The Sea Venture 1609 Passenger List Digital Download
Were your ancestors among the early settlers of Jamestown, Virginia? Did they arrive on the Patience and Deliverance after being shipwrecked on the Island of Bermuda for nine months? Commemorate their lives and preserve their memory with this certificate! Best if printed on 8.5" x 11" paper. Print as many as you need but the digital item may not be resold or uploaded online. Thank you!
-- History of The Sea Venture --
The first attempt at establishing the first permanent English settlement in North America was led by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585. Called the Roanoke Colony, the entire community mysteriously vanished by 1590. Another attempt was made by the Plymouth Company in 1607, at what is now Maine, called the Popham Colony. The settlers who didn’t die abandoned the settlement within 14 months.
Meanwhile, the proprietors of the London Company established a colony at Jamestown in 1606. The ships Susan Constant, Discovery and Godspeed, carrying about 600 people, took a four month voyage to the place they called Cape Henry, arriving on April 26, 1607.
They arrived in the middle of a severe drought and too late in the season to plant crops. They lacked fresh water suitable for drinking and the land was swampy and infested with mosquitoes. Making matters worse, most of the men were gentlemen, unskilled and unaccustomed to the hard physical labor necessary to build a colony. For all these reasons, about two-thirds of the settlers died within the first two years from starvation, disease and warfare with nearby native tribes. There were 200 people left in the colony in 1608 when Capt. Christopher Newport brought the First and Second Supply missions with more settlers and this time he sent German and Polish craftsmen. The following year, in June of 1609, the Third Supply launched from Plymouth England, destined for Jamestown. The 300-ton Sea Venture was the flagship of a seven-ship fleet towing two additional pinnaces and carrying 500 to 600 people.
On July 24, 1609, the fleet ran into a strong storm, possibly a hurricane, and Sea Venture was separated from the fleet. The storm ravaged the ship for three days and caused severe leaking inside the ship. After a week of struggling to stay afloat, they finally spotted land, and aimed for the marshy shores of Bermuda, which was uninhabited at the time. 150 people were stranded there for the next 9 months. During this time they used the salvaged parts of Sea Venture and local lumber to build two boats – the Patience and Deliverance, to continue their journey to Virginia.
Finally, on May 10, 1610, they were ready and 137 passengers and crew set sail for Virginia in the Patience and Deliverance. They arrived at the Jamestown settlement on May 23rd, a journey of 13 days.
