How They Got There: English Explorers

By the time English explorers departed for the New World, shipbuilding had undergone many changes to fit the harsh voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, rather than using naos or carracks as the Spanish or Portuguese had, English explorers relied on barks instead. Believed to have originated from a barge, the bark became its own distinct design when its construction began to include sails.

A well-known bark was Christopher Newport's Susan Constant. She was originally a merchant vessel in London. The Virginia Company of London purchased her in 1606 for an expedition to the New World. Newport became her captain; the fleet included the Godspeed and the Discovery. The fleet departed London in December 1606 and arrived in the Chesapeake Bay in April 1607. After establishing the Jamestown settlement along the James River, Newport sailed back to England. Although the Susan Constant was sold back into the merchant trade, Newport continued to sail back to Jamestown to resupply the colony.

Another prominent bark was James Cook's Endeavour. The Endeavour was originally a collier that was refitted as a bark. It was a wide, strong ship with a flat bottom and a shallow draft. For long voyages such as Cook's, it was necessary to have a ship with a large cargo hold. The Endeavour took to the South Seas in 1768. She was damaged when she ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef near Australia in 1770. After his first voyage returned in 1771, the Endeavour was refitted and sailed to the Falkland Islands several times. Her final voyage was to America in 1790, where she ran aground at Narragansett Bay and sank.

Read more about the individual explorers:

Francis Drake | Christopher Newport | James Cook | John Smith

Find out about their watercraft:

How They Got There | Once They Arrived