Bermuda's Mysterious Heritage From manicured golf courses and coral-tinged beaches to the newest luxury resorts and spas, Bermuda draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year with its siren call of comfort and relaxation.
Scratch this genteel surface, though, and you'll find the mystical appeal of this island —- spread across more than 500 years of colonial history filled with legends, witches, pirates, spies, ghosts and other surprising tall tales. "Bermuda's history is so amazing for such a tiny place," says Kay Latter, co-owner of the Byways Bermuda tour company. "The military history alone would fill volumes, as would the topics of slavery, smuggling, pirates and privateers, wreckers and merchants."
Given its geographic isolation hundreds of miles from the nearest civilisations, Bermuda did not have indigenous residents to spread these stories. In fact, the first recorded human contact with the island came in the very early 1500s, when a ship carrying Spanish sailors home from a New World expedition lost its way in the Atlantic Ocean. Veering much farther north than planned, Captain Juan de Bermudez steered his ship, La Garza (The Heron), near the island. However, its treacherous reefs — combined with the unnerving nocturnal cries of cahows (now Bermuda's national bird) nesting on its shores — led the Spaniards to christen Bermuda as "the Isle of Devils." Wisely, Bermudez elected not to attempt a landing.
The captain ultimately donated his name to the island during a return voyage in 1515, with a Spanish historian on his crew charged with documenting the event. Because Bermuda boasted no gold or other valuable natural resources, though, the island proved unappealing to the major colonial powers as a potential settlement.
Bermuda proved so uninviting, in fact, that it was actually settled by accident more than a century after Bermudez first set eyes on the territory. In 1609, the 108-foot ship Sea Venture — the flagship of a fleet sent to replenish supplies at the new British colony in Jamestown, Virginia — drifted apart from its fellow vessels during an unusually powerful hurricane in the northern Atlantic. Spying the reefs surrounding Bermuda, the ship's officers steered the Sea Venture onto the rocks deliberately to prevent it from sinking with all hands on board. The 150 passengers (and one dog) transferred to shore safely, and they survived on the island for 10 months while they salvaged pieces of the Sea Venture and harvested wood from Bermuda's massive cedar forests to build two new ships to continue their journey. Leaving three men behind, they set sail in 1610 aboard the Deliverance and the Patience with supplies for the starving colonists in Jamestown.
Sir George Somers — the leader of the expedition — returned to Bermuda later that year but died shortly after his arrival. Per his wishes, his heart was removed and buried at an undisclosed location in the settlement that later became the historic Town of St. George. Meanwhile, the rest of his body was pickled in a barrel and taken to England for burial. (Many scholars believe that, as word spread in Great Britain about the exploits of Somers' crew, William Shakespeare used their adventures as a basis for his play The Tempest.)
In 1612, democracy arrived officially in Bermuda with the first group of proper English settlers aboard the Plough. Richard Moore, a carpenter, won the honour of serving as the island's inaugural governor, and in 1620 Bermuda convened its first legislative assembly (the world's third-oldest parliament, after Iceland and Great Britain). Sixty-four years later, Bermuda became an official crown colony.
Along with their governing ideals, unfortunately, these settlers also brought their contemporary fears of the unknown. Governor Josiah Forster tacitly approved the island's first witch hunt, condemning Jeane Gardiner at the State House in St. George's to execution on May 26, 1651. Records show that she was "throwne twice into the sea" but "she did swyme like a corke and could not sinke," so it took a third drowning attempt to carry out the sentence. Witches were identified and executed periodically throughout the 17th century, but the tables turned on June 6, 1730 with the case of Sally Bassett. A slave accused of trying to poison her owners with "ratsbane" and "manchineel root," she was burned at the stake at the eastern end of Hamilton Harbour on an insufferably hot day as the last accused witch executed in Bermuda. (Bermudians still describe unseasonably warm weather as a "regular Sally Bassett day.") Her legend holds that a clump of purplish blue iris began growing from her ashes, and that flower — now dubbed the Bermudiana — continues to flourish across the island.
