Mary and Margaret (Emigrant Ship) 1608

[Arturo]

Not much info about this ship on internet. Any addional info welcome.

The first stamp issued on the 350th Anniversary of Polish Emigration to America. The second stamp is about “Arrival of the first Poles to America in 1608”.

Mary and Margaret, belongs to Virginia Company of London, took over the second group of emigrants and supplies to Jamestown, including the first Polish settlers in the colony of New England on October 1, 1608. She was under the command of Captain Christopher Newport. A ship of about 150 tons.

Three expeditions were made to Virginia. First one was in December 1607. The first British settlers arrived in Jamestown in the hope of finding natural resources such as gold, lumber and herbs, carrying with them their ultimate goal - profit. There were no Polish settlers on the first expedition. These three expeditions brought a total of about 295 people, the first one 120, and the second one about 70, and third about 105 people.

It was the Polish colony who set up the first glass factory in America and had a hand in the first shipbuilding on American soil. Although the number of early immigrants from 17th-century Poland to America was minimal.
Sent by the Virginia Company of London, emigrants arrived with great expectations. However, their inability to settle a colony was larger. Two problems immediately beset the colonists.

First, some of the colonists were English noblemen with no experience either in the military or in manual labor. Thus, the colony found itself without skilled craftsmen or soldiers; worse, many of the colonists outright refused to engage in work that they felt was beneath them.

Second, the physical location chosen for the site of Jamestown proved to be a poor one. The land was swampy (making it a veritable breeding ground of disease), the water supply was poor and relations with the local indigenous Indian tribes were rocky at best. Within less than a year, the colony was in danger of failure. No profits were heading back to England; disease ran rampant due to the lack of fresh water, food supplies were low, and little to no work had been done to establish an industrial base. In fact, much of the time had been spent panning for gold rather unsuccessfully in Virginia’s rivers. The Virginia Company of London had nothing to show for its investment and a small prospect for future returns.

To salvage their colony, the Virginia Company hired a group of Poles, known for their reputation and valuable expertise in the lumber and other manufacturing industries. Captain John Smith had first-hand experience dealing with Polish manufacturers through his work with the Virginia Company of London, in addition to his experience traveling through Poland on his return from the Middle East. Before his travels to America, John Smith had been a Turkish prisoner. Poland provided Captain Smith with his first Christian refuge following his escape.

The colonists respected the Poles for their quality of work and other accomplishments. For instance, the Pole Lawrence (Wawrzyniec) Bohun was the first doctor in Jamestown colony. Moreover, the work done by the original group proved valuable enough to allow them to repay the Virginia Company for their passage to America, and this in turn allowed them to later become free citizens of the colony. Within a few years, there were fifty Poles living in Jamestown. Also important was the example these Poles set for the colonists. As the former President of the College of William and Mary Admiral Alvin Chandler stated in 1953, "It took the example of the Polish glassmakers to demonstrate to the colonists that the treasures of Virginia were in its soil, not in nuggets to be had for picking."

Poland 1958, S.G.?, Scott: 826.

Poland 1975, S.G.?, Scott: 2117.

Source: Various web sites.