View source for Sea Venture

{{Short description|17th-century English sailing ship}}
{{About|the English sailing ship|the novel by Damon Knight|CV (Knight novel)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox ship <!-- age of sail -->
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|infobox_caption=''Sea Venture''
|section1={{Infobox ship/image
 |image=Stamp Bermuda 1910 3p.jpg
 |image_size=200px
 |image_caption=Artist's interpretation of ''Sea Venture'' on a Bermuda stamp, 1910
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 |name=''Sea Venture'', ''Sea Adventure'',<ref>{{cite journal
	| last1 = Craven
	| first1 = Wesley Frank
	| date = April 1937
	| title = An Introduction to the History of Bermuda
	| url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/1925276
	| journal = The William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine
	| volume = 17
	| issue = 2
	| pages = 176–215
	| doi = 10.2307/1925276
	| jstor = 1925276
	| access-date = July 23, 2024
| url-access = subscription
	}}</ref> ''Seaventure'',<ref>{{cite book|page=19|title=Colonial Surry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ir6kljPPONgC&pg=PA19|year=1966|isbn=9780806300269|last1=Boddie|first1=John Bennett|publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com }}</ref> Sea-Vulture<ref>{{cite book|last=Irving|first=Washington|year=1861|page=103|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9eMqAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA103|title=The Works of Washington Irving: Wolfert's Roost|publisher=G.P. Putnam}}</ref>
 |owner=[[Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex]]<ref>Woolley, Benjamin. Savage Kingdom: Virginia and The Founding of English America (Text Only). United Kingdom, HarperCollins Publishers, 2012.</ref>
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|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics
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 |class= [[galleon]]{{r|Adams 2013|p=128}}
 |tonnage= 300 tons
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 |armament=*8 × {{convert|9|pdr|adj=on}} [[demi-culverin]]s
           *8 × {{convert|5|pdr|adj=on}} [[Saker (cannon)|saker]]s
           *4 × {{convert|3|pdr|adj=on}} [[Falconet (cannon)|falcons]]
           *4 × [[arquebus]]es
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}}
'''''Sea Venture''''' was a seventeenth-century English [[sailing ship]], part of the [[Third Supply]] mission flotilla to the [[Jamestown Colony]] in 1609. She was the 300 ton flagship of the [[London Company]]. During the voyage to Virginia, ''Sea Venture'' encountered a tropical storm and was wrecked, with her crew and passengers landing on the uninhabited [[Bermuda]]. ''Sea Venture''{{'}}s wreck is widely thought to have been the inspiration for [[William Shakespeare]]'s 1611 play ''[[The Tempest]]''.

==The Virginia Company ==
{{more citations needed|section|date=July 2017}}<!--first, second, and last paragraphs have no citations-->
[[File:Sir George Somers portrait.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Presumed portrait of Sir [[George Somers]] (with possible ''Sea Venture'' in left background)]]
The proprietors of the London Company had established the settlement of [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] in [[Virginia]] in 1607, and delivered supplies and additional settlers in 1608, raising the [[English colonial empire|English colony]]'s population to 200, despite many deaths. The entire operation was characterized by a lack of resources and experience. The company's fleet was composed of vessels that were less than optimal for delivering large numbers of passengers across the [[Atlantic Ocean]], and the colony itself was threatened by starvation, diseases, and warfare with native peoples.

The colony at Jamestown seemed doomed to meet the same fate as the [[Roanoke Colony]] and the [[Popham Colony]], two earlier failed English attempts to settle in North America, unless there was a major relief effort, despite the delivery of supplies in 1608 on the First and Second Supply missions of Captain [[Christopher Newport]]. Yet the investors of the London Company expected to reap rewards from their speculative investments. With the Second Supply, they expressed their frustrations and made demands upon the leaders of Jamestown in written form. They specifically demanded that the colonists send commodities sufficient to pay the cost of the voyage, a lump of gold, assurance that they had found the South Sea, and one member of the lost [[Roanoke Colony]].