Later, attention shifted from hunting witches to expanding Bermuda's economy. After failing miserably as farmers (since the island offers relatively few tillable acres for crops), many families adopted maritime trades such as shipbuilding and whaling. Eventually, those crews operating Bermuda's famous speedy sloops developed more profitable sidelines as privateers (pirates operating under government approval to plunder foreign vessels). During the War of 1812, for example, Bermudian privateers seized almost 300 ships operating near their shores! "We've always been an extremely resourceful and opportunistic people," observes Elena Strong, acting curator at the Bermuda Maritime Museum. "Given our geographic positioning in the Atlantic Ocean, with sea trade booming around us, our privateers were simply in the right place at the right time."
Because many privateers hid their treasures in coves and caves or in the basements of homes surrounding Hamilton Harbour, officials moved Bermuda's capital from St. George's to Hamilton in 1815 in an effort to catch tax evaders. That's an ironic twist, given Hamilton's reputation around the world in modern times as an attractive headquarters location for multinational companies eager to reduce their tax burdens.
Many Bermudians also engaged in a long history of smuggling as well. In 1775, thieves broke into a military supply building near St. George's and spirited away more than 100 barrels of gunpowder desperately sought by revolutionaries in the American colonies. During the U.S. Civil War, Bermuda's sloops earned a great deal of money evading the Union blockade, sneaking goods into the Confederacy in exchange for gold as well as cotton (which the Bermudians bought for four to six cents a pound for resale later in the London cotton markets for 10 times the price).
Because the island did not even operate a lighthouse until 1846, many vessels sailing too close found themselves caught on Bermuda's reefs unexpectedly, becoming the targets of scavengers who would sometimes strip a sinking ship of its valuables before providing rescue efforts. Today, Bermuda boasts more sunken vessels lying at rest in its coastal waters than almost any other location in the world. It's a prime destination for divers eager to explore these shipwrecks, with constant temperatures (15? to 30? C) and up to 30 metres of visibility at many dive sites. Visitors can arrange twice-a-day dives at many sites all year round.
During World War II, Bermuda became a hotbed of espionage, playing a critical role in the Allies' intelligence efforts. Teams of "trappers" — young female code breakers — worked in the basement of the Hamilton Princess Hotel (now a Fairmont property) to decipher transmissions from German warships and submarines sailing in the Atlantic Ocean. The Germans did not realise that British experts had discovered methods for decoding their secret messages — and Bermuda's location made it the perfect base for intercepting them and stealing the Germans' war plans. When aeroplanes carrying mail between Europe and North America landed in Bermuda for refueling, other Allied agents innocently sorted through the mail bags on each plane looking for coded messages while the pilots enjoyed their coffee breaks.
Almost every cottage or house in Bermuda that dates back more than 100 years seems to harbour a friendly ghost on the premises. "Spithead, a lovely old house on Harbour Road, was built by Hezekiah Frith, an 18th-century privateer," reports Latter. "It became the home of playwright Eugene O'Neill. It's said to be haunted, as are dozens of other houses all over the island." The Old Rectory in St. George's (now a bed-and-breakfast) welcomes a musical spirit who plays an invisible harpsichord, whilst Camden (the official residence of Bermuda's premier) reports that the disconsolate wife of a former government leader walks the grounds on moonless nights. The attic nursery at Verdmont, an 18th-century historic mansion now owned by the Bermuda National Trust, features a ghost who walks among the toys still scattered on the floor. Noel Coward reportedly wrote his famed play Blithe Spirit based on his encounters with a beautiful French ghost on the island.
Beyond the sun-and-beach appeal of Bermuda, you'll find an unusually rich heritage on the island, steeped in its maritime origins and grounded among its tenaciously resourceful residents. Don't miss any chance to dig deeper into Bermuda's mysteries!
Make your Bermuda trip even more memorable with dolphins! Dolphin Quest offers fun, interactive dolphin encounter programs for all. Book your adventure today!
