AH-WR-1271

Sea Venture

Sailing Vessel · England · Lost 1609 · Bermuda

The 1609 wreck of the Jamestown-bound flagship Sea Venture, whose castaways founded England's colony on Bermuda and inspired Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

The Sea Venture was the flagship of a seven-ship fleet sent from England in 1609 to resupply the struggling Jamestown colony. Caught in a hurricane and taking on water, Admiral Sir George Somers deliberately drove her onto Bermuda's reef on July 28, 1609, saving all 150 aboard. The castaways spent ten months on the uninhabited island, building two new ships to complete their voyage to Virginia, and their survival story is widely thought to have inspired Shakespeare's play 'The Tempest'. The wreck site was located in 1958 and later studied archaeologically.

Vessel

Built: 1609
Builder: Not established
Yard: Probably Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: 300
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Virginia Company of London (London Company)

Loss

Date: July 28, 1609
Cause: Storm
Location: Reef off Bermuda's east end
Water: Atlantic Ocean, Bermuda reef platform
Voyage: Plymouth, England → Jamestown, Virginia
Cargo: Supplies and colonists for Jamestown
Aboard: 150
Lives lost: 0
Master: Sir George Somers (Admiral); Christopher Newport aboard as captain of the fleet

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Wreck largely dismantled by survivors for timber to build replacement vessels; archaeological remains identified and studied.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 1958
Protection: Protected historic wreck site