English navigator. Nothing is known of his birth, parentage or early life. In 1602, in command of the Concord, chartered by Sir Walter Raleigh and others, he crossed the Atlantic; coasted from what is now Maine to Marthas Vineyard, landing at and naming Cape Cod and Elizabeth Island (now Cuttyhunk) and giving the name Marthas Vineyard to the island now called No Mans Land; and returned to England with a cargo of furs, sassafras and other commodities obtained in trade with the Indians about Buzzards Bay. In London he actively promoted the colonization of the regions he had visited and, by arousing the interest of Sir Ferdinando Gorges and other influential persons, contributed toward securing the grants of the charters to the London and Plymouth Companies in 1606. In 16061607 he was associated with Christopher Newport in command of the three vessels by which the first Jamestown colonists were carried to Virginia. As a member of the council he took an active share in the affairs of the colony, ably seconding the efforts of John Smith to introduce order, industry and system among the motley array of adventurers and idle gentlemen of which the little band was composed. He died from swamp fever on the 22nd of August 1607.
See The Works of John Smith (Arbers Edition, London, 1884); and J. M. Brereton, Brief and True Relation of the North Part of Virginia (reprinted by B. F. Stevens, London, 1901), an account of Gosnolds voyage of 1602.