A Brave Vessel: The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown and Inspired Shakespeare'sThe Tempest (34 page)

Gayley,
Shakespeare
, 18-20, 70-76, recounts what is known about Strachey’s “True Reportory” manuscript, which is no longer extant. Noël Hume in “Unrecorded First Draft” proposes that a late nineteenth- or early-twentieth-century transcript discovered on Bermuda reflects the existence of a second variant of Strachey’s letter. My reading of the evidence is that the transcript is more likely a rough and selective transcription of the
PIL
text. Vaughan, “Evidence,” 256-59, agrees with Noël Hume.

The editor of
PIL
, 4:1738 (
NAR
, 391), in a 1625 marginal note next to Strachey’s discussion of Somers’s map, says “Sir George Summer’s diligent survey; his draught which we have not. M. Norgate hath since published an exact Map.” As editor, Wright notes in
VOY
, 17, the allusion to an “M. Norgate” map is likely a misspelled reference to “Mr.” Richard Norwood’s later map of Bermuda that was published in 1622.

Powell and Persons wedding:
PIL
, 4:1746 (
NAR
, 413);
DIS
, 17 (
VOY
, 113). English wedding traditions: Monger,
Marriage
, 34, 38, 46, 53, 98, 115, 293. “Amongst all those”:
SMI
, 2:349. “There is great”:
DIS
, 16-17 (
VOY
, 112). Pearls on Bermuda:
PIL
, 4:1738, 1745 (
NAR
, 393-94, 410). “In the bottom”:
SMI
, 2:341. “There is one”: Jourdain,
Plaine
, 21.

Strachey in
PIL
, 4:1742-43 (
NAR
, 403-4), and Jourdain in
DIS
, 13 (
VOY
, 110- 11), note the fractured relationship between Gates and Somers. Butler (who was not among the castaways) in
BER
, 14, followed by Smith, in
SMI
, 2:349, and Irving in
Wolfert’s
, 66, exaggerate the antagonism between the two leaders. I have followed Jones,
Bermuda
, 25, who characterizes the split as the two leaders “demonstrating traditional rivalry, Somers, the sailor, and Gates, the soldier.”

Indentured castaways fear abandonment, leaders communicate by letter, Communion on Christmas eve, “two moons ,” “the seven and twentieth,” “twenty of the ablest”:
PIL
, 4:1742, 1745-46 (
NAR
, 402-3, 410-13). No frost on Bermuda: Phillips-Watlington,
Botanical
, 15. Breakwater construction, “at Christmas,” “these islands are often,” “the three winter”:
PIL
, 4:1738, 1747 (
NAR
, 392-93, 414). Hopkins biography: Johnson, “Origin,” 164-66, 169-70; Christensen, “Parentage,” 243-46. Hopkins’s arguments justifying mutiny, “full of sorrow” “so penitent”:
PIL
, 4:1744 (
NAR
, 406-7).

Births of babies:
PIL
, 4:1746 (
NAR
, 413);
DIS
, 17 (
VOY
, 113); Rich,
Newes
[5] (
NAR
, 375); Hughes,
Letter
[4];
SMI
, 2:349. Only married women assist with childbirth: Picard,
Elizabeth’s
, 182-83. Childbirth methods, “the time of delivery,” “sometimes the midwife,” “to give her women,” “the child being”: Sermon,
Companion
(1671), 92-95, 99-101, 106-8, 120. Sermon’s “mummy” is human remains used as medicine:
Oxford English Dictionary
. Cedar compress on cord stump: Stamers-Smith, “Flora,” 117; Collett,
Plants
, 57. “The eleventh”:
PIL
, 4:1746 (
NAR
, 413). “All intents and purposes”:
NEW
, 210. “Young children”: Hughes,
Letter
[7].

