The Bermuda Devils
From the early 1600s, as far as we know, sailors regarded the Bermuda seas to be filled with "devils" and "fairies." Too many wrecked vessels in those waters, disasters, and deaths to think otherwise. I have read many accounts of wrecked vessels in the Bermuda Islands throughout the 1600s. It is an area known to mariners as a sea of strong, swirling winds and mysterious disappearances.
We hear of the "Bermuda Triangle" today. Well, that is the sea of great winds, is it not?
Most of the names of the first adventurers do not appear in the history books simply because they did not survive the ocean voyage, or something else occurred.
Sir George Somers was born at Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire, in 1554, and is supposed to have been related to the Somers family of White Ladies, in Worcestershire. He was knighted at Whitehall, on July 21, 1603. in reward for his services and represented Lyme Regis in Parliament for a number of years.
1609 Voyage to the Virginia Colony on the "Sea Adventure"
Although the Somers name was second on the Royal Patent of Apr. 10, 1606, he took no active part in colonial affairs until he sailed with Sir Thomas Gates and Capt. Newport in their expedition of 1609. Somers was fifty-odd years of age at the time of his sailing. He had already distinguished himself in the military and naval service, having commanded several expeditions and. in 1595, accompanied Capt. Amias Preston to the West Indies.
He was appointed Admiral for the colony and was onboard the Sea Adventure on the way to take command when she was cast away.
Wreck of the Sea Adventure in Bermuda in 1609 (not wrecked in Virginia)
1609 Wreck of the Sea Adventure in Bermuda
The vessel met its fate in the strong winds of the Bermuda Islands and was wrecked.
Sir George Somers was the first on the shipwrecked vessel to sight land, but his spotting of the shore of a Bermuda island was not cheered by the crew, who supposed it to be inhabited by fairies and devils. Despite their suspicions, however, their choice was between the deep sea and land. Instead of fairies, they found flocks of birds upon the shore and herds of wild swine running in the wood which sustained them on the island.
In fact, their sojourning ashore enabled them to complete the construction of two vessels for their transport and to set sail for Virginia.
But as soon as Sir Somers dropped anchor at Jamestown, he found the colonists to be starving and in a sorry state of affairs, so he volunteered to return at once to the fruitful Bermudas for supplies.
He hurried to set sail but was driven North by adverse winds which drove him as far as New England before he was finally able to reach his destination. But the trip had determined his fate. Feeling ill and near death, Sir Somers exhorted his crew to perform the task of obtaining fruits for the Jamestown colony. But soon after arriving in Bermuda, he died on November 9, 1610. The crew did not perform the task requested. Instead, they buried his heart on the island and set sail for England, and, carrying his dead body aboard the vessel, arrived at Whitechurch, in Dorsetshire on February 16, 1611. The body was buried with military honors.
The general attitude was that the Bermuda "devils" had caused his death.
Source: The Virginia Magazine, Volume 1 (1894).