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The merchants of London appealed to their counterparts in Plymouth who had worked with them in 1606, inviting them to “join your endeavors with ours.” 228
    The results of the campaign were a stunning success for the company. Investors flocked to risk their money on the overseas venture that seemed almost to guarantee great returns on every share. Spanish Ambassador Don Pedro de Zúñiga noted, “The people are mad about this affair.” 229 More than 650 individuals bought shares in the new Virginia Company, and 56 companies and guilds invested money as well, corporately representing many hundreds more. The number included nobles as well as commoners in this broad effort to support the national mission for the greatness of England.
    Most of the investors risked their fortunes, large and small, on the outcome of the colony in Virginia. They were persuaded the settlement would work by the glowing promotions that flooded London as well as the appeal to their national pride.
    But the people recruited by the company to settle in America risked more than a few pounds on a share of stock; they bet their lives on the outcome of the colony. They were in a sense investing themselves in the company, and they received a share for agreeing to settle in Virginia. Those with higher social status received an additional share, but their share of the expected bounty of gold and profits from exports was worth exactly the same as that of the poor laborers who only had themselves to invest. With the positive messages driving excitement, some six hundred people decided to seek opportunity in the New World under the English banner.
    During the spring, Zúñiga witnessed the colonial promotionwith great alacrity and correctly judged the national sense of mission among the English against Spanish interests. In a series of insistent letters, he informed Philip III of the preparations for the 600-person expedition that attracted widespread investment among the English public. Zúñiga warned his king that the English enemy sought nothing less than “the exaltation of their religion and its extension throughout the world.” The English, he was told, were aiming to alter the character of settlement by ending the previous attempts of “sending people little by little, but now we see that what we should do is establish ourselves all at once, because when they open their eyes in Spain they will not be able to do anything about it.” They would also establish a base for piracy to raid Spanish trade routes. 230
    Don Pedro de Zúñiga described English goals as “villany” and “insolent.” He urgently advised Philip to take rapid action to “put a bridle” on their overseas ambitions while it was still possible. If “they get away with this, it will not be long before they will give themselves airs,” while the appeasing Spanish king would appear weak and have “trouble getting them out of there” as they strengthened their position. Zúñiga became desperate and frustrated that his warnings were again ignored by a complacent king. Philip should not combat the English through “abjurations” or prayer, but through firm action. But still his admonitions fell on deaf ears, and the ambassador disconsolately felt that “It seems that I always fall short,” when his king failed to act as he wished. 231
    For all of his bluster, Zúñiga essentially captured the character of the Gates expedition, which signified the promise of a new step foreword in the success of the colony. It heralded a massive wave of settlers inspired by national pride who would create a thriving colony through force of will. As a national mission of such grand importance, there was a sense of national destiny that it wouldsucceed. The existing Jamestown colonists did not conceive of the magnitude of the fleet or its sense of mission.
    With the infusion of money and interested settlers, the company made preparations to launch a massive expedition to Virginia that matched