nd Gorges obtained a royal charter in 1606 incorporating two companies for the purpose of colonizing "in that part of America commonly called Virginia," a huge area covering most of the eastern seaboard north of Georgia. The London Company was to colonize the southern half of the region and the Plymouth Company the northern half. The two patents overlapped in the mid-Atlantic region, where either could establish colonies, as long as they were not closer than one hundred miles from each other.
The stage was set for an attempt at settlement. On December 20, 1606, the London Company sent three small ships to Jamestown in Virginia to begin the first successful English settlement in America. Not far behind, Popham and Gorges prepared for an expedition of their own. On May 31, 1607, the Gift of God, commanded by George Popham, nephew of the Lord Chief Justice, and the Mary and John, under Raleigh Gilbert, son of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, left Plymouth, England. The Gift of God was delayed by an encounter with two Flemish vessels, and the Mary and John, continuing on, made landfall along the Nova Scotia coast on July 30. The colonizers crossed the Bay of Fundy to the Penobscot region and arrived at the Georges Islands in early August. Two days later they sighted a sail, and to their joy the vessel proved to be the Gift of God.
Having brought along Skidwarres and Dahanada, two of Waymouth's captives, the expedition decided to visit the Pemaquid region where the Indians had been abducted. Understandably, they received a cool reception from the captives' kin. With no reason to expect a change in temperament and with summer slipping away, the settlers left Pemaquid and sailed to the mouth of the Kennebec River to establish a base for the winter. To their credit (or perhaps as an investment in future diplomacy), the English allowed Waymouth's captives to remain with their people. The Gift of God slid up into the Kennebec on the morning of August 13, and the Mary and John, after a harrowing bout with a storm at sea, arrived on the 15th. After locating a spot on the west shore near the mouth of the river, they set to work building fortifications, a storehouse, and quarters. The buildings were completed well before winter set in. Meantime, Popham and Gilbert explored up the Kennebec, west to Cape Elizabeth, and east beyond the Pemaquid peninsula.
As the warmth of summer gave way and winter enshrouded the little settlement, troubles set in. Although the men remained healthy through the winter, they complained incessantly about the weather. In fact it was extremely cold, for the northern hemisphere was suffering through the "Little Ice Age," which lasted from 1300 to 1700 and plunged temperatures several degrees below the averages of today.
Furthermore, the community was torn by rivalries between President George Popham and Raleigh Gilbert. Feuding reached such a pitch that at one point each side attempted to induce the Indians to support its efforts. Spirits were not lifted when the storehouse burned in the late winter, leaving the settlement short of supplies. On top of that, the Indians remained suspicious and reluctant to trade.
For all its problems, the settlement might have survived had it not been for a series of untimely deaths. In England, Sir John Popham died shortly after the vessels departed for America, leaving financial and administrative matters largely to Gorges, who was not nearly as well situated to support the venture. In February 1608, President George Popham died, and leadership fell to Raleigh Gilbert. Finally, Gilbert received news the following summer that his elder brother had died, leaving him heir to the family estate. Gilbert had no choice but to return to England to settle affairs. Since the colony was virtually leaderless, everybody clambered aboard the returning vessel, and in the fall of 1608 the once-promising settlement stood deserted amid the bright autumn foliage.
In England, the effect of the failure was catastrophic. Sometime later Gorges wrote that it had been a "wonderful discouragement to all the firs