Virginia of Sagadahoc
The Virginia of Sagadahoc (also known as Virginia ) was a pinasse built by colonists in the Popham Colony in 1607 and 1608 . It was the first ship built by the English in what is now Maine and possibly in all of the English colonies in North America.
Little is known about the architecture, but records from the colony and on similar ships suggest that the Virginia could carry around 30 tons of load. The ship was roughly less than 15 meters long and 4.42 meters wide. She had a continuous main deck, a draft of about 2 meters when fully loaded and 0.6 meters freeboard .
The construction of the ship was a demonstration of the skills of the young colony. Virginia was built at the mouth of the Kennebec River , now called Phippsburg, Maine . It was a project of the Virginia Company of Plymouth , a Virginia Company .
to travel
In August 1608, the Pinasse sailed for England and crossed the Atlantic with some of the surviving members of the Popham Colony on board.
In 1609 the ship was part of the mission to colonize Jamestown . The Virginia was one of the two pinnaces that was towed by the mission's other 7 large ships. The fleet started in Plymouth, England . On the route, the fleet crossed three days a storm which is believed that he was a hurricane was. The ships were separated from each other by the storm. The flagship of the fleet, the Sea Venture , was shipwrecked on an uninhabited archipelago . This archipelago was later named Bermuda . The Virginia survived the storm unscathed and reached the colony in October. She was commanded by Captain James Davis , who later had command of Fort Algernon .
It is not known what happened to the Virginia after arriving in Jamestown. It appears for the last time in records in 1610.
Reconstruction of the Virginia: Maine's First Ship
A nonprofit organization, Maine's First Ship , was formed to reconstruct the Virginia . The work will take place on the grounds of the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath (Maine) . The organization shows people the role of Maine in early American and European history with a 400-year tradition in shipbuilding and archeology.
Individual evidence
Web links
- Maine's First Ship - a project to reconstruct the Virginia
- Popham Colony