It fell to the third president of the council to deliver a reply. Ever bold, [[John Smith (explorer)|Captain John Smith]] delivered what must have been a wake-up call to the investors in London. In what has been termed "Smith's Rude Answer", he composed a letter, writing (in part):

{{Blockquote|quote=When you send againe I entreat you rather send but thirty Carpenters, husbandmen, gardiners, fishermen, blacksmiths, masons and diggers up of trees, roots, well provided; than a thousand of such as wee have: for except wee be able both to lodge them and feed them, the most will consume with want of necessaries before they can be made good for anything.{{sfn|Smith|1624|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sxQSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA150 150]}}}}<!-- end of bq -->

Smith did begin his letter with something of an apology, saying "I humbly intreat your Pardons if I offend you with my rude Answer".{{sfn|Smith|1624|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sxQSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA147 147]}}

There are strong indications that those in London comprehended and embraced Smith's message. Their [[Third Supply]] mission was by far the largest and best equipped. They even had the newly constructed purpose-built flagship ''Sea Venture'' placed in the most experienced hands of Christopher Newport.

==Construction==
''Sea Venture'' was most likely built in 1603 and used in trade with the [[Low Countries]]{{snd}}though there are competing theories which do not stand scrutiny. The archaeological evidence suggests that she was not a newly-built vessel at the time of her loss. She was, however, built according to the latest methods for the early 17th century. As such her shape is a development from vessels such as ''[[Mary Rose]]''. Her hull shape can be extrapolated from the limited archaeological remains to show a stable hull (even allowing for some inaccuracies in that process){{snd}}a finding that is confirmed by her surviving a hurricane (it was a leak that was the problem that arose during the storm).{{r|Adams 2013|pp=117-135, 145}}

==Voyage, the storm, and loss in Bermuda==
{{see also|Jamestown supply missions#Third supply mission}}

On {{OldStyleDate|12 June|1609|2 June}}, ''Sea Venture'' set sail from [[Plymouth]], England as the flagship of a seven-ship fleet (towing two additional [[Pinnace (ship's boat)|pinnace]]s) destined for [[Jamestown, Virginia]] as part of the [[Third Supply]], carrying 500 to 600 people (it is unclear whether that number includes crew, or only settlers). Normally, ships destined for North America from Europe sailed south as far as the [[Canary Islands]] as at that latitude the mean direction of the wind is to the West, pushing them across the Atlantic (ships returning to Europe turned eastward at the Carolinas, as at that latitude the mean wind direction is to the East), then followed the chain of west Indian islands to Florida and from there followed the Atlantic coast of the continent. However, with the West Indies firmly in the grip of the Spanish Empire, the English fleet turned Northwards in the open Atlantic, intending to bypass the Spanish threat and head directly for Virginia. Days away from Jamestown, on 24 July, the fleet ran into a strong tropical storm, likely a [[hurricane]], and the ships were separated. A pinnace, ''Catch'', went down with all aboard lost.<ref>{{cite book |last=Woodward |first=Hobson |title=A Brave Vessel: The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown and Inspired Shakespeare's The Tempest |url=https://archive.org/details/bravevesseltruet0000wood |url-access=registration |publisher=Viking |year=2009 |page=33 |isbn=978-0670020966 |quote=The ketch under the command of Michael Philes that was being towed by the flagship would sail on its own as well. The conditions were too dangerous for the tiny vessel and the much larger Sea Venture to remain tied together within striking distance of each other, and in the rough seas there was no way to transfer the people from the ketch to the ship. After signaling their intention with flags, the crewmen of the flag-ship cast off the towropes, and Philes and his complement of about thirty people were left to the mercy of the waves. There was a last look at the faces of the sailors on the bobbing ketch as they disappeared into the sheets of rain—never to be heard from again.}}</ref> ''Sea Venture'' however, fought the storm for three days. Among sheets of rain and tearing wind, passengers witnessed [[St. Elmo's fire]] atop the masts.<ref>{{cite book|last=Doherty|first=Kieran|title=Sea Venture: Shipwreck, Survival, and the Salvation of the First English Colony in the New World|year=2013|isbn=9781466852457|page=43|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dUKFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA43}}</ref>

[[File:Shipwreck of the 'Sea Adventure'.jpg|thumb|During the storm, [[St. Elmo's Fire]] was visible on the ''Sea Venture'' masts]]
Comparably sized ships had survived such weather, but ''Sea Venture'' had a critical flaw in her newness: her timbers had not set. The [[oakum]] (a [[caulking]]) was forced from between the boards, and the ship began to leak rapidly. All hands were applied to bailing, but water continued to rise in the hold. The ship's starboard-side guns were reportedly jettisoned to raise her buoyancy, but this only delayed the inevitable. The Admiral of the Company himself, Sir [[George Somers]], was at the helm through the storm. When he spied land on the morning of {{OldStyleDate|3 August|1609|25 July}}, the water in the hold had risen to {{convert|9|ft|m}}, and crew and passengers had been driven past the point of exhaustion.

