[1511] The first map of Bermuda

The first map of the islands of Bermuda in 1511, made by Peter Martyr d'Anghiera in Legatio Babylonica.

Bermuda was visited by the Europeans in the early sixteenth century, probably in 1503, although the evidence for the exact year, and the identity of the discoverer, is uncertain. Bermuda was certainly known by 1511, when Peter Martyr published his Legatio Babylonica, which mentioned Bermuda. The discovery is attributed to a Spanish explorer, Juan de Bermudez. Nothing is known of his supposed first visit; he returned again in 1515, with the chronicler Oviedo y Valdés. Oviedo's account of the second visit (published in 1526) records that they made no attempt to land because of weather.

[1593] Henry May shipwrecked before Sir George Somers

Sketches of Bermuda By Susette Harriet Lloyd.
London, James Cochrane & Co., MDCCCXXXV (1835), p40.

[1609] Admiral Sir George Somers

British naval hero, born in Lyme Regis, Dorset.

On 2 June 1609, he set sail on the Sea Venture along with other ships from Plymouth, England destined for Jamestown, Virginia carrying 500-600 people. On the 25 July, the fleet ran into a strong storm, likely a hurricane, and the ships were separated. The Sea Venture fought the storm for three days with Sir George himself at the helm throughout. On the morning of 28 July, with the water in the hold at nine feet, and crew and passengers driven past the point of exhaustion, Somers sighted land. He intentionally drove the ship onto the reefs of what proved to be Bermuda in order to prevent its foundering. This allowed the remaining 150 people aboard, and one dog, to be landed safely, although the Sea Venture was presumed lost by those who continued on to Virginia.

The survivors came ashore at Discovery Bay and stayed in Bermuda for 10 months where they formed the Bermuda colony, building a church and houses. Somers and Sir Thomas Gates oversaw the construction of two ships, the Deliverance and the Patience, from spars and rigging of the wrecked Sea Venture and local timber (Bermuda Cedar), and in May 1610 the ships set sail, with 142 castaways on board to the Virginia Colony.

[1610] Letter from Sir George Somers recounting the shipwreck

Reprinted in: The Bermuda Islands By Addison Emery Verrill

New Haven, Conn., 1902, pp 873-4

[1610] A Discovery of the Barmudas, 'Ile of Divels'

Cover of Sylvester Jordain's "A Discovery of the Barmudas", a first-hand narrative of the loss of the Sea Venture, the flagship of the Virginia Company, on the reefs of Bermuda, and the adventures of its survivors.

The survivors, including several company officials (Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Gates, the ship's captain Christopher Newport, Sylvester Jordain, Stephen Hopkins, later of the Mayflower, and secretary William Strachey), were stranded on Bermuda for approximately nine months.

[1614] Facsimile reproduction of a Map of Bermuda by Captain John Smith

Source: Project Gutenberg

[1624] Map of Bermuda with illustrations of forts

1624 Map of Bermuda, with illustrations of fortifications and important sites, including St. George's Town, the State House, and the Castle Islands Fortifications.

Source: The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles, by Captain John Smith, printed by I.D and I. H. for Michael Sparkes, 1624. Other editions 1625, 1626, 1627, 1631, and 1632.

[1624] Cover of the Generall Historie of Virginia... by Captain John Smith

Cover of "The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles" (The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Somers Isles), by Captain John Smith, 1624. 'Graven' by John Barra.

[1652] Walsingham House (Tom Moore's Tavern)

Tom Moore's Tavern was built in 1652 as a private home for the Trott family. In those days it was known as Walsingham House, from the Walsingham area in which it stood. The property was owned by Samuel Trott when Tom Moore, the Irish poet, came to Bermuda in 1804 as Registrar of the Court of Vice-Admiralty. It was here that his friendship with Nea Tucker began and where he wrote many of his well known works.

The house became a Tavern over 100 years ago and the records show that more than 3 million people have wined and dined within these old walls since then. The calabash tree to which Tom Moore makes frequent reference in his songs and poems still exists and is some 200 yards from the Tavern.

