AH-WR-1324

Virginia Merchant

Merchant Sailing Ship · England · Lost 1660 (some sources cite 1661) · Bermuda

A 17th-century English emigrant ship bound for Jamestown that struck a Bermuda reef, killing most of the 179 aboard in one of the colony's deadliest early wrecks.

Become Captain of Record

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Virginia Merchant sailed from Plymouth for Jamestown, Virginia under Captain Robert Burke, carrying 179 passengers and crew for the Virginia Company. She struck a submerged reef off Bermuda during a storm, and the great majority aboard were lost. Little of the wreck survives beyond a ballast pile, though an anchor and cannon recovered from the site are displayed today at the Royal Naval Dockyard. The wreck is documented as part of Bermuda's catalog of major historic losses tied to early transatlantic colonization.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Virginia Company

Loss

Date: 1660 (some sources cite 1661)
Cause: Storm
Location: Off Bermuda
Water: Atlantic Ocean off Bermuda
Voyage: Plymouth, England → Jamestown, Virginia
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: 179
Lives lost: 169
Master: Robert Burke

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Little remains apart from a ballast pile, with associated cannon and an anchor recovered and now displayed at the Royal Naval Dockyard.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established