Sir Thomas Gates ( fl.?–1622), was the governor of Jamestown, in the English colony of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

(now the

Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United Stat ...

, part of the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

). His predecessor,

George Percy The Honourable George Percy (4 September 1580 – 1632) was an English explorer, author, and early Colonial Governor of Virginia. Early life George Percy was born in England, the youngest son of Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland and Lady ...

, through inept leadership, was responsible for the lives lost during the period called the

Starving Time The Starving Time at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia was a period of starvation during the winter of 1609–1610. There were about 500 Jamestown residents at the beginning of the winter. However, there were only 61 people still alive when the ...

. The English-born Gates arrived to find a few surviving starving colonists commanded by Percy, and assumed command. Gates ruled with deputy governor

Sir Thomas Dale Sir Thomas Dale ( 1570 − 19 August 1619) was an English naval commander and deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. Governor Dale is best remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration in ...

. Their controlled, strict methods helped the early colonies survive. Sir Thomas was knighted in 1596 by

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG, PC (; 10 November 1565 – 25 February 1601) was an English nobleman and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a ...

for gallantry at the

Capture of Cadiz Capture may refer to: *Asteroid capture, a phenomenon in which an asteroid enters a stable orbit around another body *Capture, a software for lighting design, documentation and visualisation *"Capture" a song by Simon Townshend *Capture (band), an ...

. His knighthood was later royally confirmed by

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

Third Supply and Bermuda

Gates was appointed by the

Virginia Company of London The London Company, officially known as the Virginia Company of London, was a division of the Virginia Company with responsibility for colonizing the east coast of North America between latitudes 34° and 41° N. History Origins The territor ...

, which had established the Jamestown settlement under a Royal Charter for the colonisation of Virginia. He had sailed for Jamestown in 1609, aboard the ''

Sea Venture ''Sea Venture'' was a seventeenth-century English sailing ship, part of the Third Supply mission to the Jamestown Colony, that was wrecked in Bermuda in 1609. She was the 300 ton purpose-built flagship of the London Company and a highly unusual ...

'', the new

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of the Virginia Company. The ''Sea Venture'' was part of the

Third Supply The Jamestown supply missions were a series of fleets (or sometimes individual ships) from 1607 to around 1611 that were dispatched from England by the London Company (also known as the Virginia Company of London) with the specific goal of initially ...

, a fleet of seven ships, towing two pinnaces, which was intended to deliver new settlers and desperately needed supplies. At sea, the ships of the Third Supply were separated by a three-day storm now thought to have been a large hurricane. The Admiral of the Virginia Company, Sir

George Somers Sir George Somers (before 24 April 1554 – 9 November 1610) was an English privateer and naval hero, knighted for his achievements and the Admiral of the Virginia Company of London. He achieved renown as part of an expedition led b ...

, had taken the helm to fight the storm, and deliberately drove the ship onto rocks to prevent its foundering. The rocks proved to be the reef line to the east of the uninhabited archipelago now known as

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

. The other ships went on to Jamestown, not knowing the fate of the ''Sea Venture''. The 150 survivors spent the next ten months in Bermuda building two new ships on which to complete the journey to Jamestown. Two factions developed, however, due to a dispute between Gates and Somers over who was now the superior. As an appointed officer for Jamestown, Gates felt he was in authority, now that they were ashore. Somers felt that he retained authority until the settlers, including Gates, were landed at Jamestown. The two new ships, the ''Deliverance'' and the ''Patience'' were completed and sailed for Virginia in 1610. They left two men (a third would be left when the ''Patience'' returned from Jamestown) to maintain their claim of Bermuda for England. The Charter of the Virginia Company would officially be extended to include Bermuda in 1612. Ever since, Bermuda has also been known officially as ''The Somers Isles''. Sir Thomas Gates left his own name on a part of the colony, ''Gates' Bay'', where the survivors of the ''Sea Venture'' landed. The oldest surviving fort in Bermuda, built between 1612 and 1615, is known as ''Gates' Fort''. Many scholars believe Gates' accounts inspired

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play The Tempest.Shakespeare's Caliban: a cultural history By Alden T. Vaughan, Virginia Mason Vaughan, pp38-39 Sir Thomas Gates had a cross erected before leaving Bermuda, on which was a copper tablet inscribed in Latin and English:

Virginia colony

On reaching Jamestown, only 60 of the 500 settlers previously landed there were found alive through the winter of 1609–1610 which became known as the "