Have a fun-filled vacation with a cycle from Oleander. If you can ride a bicycle, you can easily ride an Oleander scooter. See all of Bermuda...reserve one today!
Transportation Passess are the best value for visitors, good for unlimited rides on the bus and ferry system. Passes are available for one, two, three, four and seven days.
ExperienceBermuda.com The official web site of the
Bermuda Hotel Association. Copyright 2003/08, HCP/Aboard Publishing, a division of Aboard Publishing, Inc., and subsidiary of The McClatchy Company.
Scratch this genteel surface, though, and you'll find the mystical appeal of this island —- spread across more than 500 years of colonial history filled with legends, witches, pirates, spies, ghosts and other surprising tall tales. "Bermuda's history is so amazing for such a tiny place," says Kay Latter, co-owner of the Byways Bermuda tour company. "The military history alone would fill volumes, as would the topics of slavery, smuggling, pirates and privateers, wreckers and merchants."
The captain ultimately donated his name to the island during a return voyage in 1515, with a Spanish historian on his crew charged with documenting the event. Because Bermuda boasted no gold or other valuable natural resources, though, the island proved unappealing to the major colonial powers as a potential settlement.
In 1612, democracy arrived officially in Bermuda with the first group of proper English settlers aboard the Plough. Richard Moore, a carpenter, won the honour of serving as the island's inaugural governor, and in 1620 Bermuda convened its first legislative assembly (the world's third-oldest parliament, after Iceland and Great Britain). Sixty-four years later, Bermuda became an official crown colony.
Later, attention shifted from hunting witches to expanding Bermuda's economy. After failing miserably as farmers (since the island offers relatively few tillable acres for crops), many families adopted maritime trades such as shipbuilding and whaling. Eventually, those crews operating Bermuda's famous speedy sloops developed more profitable sidelines as privateers (pirates operating under government approval to plunder foreign vessels). During the War of 1812, for example, Bermudian privateers seized almost 300 ships operating near their shores! "We've always been an extremely resourceful and opportunistic people," observes Elena Strong, acting curator at the Bermuda Maritime Museum. "Given our geographic positioning in the Atlantic Ocean, with sea trade booming around us, our privateers were simply in the right place at the right time."
Many Bermudians also engaged in a long history of smuggling as well. In 1775, thieves broke into a military supply building near St. George's and spirited away more than 100 barrels of gunpowder desperately sought by revolutionaries in the American colonies. During the U.S. Civil War, Bermuda's sloops earned a great deal of money evading the Union blockade, sneaking goods into the Confederacy in exchange for gold as well as cotton (which the Bermudians bought for four to six cents a pound for resale later in the London cotton markets for 10 times the price).
Almost every cottage or house in Bermuda that dates back more than 100 years seems to harbour a friendly ghost on the premises. "Spithead, a lovely old house on Harbour Road, was built by Hezekiah Frith, an 18th-century privateer," reports Latter. "It became the home of playwright Eugene O'Neill. It's said to be haunted, as are dozens of other houses all over the island." The Old Rectory in St. George's (now a bed-and-breakfast) welcomes a musical spirit who plays an invisible harpsichord, whilst Camden (the official residence of Bermuda's premier) reports that the disconsolate wife of a former government leader walks the grounds on moonless nights. The attic nursery at Verdmont, an 18th-century historic mansion now owned by the Bermuda National Trust, features a ghost who walks among the toys still scattered on the floor. Noel Coward reportedly wrote his famed play Blithe Spirit based on his encounters with a beautiful French ghost on the island.
Make your Bermuda trip even more memorable with dolphins! Dolphin Quest offers fun, interactive dolphin encounter programs for all. Book your adventure today!
Have a fun-filled vacation with a cycle from Oleander. If you can ride a bicycle, you can easily ride an Oleander scooter. See all of Bermuda...reserve one today! 
Transportation Passess are the best value for visitors, good for unlimited rides on the bus and ferry system. Passes are available for one, two, three, four and seven days. 
