Samuel Argall

Sir Samuel Argall (baptized 4 December 1580 – c. 24 January 1626) was an English adventurer and naval officer.

A sea captain, in 1609, Argall was the first to determine a shorter northern route from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the Virginia Colony based at Jamestown, and made numerous voyages to the New World. As a sea warrior, he is best-known for actions against the Powhatan Confederacy, successfully kidnapping the Chief's daughter, Pocahontas, and in actions against the French efforts at colonization in New England and North Africa.

Knighted by King James I, Argall was less successful in his term as Deputy Governor of Virginia, where he was considered autocratic and unpopular. Like many mariners before and later, he was unsuccessful in his mission of locating a Northwest Passage to India. The Northwest Passage was eventually found by Roald Amundsen around 1904.

Childhood

Samuel Argall was the son of Richard Argall, a military man of East Sutton and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir Reginald Scott of Scott’s Hall (both in the English county of Kent).

horter route to Virginia

In 1609, Argall, an English ship captain employed by the Virginia Company of London, was the first to develop a shorter, more northerly route for sailing from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the Virginia Colony and its primary port and seat of government at Jamestown. Rather than following the normal practice of going south to the tropics and west with the trade winds, Captain Argall sailed west from the Azores Islands to Bermuda and then almost due west to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. His voyage took only nine weeks and six days including two weeks becalmed. This new route enabled the English to avoid enemy Spanish ships and to save on provisions.

Upon his arrival at Jamestown, Captain Argall found the colonist in dire straits. He resupplied the colonists with all the food he could spare, and returned to England at the end of the summer. The help came to the colony at one of the most critical moments in its history, as it began the Starving Time, during which less than 20% survived. However, without the provisions Argall had left, the colony may have been totally wiped out.

Under Lord Delaware

He arriving back at the Colony in the summer of 1610, when Royal Governor Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr started a period of aggressive and hostile action of the English against the Native Americans in Virginia. Lord Delaware, as West later became known, became so ill that in the spring of 1611 he sailed home to England, and Sir Thomas Dale took his place as Deputy Governor in charge of the Virginia Colony. When he returned to England, Lord Delaware wrote a book, "The Relation of the Right Honourable the Lord De-La-Warre, of the Colonie, Planted in Virginia", and remained nominally the Royal Governor until his death in 1618.

Serving under Dale, in March 1613, Captain Argall, who was looking for food for the settlement, sailed up the Potomac River. There, he traded with the Patawomecks, a Native American tribe. They lived at the village of Passapatanzy in present-day Stafford County on the Potomac River near Fredericksburg.

When two English colonists began trading with the Patawomecks, they discovered the presence of Pocahontas, the daughter of Wahunsunacock, Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy. According to a book by Captain John Smith, she had been living there for several years. As soon as he heard this, Argall resolved to get kidnap Pocahontas. Sending for the local chief, Japazaws, Argall told him he must bring her on board his ship.

With the help of Japazaws, they tricked Pocahontas into captivity. Their purpose, as they explained in a letter, was to ransom her for some English prisoners held by Chief Powhatan, along with various weapons and tools that the Powhatans had stolen. [Argall, Letter to Nicholas Hawes. p. 754.] Powhatan returned the prisoners, but failed to satisfy the colonists with the amount of weapons and tools he returned, and a long standoff ensued. During the year-long wait, Pocahontas was kept at Henricus, in modern-day Chesterfield County. While in captivity, the young Indian princess converted to Christianity, eventually marrying John Rolfe in 1614. While holding Pocahontas as a hostage had not worked to bring peace with the Powhatans, her marriage did, and era of peace lasted about 3 years.

After the capture of Pocahontas, later in 1613, under orders from London, Argall eradicated a French Jesuit colony on Mount Desert Island in Maine. After the first of two trips to accomplish this, he carried 14 prisoners back to Jamestown.

In the Virginia Colony, as one of the leaders, Argall was viewed as an autocrat who was especially insensitive to the poorer of the colonists. After he served what was considered an unsatisfactory term as deputy governor of Virginia beginning in 1617, Lord Delaware was en route from England to investigate complaints about Argall when he died at sea in 1618. Argall was replaced as Deputy Governor by Sir George Yeardley in 1619.

Fighting the French, New England, Knighthood

In 1620 he was captain of a merchant vessel which took part in an expedition against Algiers, which at the time was a French Colony in North Africa. On his return, he was made a member of the Council of New England. Later he was named admiral for New England.

On 26 June 1622, he was knighted by King James I. In 1625, he was the admiral of a fleet of 28 vessels which took many prizes off the coast of France and in October commanded the flagship in an unsuccessful attack on Cadiz.

Argall was never married. He died at sea on or about 24 January 1626. He left a will dated 23 May 1625, which was proved 21 Mar 1626. In it he mentions the following relations: sister Filmer, niece Sarah Filmer, nephew Samuel Filmer; sister Bathurst, nephew Samuel Bathurst; sister Fleetwood; brother John Argall esq and John's son Samuel Argall ["Genealogical Gleanings in England, Vol II"]

Footnotes

ource

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=27 Dictionary of Canadian Biography]
*"The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants", Gary Boyd Roberts, 2004, Genealogical Publishing Company

External links

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=27 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]