[2] Sir Richard was accused of misusing money deposited into his care at the Mint in 1597 and forced to resign as master in 1599.
[5] Martin commanded the Benjamin under Sir Francis Drake in the 1585–86 expedition[6] to harass the Spanish ports in the New World.
On his return, Martin married Mary, daughter of Robert Brandon, a prominent English goldsmith and supplier to Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Before Martin left for the West Indies, he petitioned the Company of Mineral & Battery Works to be admitted to the society with a half-share from goldsmith Richard Wycliffe, recently deceased.
Martin arrived in Virginia along with his teenage son John on 26 April 1607, when what came to be called the "First Landing" occurred at the place where south edge of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay meets then Atlantic Ocean, a location the colonists named Cape Henry.
[9] After finding a location to build their settlement which met the requirements set forth in their sealed orders, they founded Jamestown on 14 May 1607.
[10] Wingfield reported that, "Master Martyn followed with, he reporteth that I do slack the service in the collonye, and doe nothing but tend my pott, spitt, and oven, but he hath starved my sonne, and denyed him a spoonfull of beere; I have friends in England shalbe revenged on him if ever he come in London."
[11] Captain Christopher Newport who commanded the fleet of three ships which had brought them to the New World, sailed back to England (taking along the Susan Constant and the Godspeed, to return with additional supplies.