“Quo Fata Ferunt”:
Bermuda’s 400th Anniversary

The wreck of Sea Venture and the subsequent rescue of the Jamestown colony in Virginia is one of the great maritime epics of the western world. What early seventeenth century writers might see as the hand of God, our more skeptical age might attribute to good leadership and good luck: something that is so often neglected in history. Those events began 400 years of continuous habitation of these small isolated Atlantic islands. They also resulted in Bermuda’s playing a crucial role in maintaining 400 years of continuous English settlement in North America and, therefore, the beginning of what became her great neighbour, the United States of America.

When the Virginia Company’s third “supply” to their nascent Jamestown colony (established in May, 1607) set sail from Plymouth on 2 June, 1609, the “adventurers” hoped to keep alive their investment and, perhaps, even to turn a profit. Although it had been an intrusion into a Spanish domain, the colony had had a near disastrous beginning, and that without any Spanish intervention. The excessive death rate, even by early seventeenth-century standards (of the original 104 men and boys, only 38 survived to greet the first supply ships in January, 1608), had resulted from disease, bad water, inadequate and insecure food sources, conflict with the native people, internal dissensions and chaotic leadership. The Company determined in 1608 on a decisive injection of people and effort by sending out a supply of some 600 colonists, plenty of food and a new leadership with new instructions.

Sea Venture, an armed merchantman of 300 tons and 16 guns, was secured as the fleet’s “Admiral”, or flagship. An experienced mariner (and an original Virginia Company “adventurer”), Sir George Somers of Lyme Regis, was put in command. A self-made man of humble origins, Sir George proved to be the right choice: although a “lamb” on land, he was also a “lion” at sea; and, like many heroic figures, he was also lucky. His fleet was composed of 6 other ships ¬– Falcon, Blessing, Unitie, Lion, Swallow and Diamond – and 2 pinnaces, Catch and Virginia. The latter had been built in America by another group of colonists who had abandoned the Sagadahoc, Maine, site in 1608. So, Jamestown was the sole English interest in North America, and that was in a precarious state.

Sea Venture’s skipper (and Vice-Admiral) was another highly experienced mariner, the one-armed Captain Christopher Newport. Leader of the original 1607 voyage and of the two earlier supplies, he knew Chesapeake waters well. On board was the entire “high command”, a matter of the most serious consequences. In addition to Admiral Somers, there was also the colony’s new Lieutenant-Governor designate, Sir Thomas Gates, an experienced soldier on leave from the Dutch service, bearing his sealed instructions, and Sir George Yeardley who would command the colony’s land forces. The crew and passengers (140 men, 10 women, some children – and a dog) were a motley lot of better and common sorts. Two native Powhatan people, Machumps and Namontack, were returning to Virginia. Rev. Mr. Richard Bucke was the colony’s new clergyman. His assistant, Stephen Hopkins, was a religious zealot and troublemaker, who would later sail on the Mayflower to New England in 1620. William Strachey, a down-on-his-luck but aspiring writer, hoped to make a name for himself as Virginia’s chronicler. John Rolfe, who would later marry the legendary Pocahontas, was transporting seeds of the sweeter Spanish tobacco (Nicotania tobacum) that would replace the harsh native variety (Nicotania rustica) and would stabilize the colony’s economic base. (In turn, that would create the need for plenty of cheap labour – slaves.) While some of those sailing on Sea Venture were “vagabonds”, jailbirds and “unruly youths”, others were skilled artisans with practical experience to bring to the taming of a wilderness. Beyond the eclectic passenger list, she, as the largest ship, also carried the major portion of the food supply. That had disastrous consequences.

The story of the voyage was graphically recorded by William Strachey. To avoid potential conflict with the Spanish, while shortening sailing time, the fleet took a new, more direct, “northerly” route, the first supply to do so. With no stopping points en route, it was a bold action. The vessels sailed in “friendly consort” until 24 July. The Atlantic was, and is, notoriously unpredictable. At latitude 27 North and some 1000 leagues west of the Azores, a storm “dreadful and hideous” dispersed them (Catch had already returned to England). Sea Venture proved a highly vulnerable ship. Whether she was specially built or leased for the voyage, this was her maiden transatlantic crossing. The fact that she alone in the fleet leaked so badly, at “every joint almost having spewed out her oakum”, suggests that the wood was still green. Further, in order to make room for the food and passengers, her ordnance had been placed on the top deck, thus adversely affecting her stability in a rough sea. Passengers and crew battled the storm for four days. On 28 July, when all seemed lost – and when the liquor had been broken out before commending their souls to God and the deep –¬ the severely leaking Sea Venture, by the “work of a merciful God”, was run aground on Bermuda’s eastern reefs. Perhaps it was Somers’ skill at conning the ship and a lot of good luck; she could easily have been smashed to bits like other ships before her. Meanwhile, the other storm-battered ships (two of them dismasted) with their sick and exhausted passengers straggled into Jamestown during August. They brought some provisions, but also the monumental challenge of feeding over 300 more mouths.

