A Welshman Abroad: Captain Peter Wynn Of Jamestown

A Welshman Abroad: Captain Peter Wynn Of Jamestown Paul £. J. Hammer 'I was not so desirous to come into this country, as I a m n o w willing here to end m y dayes: for I finde it a farr more plesant, and plentifull country than any report made mention of.' Peter Wynn to Sir John Egerton, from Jamestown, Virginia, 26 November 16081 Captain Peter W y n n is one of the minor figures in the early history of the Jamestown colony. The known facts of his short career in Virginia are sparse and have drawn very little attention.2 W y n n arrived in the N e w World in late 1 The Jamestown voyages under the First Charter, 1606-1609, ed. P. L. Barbour Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 2nd series, vols 136-7, 1969), 1:245-6. This letter is widely printed. The holograph original is Henry E. Huntington Library, Jamestown Colony, EL 1683. Note that all dates in this article are Old Style but the year is treated as beginning on 1 January. 2 A very brief biographical notice of Wynn is included in A. Brown, The genesis ofthe United States (2 vols, London, 1890), 2:1055. Subsequent published work indicates that there has been no advance in our knowledge of Wynn in the century since Brown's work was printed. P A R E R G O N ns 16.1 (July 1998) 60 Paul E.J. Hammer September or early October 1608 with the 'second supply',3 at a time when the fledgeling colony w a s close to failure and w h e n sharp divisions had emerged between the venture's London sponsors and the president of the colony's local council, Captain John Smith. Immediately upon his arrival, W y n n was sworn a m e m b e r of this council, along with another n e w arrival, Captain Richard Waldo.4 In the account of his experiences in Virginia which he later wrote for publication, Captain Smith described the n e w councillors as 'two ancient soldiers and valiant gentlemen'.5 However, this was the only praise which he bestowed upon W y n n . Smith's narrative subsequently refers to W y n n two or three times in a decidedly negative manner and mentions his death—some time early in 1609—only in retrospect.6 By contrast, when the London sponsors drew up instructions in M a y 1609 for the first 'governor' of Virginia, W y n n was listed as a m e m b e r of the governor's council with the title of 'serjeant-major of the fort'.7 In garrisons and armies of the time, the post of serjeant-major was a coveted one and, as today, denoted professional experience and responsibility. The n e w governor, Sir Thomas Gates, certainly regarded W y n n as a m a n w h o m he could trust at Jamestown. W h e n he was ship-wrecked on his w a y to Virginia aboard the ail-too aptly named Sea Adventure, Gates chose W y n n to act as his lieutenant-governor until he himself could reach the colony.8 Although he died before Gates had even left England, it seems that W y n n might have become a more significant figure in early Jamestown, if he had lived long enough. 3 The complete works ofCaptain John Smith (1580-1631) ed. P. L. Barbour (3 vols, C Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press for Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1986), 1; 240 (also 2:184). Note that references from vol. 1 are from Smith's Proceedings ofthe English colonie in Virginia (published in 1612) an from vol. 2 are from Smith's General historie, which is substantially the same work but amended in some places (published in 1624). For some differences in these editions, see K J. Hayes, 'Defining the ideal colonist: Captain John Smith's revisions from A true relation to the Proceedings to the third book of the Generall historie Magazine ofHistory and Biography, 99 (1991), 123-44...