Sea Venture : Shipwreck Survival And The Salvation Of Jamestown

Swiss Family Robinson meets Lord of the Flies...and why did Shakespeare write The Tempest? A thoroughly enjoyable (and very well researched) entree into the always precarious, often violent, and even grisly early years of the Jamestown colony. For readers that crave excitement the story is a page turner. For history students who either are, or are not, familiar with the founding of Virginia there is fascinating information that often gets minimized in most other histories. Highly informative and completely pleasureable from start to finish.

In one of the most triumphant high sea stories ever told, Kieran Doherty brings to life the remarkable true story of the ship that rescued the struggling Jamestown settlement in 1610 and single-handedly 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 hurricane hit devastating the fleet—one ship sank, the rest scattered, and the Sea Venture was shipwrecked on the island of Bermuda. It would take Sea Venture’s passengers nearly a year and half to reach their destination. Awaiting them was not the thriving, populated colony they expected, but instead the grim reality of a remaining fifty colonists—beleaguered, desperate, and hungry. But, the question remains, would the English have lost their place in the New World if the Sea Venture had never arrived? A story of strife and triumph, but above all, endurance, Sea Venture begins and ends in hope and remains one of the greatest “What Ifs?” in history. With the bravado of a legendary sea saga, Doherty braves the elements in Sea Venture, delivering a powerful history willed by a people destined to change the New World forever.

KIERAN DOHERTY is a freelance journalist and award-winning author of numerous biographies for young adults. Sea Venture marks his first history for adults. He lives in Lake Worth, Florida.

"Doherty's fast-paced and colorful blow-by-blow account is a swashbuckling tale of adventure in the age of exploration."-Publishers Weekly

"Doherty's well-told yarn reveals the impulses both noble and base underlying any colonial enterprise, but it's even more effective in showing the unsettling degree to which luck stirs human destinies."-Kirkus Reviews

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Distributor: MPS
Publication Date: 05-13-2008
Pages: 288
Measurements: 8.500in X 5.500in X 0.669in