X INTEODTJCTION. 



of tackle in their capture ; indeed, the writer amusingly 

 states that, " if a man step into the water they will come 

 round about him, so that men were faine to get out for fear 

 of byting." Hogs, supposed to have been introduced by 

 Bermudez, or by some subsequent and unrecorded navigator, 

 had increased so largely, as to enable Sir George Somers to 

 kill thirty-two in a single day's hunt. 



In May, 1610, Sir George Somers and his companions 

 embarked in two small vessels which they had themselves 

 constructed, and sailed for the settlement of James Town, 

 in Virgiaia, where they arrived in safety. Here Sir George 

 found the settlers in much distress for want of supplies, and, 

 although upwards of sixty years of age, gallantly volun- 

 teered to return to the Bermudas, in his little cedar-built 

 craft of thirty tons, for the purpose' of obtaining hogs. It was 

 on this expedition, and on the site where the town of Saint 

 George now stands and bears his name, that this worthy 

 admiral breathed his last, exhorting his companions to 

 return with all diligence to Virginia. 



Captain Matthew Somers, the nephew and' heir of Sir 

 George, who appears to have inherited the gaUant spirit of 

 his uncle, in place of returniag to Virginia, formed the 

 daring resolution of navigating the same small cedar-built 

 vessel to England, taking with him the embalmed remains 

 of his departed relative. Fortune smiled upon the bold 

 undertaking, and the ship arrived, in due time, safely at 

 Whitchurch, in Dorsetshire, where the admiral's remains 

 were buried with military honors, and an epitaph, in Latin, ' 

 inscribed upon his tomb. 



Upon the representation made by Captain Somers and 

 his companions, a company was formed in England for the 