Whilst still being driven before the storm, the only choice was to try and pick a route through the offshore reefs. About {{convert|0.5|-|0.75|mi|km}} from shore, the ship became wedged in a V-shaped gap in the reefs (in what later was named Sea Venture Shoals).<ref name="Adams 2013">{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Jonathan |title=A maritime archaeology of ships: innovation and social change in late medieval and early modern Europe |date=2013 |publisher=Oxbow Books |location=Oxford |isbn=9781782970453}}</ref>{{rp|117–119}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bermuda100.ucsd.edu/sea-venture/|title=Bermuda 100: The Sea Venture|website=bermuda100.ucsd.edu|year=2017}}</ref> The worst of the weather now passed.{{r|Adams 2013|p=119}}{{efn|When [[Hurricane Dean (1989)|Hurricane Dean]] struck Bermuda in 1989, as the storm eased, the sea in the vicinity of the ''Sea Venture'' wreck became calm very quickly, apparently replicating the conditions that enabled the survivors of the wreck to get ashore safely in the ship's boats.{{r|Adams 2013|p=119}}}} This allowed 140 men and 10 women (who mostly could not swim<ref>{{cite book|last=Doherty|first=Kieran|title=Sea Venture: Shipwreck, Survival, and the Salvation of the First English Colony in the New World|year=2007|isbn=9780312354534|page=47|publisher=Macmillan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MSRXjclBeIQC&q=would%20have%20known%20how%20to%20swim}}</ref>), and one dog, to be taken ashore in [[Ship's boat|boat]]s.{{efn|The total number of human passengers and crew is variously given as 150, though the account of survivor [[William Strachey]] appears to list 153: "In it were two Knights, Sir [[Thomas Gates (governor)|Thomas Gates]], Knight Gouernor of the English Forces and Colonie there : and Sir [[George Somers|George Summers]] Knight, Admirall of the Seas. Her Captaine was [[Christopher Newport]], Passengers and Mariners, shee had beside (which came all safe to Land) one hundred and fiftie".<ref>{{cite book |last=Lefroy, CB, FRS, Royal Artillery |first=Major-General Sir John Henry |author-link= |date=1981 |title=Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of the Bermudas or Somers Islands 1515–1685, Volume I |location=Bermuda |publisher=The Bermuda Historical Society and The Bermuda National Trust (the first edition having been published in 1877, with funds provided by the Government of Bermuda), printed in Canada by The University of Toronto Press |page=49}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Horn |first=James |year=2006 |title=A Land as God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780465030941/page/158 158–160] |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=0-465-03094-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780465030941/page/158 }}</ref>}} The passengers and crew ferried to the beach at Gates' Bay, [[St. George's Island, Bermuda|St. George's Island]].

[[File:Wreck of the Sea Venture.png|thumb|Wreck of the ''Sea Venture'']]
[[File:Gates Bay Sea Venture plaque.jpg|thumb|Plaque at Gates Bay]]
The survivors included several company officials: Lieutenant-General [[Thomas Gates (governor)|Sir Thomas Gates]], the ship's captain [[Christopher Newport]], [[Samuel Jordan]], [[Silvester Jourdain]], [[Stephen Hopkins (settler)|Stephen Hopkins]] (later of ''[[Mayflower]]''), along with secretary [[William Strachey]]. Along with future English notables [[George Yeardley]] and [[John Rolfe]], the [[Powhatan]] emissary Namontack and his companion, Machumps,<ref>{{cite book |last=Woodward |first=Hobson |title=A Brave Vessel: The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown and Inspired Shakespeare's The Tempest |url=https://archive.org/details/bravevesseltruet0000wood |url-access=registration |publisher=Viking |year=2009 |page=9 |isbn=978-0670020966 |quote=The Powhatan emissary had returned to Tsenacomoco the first time with stories of “the kind reception and treatment he received in England.” An intrigued Wahunsenacawh had sent him back across the sea again, this time accompanied by a companion named Machumps. Now, after a second London visit again chaperoned by Newport, the Powhatan visitors were preparing to return home on the Sea Venture. }}</ref> were all stranded on Bermuda for approximately nine months.

