University of Virginia Library

SIR SAMUEL ARGALL.

Captain Samuel Argall, born at Bristol, England, in 1572, was a relative
of Sir Thomas Smith, the Treasurer of the Virginia Company. He

first arrived in Virginia at Jamestown in July, 1609, with a ship-load
of wine and provisions to trade on private account, and to fish for sturgeon
contrary to the regulations of the Company. The colonists, suffering
for provisions, seized his supplies. Argall remained in the Colony
until June 19, 1610, when he sailed in the "Discovery" for the Bermudas
for provisions for the Colony, in company with the vessel of Sir George
Somers, from whom, however, he was soon separated in a violent storm.
Being driven northward, he came to anchor in a great bay, which he
named Delaware Bay. He soon made his way back to Jamestown, and
about Christmas, sailing up the Potomac to trade with the natives, recovered
from Jopassus, a brother of Powhatan, a captive English boy,
Henry Spelman, who afterward wrote a narrative of his captivity, which
was printed from the original manuscript by J. F. Hunnewell in 1872.

In February, 1611, Argall attacked the chief of the Warroskoyaks for
a breach of contract, and burned two of his towns. Early in 1613 he
bribed Jopassus with a brass kettle to deliver Pocahontas into his hands,
designing to hold her for a ransom.

In 1614, under orders from Sir Thomas Dale, Argall broke up the
French settlement at Mt. Desert, on the coast of Maine, causing a war
between the French and English colonists. He also destroyed the French
settlements at St. Croix and Port Royal. He now sailed for England,
where he arrived in June, 1614. He returned to Virginia as Deputy
Governor, May 15, 1617, with a purpose to traffic in violation of the
laws he was to administer. He found "the market place, streets, and
other spare places in Jamestown planted in tobacco," so alluring to the
colonists was the profit yielded by the weed. He enacted severe sumptuary
laws, and by his arbitrary conduct rendered himself odious. He was
recalled, and Sir George Yeardley appointed in his place, but, before the
arrival of the latter, Argall secretly stole away from the Colony. Called to
account for his misconduct, he was shielded from punishment by his trading
partner, the Earl of Warwick. In 1620 he was a captain in the expedition
against the Algerines; was knighted by James I. in 1623, and
in 1625 was engaged in Cecil's expedition against the Spanish. He died
in 1639. An account of his voyage from Jamestown in 1610, and his
letter respecting his voyage to Virginia in 1617, are preserved in Purchas.
After the death of Lord De La Warr, Argall took charge of his
estate; and letters of Lady De La Warr are in existence accusing him
of the most flagrant and barefaced peculation