Captain John Smith Chesapeake

Chesapeake Bay Office National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior A BOATER’S GUIDE TO THE CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH CHESAPEAKE NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL BY JOHN PAGE WILLIAMS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY and the CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PROJECT PARTNERS NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CHESAPEAKE BAY OFFICE National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office (CHBA) leads National Park Service efforts to connect people to the natural and cultural heritage of the Chesapeake region. CHBA administers the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network, the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, and the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. CHBA is a federal partner in the multistate and federal Chesapeake Bay Program and has a leadership role in the federal coordinated Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, in response to Executive Order 13508, issued in 2009. To learn more about National Park Service initiatives for the Chesapeake Bay and the best places to experience the authentic Chesapeake, start with online visits to the following websites: Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network www.baygateways.net Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail www.smithtrail.net Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail www.nps.gov/stsp CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY The Chesapeake Conservancy is dedicated to ensuring conservation, stewardship and access for the Chesapeake Bay, its lands and rivers. The Conservancy was created out of a merger between the Friends of the John Smith Chesapeake Trail and Friends of Chesapeake Gateways. The Chesapeake Conservancy works toward three strategic goals: • To realize the full potential of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail and the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network, and coordinate with other Chesapeake Bay trails to promote recreation and tourism along with education about the Bay and its waterways • To generate and direct public and private financial and technical resources to conserve the Bay’s significant landscapes and expand public access • To advance the establishment of new conservation, recreation and public access corridor designations on the Chesapeake. To learn more about the Chesapeake Conservancy’s programs, visit www.chesapeakeconservancy.org, contact info@chesapeakeconservancy.org, or call 443-321-3610. CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) was one of the founding supporters for the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. CBF is the largest privately funded, nonprofit organization dedicated solely to protecting and restoring the Chesapeake Bay. The Foundation offers a wide range of educational, advocacy, and stewardship programs. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has adopted Captain John Smith’s descriptions of the Chesapeake in the early 1600s as a baseline for measuring a rich and balanced Bay. CBF provides an annual State of the Bay report comparing the current health of the Bay to that baseline. Contact the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at webadmin@cbf.org or 410-268-8816. Visit the foundation online at www.cbf.org. i About the Guide A Boater’s Guide to the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail is a joint project of the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office, the Chesapeake Conservancy, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. As the first guide to America’s first national water trail, this publication introduces paddlers and boaters to the best places to access the trail. Author John Page Williams expertly weaves practical information for today’s boaters with the historical context of the Chesapeake’s waters explored by Captain John Smith four centuries ago. The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail was designated as part of the National Trails System in 2006. The National Park Service completed a comprehensive management plan in 2011 for the development of the trail. While this Boater’s Guide describes many places where boaters can access and explore the trail now, many more access areas and facilities will be added as trail development continues. For this reason, the Boater’s Guide is an online publication, designed to be updated as new information becomes available. The National Park Service acknowledges with appreciation the contributions of the Chesapeake Conservancy and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation as partners in creating this first Boater’s Guide to the Smith trail. We appreciate also the reviewers who gave feedback to improve the Guide. While we have endeavored to provide accurate current information at the time of publication, trailhead details, in particular, are subject to change. We encourage users of this Guide to verify contact information as they prepare for their travels along the trail. We also invite users of the Guide to notify the author of changes and new information to be considered for future editions. He can be reached by e-mail at jpwilliams@cbf.org. A Boater’s Guide to