Boat to Retrace Voyage From Jamestown
By SONJA BARISIC
AP
JAMESTOWN, Va. (AP) - A group of modern-day John Smiths rowed away
Saturday in a small, open boat from the site of the first permanent
English settlement in America, which Smith helped found 400 years ago
this weekend.

The replica of a boat like one Smith used to explore the Chesapeake
Bay and its tributaries shoved off as the commemoration of Jamestown's
anniversary entered a second day filled with concerts, cultural and
artistic demonstrations and military drills.

President Bush is to speak Sunday, the closing day of the festivities
and the actual anniversary of the settlers' arrival at this swampy
island on the James River on May 13, 1607.

The boat's 121-day voyage over 1,500 miles will retrace much of
Smith's journey and inaugurate the Capt. John Smith Chesapeake
National Historic Trail, the country's first national historic water
trail.

"This is all just kind of overwhelming," the captain, Ian Bystrom,
said before the boat left. "I'm used to just sailing boats and
teaching kids and the next thing you know, we're here on the 400th
anniversary."

The boat departed from Historic Jamestowne, where the colonists built
a triangular fort.

Archaeologists found the fort's remains, long thought to have been
washed away, in the mid-1990s. Since then, they've unearthed more than
1 million artifacts.

On Saturday, dozens of visitors ringed the fort site to watch
archaeologists sift through the soil and show off some of their recent
finds, including a sword that was among armor and weapons buried in a
well that became a trash pit.

Several hundred cheering people lined the shore of the river as
Bystrom, followed by his crew of 11, slowly stepped onto large rocks
at the water's edge and into the 28-foot boat, called a shallop.

"There they go," someone shouted as six crew members began rowing away
from the island while Bystrom stood in the stern.

The boat will stop at more than 20 spots in Virginia, Maryland,
Delaware and Washington before returning to Jamestown on Sept. 8. The
crew will attempt to complete the entire trip entirely by oar and
sail.

Workers with the nonprofit Sultana Projects Inc. of Chestertown, Md.,
crafted the boat using mostly tools like those in Smith's time.

Smith's trip in 1608 yielded a comprehensive map that guided English
settlers for nearly a century.

Smith observed the bay's ecosystem along the way, and the new national
trail will do the same with a system of "smart" buoys that will
collect information about water and atmospheric conditions and
transmit them wirelessly, said retired Vice Adm. Conrad C.
Lautenbacher, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.

Smith's crew ran low on food and water two days into their trip and
turned to the native Indians for help.

Stephen Adkins, chief of the Chickahominy tribe in Virginia, said the
modern boat's crew has an edge over Smith because they went to the
Chickahominy Tribal Center to learn about the Indians of the early
17th century and of today.

"We need to give these folks a hand for trying to get it right,"
Adkins said during a ceremony before the boat left.

About 70 people demonstrated Saturday outside the visitors center at
Historic Jamestowne, shouting "black power" and "red power" and "shame
on Jamestown."

Malik Shabazz, president of the group Black Lawyers for Justice, said
Jamestown's founding marked the roots of black enslavement and Indian
genocide.

There is "no reason to celebrate the founding of Jamestown," Shabazz
said. "The no-good, so-called Jamestown settlers ... have nothing but
blood on their hands."

Organizers have been careful to call the anniversary event a
"commemoration" instead of a "celebration."

With the arrival of the English, native Indian tribes eventually were
pushed off their lands, and slavery in America is traced to Jamestown,
where the first Africans in the country arrived in 1619. This year's
anniversary is the first to focus on all three of those cultures.

On the Net:

Jamestown 2007: http://www.Americas400thAnniversary.com

Capt. John Smith Four Hundred Project: http://www.johnsmith400.org/

Chuck Gould wrote:
A group of modern-day John Smiths rowed away
Saturday in a small, open boat

Is there a picture of the boat somewhere?

Rick

On May 13, 5:48 am, wrote:
Chuck Gould wrote:
A group of modern-day John Smiths rowed away
Saturday in a small, open boat

Is there a picture of the boat somewhere?

Rick

www.johnsmith400.org

Chuck Gould wrote:
A group of modern-day John Smiths rowed away
Saturday in a small, open boat

Phantman wrote:
Is there a picture of the boat somewhere?

Chuck Gould wrote:
www.johnsmith400.org

Ooops... I'm out of town and on dial up this weekend. The picture on
the site finally came up after I'd sent my message.
But thanks,
Rick

On 12 May 2007 16:58:47 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

Boat to Retrace Voyage From Jamestown
By SONJA BARISIC
AP
JAMESTOWN, Va. (AP) - A group of modern-day John Smiths rowed away
Saturday in a small, open boat from the site of the first permanent
English settlement in America, which Smith helped found 400 years ago
this weekend.

Snipped


Good show! This story should have been posted by one of us who use the bay,
but we'll take publicity from anywhere!