To the Editor:

I would like to point out a historical inaccuracy in the editorial published in the March 9 edition of the Suffolk News-Herald. It was Capt. Christopher Newport who brought the three shiploads of explorer-settlers across the Atlantic Ocean to make their uncertain home in the New World.

Capt. John Smith was nothing more than a passenger on that voyage across the Atlantic, and he spent a portion of the trip in the brig for mutinous behavior towards Newport.

It was not until the ships reached what would become Jamestowne (the historical site includes the “e” at the end of Jamestowne) that the sealed instructions from the Virginia Company of London were opened, giving Smith the leadership of the explorer-settlers.

Smith was then released from the brig so as to assume his land-based duties. Smith would eventually be taken back to England after it was charged that he was colluding with Powhatan to destroy the Jamestowne settlement.

India Meissel

History teacher

Lakeland High School