The first work attempted was a fort, which they intrenched and fortified with twelve pieces of ordnance.

Inside they erected a church and storehouse and fifteen log-cabins.

Then a ship-builder constructed a pinnace, called the _Virginia_, which afterwards was used in the southern colony.

But the colonists were soon discouraged, and more than half their number went back to England in the ships when they returned in December.
The winter of 1607-1608 was terrible to the forty-five men who remained at Kennebec, where land and water were locked in icy fetters.
Their storehouse took fire and was consumed, with a great part of the provisions, and about the same time President George Popham died.

The other leader, Captain Raleigh Gilbert, grew discouraged when, despite an industrious exploration of the rivers and harbors, he found no mines of any kind.