Continuity mistake: Early in the movie when Thomas falls overboard, John Smith ties a rope around his waist (00:02:56) and jumps in after him. Thomas is very far away from the ship (00:03:12). But when the men pull John and Thomas up, John is holding on to the rope with one hand and the end is left dangling (00:03:36). One of the men who pulled them up then coils the rope with a mere two coils (00:03:48), not nearly long enough to have reached Thomas while he was overboard. In the same scene, when we are viewing the men pulling John and Thomas up from above (00:03:38) there is no extra rope at their feet as there should have been for such a long rope.

Pocahontas (1995)
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Directed by: Mike Gabriel
Starring: Mel Gibson, Christian Bale, Billy Connolly
Genres: Animated, Disney, Drama, Family, History, Musical, Romance
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Ratcliffe: Shoot! [As Thomas runs by, he trips and accidentally fires his gun, almost hitting Ratcliffe in between the legs.] Them, you idiot!
Trivia: At least three actors in this film have been involved in other Pocahontas-related projects. Gordon Tootoosis also acted in Pocahontas: The Legend, while Irene Bedard and Christian Bale later appeared together in The New World.
Question: The soldiers practically drag John Smith up the mountain to be killed. Why does he just lay down on the rock, when there's nothing keeping him there?
Answer: There was a strong belief at this time period, as executions were commonly witnessed, that when you were brought to public execution, the right thing to do was to welcome your end rather than fighting against it. You'll find very few reports during this time of people who were being publicly executed attempting to run away for this exact reason.
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Answer: He probably knows that if he tries to escape he'll be shot down by the Powahatans' arrows. He prefers dying with some kind of dignity rather than while running.