The Three Ships sampler was inspired by a visit we made in December 1993 to Jamestown, Virginia, USA, whilst attending a needlework seminar in nearby Colonial Williamsburg, the theme of which was 'Christmas in Williamsburg.'

Jamestown was America's first English colony, predating the Plymouth, Massachusetts colony by thirteen years. The Americans honour these early pioneers with a reconstruction of the settlement on the original site, and replicas of the three tiny gallant ships that carried them on their long voyage are moored in the harbour there.

On December 20th 1606, these three ships, the Susan Constant, the Discovery and the Godspeed set sail from London for America, carrying one hundred and four men and boys of the Virginia Company who were hoping to build a commercial settlement in Virginia. The smallest ship was not more that 40 feet long with headroom below decks of only four feet; the passengers had to share these cramped quarters with their provisions and livestock for nearly six months.

By Christmas 1606, the ships were still in sight of the English coast as contrary winds had prevented these square rigged ships from sailing out of the English Channel. Eventually in the Spring of 1607 they reached the coasts of Virginia, and on May 14th the weary travellers began to build their settlement on the banks of the James River. But before the settlement finally became established they suffered much sickness and hardship, at one stage nearly being wiped out by disease.

The epic voyage made by these three ships impressed me greatly and I decided to make a sampler in celebration of their achievements. The closeness of their departure date to the Christmas Holiday together with the timing of our visit recalled to mind the old Carol 'I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In', which was actually written some time later that century. The Three Ships Sampler design is the result of these combined thoughts.

The charting was done using a computer cross stitch design program and completed in Summer 1994, but the actual stitching did not start until Christmas 1994, and was completed just under a month later after a marathon stitching session!!

The sampler is stitched on 36 count natural linen, using DMC stranded floss, Flower Threads and Kreinik metallic threads. Eleven different sampler stitches were used, including, cross stitch, upright cross stitch, Smyrna cross, Algerian eye, eyelet, Bosnia stitch, Montenegrin stitch, double back stitch, petit point, satin, and back stitch. All stitches were worked over two threads with the exception of the petit point which was done over one thread. One strand of either DMC floss or Kreinik metallic was used for most of the design, except for the highlighting, where DMC and metallic were blended; the text was worked in a single strand of Flower Thread.

A second version of the design was worked by Lesley Wright who accompanied me on the Williamsburg trip. This was done entirely in cross stitch, using two strands of DMC thread on 36 count natural linen, and was completed in Summer 1994.

Rosemary Powell
January 1995