We began our visit attending an art auction at the World Heritage Center in the town of St. George.
The Isle of Devils
Peter Schaub :: July 11, 2014
Beautiful Bermuda was
on nobody’s bucket list in the 1600s. Named for Juan Bermudez, who
discovered them about 1505, the islands were feared by the Spanish and
Portuguese who rode the Gulf Stream from the Caribbean to Europe. The
reefs surrounding the islands are treacherous, making a purposeful entry
to harbor all but impossible in that era. The screeching cahow birds
would have sounded to superstitious sailors like wailing demons. They
called the place the “Isle of Devils”.Sea Venture was the flagship of the relief fleet sent from England to Jamestowne in 1609. Hit by a hurricane, six battered vessels made it into Jamestowne with most of the provisions spoiled. The Sea Venture carried the senior leaders and wrecked on Bermuda. Even as the gunwales were awash, Captain Newport, Admiral Somers and Governor Gates must have been wondering which fate was better: drowning at sea or being wrecked on that abhorred shore.
Unlike
those shipwrecked Jamestowne settlers, Connie and I arrived safe and
dry in Bermuda with our friends on a lovely April day. Bermuda is not
only pink coral beaches, gentle turquoise waves, and great golf courses.
We spent the next week meeting interesting people, learning about
Bermuda’s history, and sampling the local favorite, the “dark and
stormy” made with Bermuda dark rum. Our interest in Bermuda started with
our interest in Historic Jamestowne where the recent discoveries are
showing the connections between the earliest British settlements in
America. For example, Bermuda limestone was found inside the Jamestowne
fort site in a 1610 context. This was ballast used in the new ships
built by the Sea Venture survivors.We began our visit attending an art auction at the World Heritage Center in the town of St. George.
- See more at: http://www.aapainfo.org/the-isle-of-devils.html#sthash.c0GRiH4g.dpuf
Located at the northeast tip of Bermuda, St.
George is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are many buildings with limestone
walls and roofs dating from the 1700s. Like in Williamsburg, St.
George’s early
structures survive due to 20th Century preservation efforts and the
fact that the capital was moved in 1815 to Hamilton. St. George residents supported Washington with gunpowder during the revolution, in exchange for
food, and traded for cotton with the Confederate blockade runners during the
Civil War. The art auction was held in the 1860 building that served as a
warehouse for the goods traded with the blockade runners. Nearby is the old
Globe Hotel, once the headquarters of the commercial agents for the
Confederacy, and now housing a related museum. We enjoyed climbing aboard the
full size replica of the ship Deliverance built by Sea Venture
survivors near what is now the town square.
We paid homage to those Sea Venture
survivors by visiting the monument at the site, just to the east of St. George,
where they struggled ashore. It was a balmy day, and we wondered why anyone
would trade such a place for the heat and humidity of Tidewater Virginia. Indeed, the leaders had to use strict discipline to force
the erstwhile Jamestowne settlers to leave. Even so, two men ran off and hid.
They survived and later became part of the initial settlement of Bermuda.
One day we visited John Cox at his family
home “Orange Valley.” Mr. Cox traces his lineage through several major Bermuda
families back to the 1700s. His ancestor Captain William Cox built the home in
1802 and planted a now huge India rubber tree in the garden. John Cox has
served in the Bermuda Historical Society for many years and has written several
books about Bermuda in the 18th & 19th Centuries,
when maritime trade provided the country’s economy. He gave us an inscribed
copy of his Life in Old Bermuda. On another evening along with others
from Williamsburg, we dined with Lucy and Mike Murphy at their home
overlooking Hamilton Harbor. Several other Bermudians joined us and we enjoyed a
lively conversation about their hopes and plans for developing the island while
preserving its heritage. Large cruise ships are not bringing tourists who spend
time getting to know Bermuda and its people. In contrast, we were in conversation with
people who shared stories of their island lives. One such person is Winny, who
led us on a memorable ride through the back roads of Somerset, where she grew up swimming around the docks and playing
in the caverns of old British Fort Scaur. On every street there was a pretty
pastel painted house where one of her family lived.
We visited the Masterworks Museum, a cultural gem where art depicting Bermuda is
being collected. Many of these works were taken off the island, but are now
being returned. Tom Butterfield, the museum director, showed us his prizes in
the vault room, including two Winslow Homers and a Georgia O’Keefe. Upstairs,
we visited an exhibit recalling Samuel Clemens’ affection for the island; he
visited on 7 occasions, spending nearly 200 days on Bermuda.
Connie and I empathize with the sentiment behind his quip: “You can go to
heaven if you want. I’d rather stay here in Bermuda.”
Notes
1. Mark Twain’s first visit to Bermuda was
at the conclusion of the 1867 trip to the Mediterranean
that gave him the material for The Innocents Abroad. Bermuda gets
a couple of paragraphs in Chapter 60.
2. For the history of the connection among Jamestowne, the Sea
Venture and Bermuda: The Shipwreck that Saved Jamestown; Lorri Glover
and Daniel Blake Smith; Holt Paperbacks, 2009.
3. If you have an interest in the maritime history of the
Americas, from the Caribbean to the Canadian Maritimes, with a focus on
Bermudians, I highly recommend In the Eye of All Trade; Michael
J. Jarvis: UNC Press, paperback, 2012.
copyright 2014 by Peter Schaub
