Bermuda Flashcards
3rd supply mission
2 June 1609
Left River Thames for Jamestown
7 June 1609
Met 5 more ships in Plymouth
Sea Venture
Largest ship
150 people on board
150 tonnes
Key people on the Sea Venture
Interim deputy governor Sir Thomas Gates
John Rolfe
Rolfe’s pregnant wife
Route the supply mission took
A quicker route that avoided Spanish main
A great storm meant the mission was
Shipwrecked on Bermuda
Blessings of Bermuda
Had natural resources such as fish and a variety of fowl
2 couples were married
2 babies were born
Why was Bermuda safe?
Difficult to reach
Well provided for (natural resources)
Uninhabited
Bermuda being uninhabited was useful because
The arrival of the English/birth of next generation established their natural right to the island
Spanish called Bermuda
Isle of Devils
Why weren’t the English perturbed by the name the Spanish gave Bermuda?
Catholics were superstitious
Protestants were not
Believed in Divine Providence
Divine Providence
God’s intervention
Believed God had protected them
Survivors spent
9 months on Bermuda
Built 2 ships from Bermudan cedar called
Deliverance (40ft, 80 tons)
Patience (29ft, 30 tons)
John Rolfe family
Daughter died on Bermuda
Wife died in Jamestown
Travelled to
Jamestown after 9 months on Bermuda
Official settlement of Bermuda 1612
Charter extended to cover Bermuda
First governor Sir Richard Moore
Sailed with 60 people
St George
First continually-inhabited English settlement in the New World
1614 onwards
1614: handed to the Crown
1615: new charter to the Somers Isles Company
1684: handed back to Crown
Why did the Virginia Company give Bermuda to the Crown?
Thought it was unprofitable
Richard Norwood
Surveyed Bermuda
Divided island into 8 administrative areas known as tribes
How did the set up of Bermuda foreshadow the set up of Virginia colony?
Dividing the land into parishes
What did each ‘tribe’ (area/parish) have?
Each tribe partitioned to principal adventurer
How big were the parishes?
2.3 square miles (1500 acres)
Was Bermuda a good venture?
Climate and conditions better than marshy Virginia
Large limestone supply for cutting and building
Uninhabited island status of Bermuda
Made managing early settlement easier