==''Deliverance'' and ''Patience''==
{{cleanup section|reason=Contradicting accounts, too much detail|date=June 2024}}
{{see also|List of Jamestown colonists#Settlers from Third Supply (August 1609)}}
The settlers were unwilling to move on, having now heard about the true conditions in Jamestown from the sailors, and made multiple attempts to rebel and stay in Bermuda. They argued, as the ''[[Mayflower Compact|Mayflower]]'' passengers later argued, that they had been freed from their contract by the hurricane and shipwreck, and could now choose their own government. Governor Gates suppressed escape attempts, and the new settlement became a prison labour camp, with settlers forced to build ships to carry them away against their wills.<ref name="Kelly">{{cite web |last1=Kelly |first1=Joseph |title=How the Survivor of a 1609 Shipwreck Brought Democracy to America: Stephen Hopkins, Colonist at Both Jamestown and Plymouth, Proposed a Government Based on Consent of the Governed |url=https://www.zocalopublhttps://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2019/06/24/how-the-survivor-of-a-1609-shipwreck-brought-democracy-to-america/ideas/essay/icsquare.org/2019/06/24/how-the-survivor-of-a-1609-shipwreck-brought-democracy-to-america/ideas/essay/ |access-date=19 February 2022 |date=24 June 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

During the time on Bermuda, the survivors constructed two new ships, the [[Full rigged pinnace|pinnace]]s ''Deliverance'' and ''Patience'', from local [[Bermuda cedar]],{{citation needed|reason=according to Adams, a substantial amount of material was recovered from the wreck. Why do the hard work of converting timber from a then unknown tree when planks and frames are available in an accessible wreck?|date=April 2024}} which was a wood especially prized by regional ship builders because it was as strong as oak, yet lighter. This misnamed juniper species could be worked with immediately after felling, and it has high resistance to rot and wood worms. Materials salvaged from the beached wreck were also used, especially her rigging.{{efn|Forests filled with 'cedar' were everywhere on [[Bermuda]], and the colony became a major ship building center after the dissolution of the [[Somers Isles Company]] in 1684. Export of [[Bermuda cedar]] for ship building had been severely restricted by the local assembly in 1627, but shipbuilding had denuded much of Bermuda's landscape by the 1830s.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}}} They were constructed between late fall 1609 and early spring 1610 under the guidance of Admiral Somers and [[James Davis (mariner)|James Davis]], Captain of the "Gift of God" who possessed considerable ship building knowledge. These ships represented the second and third pinnaces built in the English colonies in the Americas, the first being the 1607–08 construction of [[Virginia (pinnace)|''Virginia'']] at the [[Popham Colony]] in New England.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

The original plan was to build only one vessel, ''Deliverance'', but it soon became evident that she would not be large enough to carry the settlers and all of the food that was being sourced on the islands. The ''Deliverance'' was constructed under the direction of ship carpenter Richard Frobisher not far from Gates' Bay, at a beach is still known as Buildings Bay (or Building Cove).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJZ48V_E174C&dq=raven&pg=PA16|page=16|year=1910|title=Bermuda Past and Present: A Descriptive and Historical Account of the Somers Islands|first1=Walter Brownell|last1=Hayward|publisher=Dodd, Mead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda_000276.htm |title=Alexandra Battery & Building Bay Beach |last=Bhattacharya |first=Raj |date=<!--Not stated--> |website=Bermuda Attractions |publisher=Raj Bhattacharya |access-date=2022-06-14 |quote=}}</ref> The ''Patience'' is generally believed{{better source needed|date=June 2024}} to have been built on the at Walsingham Bay (on the western shore of [[Castle Harbour, Bermuda|Castle Harbour]]) said to be named after the coxswain Robert Walsingham).<ref>{{cite book|page=439|year=1902|title=The Bermuda Islands: An Account of Their Scenery, Climate, Productions, Physiography, Natural History and Geology, with Sketches of Their Discovery and Early History, and the Changes in Their Flora and Fauna Due to Man|last1=Verrill|first1=Addison Emery|publisher=Creative Media Partners, LLC |isbn=9780341970989}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Outerbridge |first=Miss A.M. |date=1924-04-19 |title=Bermuda at Wembley |work=The Royal Gazette |page=3 |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda |quote=Robert Walsingham, sailing for Virginia, shipwrecked here with Sir George Somers in 1609, was so much enraptured with the beauty of shores and bay that in giving, them his own name it has remained and become part of our history. Walsingham went on to Virginia. We have no further record of his association with the islands.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.laddfamily.com/Files/Stephen%20Hopkins/Hopkins.htm |title=Stephen Hopkins 1581–1644 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |website=The Ladd Family |publisher=Merle G. Ladd |access-date=2022-06-14}}</ref>  Bermudian teacher and Lieutenant-Commander [[Royal Naval Reserve]] ([[Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps|Sea Cadet Corps]]) Dr. Derek Tully, however, has suggested [[St. David's Island, Bermuda|St. David's Island]] as the construction site.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=2011-06-29 |title=New book shows Patience is a virtue |url=https://www.royalgazette.com/other/lifestyle/article/20110629/new-book-shows-patience-is-a-virtue |work=The Royal Gazette |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda |access-date=2022-06-14}}</ref> In Stratchey's account:

