Sea Venture

Book excerpt: In one of the most triumphant high sea stories ever told, Kieran Doherty brings to life the remarkable true story of the ship that rescued the struggling Jamestown settlement in 1610 and single-handedly 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 hit devastating the fleet—one ship sank, the rest scattered, and the Sea Venture was shipwrecked on the island of Bermuda. It would take Sea Venture's passengers nearly a year and half to reach their destination. Awaiting them was not the thriving, populated colony they expected, but instead the grim reality of a remaining fifty colonists—beleaguered, desperate, and hungry. But, the question remains, would the English have lost their place in the New World if the Sea Venture had 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 the bravado of a legendary sea saga, Doherty braves the elements in Sea Venture, delivering a powerful history willed by a people destined to change the New World forever.