Captain John Smith and the Jamestown Story

Book excerpt: The short, burly Lincolnshireman, Captain John Smith, first among the Englishmen to establish a permanent settlement in the New World, was almost as controversial in death as he had been in life. In American history books he is portrayed as dauntless, energetic and staunch. Even in English history little is said about his life before he established and, for a time, ruled Jamestown settlement in what later became Virginia. But John Smith was already an almost legendary figure before he sailed for the New World. For centuries historians have branded Captain Smith a liar. But John Smith simply had the misfortune to live a life so colourful that ordinary people could not believe anyone capable of his achievements. Quite often he very narrowly managed to survive. Recently his flamboyant tales have been proven not just highly probable but true. John Smith lived a lifelong adventure, perhaps the 'least' memorable of his exploits being the questionable event of his life being saved by the Indian girl Pocahontas. More than three hundred years after his passing, the dispassionate judgements of contemporary historians show John Smith to have been very much a man of his time.