In 1619, As Appears By Neill, The Virginia Company Had One John Clarke In
Ireland, "Buying Cattle For Virginia." We
Know that Captain Jones soon
sailed for Virginia with cattle, in the FALCON, of 150 tons, and as this
was
The only cattle ship in a long period, we can very certainly identify
Clarke as the newly-hired mate of the MAY-FLOWER, who, Cush man says
(letter of June 11/21, 1620), "went last year to Virginia with a ship of
kine." As 1620 did not begin until March 25, a ship sailing in February
would have gone out in 1619, and Jones and Clarke could easily have made
the voyage in time to engage for the MAY-FLOWER in the following June.
"Six months after Jones's trip in the latter" (i.e. after his return
from the Pilgrim voyage), Neill says, "he took the DISCOVERY (60 tons) to
Virginia, and then northward, trading along the coast. The Council for
New England complained of him to the Virginia Company for robbing the
natives on this voyage. He stopped at Plymouth (1622), and, taking
advantage of the distress for food he found there, was extortionate in
his prices. In July, 1625, he appeared at Jamestown, Virginia, in
possession of a Spanish frigate, which he said had been captured by one
Powell, under a Dutch commission, but it was thought a resumption of his
old buccaneering practices. Before investigation he sickened and died."
That Jones was a man of large experience, and fully competent in his
profession, is beyond dispute.
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