14 Şubat 2011 Pazartesi

Capt. John Smith, Before He Was Famous

john smith (link to original article)

//ed. note: herewith another in our blog's occasional looks at historical
esoterica of note.//

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 28 September 2008)

English adventurer John Smith fought against the Turks alongside the
Austrians in Hungary from 1593 to 1606 and killed three Turks. During
one these wars Smith was taken prisoner and served as a galley slave
in Istanbul. He escaped and afterwards went with the first European
pioneers to America and with the colony he established there set the
foundation for today's USA.

John Smith, who was born in England in 1580, had an adventurous
nature. At 16 he went to Holland and fought with the Spanish. At 20
he went to Hungary to fight against the Turks together with the
Austrians. According to his own account, Smith killed three Turks
during one of these battles and in recognition of his accomplishment
the king presented him with a shield upon which the heads of three
Turks were carved. In the course of another battle Smith was taken
prisoner by the Turks and brought to Istanbul, where he served as
a galley slave.

Somehow, Smith escaped and made his way through the Caucasus
and Crimea back to Europe and England, flirting with death all the while.
Meanwhile, in 1605 the London Company reached an agreement with
a very able pirate named Captain Newport who had raided four Spanish
colonial cities in America and captured 20 ships.  The company carefully
selected 150 people for three ships that would sail to America. John
Smith was one of them.

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