Bartholomew Gosnold

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Expedition's fort on Elizabeth's Island, Cuttyhunk, Mass. (1602)

Bartholomew Gosnold (1572 - August 22, 1607) was an English lawyer, explorer, and privateer. He was instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and also Jamestown, Virginia, and is considered by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) to be the "prime mover of the colonization of Virginia." He led the first European expedition to visit Cape Cod, on May 15, 1602.

He was born in Grundisburgh in Suffolk, England in 1572. His parents were Anthony Gosnold and Dorothy Bacon. He graduated from the University of Cambridge and studied law at Middle Temple.

He was friend of Richard Hakluyt and sailed with Walter Raleigh. He obtained backing to attempt a colony in the New World and in 1602 he sailed from Falmouth in a small Dartmouth bark, The Concord, with 32 on board. They intended to establish a colony in New England which was then known as Northern Virginia.

He pioneered a direct route due west from the Azores to New England arriving in May 1602 Cape Elizabeth in Maine (Lat 43 degrees). He skirted the coastline for several days before anchoring in York Harbor, Maine on May 14, 1602.

The next day, he sailed to Cape Cod, a place he is credited with naming. Following the coastline for several days, he discovered Martha's Vineyard and named it after his daughter. He established a small post on Elizabeth's Island, which is now called Cuttyhunk Island and is part of the town of Gosnold. The post was abandoned when intending settlers decided to return on the ship to England since they had insufficient provisions to over winter.

A notable account of the voyage, written by John Brereton one of the gentlemen adventurers, was published in 1602, and this helped in popularising subsequent voyages of exploration and colonisation of the north east seaboard of America. A second account by Gabriel Archer was not published until over 20 years later, after Gosnold's death.

Gosnold spent several years after his return to England promoting a more ambitious attempt; he obtained from King James I an exclusive charter for a Virginia Company to settle Virginia. To form the core of what would become the Jamestown colony, he recruited his cousin-by-marriage Edward Maria Wingfield, as well as John Smith, his brother and a cousin, in addition to members of his 1602 expedition. Gosnold himself served as vice-admiral of the expedition, and captain of the Godspeed (one of the three ships of the expedition).

He was popular among the colonists and opposed the location of the colony; he also helped design the fort that held the initial colony. He died of dysentery and scurvy only four months after they landed, on August 22, 1607.

By all accounts, he was greatly missed, and his loss marked the beginnings of the discord which tore apart the colony its first several years.

[edit] Possible discovery of his grave

In 2005, the APVA announced that they believed their archaeological dig at Jamestown had found his grave, and started an attempt to verify their identitity through genetic fingerprinting. By June researchers had received the approval of the Church of England to take DNA samples from the remains of his sister, located in an English church, the first ever granted for such purposes. However, in November 2005 the APVA announced that while they were still confident her remains were located beneath the church, they had been unable to locate them.

The DNA analysis will be conducted by the Smithsonian Institution.