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c3fa40a Slop buckets filled and quickly spilled over. Floor planks were slick with waste and vomit. Kieran Doherty
33e1b90 They sit roughly 900 miles north and east of the Bahamas; roughly 600 miles east of Virginia; and about 3,500 miles south and west of London. Kieran Doherty
8fed355 The largest of the Bermudas is only about fourteen miles long and about a mile wide at its widest point. The highest point of land in Bermuda, now known as Town Hill, has an elevation of just 250 feet. It is much easier to miss a Bermuda-sized target in the middle of the ocean than it is to hit it. Kieran Doherty
9ac7e87 Remarkably, all 150 men, women, and children on the ship were eventually brought safely to shore. Even the ship's dog was saved. Kieran Doherty
7fba131 Somehow, though, Strachey and others on the vessel found the will to keep struggling, to fight for their lives though it seemed all was lost. Terrified now, the passengers forgot all class pretensions. Sir Thomas Gates and Admiral Somers and Captain Newport joined Ravens and Strachey and Rolfe and other crewmen and passengers in the half-flooded hold, where they began frantically searching the ship's innards to find places where the planks .. Kieran Doherty
7b5b627 Frantic, knowing they could be lost at any moment, the sailors began to lighten the vessel. Masts were stripped and rigging was hurled overboard along with chests and trunks and anything that wasn't tied down. Butts of beer and hogsheads of oil, cider, wine, and vinegar were staved in and emptied. All the armament on the starboard side of the vessel was dumped overboard to ease the ship's list. It was proposed that the mainmast be chopped d.. Kieran Doherty
d682ac3 As the realization of their continued peril became clear, crewmen and passengers--men and women and older children--clawed and battled for position along the ship's rails, terrified that the horribly wounded ship would be torn to pieces or slip beneath the waves before the boats were launched. Somehow, Gates and Somers and Captain Newport managed to impose order on the ship's terror-stricken passengers and the equally frightened crewmen. Fo.. Kieran Doherty
1c5c600 turned to gaze seaward at the grounded vessel that had carried them from home to the forlorn beach, the vessel that looked like nothing more than a dying creature, parts of its skeleton already exposed, in the waning day. Kieran Doherty
d50a026 A sea storm attacks the senses, the mind, the spirit, until the gut is filled with terror that can make a brave man cower belowdecks, curled into a ball like a whimpering child. Kieran Doherty
65baf49 During all this time, the ship--without so much as an inch of sail flying--was being driven nine or ten leagues (roughly thirty miles) in each four-hour watch. And all this time, Strachey said, those on board, even those who had never done a hard day's work in their lives, struggled to keep the sinking ship from slipping beneath the waves. Kieran Doherty
56d7276 Somers and Newport, too, knew there was no way to bring the Sea Venture to anchor. Her hull was so open, her planks so sprung, that the ship would sink like one of the cannon they'd already jettisoned if they tried to anchor in deep water. Their only hope was to run on until the battered ship took the ground. Closer and closer to land the vessel inched. By this time, Somers and the others could see a beach ahead. Sir George may have wanted .. Kieran Doherty
73c0397 By that point, those on the vessel were almost beyond caring. Mountainous seas, driving rain, lightning, and screaming winds continued as the ship labored simply to stay afloat. Sylvester Jourdain, Somers's gentleman friend from Lyme, later said all the men on the ship "being utterly spent, tired, and disabled for longer labor, were even resolved, without any hope of their lives, to shut up the hatches and to have committed themselves to th.. Kieran Doherty
3a6d94e Even before the boat was fully beached, he jumped into the shallow water. "Gates, his bay!" he supposedly shouted as he slogged ashore. Whether or not the tale is true, the bay on the eastern shore of St. George's Island still bears Gates's name." Kieran Doherty
63679cc they had landed in the Bermudas. To those on the beach who had any knowledge of the island chain at all, the announcement would have been terrible news. The Bermudas were known, as passenger Sylvester Jourdain noted, as "the most dangerous, infortunate, and most forlorn place in the world." Small wonder, then, that they had never been inhabited, as he wrote, "by any Christian or heathen people."3" Kieran Doherty
dfdc9cc After a moment, Jourdain reported, Somers urged the men on the ship not to give up. He urged them to get back to the pumps and continue bailing. The men, "spent with long fasting and continuance of their labor," were stretched out "in corners and wheresoever they chanced first to sit or lie," Jourdain said, "but hearing news of land, wherewith they grew to be somewhat revived. Every man bustled up and gathered his strength and feeble spirit.. Kieran Doherty
523a013 All any on the flagship could do was hope the other vessels were safe, pray that the other ships and their crews and passengers would survive the storm. Kieran Doherty
a63a74d Of course, Sir George and Sir Thomas and Captain Newport had worries other than just food and water and shelter. They were bound, by duty and by desire, to fulfill their obligations to the Virginia Company. The men and women in Jamestown were waiting for their arrival and the supplies they carried, while others in Virginia and in England and in Bermuda, too, had invested heavily in the Virginia venture. Somehow, the Sea Venture survivors ha.. Kieran Doherty
