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Admiral Sir George Somers (1554-1610) was a British naval hero. Born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, the son of John Somers, his first fame came as part of an expedition led by Sir Amyas Preston against the Spanish navy in 1595. He is remembered today as the founder of the English colony of Bermuda, also known officially as the Somers Isles. Location within the British Isles The Cobb, with boats grounded in the harbour at low tide. ...
For other uses, see Dorset (disambiguation). ...
Somers commanded several British ships between 1600 and 1602, including the HMS Vanguard, HMS Swiftsure and HMS Warspite. He was knighted in 1603 and became Member of Parliament for Lyme Regis the same year. He was also at one time the Mayor of the town. At least ten ships of the British Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Vanguard, meaning the forefront of an action or movement. ...
The Royal Navy has had ships named HMS Swiftsure since 1573, including: Swiftsure, launched in 1804, was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line which served at the Battle of Trafalgar and was sold in 1845. ...
Several ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Warspite: Warspite, launched in 1884, was a first-class armoured cruiser scrapped between 1904 and 1906. ...
A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ...
In 1609, Somers was made Admiral of the Virginia Company's Supply Relief Fleet, which left Britain for the Virginia Colony. On 25th July 1609, battered by a huge storm, his ship the Sea Venture was wrecked off the reefs of Bermuda's Discovery Bay. Somers was presumed dead by those in Virginia, but remained in Bermuda for 10 months, along with all those others who had survived the Sea Venture's wreck. The 1609 charter for the Virginia colony from sea to sea The Virginia Colony refers to the English colony in North America that existed during the 17th and 18th centuries before the American Revolution. ...
The Sea Venture was a 17th century ship which may have been the inspiration for Shakespeares The Tempest. ...
During their time on the islands, the crew and passengers formed the start of the Bermuda colony, building a church and houses. Somers and Sir Thomas Gates (also among the castaways) between them oversaw the construction of two ships - the Deliverance and the Patience - from spars and rigging of the wrecked Sea Venture and local timber. In May 1610 the ships set sail, with 142 castaways on board. On arrival they found the Virginia Colony almost destroyed by famine and disease. Very few of the supplies from the Supply Relief Fleet had arrived (the same hurricane which caught the Sea venture had also badly affected the rest of the fleet). It was only through the arrival of the ships from Bermuda that the colony was able to survive.
Sir George returned to Bermuda in the Patience to collect more food, but he became ill on the journey and died, on 9th November, 1610 in Bermuda.
A biography, "Sir George Somers: A Man and his Times", written by the late David Raine, was published by Pompano Publications, 7 King's Square, St George's, GE 05, Bermuda.
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