{{blockquote|In his absence ''Sir George Summers'' coasted the Ilands, and drew the former plot of them, and daily fished, and hunted for our whole company, vntill the seuen and twentieth of Nouember, when then well perceuing that we were not likely to heare from ''Virginia'', and conceuing how the Pinnace which ''Richard Frubbusher'' was a building would not be of a burthen sufficient to transport all our men from thence into ''Virginia'' (especially considering the season of the yeare, wherein we were likely to put off) he consulted with our Gouernor, that if hee might haue two Carpenters (for we had foure, such as they were) and twenty men, ouer with him into the maine Iland, he would quickly frame vp another little Barke, to second ours, for the better sitting and conueiance of our people.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lefroy, CB, FRS, Royal Artillery |first=Major-General Sir John Henry |author-link= |date=1981 |title=Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of the Bermudas or Somers Islands 1515–1685, Volume I |location=Bermuda |publisher=The Bermuda Historical Society and The Bermuda National Trust (the first edition having been published in 1877, with funds provided by the Government of Bermuda), printed in Canada by The University of Toronto Press |page=39}}</ref>}}
[[File:Coat of arms of Bermuda.svg|thumb|''Sea Venture'' wreck is prominent on the Bermuda coat of arms and flag]]
While the new ships were being built, ''Sea Venture''{{'}}s longboat was fitted with a mast and sent under the command of Henry Ravens to find Virginia, but the boat and her crew were never seen again.{{sfn|Evans|1957|page=7}} Finally, under the command of Newport, the two ships with 142 survivors (of the 150-153 mariners and passengers Strachey reported surviving the wreck – Gates, Somers, Newport, and 150 others – those who died in Bermuda were: Mrs. Rolfe, the wife of [[John Rolfe]]; Edward Samuell, the sailor killed by Waters; Richard Lewis; William Hitchman; Jeffery Briars; and Henry Paine, who had been executed by firing squad. The Powhattan emissary Namontack had vanished while on a hunting expedition with Machumps and his fate was never discovered. Henry Ravens had been sent to Jamestown in command of the ''Sea Venture''{{'}}s longboat, fitted out for the ocean voyage, along with cape merchant Thomas Whittingham and 6 unidentified sailors; they returned several days later, having been unable to find a passage through Bermuda's reefline onto the open Atlantic, then set out for another attempt and were never heard of again. Two children were born in Bermuda: the daughter of the Rolfes, ''Bermuda Rolfe'', who died and was buried in Bermuda; and ''Bermudas Eason'', the son of Edward Eason and his wife. Minus Carter and Waters, this would give a figure of 137 passengers and crew that continued to Jamestown aboard the ''Deliverance'' and ''Patience'', including one child born in Bermuda after the wreck of the ''Sea Venture'')<ref>{{cite book |last=Lefroy, CB, FRS, Royal Artillery |first=Major-General Sir John Henry |author-link= |date=1981 |title=Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of the Bermudas or Somers Islands 1515–1685, Volume I |location=Bermuda |publisher=The Bermuda Historical Society and The Bermuda National Trust (the first edition having been published in 1877, with funds provided by the Government of Bermuda), printed in Canada by The University of Toronto Press |page=47}}</ref> set sail for Virginia on 10 May 1610,<ref>according to William Strachey's account published in 'Hakluytus posthumus, or, Purchas his Pilgrimes: contayning a history of the world in sea voyages and lande travells by Englishmen and others', by Samuel Purchas; https://archive.org/details/hakluytusposthum19purc/page/41/mode/1up</ref> and arrived at the Jamestown settlement on the 23rd, a journey of less than two weeks.{{efn|Christopher Newport had an extraordinary career as privateer and then ship captain for the Virginia Company of London. He captained the flagship ''[[Susan Constant]]'' that planted the first settlers in Virginia, landing on 26 April 1607. He then commanded ''John and Francis'', and ''Phenix'', two ships that comprised the First Supply, and delivered 120 additional colonists to Jamestown on 8 January 1608. As captain of the 150 ton ''Mary Margaret'', Newport also led the Second Supply to Jamestown. The Second Supply landed in September 1608 and delivered 70 colonists that included the first women from England. Adventure never stopped with Christopher Newport. On a voyage to Indonesia for the British East India Company, he died in Java in 1617.}} Two sailors, Christopher Carter and [[Edward Waters (Sailor)|Edward Waters]] (whom some records name Robert Waters), remained behind on [[Smith's Island, Bermuda|Smith's Island]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebermudian.com/history/history-history/the-history-of-smiths-island-bermudas-first-colony/|title=The History of Smith's Island, Bermuda's First Colony|date=27 December 2023|website=The Bermudian Magazine}}</ref>—Waters faced possible trial for the killing of another sailor and had fled into the forest. Carter, like many others of the settlers and crew, did not wish to leave Bermuda and had joined Waters in the forest to avoid being compelled to leave.{{sfn|Smith|1624|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sxQSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA344 344]}}