the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail is available for free download from the trail’s website: www.smithtrail.net. About the Author John Page Williams combines his knowledge of Captain John Smith’s voyages on the Chesapeake Bay with a life-long passion for all things Chesapeake in this practical guide to exploring the waters designated in 2006 as the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. Williams began fishing and boating the Chesapeake and its rivers as a young boy growing up on the lower Potomac River. As a field educator he has run field trips by canoe, outboard skiff, and workboat on every river system in the Chesapeake. As senior naturalist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and editor-at-large for Chesapeake Bay Magazine, Williams is a well-known and respected advocate for the Bay. He writes frequently on boating, fishing, and cruising as well as environmental issues. Among the numerous articles and books he has authored, don’t miss reading Chesapeake: Exploring the Water Trail of Captain John Smith, published by National Geographic in 2006. Its evocative overview of Smith’s travels provides a colorful companion book to this Boater’s Guide as you chart your own adventures along the trail. PRODUCED 2011 BY THE National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office Annapolis, Maryland John Maounis Superintendent TEXT John Page Williams, Chesapeake Bay Foundation D E S I G N A N D M A P I L L U S T R AT I O N S Jason Vaughan E D I T I N G A N D P R O J E C T C O O R D I N AT I O N Paula Degen, assisted by Lindsay Keiter, National Park Service ON THE COVER: A replica of Smith's shallop leads an excursion on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail near Port Deposit, MD, 2007. PHOTO © MICHAEL C. WOOTTON A Boater’s Guide to the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents RESOURCES BOOKS Introduction The Lasting Legacy of Captain John Smith................................................................... 3 Map of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail....................... 5 Boating the John Smith Trail............................................................................................ 6 Trail Overview.................................................................................................................... 7 Chesapeake Bay and Its Rivers Map........................................................................... 9 Getting Started Boating Safety.................................................................................................................. 10 Planning and Scouting Your Trip.................................................................................. 12 Exploring the Western Shore........................................................................ 16 The James River............................................................................................................... 17 James River Section Map............................................................................................ 23 The Chickahominy River............................................................................................... 25 Chickahominy River Section Map............................................................................ 28 The York River System.................................................................................................... 31 York River System Section Map................................................................................. 37 The Rappahannock River.............................................................................................. 39 Captain John Smith: A Select Edition of His Writings Edited by Karen O. Kupperman, 1988 Jamestown Narratives: Eyewitness Accounts of the Virginia Colony, The First Decade: 1607-1617 Edited by Edward Wright Haile, 1998 John Smith in the Chesapeake Edited by Edward Wright Haile, 2008 Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation By David A. Price, 2003 John Smith’s Chesapeake Voyages 1607 – 1609 By Helen Rountree, Wayne E. Clark, Kent Mountford, 2007 (funded in part by the National Park Service) Chesapeake: Exploring the Water Trail of Captain John Smith By John Page Williams, 2006. Exploring the Chesapeake in Small Boats By John Page Williams, 1992. Lower Rappahannock River Section Map............................................................... 45 Upper Rappahannock River Section Map................................................................ 47 The Potomac River.......................................................................................................... 49 Potomac River Section Map................................................................................. 57 The Patuxent River.......................................................................................................... 59 Patuxent River Section Map................................................................................ 65 Exploring the Main Stem of the Bay......................................................................... 66 Main Stem Section Map....................................................................................... 69 Exploring the Upper Bay.............................................................................. 72 The Patapsco River.......................................................................................................... 