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BERMUDA
PAST AND PRESENT
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ROYAL PALMS AT HAMILTON
BERMUDA
PAST AND PRESENT
A DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE SOMERS ISLANDS
BY
WALTER BROWNELL HAYWARD
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP
No, ne'er did the wave in its element steep An island of lovelier charms.
THOMAS MOORE
NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
Copyright, 1910 BY DODD, MEAD AMD COMPAXT
Published September, 1910
F
TO MY FATHER
PREFACE
IT is believed that this book is sufficiently com- prehensive to serve as a valuable guide to the Bermudas, now such a popular resort for Ameri- can travellers who desire to exchange the rigours of our northern winter for blue skies and a balmy atmosphere. All points of interest, picturesque, historical, legendary, have received ample atten- tion, while the reader is brought into contact with the characteristic pleasures of Bermuda life, the government and resources. In narrating the story of Bermuda's development from a proprietary set- tlement founded by the Virginia Company to a progressive colony with sound institutions, self- government and strong individuality, emphasis has been laid upon events which reveal the close historical bond existing between the islands and the United States. Heretofore this community of interest has received scant treatment from writers, much to the regret of American visitors; indeed, all the dramatic incidents of Bermuda's part in the Civil War have been totally neglected, possibly because they are hidden in long-forgotten documents and personal narratives. It is hoped that repetition of some of these historic events
viii PREFACE
will stimulate interest among Bermudians with re- gard to matters which were stern realities to the fathers and grandfathers of the present generation. The author has freely consulted Lefroy's " Me- morials " ; Williams's " History of Bermuda " ; " The Bermuda Islands," by Addison E. Verrill of Yale University ; George Watson Cole's " Ber- muda in Periodical Literature," a bibliography; " Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion," diplomatic correspondence of the period, and other docu- ments issued by the governments of the United States and Bermuda. To many Bermudians, notably the Honourable Joseph Ming Hayward of St. George's, and Mr. Thomas M. Dill, M.C.P. of Devonshire, is the author indebted for valuable facts and the elucidation of obscure points. The photographs are by Weiss & Co. and N. E. Lusher & Sun of Bermuda, and Mr. George M. Boardman of New York.
Introduction
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER H
Discovery in 1515 — Islands reputed to be an abode of evil spirits — Their neglect by mariners — Wreck of Henry May 6
CHAPTER m
Wreck of Sir George Somers and the Virginia colonists — They build two ships and continue their journey after a sojourn of nine months — They find the settlement at Jamestown starving — Somers returns to Bermuda for pro- visions and dies there 11
CHAPTER IV
First settlers sent out by the Virginia Company — They find the "three kings" hi charge — Bermuda Company assumes control — Tobacco the only medium of exchange — Political and ecclesiastical struggles — Rebellion against the Com- monwealth — Witchcraft — The company dissolved ... 21
CHAPTER V
Colony under the Crown — Bermudians neglect agriculture and engage in the salt trade at Turk's Island, becoming the principal carriers for the American provinces — Outbreak of American Revolution causes prohibition of trade — People face starvation and appeal to the Continental Congress for aid — Their powder magazine depleted by an American ex- pedition — Correspondence of George Washington — His address to the Bermudians — Congress rewards them — American plans for capture of the Islands 82
CHAPTER VI
Bermuda as a naval base in the War of 1812 — Islanders lose many vessels — Prizes brought in — Shipping trade re- vives, then declines — Slavery abolished — Convicts sent out from England to build fortifications 58
CONTENTS
CHAPTER VII
Bermuda's part in the Civil War — Colony swarms with seces- sionists and becomes an entrepot for those who ran the blockade • — Differences between the Governor and Ad- miral Wilkes, U. S. N. — Latter blockades the islands — Types of blockade runners and the way the business was conducted — British naval officers in the business — Ex- ploits of the Confederate Wilkinson — Beginning of the end — Braine and the Roanoke — The yellow fever cloth- rag episode 72
CHAPTER VHI
Origin of the Bermuda group — Climate and characteristics — The opalescent water, the sea gardens and their denizens — A country of flowers and sub-tropical vegetation — Lily fields and oleander hedges 103
CHAPTER IX
Literary associations — The "still-vexed Bermoothes" of Shakespeare's "Tempest" — Waller and Andrew Marvel
— Tom Moore a resident — His descriptive verses and romance — Anthony Trollope's visit — Visits of Mark Twain, William Dean Howells and Charles Dudley Warner
— Father Tabb a blockade runner 116
CHAPTER X
Detailed description of Bermuda by parishes, including his- toric points, towns, caves, etc 135
CHAPTER XI
Sports and recreations described under the title "Bermuda Diversions" 184
CHAPTER XH
Method of government — Electoral qualifications and the Colonial Parliament — A country that exists without gen- eral taxation — Development of the judicial system . . . 204
CHAPTER XIH
Resources of the colony — Agriculture the sole industry — The tourist traffic — Possibilities of the coaling trade ... 217
USEFUL, FACTS FOB THE TRAVELLER 231
INDEX , 237
ILLUSTRATIONS
Royal Palms at Hamilton Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
White Sand and Limpid Water 4
Ribbon of Road near the Causeway .... 4
A Bermuda Cottage 28
Natural Arch at Tucker's Town 42
St. Peter's Churchyard 62
Churning Breakers on the South Shore ... 68
Town of St. George's 80
Boilers or Coral Atolls 104
A Field of Easter Lilies 110
A Stone Quarry . 114
Walsingham House 128
Cathedral or Temple Rocks 136
View from Gibb's Hill Lighthouse .... 140
City of Hamilton 144
The Cathedral, Hamilton 148
Old Devonshire Church 158
Fishes in the Devil's Hole 162
Stalactites in the Crystal Cave 166"
Street in St. George's 170
xii ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAQE
View from St. David's Lighthouse .... 178
Ruined Fortifications on Castle Island . . . 182
A Bermuda Dinghy 192
Road Cut through a Hill 210
Screw Pine, Public Garden, St. George's . . 226
Map of Bermuda Page 230
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
You sail from New York in a southeasterly direc- tion, traverse the warm and restless Gulf Stream, and in two days reach that spot in the North Atlantic where
" The remote Bermudas ride In Ocean's bosom unespied."
