The settlers had finished the initial triangle James Fort by June 15.

Newport sails a week later back for London on the Susan Constant with a load of pyrite ("fools' gold") and other supposedly precious minerals, leaving the tiny Discovery behind for the use of the colonists.

Newport is to return twice from England with additional supplies in the following eighteen months, leading what are termed the First and Second Supply missions.

Within a month, James Fort covers an acre on Jamestown Island, although it will burn down the following year.

The wooden palisaded walls form a triangle around a storehouse, church, and a number of houses.

The settlers are not well-equipped for the life they find in Jamestown.

In addition to the "gentlemen", who are not accustomed to manual or skilled labor, they consist mainly of English farmers and "Eight Dutchmen and Poles" hired in Royal Prussia.

Many suffer from saltwater poisoning which leads to infection, fevers and dysentery.

As a result of these conditions, most of the early settlers will die of disease and starvation.