Cahows’ and hens’ eggs similar:
PIL
, 4:1741 (
NAR
, 399). Sea turtle nursery, average weight of green sea turtle: Bermuda Turtle Project, “Species.” Palmetto berry season, sea turtle hunting:
PIL
, 4:1741 (
NAR
, 400). Sea turtle hunting, “we take them,” “they will live,” “the flesh that cleaveth”: Burrage,
Lost
, 20, 22. Use of turtle oil:
DIS
, 15 (
VOY
, 111). Bermuda birds, “the mornings,” “fowl there”:
PIL
, 4:1738, 1740 (
NAR
, 393, 398).

“I do begin”: 4.1.220-21,
ARD
, 258. “Deadly and bloody,” “the life of our,” “pass the act,” “evil language,” “Paine replied,” “with the omitted,” “our governor who,” “whether mere rage,” “so weak and unworthy,” “of that ancient love,” “Sir George Somers did,” “of a mighty compass,” “the mightiest blast”:
PIL
, 4: 1738, 1744-46 (
NAR
, 393, 408-12). “A place heretofore”: Prince,
Devon
, 403-4. Death of Bermuda Rolfe, “the five and twentieth”:
PIL
, 4:1746 (
NAR
, 413). Pierce family information: Dorman,
Purse
, 1:30, 31, 2:797-800, 3:24.

Five hundred salted fish put on ships:
PIL
, 4:1740 (
NAR
, 397). Live turtles and salted birds, pork, and fish taken: Craven, “Hughes,” 75-76;
BER
, 14. Bermuda grouper, snapper, sea turtle, cahow, and pork remains in Jamestown digs: Kelso,
Buried
, 89-90; Bowen and Andrews, “Starving,” 48-50, 58-59, 72-73. “They come and lay,” “very fat and sweet”:
DIS
, 13 (
VOY
, 110-11). “Egg bird” described:
BER
, 4;
SMI
, 2:342. Egg bird probably common tern: Verrill,
Bermuda
, 254-56. Common tern described: Amos,
Birds
, 33. Spring weather, April humpback whale migration: Amos,
Birds
, 33. Whales seen and heard off shore:
DIS
, 17 (
VOY
, 112- 13). Strachey (citing Oviedo) on thresher and swordfish attacks on whales:
PIL
, 4:1740 (
NAR
, 398). Similar passages by Percy and an anonymous early colonist of Bermuda:
NAR
, 86; Jourdain,
Plaine
, 22. Barbour, “Honorable,” 10-11, proposes Strachey copied the passage from Percy, but the similarity is more likely due to the common use of Oviedo. Donne’s use of the same image in 1601: Donne,
Poems
, 188; Stubbs,
Donne
, 151-52. Historical confusion between swordfish and threshers and killer whales: Martin, “Thresher.” Tropic birds and pimlicos on Bermuda:
BER
, 4-5;
SMI
, 2:343. Tropic bird behavior: Amos,
Birds
, 31, 41. Pimlico is Audubon’s shearwater: Verrill,
Bermuda
, 265-67.

Caulking of Bermuda vessels:
PIL
, 4:1746-47 (
NAR
, 414). Hull sealing methods:
SMI
, 3:66-67. Launch of
Deliverance
, vessel specifications, “when she began,” “the thirtieth of March,” “we launched her,” “the most part,” “her beams”:
PIL
, 4:1747 (
NAR
, 414-15).
Deliverance
specifications: Hardy,
Voyage
[vi]; Sams,
Conquest
, 717-18. Bermuda limestone ballast in Jamestown digs: Kelso,
Buried
, 90, 107. “God in the”:
DIS
, 20 (
VOY
, 114). Launch of
Patience
, vessel specifications:
PIL
, 4:1747 (
NAR
, 415-16). Somers’s work on
Patience
, single bolt in vessel:
DIS
, 23 (
VOY
, 116). Frobisher’s inscription in Latin: Hardy,
Voyage
[vi]. Frobisher translated as “there was built”: Sams,
Conquest
, 717-18. “In memory of our” (memorial is no longer extant), “from this time,” “about ten of”:
PIL
, 4:1747-48 (
NAR
, 415-16).