[[Image:Sylvester Jordain - Discovery of the Barmudas.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[Silvester Jourdain|Sylvester Jordain]]'s ''A Discovery of the Barmudas'', 1610]]
On reaching Jamestown, only 60 survivors were found of the 500 or so who had preceded them. Many of these were themselves dying, and Jamestown was quickly judged to be nonviable. Everyone then boarded ''Virginia'', ''Deliverance,'' and ''Patience,'' which set sail for England. The timely arrival of [[Jamestown supply missions#"Fourth" supply mission|another relief fleet]], bearing Governor [[Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr|Baron De La Warre]], granted Jamestown a reprieve. All the settlers were relanded at the colony, but there was still a critical shortage of food. In the fall of 1610, Admiral Somers returned to Bermuda in ''Patience'' to obtain wild pigs and food that had been stockpiled there. Unfortunately, Somers died in Bermuda from a "surfeit of pork" and the pinnace, captained by his nephew Mathew Somers, returned directly to [[Lyme Regis]] in Dorset, England with the body in order to claim his inheritance. Christopher Carter and Edward Waters, who evidently had been forgiven their earlier desertion, remained behind in Bermuda, again, joined by Edward Chard, the first permanent settlers of Bermuda (Christopher Carter and Edward Waters were to be among the ''Counsell of Six'' appointed to advise the first Lieutenant-[[Governor of Bermuda]], Richard Moore, in 1612, and amongst whom the Lieutenant-Governorship was rotated during the period in 1616 between the departure of Moore and the arrival of his successor).<ref>''Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of The Bermudas or Somers Islands, 1515–1685'', Volume I (1511–1562), by Lieutenant-General Sir John Henry Lefroy, KCMG, CB, LL.D, FRS, Royal Artillery. The Bermuda Memorials Edition, 1981. The Bermuda Historical Society and The Bermuda National Trust. Printed in Canada by the University of Toronto Press</ref> Overall, the food and supplies brought by the Third Supply were not adequate. 80% of the colonists would die during the [[Starving Time]] of 1610. Afterwards, survivors at Jamestown had boarded ''Deliverance'' and ''Patience'' and were sailing downstream to the ocean when they met yet another resupply fleet. Lord Delaware was this expedition's leader and he turned the distraught settlers back. He had brought a doctor but food supplies remained inadequate.

==Later history ==
{{Update|section|date=April 2024|reason=see the later archaeological work doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-9270.1985.tb00532.x as part 1 report and doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-9270.1986.tb00563.x for part 2}}
[[File:Bermuda St Georges Island with Sea Venture 1609.png|thumb|Map with approximate location of ''Sea Venture'' and other 1609 markers]]
''Sea Venture'' sat atop the reefs off Gate's Bay long enough to be stripped of all useful parts and materials, not only by her crew and passengers, but by subsequent settlers; what was left of her eventually disappeared beneath the waves. Two of her guns were salvaged in 1612 and used in the initial fortification of Bermuda (one was placed on [[Governor's Island, Bermuda|Governor's Island]], opposite Paget's Fort, the other on [[Castle Island, Bermuda|Castle Island]]).<ref>{{cite book |title=Bermuda Forts 1612–1957 |author-link=Edward Harris (archaeologist) |first=Edward Cecil |last=Harris |publisher=Bermuda Maritime Museum Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-921560-11-7}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2020}}