73 Patapsco River Section Map................................................................................ 77 The Head of the Bay....................................................................................................... 79 Head of the Bay Section Map............................................................................... 85 WEBSITES National Park Service Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail www.smithtrail.net www.nps.gov/cajo Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network www.baygateways.net Chesapeake Conservancy www.chesapeakeconservancy.org Chesapeake Bay Foundation www.cbf.org/johnsmith Includes links to other John Smith and Jamestown websites NOAA Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System www.buoybay.noaa.gov Exploring the Eastern Shore......................................................................... 86 National Geographic The Nanticoke River....................................................................................................... 87 Includes links to other John Smith and Jamestown websites Nanticoke River Section Map.............................................................................. 91 The Lower Eastern Shore............................................................................................... 93 Lower Eastern Shore Section Map....................................................................... 99 National Park Service • Chesapeake Bay Office www.nationalgeographic.com/chesapeake Virginia’s Indians, Past & Present http://indians.vipnet.org/resources.cfm 1 INTRODUCTION “The mildnesse of the aire, the fertilitie of the soil and the situation of the rivers are so propitious to the nature and use of man as no place is more convenient for pleasure, profit and man’s sustanence.” Captain John Smith 2 A Boater’s Guide to the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail INTRODUCTION The Lasting Legacy of Captain John Smith C aptain John Smith got his commission on a battlefield, not an ocean, but he deserves to go down in history as an epic small-boat explorer. During his time on the Chesapeake in the employ of the Virginia Company of London, from April 1607 to October 1609, he and his crew covered 3,000 miles around the Bay in a shallop, a 30-foot open boat, operating year-round in everything from stifling heat and sudden thunderstorms to icy cold and blowing snow. Where did he go? He traveled every major river system on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay except the Choptank, Eastern Bay, and the Chester. His goals: • To find gold and silver. • To assess the strength and trading potential of the native Indian tribes. • To find the mythical Northwest Passage to the Pacific. Though he wasn’t successful on the first and third objectives, he did succeed in making extensive contact with American Indian tribes. Portrait of Captain John Smith, 1616 MAPPING THE WAY Captain John Smith mapped the Chesapeake and its rivers with astonishing accuracy, given his relatively simple tools—a compass, a crude sextant, an hourglass, and a notebook. He had help from the Indians who described the lands and waterways beyond what Smith saw directly. Those are the areas depicted beyond the crosses that mark the extent of Smith’s explorations. Smith’s extensive notes allowed him to publish the first accurate map of the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers in 1612. This map became the essential “cruise guide” for English settlement in the region in the 17th century. It laid a major foundation for development of the country in the next century. AMERICA’S FIRST NATIONAL WATER TRAIL The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, the first water-based national trail in this country, was designated on December 19, 2006. In addition to Smith’s explorations, the trail focuses on the American Indian tribes of the Chesapeake region and on the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay, both in Smith’s time and today. It’s important to recognize the many contributions the Indians of the Chesapeake have made to the history and culture of the region—and continue Captain John Smith’s map of his 1607−1609 Chesapeake explorations first published in England in 1612. The print shown here dates from 1660. PREVIOUS PAGE A rural scene from Queen Anne’s County, MD, reflects the Chesapeake Bay that Captain John Smith described 400 years ago. PHOTO © MIDDLETON EVANS National Park Service • Chesapeake Bay Office 3 INTRODUCTION ONLINE RESOURCES CHESAPEAKE BAY GATEWAYS AND WATERTRAILS NETWORK www.baygateways.net NOAA CHESAPEAKE BAY INTERPRETIVE BUOY SYSTEM www.buoybay.noaa.gov Also available at 1-877-BUOY-BAY CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH'S VERSATILE SHALLOP Smith’s vessel was constructed in England and sent to America packed in two sections in the hold of one of the Jamestown ships. This Discovery Barge, as he called her, belonged to a general class of vessels called “shallops.” Double-ended and fullbodied at bow and stern, she carried a single mast with main and foresail for winds, sweeps (long single oars) for four to six rowers, and probably a leeboard on each side that the crew could lower to reduce leeway (sideways slippage) under sail. With the boards up, the Discovery Barge probably drew less than three feet fully loaded with a crew of 12 to 14 men and supplies. The hull’s underbody would have been fine enough to move easily in calm winds and seas. The full shape above the waterline made the hull seaworthy, but headwinds doubtless made for difficult rowing. Captain John Smith learned quickly enough to take advantage of fair winds and currents. Smith’s two longest voyages of exploration took place in the summer of 1608. In the space of three months, he and his crews traveled to the Upper Bay twice, with a turnaround of only three days in between. 