have been built in East Anglia in about 1603, the Sea Venture was a three-masted vessel roughly a hundred feet long from the end of her bowsprit to her stern post. The vice admiral, or second-largest ship in the fleet, was the Diamond, probably just a little smaller than the Sea Venture. She was captained by Vice Admiral John Ratcliffe, who had served as captain of the Discovery, one of the three ships of the first Virginia fleet. The third-largest vessel, the Falcon, was called the rear admiral. She was under the command of John Martin, one of the original Virginia settlers who had returned to England in 1608 and who was now on his way back to Jamestown. Sailing master of the Falcon was Francis Nelson, a veteran of one ocean crossing, having made a voyage to the New World as captain of the Phoenix, a pinnace that brought forty settlers to Virginia in 1608.