58abbcf Of course, he had heard of Virginia. He was obviously fond of the theater, fond enough to put some of his money at risk as a shareholder of the Blackfriars Theatre Company. Kieran Doherty
ebc9697 minister who addressed the original Virginia settlers before their departure from London in 1606. Now he praised Smythe and the adventurers for again backing the Virginia Company, and he ended his sermon with a fervent prayer that the company would be successful in its goals. Kieran Doherty
c8b7747 John Smith, for one, knew the value of good food during an ocean voyage. The want of good food, he said, "occasions the losse of more men, then in any English fleet hath bin slaine in any fight since 1588."8 Smith was not exaggerating. Scurvy, a terrible wasting disease caused by a lack of vitamin C, wreaked havoc on crews during long ocean voyages. Symptoms often appeared within weeks of leaving port as men complained of weakness and a fee.. Kieran Doherty
a292bfa Now Archer and Ratcliffe and, to a lesser degree, John Martin, another of the original settlers whose laziness had angered Smith in the colony's early days, and who had departed in 1608 only to return on the Falcon, all saw their chance to repay Smith for his cheek by stripping him of his office. Of course, Smith was not about to give up without a fight. He said, with justification, that since the colony's new leaders and the new charter au.. Kieran Doherty
b19121a By 1609 Strachey, like other Englishmen, knew that Seagull's words were not true. He knew that no diamonds had been found on Virginia's beaches, that no golden chamber pots had been discovered. But he also knew that the land across the Atlantic still held hope for men like himself who wanted to flee their problems in search of a new opportunity. And so, in the spring of 1609, William Strachey decided that Virginia was the answer to his trou.. Kieran Doherty
990fe86 Still, John Smith knew he had to have backing if he was to lead the colony successfully even for a few weeks. He would have deeply felt his responsibility to both the four hundred or so newcomers who had survived the hurricane as well as the approximately two hundred already living in Jamestown when the remnants of the 1609 fleet arrived. Kieran Doherty
6e4791b In addition to the stored foods, livestock--chickens and pigs and probably a few goats and geese--were penned on Sea Venture's deck, both to provide fresh meat during the voyage and to help stock Jamestown's farms. Kieran Doherty
f90789f George Percy, the journal keeper who would later prove to be a terribly inept governor in his own right, said that Smith, "fearing ... thatt the seamen and thatt factyoin mighte growe too stronge and be a meanes to depose him of his governmentt," bribed the mariners "by the way of feasteings Expense of mutche powder and other unnecessary Tryumphes That mutche was Spente to noe other purpose butt to Insinewate wth his Reconcyled enemyes and .. Kieran Doherty
357bdde the survivors had established their tiny settlement on the beach overlooking Gates Bay. The quarters were described as "cabins" thatched with palmetto fronds. Nearby stood the small enclosure they had built to hold the hogs ferried ashore from the Sea Venture wreck. Men had dug a well not far from the beach, near the site where Fort St. Catherine would be built in 1616. Because there was no salt on the island and none had been salvaged from.. Kieran Doherty
dd8dbb5 In reality, Smith, the man of action who had won respect as a soldier in Europe, would not have had to expend much in the way of bribes or feasting to earn the mariners' support. They certainly knew they had a better chance of surviving long enough to reboard their ships for the return voyage to England by following John Smith's lead than by throwing their lot in with Archer, Ratcliffe, or John Martin. Whether by bribery or, more likely, si.. Kieran Doherty
87b02f5 By this time, Wahunsonacock (Powhatan) and his people all along the Chesapeake were fully aware of the arrival of the hundreds of settlers on board the ships that rode at anchor off Jamestown. The paramount chief, while not privy to the plans that had been made in London, was savvy enough to know in his bones that the occupation of his lands and the threat to his rule--his very survival and that of his people--had been ratcheted to a new le.. Kieran Doherty
f27ec1d At the same time, Smith decided that the best way, indeed the only way, to guarantee Jamestown's future was to disperse settlers. In making this decision, he was taking a page out of the Indians' playbook since the Powhatan people routinely broke into small groups when food was scarce so that they could better forage and live off the land. Smith opted to send about sixty colonists downriver under the leadership of John Martin and George Per.. Kieran Doherty
fe6f0de It took no time at all for trouble to break out between the colonists sent north with West and the natives living near the falls on the James River, near the site of present-day Richmond. More interested in searching for gold--that nonexistent Virginia gold yet again!--than in planting crops or in peaceful trade, the colonists built a fort of sorts on some low land close to the river and then simply demanded that the natives supply them wit.. Kieran Doherty
7045461 The little satellite settlement was in disarray, with no discipline, no rule other than every man for himself. West himself, the putative leader of the settlement, was gone, searching for gold. The situation was so bad that Smith was unable to smooth relations between the colonists and the Indians, Kieran Doherty