4 to make today. It is also important to understand how the Chesapeake of Smith’s day “worked” so that we can develop solutions to restore the health of our Bay now. The National Park Service and its partners have been busy building an infrastructure of maps, books, websites, data-gathering buoys, signs, exhibits, and other guideposts to help 21st-century explorers travel the Captain John Smith trail. Two key parts of this infrastructure are the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network (CBGN) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS). EXPLORING IN CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH’S WAKE The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail lends itself to a wide variety of boats, from 16-foot canoes and kayaks to 60-foot trawlers. Whatever kind of boat you use, we hope you will follow the voyage routes of Captain John Smith and his crew to discover the treasures of the Chesapeake. You’ll experience the excitement of exploring Chesapeake waters, see wellknown sites with new understanding, and reflect upon all that the Chesapeake has meant over the past four centuries. As you travel the trail, you’ll find places that still look much as they did in Smith’s time, but you’ll also see areas where our human footprint weighs heavily on the land and water. We hope you’ll learn about the Chesapeake that Captain John Smith saw—the rich ecosystem that developed naturally before heavy human influence. Once you do, please get involved in protecting and restoring its health and conserving its lands and landscapes and its rich cultural heritage for both yourself and future generations of Bay lovers. RIVERS AS ROADS The Chesapeake is the “drowned” valley of the Susquehanna River, flooded by tidal water as the sea level began rising at the end of the last ice age, about 12,000 years ago. Unlike other East Coast rivers, such as the Delaware and the Hudson, the Susquehanna has a number of large tributaries entering its lower reaches. The tributaries flooded and created a sprawling complex of waterways that served as instant infrastructure for Indian people and English settlers. In general, these rivers carry plenty of depth up to their heads of navigation, where their beds meet sea level, but they narrow down and curve through large meander curves. Wooded banks channel winds directly up or downstream. The winds can help or hinder your progress, depending on which way you’re traveling. Meanwhile, flood and ebb currents on most of the rivers actually become stronger upstream. Mariners have dealt with these conditions for centuries, whether carrying out raw materials like timber, tobacco, and produce or bringing manufactured goods to upriver ports, such as Richmond on the James River, Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock, Alexandria on the Potomac, and Baltimore on the Patapsco. Until the early 20th century, they used both sail and non-motorized auxiliary power, especially oars. A Boater’s Guide to the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail CAPTAIN SMITH’S LASTING LEGACY Northeast Ri v er S usquehanna Ri v er El k Ri v er M A RY L A ND S assafras Ri v er B a l t i mo re Dover Patapsco Ri v er Annapolis DEL AWA RE Wa s h i n g t o n Chesapeake Bay C a mb r i d g e Nanti coke Ri v er Patux ent Ri v er Fre de r i c k s bu rg Potomac Ri v er V IR GINIA Pocomoke Ri v er A t l an t i c Ocean Rappahannock River Mattaponi Ri v er Pam unkey River Pi ankatank Ri v er Chickahom iny River Cape Charles York Ri v er Jam es River John Smith Voyages John Smith Voyage 1 John Smith Voyage 2 John Smith Other Voyage Nansemond Ri v er Norfolk El i z abeth Ri v er This replica shallop, built by Sultana Projects, Inc., traveled 1,500 miles along Smith’s routes to help launch the new Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail in 2007. National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior 0 5 10 20 30 Miles The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail includes Smith’s combined voyage routes, 1607–1609. PHOTO BY BILL PORTLOCK National Park Service • Chesapeake Bay Office 5 INTRODUCTION Boating the Trail Today, there is still plenty of depth in the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers for all but the largest cruising boats. This Boater’s Guide provides an overview of what awaits boaters along each of the rivers and the main stem of the Bay explored by Captain John Smith. Look for the icons described here to suggest suitable vessels for each area. The icons also identify the vessels suited for each of the trailheads where you can access the trail. Additional access points will be added as the trail develops. In choosing your route, consider your boat’s clearance under bridges; her ability to deal