Seasoned mariners like Somers and Newport knew that their ship had landed on Bermuda. They had been lucky to find one of the most isolated spots on the globe. They also knew its fearsome reputation as a threat to unlucky ships and sailors and a place to be avoided at all cost. All the passengers and crew – and the dog – were safely landed on the beach at “Gates his bay” (presently St. Catherine’s Beach). The Rev. Mr. Bucke led the survivors in giving thanks to God for their deliverance. Once basic food and shelter needs had been provided for, word had to be sent to Jamestown in hopes of their speedy rescue from this “desert” island. On 1 September, Henry Ravens, Sea Venture’s master mate and navigator, Thomas Whittingham, the cape (provisions) merchant, and six experienced sailors were dispatched in the ship’s specially decked longboat. They were never heard from again. It seems likely that they reached the Virginia shore only to be killed by native people, as the Powhatan chief, Nahunsonacock, told Strachey. Consequently, those in Jamestown could only presume that Sea Venture, along with the colony’s new leadership and vital food supply, had been lost. Those in Bermuda remained ignorant of realities faced by their former colleagues at Jamestown. When Captain John Smith, who had striven to bring order and stability to the colony, had to return to England in October, he carried with him word of Sea Venture’s presumed loss and of Jamestown’s dire situation. The colony, now under the ineffective leadership of Captain George Percy, was left to its own fate – until a new supply could be financed and sent across the Atlantic with new leadership.

Back in Bermuda, just as Ravens departed, the keel of a new ship of 80 tons and built of Sea Venture salvage and local cedar wood was laid at a place that came to be know as Frobisher’s Buildings Bay (after Richard Frobisher, master carpenter). Gates was determined to get to Virginia. This Bermuda, however, instead of the dreaded place of seamen’s lore, turned out to be a veritable paradise – and a major challenge of a very different sort. An incipient split appeared in the leadership: Admiral Somers was responsible for seeing the ships and their crews and passengers safely to their destination; Gates’ gubernatorial responsibilities technically did not start until then. Factions also emerged, for Jamestown’s earlier travails were also known in seamen’s circles.

By early September the first of three mutinies arose from amongst “discontented mariners and the common sort” against Gates’ imposed authority. The leader, John Want, was a follower of the Puritan Robert Browne and his concepts of congregationally-styled churches. Gates banished the 6 conspirators (including one Christopher Carter) to a nearby island where they could create their own paradise. They did not like it. They were allowed to return to the fold upon condition of good behaviour. By January of the new year, Stephen Hopkins was at the centre of the second mutiny. As an antinomian, he believed that God’s grace placed men above any moral authority vested in Gates. As a Brownist, too, he saw in Bermuda the perfect place to establish an ideal society free of both higher (i.e. oppressive) authority and base servitude and toil. Yet, in the interests of keeping community unity behind their original objective, Gates pardoned him, too. Greater vigilance and control became the order of the day. In early March, as Deliverance neared completion, more “dangerous and secret discontents” emerged. Henry Paine led a third group of mutineers. So serious was his challenge, by refusing to do guard duty and threatening and striking an officer, Paine was made an example and executed – by firing squad as befitted the status of a gentleman. Deliverance was launched on 30 March, 1610.

Sir George, meanwhile, with no fleet to command, saw to the food supply, planted a garden and explored the islands. This produced a remarkably recognizable map and probably the beginnings of his love affair with the place. Surmizing that the craft emerging at Buildings Bay was not large enough for all the people and their food, Somers in late November laid the keel of a smaller pinnace of 30 tons – Patience. Gates allowed Somers about 20 men, including 2 of the 4 carpenters on Sea Venture, but no salvage material was available. The construction site, on the main island (possibly at Walsingham Bay in Castle Harbour, since one of Somers’ group was a Robert Walsingham), was well away from Gates’ direct authority. Built entirely of local cedar, save for one piece of iron in the keel, this first Bermudian ship was launched at the end of April, 1610.