Picture: postcard, early 20th century.
Text: www.tommoores.com/history.html

See also: Tom Moore in Bermuda (book)

Bermuda Supply: premier sponsor of this web site:

[1676] Map of the Somers Isles by John Speed

A 1676 map of the Somers Isles (alias Bermuda), by John Speed (based on the map of surveyor Richard Norwood). Clearly shown are the tribe roads cut parallel through the forest between the North and South Shores (except in St. Georges, the eastern-most subdivision, comprising the islands of St. George's and St. David's, the South-Eastern tip of the Main Island, and the various smaller islands between. This was general land, and not commercial.

See detail of map showing tribes, houses and churches.

[1676] Detail of the Somers Isles map showing tribes, houses and churches

Click image to enlarge further.

[1720s] The Mitchell House, Town of St. George

The Featherbed Alley Printshop Museum features a replica Gutenberg press, and is located in the lower level of the Mitchell House. The upper level of the house holds the St. George's Historical Society Museum. The house is named for its architect, Walter Mitchell.

[1752] 'New and accurate map of Bermudas" by Emanuel Bowen

Citation: A new & accurate map of Bermudas or Sommer's Islands, taken from an actual survey wherein the errors of former charts are corrected. An accurate map of the island of St. Christopher, vulgarly called S. Kits, containing all the towns, parishes, forts &c

Published London, 1752

Courtesy: Digital Library of the Caribbean

[1790] Henry Hamilton (Governor 1785-94)

Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda, was named for Henry Hamilton (1734-96), who served as Governor of Bermuda from 1785 to 1794.

The history of Hamilton began in 1790 when the Bermuda Government set aside 145 acres (58.7 ha) for its future seat, and was officially incorporated in 1793 by an Act of Parliament. The Colony's capital relocated to Hamilton from St. George's in 1815.

Hamilton was an Irish-born soldier and official of the British Empire. In 1779 during the American War of Independence he was captured while serving as the Lieutenant Governor at the British post of Fort Detroit, before eventually being granted parole by Jefferson at the instructions of General George Washington, and in early 1781, he was exchanged and travelled to London.

Later in life Hamilton became Governor of Dominica from 1794 until his death in 1796. In March 1795, at age 61, Hamilton married 25-year-old Elizabeth Lee from Banbury, Oxfordshire, a daughter of Colonel Lee. They had one daughter, Mary Anne Pierpoint Hamilton, who died in 1871 unmarried and without children. Hamilton died on the island of Antigua in 1796, while still Governor of Dominica.

[1796] Bermuda Gazette And Weekly Advertiser

Bermuda Gazette of 12 November, 1796, calling for privateering against Spain and its allies, and with advertisements for crew for two privateer vessels.

The American War of 1812 was to be the encore of Bermudian privateering, which had died out after the 1790s, due partly to the build up of the naval base in Bermuda, which reduced the Admiralty's reliance on privateers in the western Atlantic, and partly to successful American legal suits, and claims for damages pressed against British privateers, a large portion of which were aimed squarely at the Bermudians. During the course of the American War of 1812, Bermudian privateers were to capture 298 ships (the total captures by all British naval and privateering vessels between the Great Lakes and the West Indies was 1,593 vessels).

[1813] British Act extending to Hamilton the importation of certain goods

British Parliamentary Act that further allowed for the Importation and Exportation of certain Articles [namely Plantation sugar and coffee] at Hamilton pursuant to an Act passed in the previous session of parliament that allowed the same at the Port of Saint George.

[before 1835] Map of Bermuda, harbour 'filled with rocks'

Source:
Sketches of Bermuda By Susette Harriet Lloyd.

London, James Cochrane & Co., MDCCCXXXV (1835).

[1838] Bermuda as a penal colony of Canada?

The (London) Courier reports the Quebec Gazette.

With thanks to Bermuda Supply.

[1864] Bermuda one penny postage stamp

Compare with the Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp (1840).

[1881] Letters From Bermuda

Letters written from Bermuda originally for the Concord (NH) Daily Chronicle, were published in book form in 1881. Click here to read the book.

[1883] Bermuda house building techniques in the New York Times

Three men are at work on this side of a little hill within sight of the hotel digging out a house. Anybody who would travel all over these Bermuda Islands would no doubt find as many as a hundred men engaged in digging out houses.