with adverse wind and current; and your own knack for reading meander curves with your vision, a chart, GPS chartplotter, electronic depth sounder, or leadline. See Scouting Your Trip: How to Use This Guide for additional information on boating the trail. Keep in mind that the maps included in this Boater’s Guide are for illustration and are not intended to be used for navigation. Click on the NOAA link in the box on each section map to learn what navigation charts are available. Look for these icons throughout the guide to see what types of boats are suited to each part of the trail. PADDLING AND ROWING Canoes, kayaks, and recreational rowing boats are wonderful vessels for seeing parts of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. Quiet, slow travel makes it easy to absorb the nature of a waterway, to look and listen. For those with the time and training, extended kayak expeditions are extraordinarily satisfying, but even day trips in rented canoes on waters like Mattaponi Creek at the Patuxent River Park near Upper Marlboro, MD, or Gordons Creek at the Chickahominy Riverfront Park just west of Williamsburg, VA, serve the purpose. Many larger cruising boats now carry kayaks for this sort of exploring. SKIFFS AND RUNABOUTS Seaworthy, trailerable center-console skiffs and runabouts of 18 to 24 feet offer a different experience, taking advantage of the large number of public and commercial launch ramps available around the Bay and its rivers. These boats allow day explorations of 50 miles at leisurely cruising speeds of 13 to 17 knots (15 to 20 mph), with plenty of time left over for poking along at slower speeds. Skiffs of 16 to 18 feet with outboards and pushpoles can slip into almost as many places as canoes. Modern, clean, quiet outboards make these trips more enjoyable and less expensive. CRUISING SAILBOATS On open water sections of the trail, cruising sailboats are great vessels for extended trips, and they require the same kind of seamanship that Captain John Smith had to exercise. Be ready to deal with bridges and the shoals on the insides of meander curves when exploring the upper sections of rivers like the Rappahannock and the Nanticoke. The scenery will often be stunningly beautiful and the wildlife abundant, but fluky winds will dictate traveling under power much of the time. A rowing/sailing dinghy or a kayak will be useful for short explorations. CRUISING POWERBOATS AND TRAWLERS Cruising powerboats and trawlers are good choices for exploring the water trail, especially if they have bridge clearance of less than 25 feet and propeller shafts protected by keels or skegs. It’s important to pay attention to range and self-sufficiency, because fuel, shore power, and pumpout services can be few and far between on several of the Chesapeake’s most interesting rivers. Trawlers lend themselves particularly well to the trail because they tend to be self-sufficient; their low wakes respect fragile shorelines; and their 6- to 8-knot cruising speeds are conducive to enjoying the river. Having a dinghy or a couple of kayaks aboard can add to the enjoyment of your explorations. As with outboards, it’s a kindness to other trail travelers to run the cleanest engines possible and to be courteous with your wake, whether you’re running an express cruiser with twin gas engines, a workboat-type cruiser with a single diesel, a trawler, or a sailboat under power. 6 A Boater’s Guide to the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail INTRODUCTION Trail Overview THE WESTERN SHORE On the first voyage of 1608, Smith and his crew ascended the Potomac River all the way to today’s Little Falls and walked to Great Falls. They transformed an attack at today’s Nomini Creek into a friendly visit, explored a rumored silver mine in the headwaters of Aquia Creek, and visited more than a dozen American Indian towns on each side, taking notes for the map as they went. They started to explore the Rappahannock River after visiting the Potomac, but Smith suffered his famous encounter with a stingray and found it prudent to head for home. On the second voyage, they traveled all the way to the falls at today’s Fredericksburg, surviving three defensive attacks by members of the Rappahannock and Mannahoac tribes. They were sustained by wise counsel and supplies from the friendly Moraughtacund at the site of today’s Morattico, on Lancaster Creek. After the Rappahannock, Smith and his crew explored the Piankatank and Elizabeth rivers but found few people. Just before returning to Jamestown early in September, they met with wary Nansemond Indians at the river of the same name and took corn from the tribe back to the Jamestown colony. Smith did not go up either the James or the York rivers on the two summer voyages in 1608. He didn’t need to, because he had already spent a good deal of time in Virginia exploring them, meeting the people, trading for corn, and negotiating peace with Powhatan, the paramount chief of most of the region. His journals record much that happened on these trips. Today, all these rivers lend themselves well to water trail explorers. While the Potomac obviously looks quite different around Washington, D.C., Smith would still recognize many of its tributaries, such as Nomini and Nanjemoy creeks. Though clouded by sediment runoff, the Rappahannock retains stunning natural views, especially