". The condition of the settlement was so poor that on June 7, 1610, Gates decided to abandon the floundering settlement and return to England. However, the timely arrival of another relief fleet under Lord

De La Warr Earl De La Warr ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1761 for John West, 7th Baron De La Warr. The Earl holds the subsidiary titles of Viscount Cantelupe (1761) in the Peerage of Great Britain, Baron De La Warr ...

gave the colony a reprieve. Gates' actions as governor were recorded by his secretary

William Strachey William Strachey (4 April 1572 – buried 21 June 1621) was an English writer whose works are among the primary sources for the early history of the English colonisation of North America. He is best remembered today as the eye-witness reporter o ...

, and were later published as the book ''A

True Reportory ''True Reportory'' is the short-title of a 24,000 word early American colonial narrative, ''A true reportory of the wracke, and redemption of Sir Knight; vpon, and from the Ilands of the Bermudas: his comming to Virginia, and the estate of that ...

of the wracke, and redemption of Sir THOMAS GATES, Knight''. After

Samuel Argall Sir Samuel Argall (1572 or 1580 – 24 January 1626) was an English adventurer and naval officer. As a sea captain, in 1609, Argall was the first to determine a shorter northern route from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the new English c ...

kidnapped

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...

in April 1613, Gates was fearful of reprisal from

Chief Powhatan Powhatan ( c. 1547 – c. 1618), whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh (alternately spelled Wahunsenacah, Wahunsunacock or Wahunsonacock), was the leader of the Powhatan, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Native Americans living in Tsenacommaca ...

, and turned the Algonquian princess over to Dale in

Henricus The "Citie of Henricus"—also known as Henricopolis, Henrico Town or Henrico—was a settlement in Virginia founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestow ...

. She met

John Rolfe John Rolfe (1585 – March 1622) was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia in 1611. Biography John Rolfe is believed ...

during her captivity three months later. Reverend

Alexander Whitaker Alexander Whitaker (1585–1616) was an English Anglican theologian who settled in North America in Virginia Colony in 1611 and established two churches near the Jamestown colony. He was also known as "The Apostle of Virginia" by contemporaries. ...

converted Pocahontas to Christianity. She adopted the name "Rebecca". Gates would go on to establish at least three new forts along the James River, as well as blockhouses, a wharf, and a governors house. Gates would also lead an armed force against the Powhatans, defeating them, and was governor when Sir Thomas Dale established the first permanent English colony outside of Jamestown, called

. Gates' actions caused him to be considered a national hero upon his return to England, something the Virginia Company badly needed due to their previous dip in investors. Gates was outspoken in support of future expeditions to the New World, and warned his superiors that the colonies would fail without proper supplies. In November 1619, the Virginia Company's new treasurer, Sir Edwin Sandys, praised Gates' "Wisdom, industry, and valour, accompanied with exceeding paines and patience, in the midst of many difficulties."

Death

Gates died in the Netherlands sometime before September 7, 1622. Sir Dudley Carleton was quoted, saying that Gates was "an ancient honest gentleman of this nation." Gates had five children at his death, Thomas, Anthony, Margaret, Mary, and Elizabeth.

