Bartholomew Gosnold, an English voyager, died in Virginia, Aug. 22, 1G07. He joined Raleigh in his attempt to colonize Virginia, and after the failure of that enterprise was placed in command of an expedition fitted out for planting a settlement in New England. He sailed from Falmouth, March 20, 1002, with one small vessel and a company of 32 persons, 20 of whom were colonists. Instead of following the usual route by the Canaries and "West Indies, he steered directly across the Atlantic, and in seven weeks reached Massachusetts bay, first seeing land probably not far N. of Nahant. Thence he turned S., and landed on Cape Cod, to which he gave the name it still bears. Sailing around the promontory, and stopping at the island now known as No Man's Land, but which he called Martha's Vineyard, Gosnold anchored at the mouth of Buzzard's bay, and resolved to plant his colony on an island which he called Elizabeth (now known by its Indian name of Cuttyhunk). The adventurers here built and fortified a house, but the hostility of the Indians, scarcity of provisions, and disputes about a division of the profits, disheartened them, and the whole party returned to England, accomplishing the voyage in five weeks, and taking a cargo of sassafras root, cedar, furs, and other commodities.

The result of the expedition was such as to encourage many others to follow the same short route across the ocean, and pursue the explorations which Gosnold had begun. Gosnold next turned his eyes toward Virginia, and succeeded in organizing a company for colonization in that region, the heads of which were Edward Wing-field, a merchant, Robert Hunt, a clergyman, and Capt. John Smith. A charter was granted them by James I., April 10, 1606, which was the first instrument of that nature under which the English were planted in America ; and on Dec. 19, 1606, Gosnold set sail with three small vessels and an ill-assorted band of 105 adventurers. After a tedious voyage, a storm having driven them into Chesapeake bay (April 2(5, 1G07), they sailed up James river, which they named after the king, disembarked about 50 m. above its mouth, and founded the settlement of Jamestown. Sickness and various disasters destroyed 50 of their number before autumn, among whom was Gosnold.