Read full article.

See also similar article from 1890.

[1893] Bermuda seeks tariff reciprocity from U.S.

The New York Times, Wednesday July 17, 1893, p8.

[c.1894] Cedar Avenue, Hamilton

Cedar Avenue was once lined, like most Bermudian roads, with Bermuda cedars [1]. The old growth trees were lost in the blight of the 1940s and 1950s, but the avenue has been replanted with the endemic juniper.

Sources:

The Review of Reviews | An International Magazine | Edited by Albert Shaw | Volume IX. January-June 1894.

Stark's Illustrated Bermuda Guide, p5. | Boston | James H. Stark, Publisher, 1902
Old Bermuda postcard

[1] Bermuda cedar (Juniperus bermudiana)

Bermuda cedar originally flourished throughout the islands, and the wood was used by settlers for widely varying purposes including home, church, jail, and shipbuilding, interior woodworking, furniture construction, coffin-making, and export for sale. The wood was especially prized by shipbuilders. In addition, the cones were used by settlers as food for both themselves and their animals, and to prepare cedarberry syrup as a treatment for toothaches and coughs. Settlers also boiled the shoots in water to create an elixir for lowering fevers. Furthermore, the wood was found to repel moths and fleas as well as prevent mildew and rot, and is aromatic, so many Bermuda residents used the wood to line closets and drawers.

[1897] Book: Tom Moore in Bermuda: A Bit of Literary Gossip

Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852) was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer.

In 1803 he was appointed registrar to the Admiralty in Bermuda. He spent around three months on the island, and drew inspiration from the scenery of Bermuda.

Tom Moore in Bermuda: A Bit of Literary Gossip - John Calvin Lawrence Clark, published by W.J. Coulter, Clinton, MA, 1897.

Click here to read the book.

See also Walsingham House (Tom Moore's Tavern)

[1897] Development of the Commercial Sector

Advertisements from Stark's illustrated Bermuda guide

J. H. Stark, 1897
Click to enlarge

[1899] The Mid-ocean newspaper

Began in 1899. Here is an early copy that contains "The Sign of Four"by Conan Doyle, (serialised) the second Sherlock Holmes novel, originally published in 1890. The  second example is from 1924.  Courtesy of the Digital Library of the Caribbean where full versions are available.

[1901-c.1920] Bermuda houses

Paintings by various artists; text from standard work John S. Humphreys, Bermuda Houses (Marshall Jones, Boston, 1923; reprinted Bermuda Maritime Museum, Dockyard, 1993).

Watch video on You Tube.

[c.1902] Front Street

Source: Stark's Illustrated Bermuda Guide, p5 | Boston | James H. Stark, Publisher, 1902

[1907] Postcard of Aunt Peggie's No. 1, St Georges

[c.1909] Bermuda hotels

Source: Bermuda Verses By William Lawrence (Larry) Chittenden
G.P. Putnam's and Sons | The Kickerbocker Press | 1909

[1910] Mark Twain returns from Bermuda one week before his death

The New York Times, April 15, 1910

Click image to view full article

Mark Twain's last letter was written from Bermuda:

Source: Mark Twain's letters, Volume 1 (of 2) By Mark Twain, Albert Bigelow Paine.

Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1917.

From the same:

From the early Bermuda letters we may gather that Mark Twain's days were enjoyable enough, and that his malady was not giving him serious trouble, thus far. Near the end of January he wrote: "Life continues here the same as usual. There isn't a flaw in it. Good times, good home, tranquil contentment all day and every day, without a break. I shouldn't know how to go about bettering my situation." He did little in the way of literary work, probably finding neither time nor inclination for it. When he wrote at all it was merely to set down some fanciful drolleries with no thought of publication.

We sailed on the 12th of April, reaching New York on the 14th, as he had planned. A day or two later, Mr. and Mrs. Gabrilowitsch, summoned from Italy by cable, arrived. He suffered very little after reaching Stormfield, and his mind was comparatively clear up to the last day. On the afternoon of April 21st he sank into a state of coma, and just at sunset he died. Three days later, at Elmira, New York, he was laid beside Mrs. Clemens and those others who had preceded him.