INTRODUCTION. ix 



of them charitably inclined towards them, when it pleased 

 God they fell in with "the honest English barque Fawmonth," 

 which received them on board. While with this vessel they 

 "tooke" a French ship, into which May's dear friend 

 Captaia de la Barbotier, and his seamen, were transferred ; 

 May himself remaining with the English vessel, which 

 arrived at Falmouth, in August, 1594. 



The next published account of a visit to the Bermudas 

 is contained ia an old black letter work, entitled, " The Wreck 

 of the Sea Adventure," by Sil. Jourdan, a copy of which 

 scarce work is ia the library of the British Museum. 



The " Sea Adventure " was one of a small fleet of ships 

 which sailed from England in the year 1609, for the Colony 

 of Virginia, having on board Sir Thomas Gates, the newly 

 appointed Governor of that possession. Admiral Sir George 

 Somers,* and other persons, beside the crews. After de- 

 scribing minutely the horrors of a terrific storm, which 

 separated the " Sea Adventure " from the rest of the fleet, 

 and drove her, in a shattered condition, upon the reefs of 

 Bermuda, where she became a total wreck, the writer 

 proceeds to describe the natural features of those islands. 



Weeds and plants of several kinds ; tall and goodly 

 cedars, with " infinite store " of palmettos, mulberries, wild 

 olive, and other trees, where found everywhere. Sea-birds 

 were particularly abundant, and evinced that absence of 

 fear towards man, which even at the present day, is noticed 

 by navigators and others, when visiting isolated rocks or 

 uninhabited islands. Fish of many kinds were obtained in 

 large quantities, and required little piscatory skill or fineness 



* The Bermudas, in former times, were better known as the " Somers' 

 Isles," a title frequently corrupted into " Summer Isles." 