After the wreck's submergence, her precise location was unknown until rediscovered by sport divers Downing and Heird in October 1958, still wedged into a coral reef. There was little left of the ship or its cargo. Despite the lack of artifacts to be found, she was positively identified in 1959, in time for the 350th anniversary of the wrecking. Subsequent research uncovered one gun and cannonball, along with shot for small arms. There were also some Spanish jars, stoneware from Germany and ceramics and cooking pots much like what had been found excavating Jamestown.<ref>[https://www.dailypress.com/virginiagazette/va-tempest-4-story.html Making landfall at Jamestown (2005)] Accessed 22 January 2017</ref>

[[File:Replica of ship Deliverance on St. George's 2014.jpg|thumb|Replica of the ''Deliverance'' on [[Ordnance Island]] (2014)]]
In the 1960s, a replica of ''Deliverance'' was displayed (in drydock) on [[Ordnance Island]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.royalgazette.com/tourism/news/article/20220725/beyond-repair-deliverance-demolished/ | title='Beyond repair' Deliverance demolished | date=25 July 2022 }}</ref> Deeming the replica beyond repair and unsafe after decades of storms, it was demolished in 2022 (fifty years later).

In 2015, the remains of the ''Sea Venture'' hull was buried with sandbags, to protect the remnants from [[shipworm]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sandbagnews.com/sandbags-the-sea-venture-and-teredo-worms/|title=Sandbags, The Sea Venture and Teredo Worms|date=21 August 2015|website=Sandbag News}}</ref>

==In writing==
[[File:John Smith 1624 map of Bermuda with Forts 01.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Captain John Smith's 1624 map of the Somers Isles ([[Bermuda]]), showing [[St. George's, Bermuda|St. George's Town]] and related fortifications, including the [[Castle Islands Fortifications, Bermuda|Castle Islands Fortifications]].]]
* The wrecking is believed to have inspired [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Tempest]]''. This tradition has been confirmed by a detailed comparison to survivors' narratives such as [[Silvester Jourdain]] (''A Discovery of the Barmudas''),{{sfn|Vaughan|Vaughan|1991|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=exkBp8aVlVIC&pg=PA41 41]}}{{sfn|Evans|1957|page=5}} [[Robert Rich (Bermuda settler)|Robert Rich]] ("Newes from Virginia: the lost flocke triumphant"), and that of historian and author [[William Strachey]], who wrote an account of the storm entitled ''[[True Reportory|True Reportory of the Wrack, and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates Knight]]'', was the primary source Shakespeare drew upon.{{sfn|Vaughan|Vaughan|1991|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=exkBp8aVlVIC&pg=PA39 38–40]}}
* ''The Three Kings Of Bermuda & Their Treasure Of Ambergris'', by [[Washington Irving]]. 1840.
* Bermuda resident and novelist, [[F. Van Wyck Mason]], wrote a fictionalised account of the wrecking, ''The Sea 'Venture'', first published in 1961.
* 20th-century [[United States|American]] author [[Scott O'Dell]] wrote and published a fictionalized account of ''Sea Venture'' shipwreck called ''The Serpent Never Sleeps''.
* Children's author [[Clyde Robert Bulla]] wrote a fictionalized account of ''Sea Venture'' voyage called ''A Lion to Guard Us''. It focuses on three children sailing to Jamestown to find their father.
* ''Sea Venture'' was also the namesake of a [[cruise liner]] which operated between the US and Bermuda in the 1970s for Flagship Cruises, before being obtained by [[Princess Cruises]], which renamed her ''[[Pacific (ship)|Pacific Princess]]'', which was subsequently used in the television show ''[[The Love Boat]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=McKenna |first=Robert |year=2003 |title=The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy |page=276 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Professional |isbn=0-07-141950-0}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Jamestown supply missions#Third supply mission|Jamestown supply missions -Third supply mission]]
* [[Virginia Company|The Virginia Company]]
* [[Somers Isles Company]]
* [[History of Bermuda]]
* [[Colony and Dominion of Virginia]]
* [[History of Virginia]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

