 The English did not attempt to found colonies until many decades after the explorations of John Cabot, and early efforts were failures—most notably the Roanoke Colony which vanished about 1590.Late in 1606, English colonists set sail with a charter from the London Company to establish a colony in the New World.The fleet consisted of the ships "Susan Constant", "Discovery", and "Godspeed", all under the leadership of Captain Christopher Newport.