[2] Donne served as a captain and sergeant-major in the memorably unsuccessful British Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré (1627).
[2] When Spain conquered the colony in 1629, Donne negotiated a surrender under which the English settlers would return to England in ships that the Spanish Admiral Fadrique de Toledo Osorio had captured and held as prizes of war, with Donne held as hostage against the return of the ships to Spain.
In the event, the ships were not returned to Spain and Donne was imprisoned at Cadiz for several years.
[2] He arrived early in 1637 and became a member of the Council of Royal Governor, John Harvey.
[1] Harvey, who was opposed by Virginia's increasingly powerful tobacco magnates, sent Donne to England in 1638 to argue in his defense at Court.