In December Smith went on an exploring trip up the Chickahominy, but on this occasion his good luck deserted him—­two of his men were killed by the Indians and he himself was captured and carried from village to village, but he was released through the influence of Pocahontas, and returned to Jamestown (January 2, 1608) to find more dangers.  In his absence Ratcliffe, the president, admitted Gabriel Archer, Smith’s deadly enemy, into the council; and immediately upon his arrival these two arrested him and tried him under the Levitical law for the loss of the two men killed by the Indians.  He was found guilty and condemned to be hanged the next day; but in the evening Newport arrived in the John and Francis with the “First Supply” of men and provisions, and Ratcliffe and Archer were prevented from carrying out their plan.[25] Newport found only thirty or forty persons surviving at Jamestown, and he brought about seventy more.  Of the six members of the council living at the time of his departure in June, 1607, two, Gosnold and Kendall, were dead, Smith was under condemnation, and Wingfield was a prisoner.  Now Smith was restored to his seat in council, while Wingfield was released from custody.[26]

Five days after Newport’s arrival at Jamestown a fire consumed nearly all the buildings in the fort.[27] The consequence was that, as the winter was very severe, many died from exposure while working to restore the town.  The settlers suffered also from famine, which Captain Newport partially relieved by visiting Powhatan in February and returning in March with his “pinnace well loaden with corne, wheat, beanes, and pease,” which kept the colony supplied for some weeks.[28]

Newport remained in Virginia for more than three months, but things were not improved by his stay.  His instructions required him to return with a cargo, and the poor colonists underwent the severest sort of labor in cutting down trees and loading the ship with cedar, black walnut, and clapboard.[29] Captain Martin thought he discovered a gold-mine near Jamestown, and for a time the council had busied the colonists in digging worthless ore, some of which Newport carried to England.[30] These works hindered others more important to the plantation, and only four acres of land was put in corn during the spring.[31] Newport took back with him the councillors Wingfield and Archer, and April 20, ten days after Newport’s departure, Captain Francis Nelson arrived in the Phoenix with about forty additional settlers.  He stayed till June, when, taking a load of cedar, he returned to England, having among his passengers Captain John Martin, another of the council.