[1] In 1663 a number of planters in Barbados made arrangements with the proprietors of Carolina for establishing a colony at Cape Fear.

He sailed with three vessels from Barbados in January 1665, and reached Cape Fear, but sustained heavy loss on the way from rough weather.

Accordingly, he soon returned to Barbados, leaving the management of the new settlement to a deputy, Captain Robert Sandford (whose lieutenant was Joseph Woory, Yeamans's nephew).

Three ships of settlers were sent to Port Royal Island from the British Isles calling first at Barbados.

[2] The expedition continued and successfully founded South Carolina's first permanent English settlement in April 1670.

[2] Early in his governorship at the bequest of the proprietors he initiated a land survey for what would become Charles Town and expanded his plantation.

[5][6] Yeamans epitomized the enterprising Barbadians who played a large part in settling South Carolina.

It is likely that Yeamans had Benjamin Berringer, his former business partner and husband of Margaret, poisoned just weeks before the marriage.

[2] Lieutenant Colonel Josiah Martin, the last colonial governor of the Province of North Carolina was a member of the same West Indies Yeamans family.