5 ms·

The experience of early colonists is so fascinating. Some of these colonies were very tenuous and seemed very unprepared.

by duxup 1y ago

codingdave 1y ago
Not unlike youth in our current society who leave home then bounce around from one place to another until they find the spot they want to settle in for a while. I mean sure, colonists from hundreds of years ago are different than young adults of today.... but the tenuous nature, in general, of people out exploring the world for a new home is unsurprising.
- duxup 1y ago
  No I don’t think they are anything alike.
dentemple 1y ago
Even today, with modern information available to us, people still woefully underestimate what it would take to live in a true wilderness.
- lazystar 1y ago
  I've got a great example of this. I'm renting a house that provides a gas powered lawnmower for tenants to use, and I've elected to just let the grass grow because I have no idea how to use the thing
  - rpcope1 1y ago
    Are you joking or something? It's just check the gas and oil, hold down the brake lever on the handle, pull the crank a few times and away you go. Maybe it's old and has a fuel bulb or a choke, or fancy and has a transmission and the lever to engage it, but it's really not complicated at all.
    - PaulDavisThe1st 1y ago
      I grew up around many different sorts of power tools. By my mid-20s I was comfortable using routers, table saws, sawzalls, jigsaws, jackhammers and more. But nobody in my family had any gas-powered motors for anything at all. I'm 61 now, and a volunteer firefighter. We have lots of gas powered chainsaws, circular saws, ventilation fans, and more. I'm still extremely uncomfortable with starting these engines.
  - floren 1y ago
    Now look, there's debates to be had about whether or not lawns are good idea, or how long grass should grow, etc. but there's no excuse for not figuring out how a gas mower works. I could tell you here in a paragraph or you could watch a 30 minute Youtube which will contain in it somewhere the 1 minute of actual instructions you need. It's a pretty damn simple system.
  - jf22 1y ago
    The colonists didn't have anything near this level of technology though...
  - pizzafeelsright 1y ago
    Lazy, You cannot live this way. I can walk you through anything related to home care.
    - lazystar 1y ago
      just anxious. i live pretty remote; if i get hurt and cant get to a phone, no one will find me until my lease expires. one of the downsides of auto payments i think.
      - pizzafeelsright 1y ago
        use age1s6cz86s99unkfm2sqy045w5w79n8lyyulwu9qy3gkaeydmexwv5qvkh2pp reply with your contact if you want help.
        lazystar 1y ago
        lol. not sure what age1s6cz86s99unkfm2sqy045w5w79n8lyyulwu9qy3gkaeydmexwv5qvkh2pp means, but if youre in the greater seattle area and want to teach me how to be an adult, shoot me a text. 360-624-3791
      - amanaplanacanal 1y ago
        On the other hand, just letting it grow isn't going to hurt anything.
      - cafard 1y ago
        With a modern mower, it's pretty hard to hurt yourself.
        mikestew 1y ago
        I wouldn't necessarily assume it's at all modern. I've had Briggs-and-Stratton-powered mowers that had the deck rot from corrosion long before that B&S engine dies. Point being, if the mower was "provided", who knows the vintage? It sure isn't going to be the landlord's top-shelf mower fresh from the dealer.
  - yawgmoth 1y ago
    Adjust the height to the highest setting. Put gas in it. If there's a soft rubber thing near the gas, hit it twice to provide some fuel but no more as you risk "flooding" the engine. Hold down any handle at the top of the mower, often the thing will require you to manually hold it down during start and all operations. Look for the starter pull. It's often on the right, on the motor or mower handles. It's a piece of plastic attached to a cable. Give it a yank with a full follow through. It doesn't have to be maximum effort but too gentle won't work either.
  - timnetworks 1y ago
    this is maybe the most accidentally insightful post I have seen on HN. Or satire so sharp it cuts in line.
  - anon84873628 1y ago
    Note that once the grass has grown past a certain height, you won't be able to use a mower anymore even if you want to. At that point it will require a line trimmer (a.k.a. weed whacker) which is a lot more work. Though personally I'm a fan of "kill your lawn" efforts. You can smother it with cardboard (or burn it, or till it, etc) and replace with native meadow.
