Life in Jamestown begins to improve
Until the arrival of Lord Delaware and his additional settlers, daily life in James Fort had been one of constant hunger, frequent thirst, dissension among the settlers, unending labor, and fear of attack by the natives under Powhatan, as well as attack from the sea by the Spanish. The labor of planting and husbanding crops had gone without much in the way of reward, as the ongoing drought prevented them from growing much in the less than fertile soil. The English settlers were little prepared for the Virginia climate, which in the summer was much hotter than in England, in the winter colder, and in all seasons more humid.
There was little in the way of value being yielded by the colonists to the investors in London. Daily life was instead a constant struggle to survive. Fish from the James River and its tributaries became a staple in the warm months, and efforts to smoke and salt fish for preservation were ongoing, requiring first the manufacture of salt. While men struggled in the fields and at their other occupations, hunting parties entered the woods and forests, looking for game which was also under pressure from the natives. Despite the efforts of John Smith and John Ratcliffe to make all work, some men still considered themselves to be above manual labor, and were determined to exist as landed gentlemen.