;Bibliography
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Cerinda W. |year=1957 |title=Some Notes on Shipbuilding and Shipping in Colonial Virginia |location=Williamsburg, Virginia |publisher=350th Anniversary Celebration Corp. }}
*{{cite book
|last=Smith
|first=John
|title=The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England & the Summer Isles, Together with The True Travels, Adventures and Observations, and A Sea Grammar
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sxQSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA150
|publisher=J. MacLehose
|year=1624
|orig-year=1624
}}
*{{cite book |last1=Vaughan |first1=Alden T. |last2=Vaughan |first2=Virginia Mason |year=1991 |title=Shakespeare's Caliban: A Cultural History |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-45817-X }}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Doherty |first=Kieran |title=Sea Venture: Shipwreck, Survival, and the Salvation of the First English Colony in the New World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Vpv8Bm-6H0C&pg=PP1 |year=2008 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0312382070}}
* {{cite book |last=Jourdain |first=Sylvester |title=A Discovery of the Bermudas |year=1610 |location=London |publisher=John Windet}}
* {{cite book |last=Lefroy |first=John Henry |author-link=John Henry Lefroy |title=Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of The Bermudas or Somers Isles, 1515–1685 |volume=I |location=London |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Company |year=1879}}
* {{cite journal |last=Masden |first=RG |title=Ships in the Reign of James 1st |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |series=New Series |volume=19 |publisher=[[Royal Historical Society]] |date=December 1905 |pages=309–342 |doi=10.2307/3678236 |jstor=3678236 |s2cid=162605975 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449765 }}
* {{cite book |last=Nichols |first=A. Bryant Jr |title=Captain Christopher Newport: Admiral of Virginia |publisher=Sea Venture LLC |year=2007 |isbn=978-0615140018}}
* {{cite book |last=Price |first=David A. |title=Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of A New Nation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_EFbS_7fFcYC&pg=PP1 |chapter=Chapter 10: Restoration |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_EFbS_7fFcYC&pg=PA130 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |year=2003|isbn=978-0307426703 }}
*Strachey, William. "The True Reportory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates" (f.p.&nbsp;1625) in ''A Voyage to Virginia in 1609'', Louis B. Wright, ed. (1965), 1–101.
* {{cite book |last=Woodward |first=Hobson |title=A Brave Vessel: The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown and Inspired Shakespeare's ''The Tempest'' |url=https://archive.org/details/bravevesseltruet0000wood |url-access=registration |publisher=Viking |year=2009 |isbn=978-1101060322}}
* {{cite book |last=Wright |first=P.M. |title=The Sea Venture Story |publisher=Bermuda Press }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
* [https://vimeo.com/770251143 ''Downing's Wreck: The Story of Finding the Sea Venture'' (2016)] on [[Vimeo]]
* {{cite web |url=http://nautarch.tamu.edu/class/anth318/Class%2014%20-%20Early%20N%20American%20Shipwrecks.htm |title=ANTH318 Nautical Archaeology of the Americas Class 14 |website=Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University |access-date=23 May 2006 |archive-date=17 February 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060217221840/http://nautarch.tamu.edu/class/anth318/Class%2014%20-%20Early%20N%20American%20Shipwrecks.htm |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.bermuda-online.org/sirgeorgesomers.htm |website=Bermuda Online |title=Admiral Sir George Somers colonized Bermuda}}
* {{cite journal |last=Mountford |first=Kent |title=Lessons from Jamestown 1609–1610: starving in the land of plenty |url=http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=1926 |journal=Chesapeake Bay Journal |date=1 May 2000 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060317130337/http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=1926 |archive-date=17 March 2006  }}
* {{cite web |url=http://packrat-pro.com/ships/seaventure.htm|website=Packrat Pro | title=The ''Sea Ventture''}} – Packrat Pilgrim Ship Lists – the ''Sea Venture''
* {{cite web |url=http://www.rootsweb.com/~bmuwgw/seaventure.htm |website=[[rootsweb]] |title=The ''Sea Venture''}} – Ship Passenger and Immigration Lists

{{Bermuda topics}}
{{Maiden voyage sinkings}}
{{The Tempest}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord missing|Atlantic Ocean}}

[[Category:Age of Sail ships of England]]
[[Category:Colony of Virginia]]
[[Category:History of Bermuda]]
[[Category:Maritime folklore]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1609]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of Bermuda]]
[[Category:Virginia Company]]
[[Category:The Tempest]]