43° James I, Naval Expeditions, & c of the English,

CHAP. X.

The Establishment of the firs Colony in the Bermudas or Sommers T/lands, (a)

1612.

Smith'; Gen.History ofVirginia, p.

O give my Readers a more justand exact Account of the firstSettlement of a Colony in theseIslands,! must be obliged to lookHarris'; Col. a little back, and refer them to what Ip. 1. p. 848. h av e already said of them in the XLIVCol^osVoy Chapter of the II. Book of this History.VI. Vol. in May’s Relation of these Islands oc-Fol.y. 56. cafioned their being known and difcourf-Am friaij* ost; And Sir George Sommers, andVol- II. p. Sir Thomas Gates suffering the sameZ--2. Fate there, in the Year 1600. (as I justhirers fithe hinted in the eighth Chapter of this III.Bermudas. Book) revived the Discourse of them;

Yet no Body thought it worth theirWhile, to adventure thither, ’till afterSir George’ s second landing, and breath-ing his last there.

I then defer’d giving my Readersany farther Account of what happen’dto these two Gentlemen, after their Ship-wrack, purposely reserving it as a pro-per Introduction to the Establishment ofa Colony in these Islands, which tookone of the Names they are known by,from the first of them. I beg Leave,therefore, to resume that Discourse here,tho’ it be a Year or two out of Time.

The Ship, in which these two Gen-tlemen were, being separated from theRest of the Virginia Fleet, in a Storm,Gates Ship- was driven afhoar and staved, at th eBer-wrack'd on mitdas-lhznds ; But the Crew were allthese Istants. H^bd, and they with them. TheirConcern was now how to get from theIsland again; Several Projects were<2he Long- thought of; But the Conclusion was tobeat sent to deck their Long-boat with their ShipsVirginia- Hatches, and Tend her away with nineable Sea-men to Virginia, to get Ship-ping from thence: But this Project mis-carried ; For they were never heard ofmore.

Two Chtl- During their Stay here, two Wo-dren born at men, who were Passengers, were de-das Bermu ’ livered, the one of a Boy, who was

(a) The Bermudas are a Cluster of small I-slands, which may be reckoned at least sive Hun-dred, some larger than others, and all within theCircuit of fix or seven Leagues at most ; lying in

Sir GeorgeSommersand SirThomas

christened Bermudas ; And the other of 1612.a Girl, who was named Bermuda. Thetwo Knights, notwithstanding the Dan-gers they had so lately run, were alwaysjangling, and having perpetual Quarrelsamong themselves, formed Factions a-mong their Men too. Theso run tosuch a Height, that they would notembark in the same Vessel. So theybuilt each of them one of Cedar, (one y ^ -of which they called the Patience, the built there ofother the Deliverance) picking up the Cedar :Furniture of their old Ship for Rigging;

And instead of Pitch and Tar, theymade Use of Fisli-Oyl, and Hog’sGrease, mix’d with Lime and Aslies.

These Ships being ready, they set With whichSail, in them, from the Bermudas, th ^Qornplny dPeleventh of May, 1610. having a Hun- parts fordred and fifty Men in their Company, Virginia,and, in fourteenDays, arrived in Virginia.

I shall say a Word or two of the Virgi-nia Affairs before I conclude the Trans-actions of this Year, so shall only ob-serve here, that Sir George Sommers,being made Admiral at Virginia, wassent by the Lord Delaware, who wasthen Governour, to Bermudas, to fetchsome Provisions that Place afforded, es-pecially Hogs and Turtles.

Sir George miss’d the Coast, and fell si r Georgein with that of Sagadahoc, in Norembegua, returns, antwhere he took in fresli Water and Pro- dies atvisions, and proceeded in Search of these BermudaS 'pleasant and fruitful Islands. At Length,he found them; and being extreamlyharrassed with the Fatigues of the Sea,above what his advanced Years, beingthen above threescore, could bear, hedied as soon as he came afhoar. He en- His Cornsd'seined his Men to return to Virginia- returnSBut, after his Death, they took another En S lan<1 'Resolution, and, storing their Cedar-Ship with such Provisions as they had,set Sail for England. These Persons,at their Return, gave such an Account

of

about two and thirty Degrees, N. L. They lysome Hundred of Leagues from any Land. CapeHattorask , in Carolina , is the nearest. FromEngland they are 1600. Leagues distant.