“O brave new”: 5.1.183,
ARD
, 275. “Had it not been,” “we buried five”:
PIL
, 4:1746, 1748 (
NAR
, 413, 416-17). Rich,
Newes
[5] (
NAR
, 375), says two died, apparently understating the number to exactly offset the two births. Machumps suspected in Namontack’s disappearance: Parker,
Van Meteren’s
, 67;
SMI
, 2:350. Machumps circulated freely among the English after Namontack’s disappearance:
HIS
, 26, 54, 94 (
NAR
, 596, 619, 655);
NAR
, 550. “The body of ”:
PIL
, 4:1746 (
NAR
, 412).

Voyage to Virginia:
PIL
, 4:1748 (
NAR
, 417). Speed of pinnaces: Smith, “Course.” “The twentieth about”:
PIL
, 4:1748 (
NAR
, 417). “A well-bowed”:
SMI
, 3:64. “In the morning,” “about seven,” “the one and,” “being Monday”:
PIL
, 4:1748 (
NAR
, 417-18). “We espied two”:
REL
, 250. “The good news,” “from hence”:
PIL
, 4:1748 (
NAR
, 418-19). Soldiers at fort report famine:
NAR
, 445-46. Deep water off Jamestown:
NAR
, 94. Jamestown description:
PIL
, 4:1752-53 (
NAR
, 429-30). Sixty survived famine in Jamestown palisade:
SMI
, 1:275-76, 2:232;
DIS
, 20-21 (
VOY
, 114-15);
ANC
, 29;
REL
, 271. Twenty-five to forty more survived at Point Comfort fort: Bernhard, “Men,” 599, 612, 613; Camfield, “Worms,” 659. Two hundred forty-five total were reduced to ninety: Kelso,
Buried
, 90. Women were among the starving: Bernhard, “Men,” 614. “Great pain”:
NEW
, 210. “Sloth, riot,” “factionaries,” “their ignoble,” “no story can remember”:
PIL
, 4:1749 (
NAR
, 420). “Tempest of dissension”:
EST
, 34 (
NEW
, 255). “The happiest day”: Neill,
History
, 408.

Drought of 1606 to 1612: Blanton, “Drought,” 76, 77; Stahle, “Lost”; Fagan,
Ice Age
, 96-97; Kelso,
Buried
, 122-23, 178. Health problems caused by saltwater consumption: Earle, “Environment,” 99-105, 109-11, 116-17, 122-25; Price,
Love
, 48; Adams,
Best
, 164-67. “Had not now,” “true it is”:
PIL
, 4:1751, 1753 (
NAR
, 425, 430- 31). Concern about water quality:
EST
, 32-33, 42 (
NEW
, 254-55, 257). Mosquitoes at Jamestown: Noël Hume,
Here Lies
, 68-69. Health threats during drought: Rutman and Rutman, “Agues,” 33-34, 38, 50; Kupperman, “Apathy,” 24-25, 28- 34, 36 (prisoner of war comparison), and “Climates,” 213-14, 228-29, 231-33; Blanton,
Medicine
, 47-55, 62-69; Adams,
Best
, 164-67; Bernhard, “Men,” 605, 615, and “Bermuda,” 58-59; Price,
Love
, 55-56 (concentration camp comparison).

Reunited fleet disobeyed Gates’s Barbuda order: Glover and Smith,
Shipwreck
, 98. “The
Unity
,” “having cut her”:
PIL
, 4:1733-34 (
FIR
, 2:281, 282). “In the tail”:
SMI
, 2:219-20. “Houses few”:
ANC
, 29. Argall’s voyage to Jamestown:
SMI
, 1:267, 2:216-17;
FIR
, 2:285; Eaton, “Voyage”; Connor, “Argall,” 163-64. Wounding of John Smith, arrival of the
Virginia
, Smith’s departure for England:
SMI
, 1:128, 272-73, 2:223-25, 231-32;
FIR
, 2:253;
REL
, 245-46;
TRU
, 14 (
NAR
, 365); Bernhard, “Men,” 608-9; Brown,
Republic
, 109. “Sir Thomas Gates”:
NEW
, 287. Starving Time details, “famine beginning,” “to do those things”:
REL
, 247-51. Events during Jamestown famine:
EST
, 36-43 (
NEW
, 255-57); Neill,
History
, 408;
ANC
, 29;
SMI
, 2:232-33; Sainsbury,
State Papers: Colonial
, 1:39;
FIR
, 1:150; Fausz, “Blood,” 25-27.

