Background
Samuel Argall was born in 1580 in Kent, England. He was baptized 4 December 1580, and he was the fourth son of Richard Argall of East Sutton, Kent, and his third wife, Mary Scott, the daughter of Sir Reginald Scott of Scot's Hall
Samuel Argall was born in 1580 in Kent, England. He was baptized 4 December 1580, and he was the fourth son of Richard Argall of East Sutton, Kent, and his third wife, Mary Scott, the daughter of Sir Reginald Scott of Scot's Hall
The usual course led by way of the Canaries to the Island of Porto Rico in the West Indies, a long, circuitous pathway peculiarly exposed to the attacks of pirates and the interference of Spain.
Argall first appears in history in 1609 when he was selected to discover a short route to Virginia. The usual course led by way of the Canaries to the Island of Porto Rico in the West Indies, a long, circuitous pathway peculiarly exposed to the attacks of pirates and the interference of Spain. Argall was instructed to steer, after leaving the Canaries, straight across the Atlantic Ocean, in the hope that the reports of dangerous seas in that quarter could be proven false, and thus a far shorter pathway westward be opened up. It required only nine weeks to finish this memorable voyage; and of these, two were spent in a dead calm.
Following the same route on his return, Argall reached England in October of the same year, after an absence of only five months. By this conspicuous achievement he gained lasting fame as one of England's maritime pioneers.
When, in the spring of 1610, Lord Delaware arrived in Virginia to take possession of his post of governor general, he was accompanied by Argall, probably to point out the northerly route, which he had the year before shown to be practicable. Delaware had been in the colony only a few days when he sent Sir George Somers and Argall to Bermuda to get a supply of hogs to take the place of those which had been devoured by the starving colonists at Jamestown, during Percy's rule.
Somers died during the voyage, and Argall, having either accidentally or purposely missed the Bermudas, went on to Cape Cod, where he secured a cargo of fish for the immediate relief of the Virginia colony. He then aided Lord Delaware by expeditions to the Rappahannock and Potomac in search of grain, which the Indians were ready to sell for English merchandise that appealed to their fancy.
On the occasion of one of these voyages, he was able to bring back to Jamestown a cargo of 1, 000 bushels of corn. It was said at this time that it was chiefly through him that the disease-wracked and disheartened community there was preserved. He endeavored to advance the culture of wheat in Virginia by securing a supply of seed during a voyage to Canada; and from that remote country he also brought back to Jamestown a considerable number of horses, mares, and colts.
But not all his voyages to the far North were actuated solely by a desire to replenish the live stock of Virginia, or to furnish its inhabitants with seed for new crops, or to fill their spindling larders with large quantities of dried fish from the Banks. From some points of view, the most memorable event in his career was his part in breaking up the French settlements on the coast of Maine.
In 1611, although the English had by this time founded Jamestown and taken permanent possession of Virginia, Louis XIII granted all the territory lying on the Atlantic Ocean between the mouth of the St. Lawrence and Florida to a French Jesuit mission, which soon undertook to convert the Indian inhabitants to their faith.
Argall was in London when news arrived of these letters-patent by an alien power. From his reputation for boldness and skill, he was selected to expel the intruders from the soil claimed by England. He promptly set out in 1613 for Mt. Desert; captured the missionaries who had established themselves there and at St. Croix and Port Royal; burned down their houses; and carried off the priests to Virginia. This was not his sole achievement in an expedition which preserved New England for English occupation, a few years later. He stopped, in the course of his voyage, at the Dutch settlement on the Hudson, and forced the Dutch governor to declare his allegiance to England.
Hardly less important was Argall's capture of Pocahontas in the previous year in one of the villages on the Potomac, where she had been living since Capt. John Smith's departure from Virginia.
Argall, on hearing of her presence, while he was foraging for grain in the neighborhood, perceived at once that through her a lasting peace might be established by a formal agreement between her father, Powhatan, and the English. By connivance with the chief of the tribe with whom she was staying, he cunningly induced her to come on board of his vessel; and after a few hours of entertainment, the unsuspecting princess was carried off to Jamestown. Here she was detained; but in a spirit of so much kindness, that she became reconciled to her situation, was converted to Christianity, married John Rolfe, and accompanied Gov. Dale, Argall, and her husband, to England in the spring of 1616.
In 1617, Argall was appointed to the office of deputy governor of Virginia. His conduct, during his administration, has been a subject of controversy. At his arrival, the colony was in a state of prosperity. The cattle were numerous; the tenants were profitably at work in the public garden; and the granaries were full of corn. His first measures were further promotive of this happy condition. He required that each householder should cultivate two acres in grain to provide bread; he reserved all the hay for the cattle; he experimented in the production of wheat; he conserved the supply of powder and shot; he enforced the law relating to church attendance; and he rebuilt the governor's residence. But before the close of his administration, a different spirit was exhibited by him.
The Divine and Military Laws of Dale and Gates were still in force, and Argall seems to have taken advantage of this fact. He refused to grant freedom to the tenants whose terms were up; he converted to his own use the grain from the public garden; he killed the public cattle for their hides for his private sale; he sold the tobacco belonging to the magazine to shipmasters and sailors, leaving none to pay for the adventurers' merchandise; he neglected to compel the Indians to pay their usual tributes of maize; and he permitted the rule requiring the cultivation of two acres in grain to fall into abeyance.
Apparently, at the end of his government, all the public property had been dispersed or devoured, and the colony, as a whole, had fallen into a state of great poverty. To crown the delinquencies with which he was charged, he, at the instance of the Earl of Warwick, sent the ship Treasurer to the West Indies, ostensibly for goats and salt, but in reality to ravish the commerce of Spain in those waters. The vessel later sailed to the Bermudas with a cargo of slaves snatched in a piratical manner. This incident led to Argall's departure from Virginia in order to justify his conduct, which, through Warwick's powerful influence at Court, he was able to do.
In 1620, he was in command of the Golden Phoenix, which was attached to the English fleet in the Mediterranean; and, in 1625, he was an admiral in a great naval force which sailed from Plymouth and succeeded in capturing £100, 000 worth of prizes.
He became a member of the New England Royal Council, and was knighted for his services. But, in 1624, he was defeated in his candidacy for the governorship of Virginia. His died in 1626.
Member of the New England Royal Council.
Argall was never married.