between Tappahannock and Fredericksburg. The Pamunkey and Mattaponi rivers, headwaters of the York, remain largely wild, as does the Chickahominy, a large tributary that enters the James just west of Jamestown. Finally, the James offers much to explore, from wild creeks like Powells to the exhibits at Henricus Historical Park, upriver near Richmond. We spyed many fishes lurking in the reedes: our Captaine sporting himselfe by nayling them to the grownd with his sword, set vs all a fishing in that manner: thus we tooke more in owne houre then we could eate in a day. But it chansed our Captaine taking a fish from his sword (not knowing her condition) being much of the fashion of a Thornback, but a long tayle like a ryding rodde, whereon the middest is a most poysoned sting, of two or three inches long, bearded like a saw on each side, which she strucke into the wrest of his arme neere an inch and a halfe: no bloud nor wound was seene, but a little blew spot, but the torment was instantly so extreame, that in foure houres had so swolen his hand, arme and shoulder, we all with much sorrow concluded his funerall, and prepared his graue in an Island by, as himselfe directed: yet it pleased God by a precious oyle Docter Russell at the first applyed to it when he sounded it with probe (ere night) his tormenting paine was so THE UPPER BAY On the first voyage up the Bay, Smith followed the western shore until he found a tributary he thought large enough for the ships of the day. He turned the Discovery Barge west and followed it to its head of navigation. That would be today’s Elkridge, and the river would become known as the Patapsco. He mapped the Patapsco carefully and even went up to the mouth of the Gunpowder, but the crew ran out of stores and grew increasingly dispirited. A stirring speech from their Captain inspired them, but the weather shut them in for several days and Smith reluctantly turned south. By the time they reached the mouth of the Potomac, they had regained their spirits enough to spend four weeks traveling up that river before heading back to Jamestown to restock supplies. well asswaged that he eate of the fish On the second voyage, Smith made straight for the head of the Bay, finding that it divided four ways (from west to east, today’s Susquehanna, Northeast, LEARN MORE ABOUT STINGRAYS AT www.chesapeakebay.net National Park Service • Chesapeake Bay Office to his supper, which gaue no lesse ioy and content to vs then ease to himselfe, for which we called the Island Stingray Isle after the name of the fish.” Kupperman, Captain John Smith: A Select Edition of His Writings, p.95. 7 TRAIL OVERVIEW Chronology of Captain John Smith in the Chesapeake April-May 1607 | Smith arrives in Virginia and explores the James River to the falls (Richmond); colonists select Jamestown Island for fort. Summer 1607 | English establish the colony and build a fort at Jamestown. September 1607 | Smith travels downriver to Kecoughtan (Hampton) and Warrascoyak (Smithfield). Fall 1607 | Smith makes three successful trips trading for corn along the Chickahominy River. December 3, 1607 | Smith is captured by Opechancanough (a relative of Powhatan and a war chief) and marched along Capture Route to Powhatan’s capital, Werowocomoco on the York River. January 2, 1608 | Powhatan releases Smith and sends him back to Jamestown with food and an escort. February 1608 | Smith takes Captain Christopher Newport by water up to Werowocomoco to meet Powhatan. April 1608 | Smith travels to Nansemond River. June 2–July 21, 1608 | First exploratory voyage: Smith and crew travel across the Chesapeake to the Lower Eastern Shore, up to the Nanticoke, across the Bay and up the Western Shore to the Bolus Flu (Patapsco River); then back down to the Patawomeck (Potomac River) and up to the falls (Great Falls); back down to the mouth of the Rappahannock River, where a stingray wounds Smith; they then return to Jamestown to re-supply. July 24–September 10, 1608 | Second exploratory voyage: Three days later Smith with new crew starts out again. They go to the head of the Bay; meet with the Massawomeck, Tockwogh, and Susquehannock tribes; explore the Pawtuxunt (Patuxent), Rappahannock, and Piankatank rivers; skirmish with Nansemond on the way home; return to Jamestown on September 7. Smith assumes presidency of the Jamestown colony on September 10. October 1608 | Smith sails to Werowocomoco to meet Newport, who has marched overland; they “crown” Powhatan. November–December 1608 | Smith trades for corn with the Chickahominy, Nansemond, and Apamatuck (Appomattox) tribes. January–February 1609 | Smith trades for corn at Werowocomoco and up the Pamunkey and Mattaponi rivers. Hostile run-ins with Powhatan and Opechancanough ensue, effectively breaking off relations between the English and both chiefs forever. Trading, however, is successful. September–Early October 1609 | Two anti-Smith factions in the colony split off to establish new, independent colonies up the Nansemond and the James rivers. Smith sails up the James to quell the rebellion there, but on the way back, the gunpowder bag on his belt explodes under suspicious circumstances. Badly burned, Smith jumps overboard to put out the fire. He survives but is so badly injured that he sails to England on October 4, never to return to Virginia. 8 Elk, and Sassafras rivers). Here Captain Smith and