As the two ships were readied to resume the interrupted voyage, the company looked back upon what would become a storied experience. Apart from the three mutinies and a murder (Robert Waters had smashed Edward Samuels with a shovel in a brawl, only to be released by fellow seamen and later, with Somers’ intercession, pardoned), there had been a marriage (Thomas Powell and Elizabeth Parsons), two births (a daughter, “Bermuda”, born to the John Rolfes, but she died three days later; a son, “Bermudas”, born to the Edward Eastons, who apparently survived but disappeared from the pages of history); and three other deaths. Still, not everyone, and especially those in Somers’ camp, wanted to leave this known Eden for that questionable one in Virginia. When the ships set sail on 10 May, 1610, Robert Waters, the pardoned murderer, and Christopher Carter, the erstwhile mutineer, could not be persuaded to return to the fold – or, had Somers, with an eye on the future, secretly arranged for them to stay behind? In any case, Bermuda claims continuous habitation since 28 July, 1609.

Nothing could have prepared those on Deliverance and Patience for the hell found in Virginia. Arriving at the Chesapeake’s mouth on 21 May, they were met by a group of 40 men, generally healthy, at Point Comfort. Arrival at Jamestown on 24 May, however, presented them with a scene of death and misery. Sixty emaciated survivors looking like “anatomies” crawled out of their dilapidated dwellings crying, “We are starved. We are starved.” There were tales of cannibalism. Indeed, perhaps 270 had died, while an unknown number of others had scattered to the native communities. There had been almost continual strife with the Powhatans. Nahunsonacock had determined to starve the interlopers out of his domain. But for the timely arrival of the Bermuda ships, he could well have succeeded.

Clearly, the Virginians believed, their salvation manifested the hand of God. Luck had also been on the colonists’ side. Had the ships arrived ten days later, wrote Strachey, they would all have been dead. Yet, the food from Bermuda, although literally saving the colony from extinction, was limited – and there were another 140 people to feed. Ignorant of when the next supply from England would arrive, the longer-term prospects remained bleak indeed. Gates imposed order with a form of martial law and weighed their options. After thorough discussion, the decision was to abandon the site but to leave it intact so far as possible (some, so bitter had been their experience, wanted to burn the place down) in case of possible return. With 14 days of supplies, they could wait at the Chesapeake’s mouth a few days for possible relief before heading north in hopes of finding the Newfoundland fishing fleet and returning to England. All unnecessary ordnance and surplus goods were therefore buried in pits and cellars. (Some of this would be unearthed in the recent archaeological digs, as indeed were some of the Bermudian items: hard limestone ballast; cahow, fish and hog bones; and conch and turtle shells).

On 8 June, 1610, the little fleet of four small ships – Deliverance (Gates), Patience (Somers), Discovery, the smallest of the original three Jamestown ships (Capt. George Percy) and Virginia (Capt. Robert Davis) – set sail. Next day, however, and as luck would have it, or God deemed fit, they met the new supply of 3 ships and 150 colonists – which had left England on 1 April, unbeknownst to anyone in Bermuda or Jamestown – under the command of the new Governor of Virginia, Thomas West, Baron De La Warr. Thus, the United States of America claims continual English habitation at Jamestown since 14th May, 1607 – but for one day, unless one relies for continuity on those renegades living with the native people.

Under De La Warr’s presidency, the Council of Virginia met on 12 June (with Gates, Somers, Newport, Percy, Sir Fernando Waynman and Strachey as Secretary) to consider how some 350 people were to be fed and defended. With sufficient basic staples (flour, peas, oatmeal, oil, biscuit, salt) now on hand, their diets needed meat and fish. Somers offered, and was charged, to return to Bermuda therefor. Patience, with Somers in command and his nephew, Matthew, on board, and Discovery (Capt. Samuel Argall) left on 19 June but they were driven north by storms. Argall fished off the Maine coast and returned to Jamestown. Somers, however, battled on to Bermuda, arriving some time in July to find Carter and Waters thriving. Collecting and salting of pork and fish got under way, but Somers was weary and showing the stress of his recent stormy voyages and his enormous responsibilities. On 19 November he died, it was said, from a “surfeit of pig”. He was probably slowly decaying from hepatitis and was too weak to fight off food poisoning. Somers was 56 years old.

