In the last note, recognition was taken of B. C. Holtzclaw's error in saying the Second Colony came with Capt. Scott . In the colonial records there is no captain named Scott , but there was a ship named the Scott . This ship was engaged in the Virginia tobacco trade, where tobacco was brought back from Virginia, and trade goods and passengers were taken to Virginia.
Custom officials were caught once for taking bribes from the Captain of the Scott , for allowing tobacco to pass through customs without the payment of the mandated tariffs. (The custom officials lost their jobs because of this.) The record is important to us because it establishes two facts. First, it names the Captain who was Andrew Tarbett . Second, it tells a lot about the character of Tarbett, whose morality put economics above principles.
Knowing the name of the Captain of the Scott , another search was made of the Virginia Colonial records. One other record was found in which Tarbett appears. In the spring of 1717, he lost a ship to pirates off the Virginia coast (the pirates sank the ship). Tarbett had to give a disposition to the Governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood, which has been preserved. The important point here is that Tarbett was speaking to Spotswood early in 1717.
At this time, not long after the land scouting junket known as the " Ride of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe ", Spotswood was embarked on a western land development program on the frontier. (These lands went past the present Culpeper courthouse.) What was needed was a group of settlers who could be placed simultaneously on the land. Spotswood let Tarbett know of his interest in Germans, a whole shipload of them if possible.
Late that summer, or in the early fall, Tarbett was back in London with a new ship (the Scott ), when a group of Germans arrived in London seeking transportation to Pennsylvania. Tarbett promised them he would take them, but he knew even then that his destination would be Virginia. Tarbett was taken to debtors' prison, perhaps because of losing a ship and cargo to pirates, but he negotiated his release and the voyage commenced.
The Germans were very surprised when the land they saw was Virginia and not Pennsylvania. Who was to blame? Mostly, Tarbett who was of a weak character. Spotswood had placed temptation in his path and Tarbett couldn't resist.
[The story is told in more detail with copies of the records in the September 1997 issue of Beyond Germanna.]
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.