Sea Venture was a seventeenth-century English sailing ship, part of the Third Supply mission to the Jamestown Colony, that was wrecked in Bermuda in 1609. She was the 300 ton purpose-built flagship of the London Company and a highly unusual vessel for her day, given that she was the first single timbered merchantman built in England, and also the first dedicated emigration ship. Sea Venture's wreck is widely thought to have been the inspiration for William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
1609Jul, 25
The English ship Sea Venture, en route to Virginia, is deliberately driven ashore during a storm at Bermuda to prevent its sinking; the survivors go on to found a new colony there.
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Events on 1609
- 5Apr
Invasion of Ryukyu
Daimyo (Lord) Shimazu Tadatsune of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa. - 9Jul
Freedom of religion
Bohemia is granted freedom of religion through the Letter of Majesty by the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II. - 30Jul
Fort Ticonderoga
Beaver Wars: At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs on behalf of his native allies. - 11Sep
Manhattan Island
Henry Hudson discovers Manhattan Island and the indigenous people living there. - 13Sep
Hudson River
Henry Hudson reaches the river that would later be named after him - the Hudson River.