John Smith, is most often associated with being rescued by Pocahontas. He was a swashbuckling Englishman who won battles against impossible odds, a daring world explorer, a president, a mapmaker, a peacekeeper and something else...he was probably the greatest escape artist on the planet! He escaped from dangers over and over again, not only from indians but from angry mobs, slave drivers, French pirates, and even the deep blue sea.

In 1606, approximately 105 British colonists sailed to America, seeking gold and a trade route to the Pacific. Instead, they found disease, hunger, and hostile natives. Ill prepared for such hardship, the men responded with incompetence and infighting; only the leadership of Captain John Smith averted doom for the first permanent English settlement in the New World. The Jamestown colony is one of the great survival stories of American history, and...