supplies (such as seeds, grains, raw materials, tools, and weapons) to ensure the safety and likely success of permanent settlements.

Another approach that would have been preferable to the ad-hoc method of dealing with issues as they arose would have been to allow those preliminary expeditions to remain on the continent long enough to actually test out proposed methods of sustenance and self-protection. Only after they demonstrate the viability of their plans for establishing a settlement should any families (and children, especially) have been sent to live in untested circumstances.