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History by Century

Bermuda in the 1600's

During the 1600s, colonising the new world was a commmercial business, not one pursued exclusively by the British Government. The Virginia Company, for example, was formed with a charter from King James I in 1606. It was a joint stock corporation charged with the settlement, and the commercial exploitation, of Virginia.

It was actually the Virginia Company that first colonised Bermuda. It did not make much of a profit, though, so title to Bermuda was passed back to the Crown, and to a new batch of shareholders, the Bermuda Company.

Life for the settlers was tough. Quite apart from the business of fortifying the place, there was the business of building homes and growing food for the group to eat. On top of that, there was the business of trying to earn a return on the Company’s investment. At first, the settlers tried growing tobacco. It didn’t work very well. Virginia tobacco was much better, and Bermuda growers seemed not to have much luck getting a fair rate of duty on imports of their product into Britain. Eventually, growing tobacco was abandoned as unprofitable.

The settlers didn’t get along with their parent company. Although a few shareholders came here to live, most of them were absentee landlords who didn’t understand the realities of life in Bermuda. They forbade the settlers to hunt whales, to build ships or to have any commercial relations with the American colonies.

Crime in Bermuda in those days was a big problem, and miscreants were harshly treated. Men were executed for minor offences, and put in the stocks, branded or whipped at the drop of the proverbial hat. The children of parents who died in debt were sold into slavery, apprentices were virtually slaves and there are records of adult colonists who lived in servitude. The situation wasn’t helped by the Scottish and Irish prisoners who were transported here as convicts-at-large.

The settlers first tried to build wooden houses, thatched with Palmetto leaves. But Bermuda could be a cold and windy place in the winters, so they started using the soft Bermuda limestone. These buildings were very successful. Not only were they stout shelters against hurricanes and winter storms, they were handsome and organic, and allowed the settlers to collect rainwater in nearby stone tanks. Some of the houses built in the 17th Century are still used today, as are the techniques and materials used to build them.

They managed to complete a small network of forts to keep themselves safe from marauders. At first, these were placed around the town of St George’s, but later, the settlers began to site them farther afield.

Their difficulties with the Company continued, however. For the Company’s shareholders, Bermuda was an unprofitable pain in the neck, so over time, many of them sold their land cheaply to the settlers. Finally, the Company was abolished, and Bermuda was taken under the control of the British Crown as a Colony in 1684.

1500s - 1600s - 1700s - 1800s - 1900s

Bermuda History - Timeline 1600s

1603
Diego Ramirez, a Spanish Galleon captain, spends three weeks on the island repairing his vessel. Upon returning to Seville, Spain he logs a description and map of the island with his sponsors.

1609
June: A fleet of nine ships sails from England under the flag of the Virginia Company with the intent of continuing the colonization of America. En route a storm scatters the fleet.

28 July: The flagship of the fleet, the Sea Venture, wrecks on the reefs of Bermuda, about half a mile off St.Catherine's Bay, St.George's. All 150 persons on board successfully make it to shore, one of whom is Sir George Somers. The settling of Bermuda has started. The settlers begin building the Deliverance in Builder's Bay, St.George's. There is a full size replica on Ordinance Island, St.George's.

1610
Sir George Somers maps the island, fairly accurately.

10 May: The shipwrecked colonizers leave Bermuda and sail on to Virginia. Two men are left in Bermuda. Sir George Somers returns to Bermuda some months later.

9 Nov: Sir George Somers dies in Bermuda. His heart is buried in St.George's and his body is taken to Dorset, England for burial.

1612
The Virginia Company has permission to colonize Bermuda, now known as the Somers Isles. They dispatch The Plough with sixty settlers on board. Of these, the Virginia Company has appointed Richard Moore Governor.

Richard Moore commissions the building of several fortifications to protect the new settlement. These were:

King's Castle on Castle Island, guarding the entrance to Castle Harbour.
Gates Fort on St.George's Island, guarding Somer's Creek, now known as Town Cut Channel.
Smiths Fort on Smiths Island.
Paget's Fort on Paget Island.

The Virginia Company sells a tract of Bermuda to the newly formed Bermuda Company.
The Town of St.George is founded.

1613
Two Spanish vessels attempt to investigate reports of the British fortifying the Islands by attempting to enter Castle Harbour. Governor Richard Moore fires two shots from King's Castle fort, with the second shot passing right over the ships. The Spanish ships quickly retreat, luckily, as there was only one canon ball left.
Christmas: Richard Norwood arrives in Bermuda.

1614
23 Nov: The Virginia Company, upon deciding that Bermuda is a poor investment, surrenders the Islands to the Crown and Bermuda becomes Britain's first legal colony, thus making Bermuda the oldest British colony.

1615
29 June: King James I grants the Bermuda Company a charter for the plantation of the Somers Isles, but Bermuda remains subject to the British Crown.
Richard Norwood surveys the Islands and divides the country into Tribes.

1616
The first General Assizes are held in St. George's.
Bermuda's own unique currency, Hog Money, begins circulating. The silver-plated copper coins had a wild boar or hog and Roman numerals indicating the value on the obverse side and a ship under sail on the reverse side. There were three values, twopence, sixpence and twelvepence. Their export was strictly prohibited.
First black man and American Indian arrive on the island from the West Indies to dive for pearls. Neither were slaves.

1617
The First mention of slaves in Bermuda records.

1620
It is believed that by this year the Cahow (or Bermuda Petrel), an endemic Bermuda bird, has been hunted to extinction.
1 Aug: The first General Assembly (Parliament) convenes in St.Peter's Church, St.George's.

1621
The Virginia Company grants a tract of land in what is now Chesterfield County, Virginia to the shareholders of The Bermuda Company in compensation for the small area of Bermuda that they had bought from the Virginia Company in 1612.
Dec: The Governor of Bermuda sends two cedar chests to Virginia with various agricultural produce in them. America is introduced to the potato.