Jamestown: The Journey To America

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In May 1607, over 100 English settlers arrived at Chesapeake Bay on the East Coast of North America. Traveling 50 miles inland along the James River, they established what would become the first permanent English settlement: Jamestown. But what motivated their journey? Why was Chesapeake Bay their chosen destination? And how much do we know about their voyage.

For this first of four episodes, Don is joined by Mark Summers, Educational Director of Youth and Public Programmes for Jamestowne Rediscovery. Don and Mark explore the roles of the Virginia Company, the British crown and individuals like Captains John Smith and Christopher Newport. From mutiny at sea to sealed instructions, this is the first step in a journey that echoes to this day.

Produced and edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Natalia Melman Petrazzella, and from the BBC, this is extreme, peak danger.
0:07.0	The most beautiful mountain in the world.
0:09.6	If you die on the mountain, you stay on the mountain.
0:14.1	This is the story of what happened when 11 climbers died on one of the world's deadliest mountains, K2,
0:24.0	and of the risks we'll take to feel truly alive.
0:27.9	If I tell all the details, you won't believe it anymore.
0:30.3	Extreme peak danger.
0:32.5	Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. Three ships sit motionless in the waters of black wall docks in London.
0:46.2	Shielded from the Thames fierce winds by the horseshoe bend in this stretch of the river.
0:51.5	The vessels are utterly still in waters spattered by an insistent
0:56.1	wintry sleet. Any reflections that might otherwise be shimmering on the currents are only
1:02.0	broken shadows on the dark dappled water. It is morning in December 1606. The crews of the
1:10.3	Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the discovery are readying their ships to be boarded.
1:15.6	The sailors on the Godspeed and Discovery cast envious glances at the Susan Constant, a ship twice the size of their own.
1:23.6	But together, in just a few days, these vessels will embark westward, into the unknown, crossing the wide Atlantic.
1:31.3	Blackwall, the Thames' greatest shipyard, has awakened. Local men leave their homes nearby and head for the docks. Others who've traveled distances shuffle out of inns.
1:42.3	All of them, voyagers, awaiting transport to the ships,
1:47.4	mulling about busy wharves and alleyways.
1:50.4	It's all a far cry from the long, lonely months ahead for them.
1:54.7	100 men who will very soon have only the ocean and each other for company.
2:20.9	Welcome to American History Hit. I'm Don Wildman, and it's great to have you aboard.
2:29.5	1606, London, King James I's the 6th of Scotland, the first of England and Ireland, sits on the throne.
	...

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