Sea Venture: Shipwreck, Survival, and the Salvation of the First English Colony in the New World

By David Swanson, Kevin Garrett, Joyce Wiswell

In one of the most triumphant high sea stories ever told, Kieran Doherty brings to life the true story of the ship that rescued the Jamestown settlement in 1610 and ensured England's place in the New World. When the Sea Venture left England in 1609, it was flagship in a fleet of nine bound for Jamestown with roughly 600 settlers and badly needed supplies aboard. But after four weeks at sea, as the voyage neared its end, a hurricane devastated the fleet, leaving the Sea Venture shipwrecked on the island of Bermuda. It took Sea Venture's passengers nearly a year and half to reach their destination. Awaiting them was not a thriving colony, but instead the remaining fifty colonists--beleaguered, desperate and hungry. But, the question remains, would the English have lost their place in the New World if the ship never arrived? A story of strife and triumph, but above all, endurance, "Sea Venture" begins and ends in hope and remains one of the greatest "What Ifs?" in history. With a bravado reminiscent of Patrick O'Brien's legendary sea sagas, Doherty braves the elements, delivering a powerful history willed by a people destined to change the New World forever.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312354533
• ISBN13: 9780312354534
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Both survival account and work of history, shedding light on settlement of Virginia and Bermuda

_Sea Venture_ by Kieran Doherty is a book that sheds some interesting light on the establishment of not only the first lasting English colony in the New World (Jamestown), but also on the founding of the first colony in Bermuda. I had no idea that the two were connected nor the interesting if sometimes subtle role played by the titular ship or its crew in early American history. The _Sea Venture_ was the flagship of a fleet...

Can't Knock It

Kieran Doherty writes the most detailed history of Virginia from 1609 to 1622 that I have ever read. I also own "American Slavery, American Freedom" and "Love and Hate in Jamestown," but this one contains all the crucial facts found in those two books and more for its selected time frame. For example, I had never read before that Pocahontas was married before John Rolfe (it appears the marriage failed or her first husband,...

Colorful Look at the Trials and Tribulations of Founding Jamestown and Bermuda

When Jamestown was established 400 years ago, the original English colonists made several mistakes: locating in a swampy area that bred more disease than crops, bringing people who were unsuited for farming, planning to live off the land without farming or hunting or fishing, and expecting that they would soon find fortunes in gold. Those mistakes were compounded when the false assumptions behind them continued to be believed...

Amazing Book

AWESOME BOOK!!!! Sorry for the short review. One of the top 3 books I have ever read.

a great read

one of the best histories I've read. Fast paced. Dramatic. Full of fascinating details. If you like adventures of any sort, read this book. If you like sea adventures, run to buy it.