The Popham colonists have completed one major…
July 1608 CE
The Popham colonists have completed one major project: the building of a thirty-ton ship, a pinnace they name Virginia of Sagadahoc.
It is the first ship built in America by Europeans, and is meant to show that the colony could be used for shipbuilding.
They also finally managed to trade with the Abenaki for furs and gather a cargo of sarsaparilla.
When a supply ship comes in 1608, it brings a message that Sir John Popham had died.
Gilbert had sent the Mary and John to England with cargo.
When the ship returns later in the summer, it brings news that Gilbert's elder brother John had died.
Gilbert is therefore an heir to a title and estate of Compton Castle in Devon.
He decides to return to England.
The forty remaining colonists also leave, sailing home in the Mary and John and Virginia.
(The Virginia will make at least one more Atlantic crossing, going to Jamestown the next year with the Third Supply, piloted by Captain James Davis).
The colony has lasted almost exactly one year.
Later colonists in the area, building on the experience of the original colonists, will settle further up the Kennebec River, at the site of present day Bath, Maine, where the winter storms and tides are not as severe.
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