Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)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, a Powhatan warrior, was killed in battle with the English; no one knows for certain). The overall argument is similar to that of other recent histories of early Virginia -- the Virginia Company, desperate to turn a profit, was responsible for sending too many people too fast into Virginia to ensure the survival of more than a fifth of them; and Wahunsonacock, also known as Powhatan, missed his chance to annihilate the colony in 1610 just before the passengers of the ship for which the book is named, finally arrived in Virginia.
On top of this, you get to read about the quasi-accidental founding of Bermuda as an English colony, and details about people who were instrumental in the founding of Virginia, such as the Earl of Southampton, who was almost beheaded for treason in 1601 after his friend the Earl of Essex commissioned a performance of "Richard II" as a signal to revolt against Queen Elizabeth! I join my fellow customer reviewers in giving this book five stars.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Sea Venture: Shipwreck, Survival, and the Salvation of the First English Colony in the New World
In one of the most triumphant high sea stories ever told, Kieran Doherty brings to lifethe 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 hurricanedevastated 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 Venturebegins 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.
