The New World movie starring Colin Farrell & Christian Bale
Captain John Smith: Susan Constant, Godspeed & Discovery at Williamsburg, The New World Movie Official Site
Sailing Into History
It was also important for the production to secure three historically appropriate ships for the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery, the three vessels which carried John Smith and the original Jamestown settlers under the command of Captain Christopher Newport. This was another great benefit of shooting near the original site, for the popular Jamestown Settlement nearby houses three seagoing recreations, all in tip-top sailing condition, for their public.
"If we had to build these ships, they would have cost two million dollars each," notes Trish Hofmann. "To have three ships within five miles of our major location was incredibly ideal. We had to work everything out carefully with the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation, which operates the Jamestown Settlement where the ships are on display. It was difficult because the Settlement is such a popular tourist attraction, and the ships are a major draw. We were helped by Governor Mark Warner, who gave us his blessing and encouraged the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation to work with us, and finally, everyone was happy with the idea that one ship always would be present at the Settlement for its visitors. They were very kind to us, and allowed us to keep the Godspeed, a beautiful ship, for three-quarters of our Virginia shoot harbored just off James Fort...which was perfect, because our research indicated that the English always left one ship behind. We wanted to treat these ships like stars."
And like the stars they are, they required their Hollywood makeover...not to make them more glamorous, but less so. "We repainted all of the ships, aging them down and making them look more to what I thought ships of the period would look like if they had been out in the weather for months at a time," says Fisk. "I figured that these ships were kind of like the trucks we see on the highway today, big semis, used for transport. They weren't overly comfortable, there was nothing fancy about them and they were moving a lot more people than they were designed to do when they came to Jamestown."
However, the production, Eric Spaeth (who captains the three Jamestown Settlement ships), and the film's marine coordinator, Mark Preisser, were faced with another nautical challenge. For one crucial scene, all three ships needed to be shot coming up the James River toward its initial landing, and of course, the agreement had stated that one ship always had to be left at the Jamestown Settlement. "Even if we had been able to secure all three ships for that one day," recalls Trish Hofmann, "we wouldn't have been able to put them on the Chickahominy River, because the draft of the Susan Constant is too deep for the river. So we had to go searching for another ship to portray the Susan Constant!"
The quest brought the producers and Jack Fisk to Verplanck, New York, and a magnificent 85-foot replica of the Half Moon, which Henry Hudson sailed while exploring the Hudson River in 1609. David Crank and a crew traveled from Virginia to upstate New York to give the Half Moon its own makeover, transforming the three-masted vessel with a new palette of colors and aging techniques. The Half Moon's captain, Chip Reynolds, then sailed it from Verplanck to the banks of the Chickahominy, ready for its closeup.
Another vessel, the smaller but nonetheless impressive 33-foot-long shallop (dubbed "the pickup truck of the 17th century" by Preisser) used by John Smith both for transporting men from the larger ships to shore, as well as exploring the waterways of Virginia, was secured from the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts.
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