Newport, Christopher
Newport, Christopher,
1565?–1617, English mariner, commander of early voyages to Virginia. He commanded a privateering expedition to the West Indies (1592) that returned to England with the Spanish vessel Madre de Dios, the richest prize ever taken by the Elizabethan privateers. He was employed by the London Company to command their expeditions to Virginia. On the first voyage he sailed from England with Capt. John Smith and other colonists in Dec., 1606, and arrived near the site of Jamestown in May, 1607. He returned to England in July and sailed again for the colony in October with the "first supply" of emigrants and provisions, reaching Jamestown in Jan., 1608, to find the colonists greatly reduced and in dissension. Later that year he brought the "second supply" from England and explored the country beyond the falls of the James River. On his fourth voyage from England (1609), Newport was wrecked on the Bermudas with Sir Thomas GatesGates, Sir Thomas,fl. 1585–1621, English colonial governor of Virginia. He was knighted for his services under the 2d earl of Essex in the successful expedition against Cádiz in 1596.
..... Click the link for more information. and Sir George SomersSomers, Sir George,
1554–1610, English naval commander. The leader of several successful privateering ventures against the Spanish, he was knighted in 1603. He was a founder (1606) of the London Company and set out with settlers for Virginia in 1609.
..... Click the link for more information. and did not reach Virginia until May, 1610. In 1611 he made his last voyage to Virginia, taking Sir Thomas DaleDale, Sir Thomas,
d.1619, acting governor (May–Aug., 1611, 1614–16) of the Virginia colony. Sent by the London Company to restore order, he arrived (1611) in Virginia with three ships of settlers and governed until another fleet under Sir Thomas Gates arrived four
..... Click the link for more information. to the colony. In his later years Newport made three voyages for the East India Company, dying at Bantam, in present Indonesia, on the last.