    - ddingus 1y ago
      Sure you can! Ask me how I know. (Has cleared overgrowth consisting of both vines and grasses roughly a meter high give or take some) What you do is tip the mower up, holding the handle near the ground and push it right into the mess. Then lower it down, essentially taking a "bite", which will cut many folded over plants. Pull back, then tip and advance repeatedly, cutting more each time. I cleared a quarter acre this way. Took one hard afternoon and a couple tanks of gas.
    - lazystar 1y ago
      hmm ok. its mainly ryegrass, though, so i dont think itd be a problem to cut through. i just think its really pretty, plus the birds/squirrels/chipmunks seem to like it a lot.
GlenTheMachine 1y ago
The Jamestown colonists starved to death literally living on the shore of the most productive marine environment on earth. They didn’t know how to care for the fishing nets, so they rotted, and then didn’t know how to fix them. The issue was that many of the colonists were second sons of relatively wealthy families, and weren’t all that familiar with fishing or farming. The first son inherited everything, and the second son had to make his way in the world, and colonizing was an enticing prospect for making your fortune. Poorer families, at the very early stages, weren’t sending their sons on these ventures because they needed the labor at home. https://historicjamestowne.org/wp-content/uploads/Subsistence_Fishing_at_Jamestown_2006.pdf https://historicjamestowne.org/wp-content/uploads/Subsistenc...
- CGMthrowaway 1y ago
  As someone who grew up next to Jamestown, I can add some context. John Smith, one of Jamestown's leaders, was not from a wealthy or privileged background. "The issue" may have been less about class and more about poor organization, leadership and unrealistic expectations. Fishing and farming skills also deserve context. The soil around Jamestown was marshy and brackish, unsuitable for traditional English farming methods. Yes there were lots of fish but they only ran seasonally (sturgeon etc). The "starving time" you are referencing was made worse by a drought and cutoff trade with the indians
  - elevation 1y ago
    The soil may have been brackish, but this wasn't their main setback. The Jamestown colonists didn't even attempt to plant crops for several years after their arrival. Their first ship brought jewelers and smiths to work the gold they assumed they'd find, but didn't have a real plan for agriculture. The majority died of starvation and disease, but the survivors were sustained by meager leftover travel supplies from newly arriving ships, and by raiding neighboring natives for their corn. Less than a decade later, separatist Pilgrims landed in New England, and by contrast, grew crops immediately, and cultivated diplomatic relations with their neighbors. The Pilgrims settled in a higher latitude with a shorter growing season, but during their first drought they had already stored enough supplies to share with local natives. Jamestown could have been on a similar footing if they'd prioritized survival and diplomacy over finding treasure for the crown, the chartering company, and themselves.
potato3732842 1y ago
>were very tenuous and seemed very unprepared. Old world politics at the time explain most of this. Some of the english colonies were, ugh, rushed and less well funded than they would have been under ideal situations. This is basically the same reason they didn't look too hard to see what happened to the Roanoke colony.
- aspenmayer 1y ago
  It was the VC model of colonization. They expected a few sites to fail to prosper.
CGMthrowaway 1y ago
How would you have prepared, were you in their shoes? Roanoke Island was first landed in 1585. The only foreknowledge of the area would have been wildly embellished and optimistic reports (competing for financing, royal favor and prestige) from the likes of Spanish and French expeditions, or Sir Francis Drake. This was mostly limited to coastal recon and said little of the dangers of malaria, indian politics, seasonality, etc. For example, the Amadas-Barlowe Expedition (1584) described Roanoke Island as "the most plentiful, sweet, fruitful and wholesome of all the world," with fertile soil, abundant wildlife, and friendly natives

