Christopher Newport - Early career, Expedition which founded Jamestown, Additional missions, Legacy, The New World

Seaman and colonist, born in England, UK. In 1606 he was given charge of the Virginia Company's expedition to America. He made a total of five voyages to Jamestown (1607–11) and served as the intermediary between the Virginia Company and the new colonists in Virginia.

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Christopher Newport (c.

Early career

For fifteen years, Newport had been a privateer who raided Spanish freighters off and on in the Caribbean.

In 1605, after another mission to the Caribbean, he returned to England with two baby crocodiles and a wild boar to give as gifts to King James I who had a fascination with exotic animals.

Expedition which founded Jamestown

It was Newport's experience as well as his reputation which led to his hiring by the Virginia Company of London, which had been granted a proprietorship to create a settlement in the Virginia Colony by King James I. After a first landing at Cape Henry, Newport's party selected Jamestown for their new settlement in May, 1607.

Additional missions

In June 1607, Newport returned to England for supplies and more settlers, leaving behind 104 colonists, and the smallest ship, the Discovery.

Newport made a fourth trip to America in 1609, as captain of the Sea Venture and "Vice Admiral" of the Third Supply mission, but was shipwrecked off of Bermuda, in an incident which is often credited as the inspiration for Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

Years later (1613–1614) Newport sailed for the British East India Company to Asia.

Legacy

Newport News Point, where the mouth of the James River joins the harbor of Hampton Roads, later part of the independent city of Newport News, Virginia, is widely believed to have been named for him, although the exact history of the subject remains in some dispute.

Christopher Newport University, in Newport News is named in honor of him.

In 2005-2006 playwright Steven Breese wrote Actus Fidei (An Act of Faith), based on the life and times of Captain Christopher Newport, as part of the Jamestown 2007 Festival.

A biography on Captain Newport is due to be published in the Winter of 2006. Knopf, 2003

The New World

Christopher Newport is portrayed by actor Christopher Plummer in Terrence Malick's poëtic movie "The New World".