Timeline

* November 16–17, 1585 Thomas travels with an English naval fleet under the command of Sir Francis Drake destroys the town of Santiago, in the Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa. * January 1–3, 1586 Thomas travels with an English naval fleet under the command of Sir Francis Drake sacks the port of Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola. * February 9, 1586 Thomas travels with an English naval fleet under the command of Sir Francis Drake attacks Cartagena, on the Spanish Main, and his men go on to burn the Spanish settlement at Saint Augustine (in present-day Florida). * 1589 Thomas Gates edits and publishes A summarie and true discourse of Sir Francis Drakes West Indian voyage, an account of Drake's so-called American Armada, of which Gates is a veteran. * 1591 Thomas Gates accompanies Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex, to Normandy, where the earl, commissioned a general for the occasion, lends his army in support of Henry IV, the Huguenot claimant to the French throne. * June 1596 An English fleet under the command of Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex; Charles Howard, baron of Effingham and England's Lord High Admiral; and Sir Walter Raleigh sacks the Spanish port city of Cádiz. * June 1596 On behalf of Queen Elizabeth, Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex, knights Thomas Gates for gallantry after the English sack of the Spanish port city of Cádiz. * 1597 Sir Thomas Gates takes part in the Islands Voyage, in which an English fleet led by Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex, and Sir Walter Raleigh attacks the Portuguese-held Azores. The raid is unsuccessful. * March 14, 1598 Sir Thomas Gates is admitted to Gray's Inn, one of London's Inns of Court. * 1599 Sir Thomas Gates enters public service at Plymouth, England. * April 10, 1606 King James I grants the Virginia Company a royal charter dividing the North American coast between two companies, the Virginia Company of London and the Virginia Company of Plymouth, overseen by the "Counsell of Virginia," whose thirteen members are appointed by the king. * November 1606 Sir Thomas Gates first meets Sir Thomas Dale in Oudewater, South Holland, where the two serve as infantry officers in the army of the States General of the Netherlands. * April 24, 1608 The States General of the Netherlands grants Sir Thomas Gates's request for a year's leave of absence. Gates, who commands a company of foot soldiers in the Dutch army, is preparing for a trip to Virginia. * May 23, 1609 The Crown approves a second royal charter for the Virginia Company of London. It replaces the royal council with private corporate control, extends the colony's boundaries to the Pacific Ocean, and installs a governor, Sir Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, to run operations in Virginia. * May—June 1609 The Virginia Company of London issues the colony's new governor, Sir Thomas Gates, confidential "Instruccions orders and Constitucions by way of advise sett downe declared and propounded to Sir Thomas Gates knight Governour of Virginia … for the Direccion of the affaires of that Countrey." * June 2, 1609 The largest fleet England has ever amassed in the West—nine ships, 600 passengers, and livestock and provisions to last a year—leaves England for Virginia. Led by the flagship Sea Venture, the fleet's mission is to save the failing colony. Sir Thomas Gates heads the expedition. * July 24, 1609 A hurricane strikes the nine-ship English fleet bound for Virginia on a rescue mission. The flagship Sea Venture is separated from the other vessels and irreparably damaged by the storm. * Late August 1609 After being damaged by a hurricane, eight of nine English ships bound for Virginia arrive safely at Jamestown under the assumption that the flagship Sea Venture, carrying Captain Christopher Newport and Sir Thomas Gates, had been lost at sea. The news sends the colony into a political tailspin. * November 1609 Powhatan Indians lay siege to Jamestown, denying colonists access to outside food sources. The Starving Time begins, and by spring 160 colonists, or about 75 percent of Jamestown's population, will be dead from hunger and disease. This action begins the First Anglo-Powhatan War (1609—1614). * Winter 1609—1610 While the English colonists starve in Virginia, the shipwrecked crew and passengers of the Sea Venture make camp in Bermuda. They build two new boats, the Patience and Deliverance, from Bermuda cedar and the scavenged remains of the Sea Venture. * February 28, 1610 Assuming that Sir Thomas Gates is dead, the Virginia Company of London commissions Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, governor and captain-general for life. He departs for America a few weeks later. * March 1610 Sir Thomas Gates, with the Sea Venture castaways on the Bermuda islands, executes the gentleman Henry Paine, who had planned to escape the island with stolen stores. * May 21, 1610 Having been stranded in the Bermuda islands for nearly a year, the party of Virginia colonists headed by Sir Thomas Gates arrives at Point Comfort in the Chesapeake Bay. * May 24, 1610 In Jamestown, Sir Thomas Gates issues the first orders to govern the surviving inhabitants of Virginia. The orders will be added to and published in 1612 as For the Colony in Virginea Britannia. Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall, &c. * May 24, 1610 The party of Virginia colonists headed by Sir Thomas Gates, now aboard the Patience and Deliverance, arrives at Jamestown. They find only sixty survivors of a winter famine. Gates decides to abandon the colony for Newfoundland. * June 8, 1610 Sailing up the James River toward the Chesapeake Bay and then Newfoundland, Jamestown colonists encounter a ship bearing the new governor, Thomas West, baron De La Warr, and a year's worth of supplies. The colonists return to Jamestown that evening. * June 10, 1610 The Virginia colony's new governor, Sir Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, arrives at Jamestown and hears a sermon delivered by Reverend Richard Bucke. * June 10, 1610 Samuel Argall and Governor Thomas West, baron De La Warr, arrive in Virginia just in time to prevent Sir Thomas Gates and the sixty-five colonists who survived the "Starving Time" of 1609—1610 from abandoning the colony for Newfoundland. * June 12, 1610 In Jamestown, Governor Thomas West, baron De La Warr, confirms Gates's orders and issues additional orders of his own. The orders will be published in 1612 as For the Colony in Virginea Britannia. Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall, &c. * July 9, 1610 After the colonist Humphrey Blunt is taken by Indians and tortured to death near Point Comfort, Sir Thomas Gates attacks a nearby Kecoughtan town, killing twelve to fourteen and confiscating the cornfields. * July 15, 1610 William Strachey completes a revised version of a letter about the Sea Venture shipwreck and the condition of the Virginia colony. Addressed to an anonymous woman, it will be published posthumously by Samuel Purchas as A true repertory of the wracke, and redemption of Sir Thomas Gates Knight (1625). * July 20, 1610 Sir Thomas Gates leaves Jamestown for England, where he will use his story of the Sea Venture to advocate for the colony and spur further investment. Aboard ship with him are two Virginia Indians recently taken prisoner: the weroance, or chief, Sasenticum and his son Kainta. * November 1610 In A True Declaration of the estate of the Colonie in Virginia, the Virginia Company of London, hurt by lack of investment, rebuts its critics and argues for continued colonization efforts. The report suggests that Virginia's survival has come through "the direct line of Gods providence." * May 19, 1611 Sir Thomas Dale arrives at Jamestown. The colony's marshal, he assumes the title of acting governor in the absence of Lieutenant Governor Sir Thomas Gates and Governor Sir Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr. * June 1611 Sir Thomas Dale leads a hundred armored soldiers against the Nansemond Indians at the mouth of the James River, burning their towns. * June 22, 1611 Sir Thomas Dale issues military regulations under which his soldiers are to act while in Virginia, supplementing civil orders released in 1610. The combined orders are printed in London the next year with the title For the Colony in Virginea Britannia. Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall, &c. * August 1611 Sir Thomas Gates returns to Virginia at the head of an expedition that includes three ships, 280 men, 20 women, 200 heads of cattle, 200 swine, and various other supplies and equipment. * September 1611 Sir Thomas Dale marches against Indians farther up the James River from Jamestown and establishes a settlement on a bluff that he calls the City of Henrico, or Henricus, in honor of his patron Prince Henry. * December 1611 Captain Christopher Newport leads a return trip to England that includes the daughters of Lieutenant Governor Sir Thomas Gates. Their mother had died on the transatlantic voyage earlier in the year. * April 1613 Samuel Argall uses his extensive knowledge of the Potomac River—northern Chesapeake area and its Indian population to kidnap Pocahontas while she is with the Patawomeck—an event that ultimately helps to bring the devastating First Anglo-Powhatan War to a conclusion in 1614. * March 1614 Lieutenant Governor Sir Thomas Gates returns to England, leaving Sir Thomas Dale in command of the colony. * 1618 Sir Thomas Gates wins compensation from the States General of the Netherlands for the period he was in Virginia and absent from army duty. * November 1619 In a speech before the Virginia Company of London's Quarter Court, the company's new treasurer, Sir Edwin Sandys, praises Sir Thomas Gates's "Wisdom, Industry, and Valour." * 1620 Sir Thomas Gates joins other Virginia Company of London "hard-liners," or those who favor a military-style government, in protesting the appointment of Sir George Yeardley as Virginia's governor. They consider Yeardley's policies to be too lenient. * March–June 1620 Sir Thomas Gates sells 60 shares of his Virginia Company of London stock, collectively worth 6,000 acres of land. At his death he will still own 50 shares. * November 3, 1620 King James I appoints Sir Thomas Gates to the Council for New England, a project of the Virginia Company of Plymouth. * September 7, 1622 Sir Dudley Carleton writes a letter informing an English official of the death, in the Netherlands, of Sir Thomas Gates, describing him as "an ancient honest gentlemen of this nation." * June 13, 1623 Thomas Gates, the son of former Virginia governor Sir Thomas Gates, is given administration of his late father's estate.

References

Source used: ''America: Past and Present'' (Revised Seventh Edition, AP* Edition). Source used: encyclopediavirginia.org

External links

* Genealogy Magazin
Bermuda’s Immigrants to the Colonies
* Bermuda Onlin

* Experience Bermud
Saint George's
* www.encyclopediavirginia.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Gates, Thomas History of Bermuda Colonial governors of Virginia Shipwreck survivors Castaways Virginia colonial people 1585 births 1622 deaths People from Jamestown, Virginia English emigrants