The experience of early colonists is so fascinating. Some of these colonies were very tenuous and seemed very unprepared.

by duxup 1y ago

The experience of early colonists is so fascinating. Some of these colonies were very tenuous and seemed very unprepared.

codingdave 1y ago

Not unlike youth in our current society who leave home then bounce around from one place to another until they find the spot they want to settle in for a while. I mean sure, colonists from hundreds of years ago are different than young adults of today.... but the tenuous nature, in general, of people out exploring the world for a new home is unsurprising.

duxup 1y ago
No I don’t think they are anything alike.

dentemple 1y ago

Even today, with modern information available to us, people still woefully underestimate what it would take to live in a true wilderness.

lazystar 1y ago
I've got a great example of this. I'm renting a house that provides a gas powered lawnmower for tenants to use, and I've elected to just let the grass grow because I have no idea how to use the thing
- rpcope1 1y ago
  Are you joking or something? It's just check the gas and oil, hold down the brake lever on the handle, pull the crank a few times and away you go. Maybe it's old and has a fuel bulb or a choke, or fancy and has a transmission and the lever to engage it, but it's really not complicated at all.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 1y ago
    I grew up around many different sorts of power tools. By my mid-20s I was comfortable using routers, table saws, sawzalls, jigsaws, jackhammers and more. But nobody in my family had any gas-powered motors for anything at all. I'm 61 now, and a volunteer firefighter. We have lots of gas powered chainsaws, circular saws, ventilation fans, and more. I'm still extremely uncomfortable with starting these engines.
- floren 1y ago
  Now look, there's debates to be had about whether or not lawns are good idea, or how long grass should grow, etc. but there's no excuse for not figuring out how a gas mower works. I could tell you here in a paragraph or you could watch a 30 minute Youtube which will contain in it somewhere the 1 minute of actual instructions you need. It's a pretty damn simple system.
- jf22 1y ago
  The colonists didn't have anything near this level of technology though...
- pizzafeelsright 1y ago
  Lazy, You cannot live this way. I can walk you through anything related to home care.
  - lazystar 1y ago
    just anxious. i live pretty remote; if i get hurt and cant get to a phone, no one will find me until my lease expires. one of the downsides of auto payments i think.
    - pizzafeelsright 1y ago
      use age1s6cz86s99unkfm2sqy045w5w79n8lyyulwu9qy3gkaeydmexwv5qvkh2pp reply with your contact if you want help.
      - lazystar 1y ago
        lol. not sure what age1s6cz86s99unkfm2sqy045w5w79n8lyyulwu9qy3gkaeydmexwv5qvkh2pp means, but if youre in the greater seattle area and want to teach me how to be an adult, shoot me a text. 360-624-3791
    - amanaplanacanal 1y ago
      On the other hand, just letting it grow isn't going to hurt anything.
    - cafard 1y ago
      With a modern mower, it's pretty hard to hurt yourself.
      - mikestew 1y ago
        I wouldn't necessarily assume it's at all modern. I've had Briggs-and-Stratton-powered mowers that had the deck rot from corrosion long before that B&S engine dies. Point being, if the mower was "provided", who knows the vintage? It sure isn't going to be the landlord's top-shelf mower fresh from the dealer.
- yawgmoth 1y ago
  Adjust the height to the highest setting. Put gas in it. If there's a soft rubber thing near the gas, hit it twice to provide some fuel but no more as you risk "flooding" the engine. Hold down any handle at the top of the mower, often the thing will require you to manually hold it down during start and all operations. Look for the starter pull. It's often on the right, on the motor or mower handles. It's a piece of plastic attached to a cable. Give it a yank with a full follow through. It doesn't have to be maximum effort but too gentle won't work either.
- timnetworks 1y ago
  this is maybe the most accidentally insightful post I have seen on HN. Or satire so sharp it cuts in line.
- anon84873628 1y ago
  Note that once the grass has grown past a certain height, you won't be able to use a mower anymore even if you want to. At that point it will require a line trimmer (a.k.a. weed whacker) which is a lot more work. Though personally I'm a fan of "kill your lawn" efforts. You can smother it with cardboard (or burn it, or till it, etc) and replace with native meadow.
  - ddingus 1y ago
    Sure you can! Ask me how I know. (Has cleared overgrowth consisting of both vines and grasses roughly a meter high give or take some) What you do is tip the mower up, holding the handle near the ground and push it right into the mess. Then lower it down, essentially taking a "bite", which will cut many folded over plants. Pull back, then tip and advance repeatedly, cutting more each time. I cleared a quarter acre this way. Took one hard afternoon and a couple tanks of gas.
  - lazystar 1y ago
    hmm ok. its mainly ryegrass, though, so i dont think itd be a problem to cut through. i just think its really pretty, plus the birds/squirrels/chipmunks seem to like it a lot.