d3d2e91 the haunts of certain nocturnal birds which during the day remain in their caves but at night come out to feed.... At nightfall these birds come out from their caves with such an outcry and varying clamor that one cannot help being afraid until one realizes the reason. Kieran Doherty
91d1049 spoke from the open-air Paul Cross pulpit at St. Paul's Church, praising the Virginia Company's plans to bring the Christian faith to heathen natives of Virginia.19 Kieran Doherty
ede2498 In fact, it is unlikely that all the men on the island went in search of food and water. While some went foraging, others would have set about building rough shelters, thatched with palm fronds, above the high-water mark. At the same time, sailors, probably under the watchful eye of Sir George Somers, made repeated trips to the grounded vessel, salvaging anything that might be of service. Planks above the waterline were torn from the ship's.. Kieran Doherty
d32ec24 Perhaps it was there that Jonson told him--it was advice he gave to others--that the only hope for any man in debt was to flee "to Constantinople, Ireland, or Virginia" if he wanted to rebuild his life and repair his credit.6 Strachey had already tried his luck in Turkey, and failed. Now, while Ireland may have beckoned, it must have seemed to the impoverished poet that Virginia offered a better chance to escape his creditors and perhaps, j.. Kieran Doherty
64f45c4 By the first week of August--within a week or so of the wreck--Sir George "squared out a garden" where he planted muskmelons, peas, onions, radish, lettuce, and other herbs and good English plants.21 In ten days the seeds, carried as cargo on the Sea Venture, had sprouted and pushed their way above ground. The island's birds made quick work of the sprouts, though, and none of the plants matured. Somers had no better luck with several sugarc.. Kieran Doherty
5d93f6c Within a week or two weeks of their grounding, Gates and the others knew that the other ships in the fleet had either been lost in the storm or had sailed on to Jamestown. If any of the other sea captains had decided after the storm to search for the Sea Venture and those who sailed in her, they had abandoned those efforts as futile within just a few days. Those in Bermuda knew that they had to try to let the Virginia colonists know of the .. Kieran Doherty
234a275 Sometime around mid-August, the ship's carpenter, Richard Frobisher--described by Strachey as "a painful and well-experienced shipwright and skillful workman"--set about making the ship's boat ready for a sea voyage.22 Using hatches salvaged from the wreck, he built a deck and made the longboat "so close that no water could go in her."23 He fitted the little vessel with sails and checked its caulking and made the boat--probably about twenty.. Kieran Doherty
14c4616 Captain John Smith, who had taken the colony's reins in September 1608, was fully able to continue leading and he was entitled, under the terms of the original charter, to hold the office for a full year, or until September 10, 1609. However, several settlers, men who saw themselves assuming the leadership of the settlement, had other ideas. This group was almost certainly led by two of the colony's original settlers who had left the colony.. Kieran Doherty
b359365 Ravens and the others were able to find water deep enough to handle the longboat's twenty-inch draft. Before his departure, Ravens promised Gates and Somers and Strachey and the other survivors that if he lived and arrived safe in Virginia, he would return by the time of the next new moon, or by late September. Ravens, in turn, was told that the survivors would light a signal fire to guide him back. Kieran Doherty
58afbc6 Night after night, Strachey would sit by the fire, waiting and watching and hoping.24 Perhaps it was at this time that he began his long report on the shipwreck or perhaps he simply gazed seaward and thought of what the uncertain future might hold. September turned to October and October to November, however, with no sight of Ravens or of any rescue vessel from Jamestown. His fate and the fate of his mates was never determined. Almost certa.. Kieran Doherty
dcba54f Even before those in Bermuda knew that Ravens's mission was unsuccessful, Sir Thomas Gates ordered the construction of a pinnace that could carry survivors on to Jamestown. He may have figured there were no ships in Virginia large enough to rescue all the survivors--more than 140 following the departure of Ravens and his shipmates--or he may simply have been pragmatic about the likelihood that the longboat might never make it to the Chesape.. Kieran Doherty
e6720b0 the settlers in the little fort on the banks of the James must have been dismayed when they discovered that the "admiral" bearing Sir Thomas and Sir George was missing in action along with the lion's share of provisions meant to help the colony survive the winter, when food was scarce at best. Of course, the seven ships that survived the hurricane did carry at least some food and other supplies, but nowhere near enough to satisfy the growli.. Kieran Doherty
7c31d39 The bad blood that pitted Archer and Ratcliffe against Smith had its beginnings in 1607, in Jamestown's earliest days, when the three men served together on the colony's ruling council. In the months when colonists were dying of hunger and illness, Smith discovered that the duo, along with a few others, were planning to steal supplies and a small boat they could use to flee Virginia for the safety of England. While Smith would almost certai.. Kieran Doherty
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