Looking ahead, Somers had instructed Matthew to return to Jamestown with the food and then to sail on to England and begin securing backing for a Bermuda colony. Matthew, however, chose to return to England directly, leaving behind Carter and Waters (the first Bermudians?) and also Edward Chard. In keeping with the practices of the day, Somers was disemboweled so that his preserved body could be returned to Lyme Regis. Patience arrived there on 1 June, 1611, and the funeral took place on 4 June. Thus, Sir George Somers left his heart – and his other entrails – in his beloved Bermuda, buried somewhere in what is now Somers Garden in St. George’s, and his body lies somewhere under the floor of St. Wita’s Church in Whitchurch Canonicorum, Dorset.

Back in Jamestown, Silvester Jourdain (of Lyme Regis) and William Strachey had meanwhile completed their accounts of the dramatic story of the Sea Venture, Bermuda and Virginia. Whether these arrived before Patience is not known. What is highly likely is that Strachey’s version (though suppressed by the Virginia Company until 1625, by which time Strachey’s hoped for fame as Virginia’s chronicler was by-passed by John Smith’s General Historie of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles of 1624) influenced the playwright and Virginia Company “adventurer”, William Shakespeare, in his writing of The Tempest. Seemingly, he had been shown Strachey’s 20,000-word letter by the unknown “excellent lady” (possibly Mary, Countess of Pembroke) to whom it had been addressed.  The play was performed for the first time on 1 November, 1611, a timely moment in the interests of settling Bermuda. No longer represented as the “Isles of the Devils” or the “still-vexed Bermoothes”, these islands thereafter became a fabled paradise of abundance, an equable climate, natural defences, and no hostile native people. They were waiting to be colonized and exploited. The Virginia Company secured a third charter enabling the colonizing of “Virginiola”, but the cash-strapped company sold the interests for £2,000 to their fellow “adventurers” who proceeded to establish the “Somers Islands” (also punned as “Summer Islands”) under the name of the Bermuda Company. On 11 July, 1612, Plough (Capt. Robert Davis), carrying 60 colonists and Governor Richard Moore, was greeted in Bermuda by Carter, Waters and Chard. Bermuda has been in British possession ever since.

Since those days, fate destined Bermuda to continue to play a strategic and vital role in the history of what became the United States of America and in their relations with the British Empire, through a revolutionary war of independence, a civil war, the two world wars and a “cold war”. That is another story and the occasion for other celebrations.

The story of the Sea Venture was absolutely critical to the future of the English in North America.  All previous colonising efforts had met with disaster.  Jamestown, too, faced disaster.  The shipwreck, the Bermuda sojourn and the saving of Jamestown from extinction were interpreted as God’s intercession.  Thereafter, the English never wavered: indeed, they believed they were carrying out God’s will.  Since those days......other celebrations.

Note:
The only contemporary records of the ten-month Bermuda sojourn and its immediate aftermath are:

Silvester Jourdain, A discovery of the Bermudas, otherwise called the Ile of Divels, by Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Sommers, and Captayne Newport with divers others, set Forth for the love of my country, and also for the good of the plantation in Virginia (1610).
William Strachey, A true reportory of the wracke and redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, upon and from the Islands of the Bermudas; his coming to Virginia, and the estate of that colony then, and after under the Government of Lord LaWarre (1610).

The first “secondary” account is:
John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles (1624).

Some recent useful histories of the events in Jamestown and Bermuda are:
Doherty, Kieran, Sea Venture: Shipwreck, Survival, and the Salvation of the First English Colony in the New World (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2007).
Glover, Lorri & Daniel Blake smith, The Shipwreck that Saved Jamestown: The “Sea Venture” Castaways and the Fate of America (A John Macrae Book, Henry Holt and Co., N.Y.2008)
Kelso, William, Jamestown: The Buried Truth (University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville and London, 2006).
Kupperman, Karen Ordahl, The Jamestown Project (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge and London, 2007).
Linebaugh, Peter and Marcus Rediker, The Many Headed Hydra: The Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic, Ch. One: “The Wreck of the Sea Venture” (Verso, London, 2000).
Milton, Giles, Big Chief Elizabeth: The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America (Farrer, Straus and Giroux,New York, 2000).
Price, David Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas and the heart of a New Nation (Faber and Faber, New York, 2003).
Raine, David F. Sir George Somers: A Man and his Times (Pompano Publications, St. George’s, Bermuda, 4th Ed., 1994).
Woolley, Benjamin Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America (Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2007).