1623 Laws

It was provided in 1623 by an Act of Assembly that as soon as a vessel reached anchorage at Point Comfort, an officer should go on board and read a proclamation directing that without the express permission of the Governor and and Council, no part of the cargo was to be sold previous to the arrival of the ship at Jamestown. Source: General Court Orders, April 3, 1627, Robinson Transcripts, pp. 63.

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The Missing English Ship "Phoenix"

In July of 1608, John Chamberlain (the newsmonger) wrote that a ship "that hath been missing" had "newly come from Virginia".  And added, "I hear not of any novelties or other commodities she hath brought more than sweet wood." But worse news was to arrive about the Virginia Colony. In December of the same year, the settlers who had been sent to colonize the northern (or second) Virginia colony returned to England inside a crowded boat they had built for themselves.  John Smith's book "True Relation" had been smuggled back to England aboard the "Phoenix". The book revealed the land but also disturbing glimpses of the chronic infighting, poor  leadership and disorcer among the colonists.

Source:Savage Kingdom by Benjamin Woolley.

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