The True Story of Pocahontas As it began to sail on March 21, 1617, Pocahontas quickly became ill after dining with Rolfe and Argall. She returned to her room and vomited, telling Mattachanna that she thought something was put in her food. Mattachanna went to get Rolfe as she convulsed. When she returned, Pocahontas had died. She was quickly buried in Gravesend, where Thomas was left to the clergy until relatives arrived. Rolfe left immediately for Virginia. Upon return, Mattachanna and her husband, along with the rest of the Powhatans, reported that Pocahontas was poisoned before her departure, as she was in good health in
Gravesend waylaying a regular steamer (whilst under way in the Lower Hope, off Gravesend) bound for Hamburg. (Gravesend also appears in "The Pickwick Papers"). Gravesend is briefly mentioned in the 1818 novel "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley during Victor's travels through the United Kingdom with Clerval; ultimately culminating in Victor's residence in the Orkney Islands. Also in the 1902 novel "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad the narrator has dark aired Gravesend as the perspective from which we continue our gaze of a sky that is mournfully gloomy over London. Waiting for the tide near the shores of Gravesend is the setting