In 1631, the Welsh clergyman David Lloyd wrote a poem he called The Legend of Captain

Jones. It was basically a ridiculous spoof on the writings of a man that most of the

English now considered to be a shameless liar. You see, the year before, one particular

Virginia explorer had published his memoirs entitled The True Travels of Captain

Jones Smith. And to many of his contemporaries, the whole thing seemed just a little too

good to be true. Even the title, the quote, True Travels, seemed to suggest that old

John Smith was trying just a little too hard to convince people that his elaborate tales

of daring do were legit. David Lloyd's poem would read, quote,

Tread softly mortals or the bones of the world's wonder Captain Jones, who told his glorious

deeds to many but never was believed of any. Posterity let this suffice. He swores all

true yet here he lies. Well, I think that one deserves an aw snap. As Lloyd's poem

attests, being skeptical of John Smith is a bit of a time-honored tradition. But despite

the fact that many of Smith's contemporaries thought that he was an arrogant braggart,

Smith himself always defended the truth of his accounts. He would go to his grave, insisting

that everything he wrote in his incredible memoirs was 100% true. In fact, he would

even have that message written on his grave. His apatef actually reads, quote,

Here lies one conquered that half conquered kings, subdued large territories, and done

things which the world impossible would seem, but that the truth is held in moristine.

It's amazing that even his tomb is emblazoned with a message that basically says,

Guys, I know what you're thinking, but I swear to God I'm not a liar. Indeed, it's

actually quite easy to write off John Smith as a bit of a fiver, but more recent scholarship

has suggested that there may be more truth in Smith's histories than has often been assumed.

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