Popham Colony
It was established in 1607 by the proprietary Plymouth Company and was located in the present-day town of Phippsburg, Maine, near the mouth of the Kennebec River.
(St. Croix Island was settled initially in June 1604, then moved in 1605 by Samuel de Champlain to the Bay of Fundy).
[1] Popham was abandoned after only 14 months, apparently more due to the death of patrons and the first colony president than lack of success in the New World.
The first ocean-going ship built by the English in the New World was completed during the year of the Popham Colony and was sailed back across the Atlantic Ocean to England.
The pinnace, named Virginia of Sagadahoc, was apparently quite seaworthy, and crossed the Atlantic again successfully in 1609 as part of Sir Christopher Newport's nine-vessel Third Supply mission to Jamestown.
The small Virginia survived a powerful three-day storm en route which was thought to have been a hurricane and which wrecked the mission's large new flagship Sea Venture on Bermuda.
The exact site of the Popham Colony was lost until 1888 when a plan entitled "The Draught of St Georges fort" was found in Simancas, Spain.
This plan exactly matches the location at Sabino Head near Maine's Popham Beach State Park.
At the time, the name "Virginia" applied to the entire east coast of North America from Spanish Florida to New France in modern-day Canada.
[citation needed] The first Plymouth Company ship, Richard, sailed in August 1606, but the Spanish intercepted and captured it near Florida in November.
They intended to trade precious metals, spices, furs, and show that the local forests could be used to build English ships.
His plan, titled "The draught of St Georges fort Erected by Captayne George Popham Esquier", was a surveyed and detailed picture-map showing a star-shaped fort, with ditches and ramparts, and with 18 buildings, including the admiral's house, a chapel, a storehouse, a cooperage, and a guardhouse.
As a result of espionage, Hunt's map was sold to the Spanish ambassador to England, Pedro de Zúñiga.
Popham and Gilbert sent survey expeditions up the river and west across Casco Bay and contacted the Abenaki, an Indian tribe belonging to the Algonquian peoples of northeastern North America.
In a letter to the King, Popham wrote that the natives had told them that the area was full of easily exploitable resources.
The primary purpose of Virginia was for use in exploration of the area, but was later refitted and some of the colonists returned to England in it when the colony was abandoned.
(The Virginia would make at least one more Atlantic crossing, going to Jamestown the next year with the Third Supply, piloted by Captain James Davis.)
It is likely that the failure of the colony was due to multiple problems: the lack of financial support after the death of Sir John Popham, the inability to find another leader, the cold winter, and finally the hostility of both the native people and the French.
French colonist Jean de Biencourt with Father Pierre Biard visited the abandoned site in 1611.
