The featured entry uses Bermuda's coat of arms to open the story of Sea Venture, wrecked during a 1609 storm while carrying settlers and supplies to Virginia. The ship was deliberately run onto Bermuda's rocks after relentless pumping could no longer control the flooding, saving roughly 150 people. Their nine-month stay included deaths, rebellion, and the construction of Deliverance and Patience from salvaged rigging and local timber before the voyage continued to Jamestown. Published accounts of the castaways are then connected to Shakespeare's The Tempest, showing how one wreck influenced settlement history, island identity, and literature.
Chapter · 23:48-28:34
Shipwreck history through one hundred objects
Sam Willis's object-based shipwreck history leads into the wreck of Sea Venture, the settlement of Bermuda, and the castaways' eventual voyage to Jamestown.