GlenTheMachine 1y ago

The Jamestown colonists starved to death literally living on the shore of the most productive marine environment on earth. They didn’t know how to care for the fishing nets, so they rotted, and then didn’t know how to fix them. The issue was that many of the colonists were second sons of relatively wealthy families, and weren’t all that familiar with fishing or farming. The first son inherited everything, and the second son had to make his way in the world, and colonizing was an enticing prospect for making your fortune. Poorer families, at the very early stages, weren’t sending their sons on these ventures because they needed the labor at home. https://historicjamestowne.org/wp-content/uploads/Subsistence_Fishing_at_Jamestown_2006.pdf https://historicjamestowne.org/wp-content/uploads/Subsistenc...

CGMthrowaway 1y ago
As someone who grew up next to Jamestown, I can add some context. John Smith, one of Jamestown's leaders, was not from a wealthy or privileged background. "The issue" may have been less about class and more about poor organization, leadership and unrealistic expectations. Fishing and farming skills also deserve context. The soil around Jamestown was marshy and brackish, unsuitable for traditional English farming methods. Yes there were lots of fish but they only ran seasonally (sturgeon etc). The "starving time" you are referencing was made worse by a drought and cutoff trade with the indians
- elevation 1y ago
  The soil may have been brackish, but this wasn't their main setback. The Jamestown colonists didn't even attempt to plant crops for several years after their arrival. Their first ship brought jewelers and smiths to work the gold they assumed they'd find, but didn't have a real plan for agriculture. The majority died of starvation and disease, but the survivors were sustained by meager leftover travel supplies from newly arriving ships, and by raiding neighboring natives for their corn. Less than a decade later, separatist Pilgrims landed in New England, and by contrast, grew crops immediately, and cultivated diplomatic relations with their neighbors. The Pilgrims settled in a higher latitude with a shorter growing season, but during their first drought they had already stored enough supplies to share with local natives. Jamestown could have been on a similar footing if they'd prioritized survival and diplomacy over finding treasure for the crown, the chartering company, and themselves.

potato3732842 1y ago

>were very tenuous and seemed very unprepared. Old world politics at the time explain most of this. Some of the english colonies were, ugh, rushed and less well funded than they would have been under ideal situations. This is basically the same reason they didn't look too hard to see what happened to the Roanoke colony.

aspenmayer 1y ago
It was the VC model of colonization. They expected a few sites to fail to prosper.

CGMthrowaway 1y ago

How would you have prepared, were you in their shoes? Roanoke Island was first landed in 1585. The only foreknowledge of the area would have been wildly embellished and optimistic reports (competing for financing, royal favor and prestige) from the likes of Spanish and French expeditions, or Sir Francis Drake. This was mostly limited to coastal recon and said little of the dangers of malaria, indian politics, seasonality, etc. For example, the Amadas-Barlowe Expedition (1584) described Roanoke Island as "the most plentiful, sweet, fruitful and wholesome of all the world," with fertile soil, abundant wildlife, and friendly natives