Discovery (1602 ship)

Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery, commemorated on the Virginia State Quarter.
Career
Name:	Discovery
General characteristics
Displacement:	20 long tons (20 t)
Length:	38 ft (12 m)
Propulsion:	Sails

Discovery was a 20-ton "fly-boat" of the British East India Company, launched before 1602.

Discovery was the smallest of three ships that were led by Captain Christopher Newport on the voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia in 1607. When Captain Newport returned to London, England, he left the Discovery behind for the use of the colonists.

She took part in six expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage. During the 1610-1611 expedition in the Canadian arctic, the crew of the Discovery mutinied, and set their captain Henry Hudson adrift in a small boat; he was not seen again, and the crew returned to England.

Replicas

Replicas of the Discovery and her sisters, the larger Susan Constant and Godspeed, are docked in the James River at Jamestown Settlement (formerly Jamestown Festival Park), adjacent to the Jamestown National Historic Site. A new Discovery, built in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, was launched in September 2006.

The previous replica, built in 1984 in Jamestown, was shipped to the United Kingdom for a tour of the UK as part of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Virginia's founding. After its tour, which finished in September 2007, the ship was laid up in Ipswich Marina awaiting a move to a more permanent home. On 19 December 2008, 402 years to the day it left London Docks bound for Virginia, it was officially handed to Westenhanger Castle by the Jamestown UK Foundation, who had brought the replica vessel to the UK. The ship is now on permanent display at the castle and will live out the remainder of its life there.

Modern depictions

In May 2007, the United States Postal Service issued the first 41 cent denomination first class stamp. The stamp had an image of the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery.

The Discovery was also depicted on Virginia's coin of the 50 State Quarters, in celebration of the quadricentennial of Jamestown.

See also

• Ship replica (including a list of ship replicas)

External links

• Discovery replica at Museum in Docklands, London