A curious feature in this pamphlet is an isolated Letter,[1] written by a respectable Boston gentleman, found in the Appendix. This alone, of the correspondence received by the Committee on Invitations, we are told, was found worthy of preservation. It was certainly not so much the name of the writer that rescued this letter from the oblivion of the waste-basket, common to its fellows, as the impression on the minds of the managers of the Celebration, that it contained historical information tending to confirm their theory.
The letter-writer finds that the "works" of the colonists, during the few months they stopped at Sabino, "were far more important than their formal acts recorded." The distinction he would make between "works" and "formal acts" is not quite apparent. Among the "works" he specifies, is "a vessel, the dimensions of which are unknown; but fit to cross the ocean." Strachey tells us what we know about this vessel. He says it was "a pretty Pynnace of about some thirty tonne." Whether it was fit to cross the ocean, we will presently consider. The writer claims for this fishing-boat the honor of being "the pioneer ship built in North America." This claim is nothing new. Mr. John A. Poor made it in Popham Memorial, (page 73,) and other writers of less _weight_ have repeated it. The real fact, however, is that a vessel was built in the harbor of Port Royal (now Hilton Head) forty-four years before this, by Huguenot colonists, in which a party of more than twenty crossed the ocean. But, leaving out of the account the Huguenot vessel, a similar pinnace had been built at Sabino before this. Strachey says, under the date of 28th of August: "Most of the hands labored hard about the fort, and the carpenters about the buylding of a small pinnace, the president overseeing and applying every one to his worke." The other craft, called the "Virginia," for which the above pretensions are set up, was not framed till after Captain Davies had sailed for England,--that is, after the 15th of December.
The letter-writer further garnishes his theme by talking about this fishing-boat's "safe voyage to England," and the curiosity she excited in an English port. For the sake of these historical statements, the Committee have thought proper to preserve this letter. Their theory must be in a desperate condition to need such a confirmation.