“Our royal”: 5.1.237,
ARD
, 279. Pierce family details: Dorman,
Purse
, 1:30, 31, 2:797-800, 3:24. Reuniting of the Pierces: Bernhard, “Men,” 616-17. “Our much-grieved”:
PIL
, 4:1748-49 (
NAR
, 419). “A homely thing”:
SMI
, 3:295. Church building details: Lounsbury,
Church
, 3-4. “Viewing the fort”:
PIL
, 4:1749 (
NAR
, 419). “Our governor Sir”:
NAR
, 446. “There was a general”:
PIL
, 4:1749-52 (
NAR
, 419- 27). “Every man glad”:
ANC
, 29. “Most of our men”:
REL
, 251. Careening of ships: Mainwaring,
Dictionary
, 117-19.

Gates’s posting of laws (an editor’s note not reprinted in
NAR
says they numbered 21):
PIL
, 4:1749 (
NAR
, 420). Flaherty in commentary in Strachey,
For the Colony
(1969), xvi, xviii, xxiii, argues that based on language style the first nineteen laws published later by Strachey may safely be attributed to Gates. Because the language of the nineteenth is ambiguous, I have attributed the first eighteen to him. Laws rooted in military code and more severe than civil law: Flaherty in Strachey,
For the Colony
(1969), ix, xv, xxvi-xxviii, xxxii;
GEN
, 2:529; Linebaugh and Rediker,
Hydra
, 18. “Have a bodkin,” “disgraceful words,” “tied head and feet,” “no man shall ravish”: Strachey,
For the Colony
(1612), 3, 5, 7 (1969 edition, 10-14).

Virginia
departed in advance for Point Comfort:
NAR
, 456, 458. Date of departure, “he commanded,” “his own company”:
PIL
, 4:1752 (
NAR
, 427). “Quitted Jamestown”:
ANC
, 29. “About an hour”:
PIL
, 4:1752 (
NAR
, 427). Longboat meets Jamestown vessels:
NAR
, 458;
EST
, 45-46 (
NEW
, 257). Delaware in
NAR
, 466, says Gates intended to wait ten days at Point Comfort for Delaware’s fleet before leaving for Newfoundland. The contention lacks credibility, given Gates’s precarious food supply, and I have attributed it to an attempt by Delaware to deflect criticism from Gates for deciding to abandon the colony. Alternately, Kelso,
Buried
, 40, 91-92, notes that Point Comfort was rich in shellfish that could have sustained the colonists if they had waited there for Delaware.

Delaware expected to follow Gates fleet with a thousand people in nine ships: Brown,
Republic
, 101;
GEN
, 1:358. Delaware actually carried 150 colonists plus crew in three ships:
NAR
, 465;
NEW
, 219. Higher estimates of Delaware contingent: Rich,
Newes
[6] (
NAR
, 376) (170);
ANC
, 30 (250);
REL
, 251-52 (300). Names of Delaware’s ships:
NAR
, 454-55. “Made our hearts”:
NAR
, 446. “Revived all”:
DIS
, 21-22 (
VOY
, 115). “The great grief”:
ANC
, 30. I have reconciled conflicting statements about Gates’s location in
PIL
, 4:1752 (
NAR
, 427), and
ANC
, 30, by presuming that Gates sent most of his fleet back to Jamestown immediately and later rode the
Virginia
up river in convoy with Delaware’s ships. “It was seasoned”:
NAR
, 456.