You are prepared for a creation in miniature if by chance some one has told you that the Ber- mudas were reared by coral insects and the winds upon the peak of a submarine mountain, and in truth you find a tiny oasis, a clump of refreshing green, in a waste of shimmering water. And it seems, after due reflection, that Nature in her infinite goodness must have set these islands apart as a way-station for distressed mariners and clothed them in pleasing garb for the benefit of the traveller whose mind and eyes seek new perspectives. 0
Andrew Marvel chose a singularly appropriate
A.
phrase when he wrote in bygone days of the " re- mote Bermudas." Seven hundred nautical miles separate them from their chief neighbour, New
2 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
York; five hundred and sixty-eight miles they lie from Cape Hatteras, the nearest point of the North American continent. Few islands are more supremely isolated, but their remoteness from other land is counterbalanced by their proximity to important trade routes, and so they constitute in the scheme of geographical distribution a haven of refuge, a place for ships to refit and coal, and for men to rest, after a struggle in heavy weather.
Bermuda, to use the shorter term, calls to the deep, and its call extends also to shores whence men sail for pleasure. It has much that is quaint and beautiful to offer them. An archipelago of a hundred odd islands and rocks — less than twenty square miles in all — standing amid clear water of exquisite hues; a place of fair skies and sunshine and flowers, blessed with an equable and salubrious climate, untouched by fog or frost, and wholly free from tropical fevers — such in brief is Bermuda. On shore fairy-like scenery, caves of crystal, limestone roads white as bleached linen, curious trees and shrubs ; in the water, gardens as luxuriant as those which take their life from the soil, and a host of fishes, all coloured to correspond with the. submarine growth which gives them food and a home.
Nature has given Bermuda a wealth of varied pictures and enhanced their charm by a setting
INTRODUCTION 3
of repose. One cannot fail to be impressed by this distinctive characteristic. You leave ice, snow, dirt, noise, bustle, the glitter of wealth, the sor- didness of poverty, all the elements that combine to make the fascinating yet wearisome turmoil of New York, the Western metropolis, and in forty- eight hours find yourself in a pure and balmy atmosphere, a silent restful land, where modern progress has yet to remove the rust of antiquity and obliterate ideas of old-fashioned simplicity.
The contrast does not end here. In Bermuda the effort to live is not hurried; you eat, drink, take your pleasure and perform your daily task in a normal manner. No factory whistles awaken you each morning, no chimneys pollute the air with pungent smoke; you do not run to catch trains or street cars for the reason that Bermuda has not adopted these symbols of high civilisa- tion. Therefore you are bound to move delib- erately, however rebellious your northern blood may be at first ; but in the warm sunlight there are seductive germs of indolence, and to these you succumb. And it is better so, for, hav- ing succumbed, you assimilate Bermuda's worth and, incidentally, let its reposeful atmosphere as- similate you.
It is therefore not difficult to understand why the colony is recommended especially to the person
4 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
who is tired and nervous, run down in body and mind. Its tranquillity is soothing, and further- more it is remarkably free from repellent blem- ishes. That is to say, Bermuda does not offend the senses. It looks prosperous, — well groomed, so to speak, — and its people seem contented. You may travel through each of the nine parishes and fail to observe a single case of distressing pov- erty; neither will evidence of great wealth be apparent. Extremes rarely meet in Bermuda. Let it be said to the credit of this British colony, now three centuries old, that its poorest children are not ill-fed; that its humblest inhabitants do not live in filth and degradation, such as we of the cities know; and that even in homes where the absence of money is felt most keenly, the hand of hospitality is extended to the stranger.
Because it is genuine, native hospitality is per- haps the colony's most wholesome social asset. The American visitor especially feels its influ- ence, but let him not gain the impression that the welcome he receives is actuated by the dollars which will fall from his pocket. No, his welcome has a deeper significance, to understand which he must turn back the pages of history and read of the days when Bermudians and Americans alike, all of the same blood, were struggling for a foothold on unfamiliar soil.
INTRODUCTION 5
When one co-ordinates and balances Bermuda's enchantments he finds them sufficient for all. To the health-seeker are given bright surroundings and a genial climate ; to the holiday maker the pleasures of life in the open ; the artist lives among a wealth of suggestive material; botanist, zoolo- gist, and biologist in a natural treasure house; while before the geologist lies an open book of rock, telling its tale in stratification and fossilised remains. And even the philosopher will find in- terest in tracing reasons for the spirit of content- ment which distinguishes this little community.
CHAPTER II
DISCOVERY
ONE cannot fail to observe in Bermuda a wider reflection of English life than is presented in the average British colony, and one does not seek far for the reason. Of pure English stock, the first settlers were obliged only to accommodate themselves to strange conditions and climate. Neither they nor their descendants were com- pelled by force of circumstance to depart from English ideals and customs, or to share their island home with alien races. Bermuda, in fact, has always been under British rule; never for a day has another flag waved over its fortifications as an emblem of dominance.
Though England's control proved irksome and often tyrannical, particularly when the islands were exploited by a company of adventurers, only a few of the colonists found it desirable to seek a more congenial land. So the Bermuda of to-day is composed largely of families bearing the pioneer names, and each has its traditions, which form a part of the colony's history.
Because Bermuda never passed from flag to flag, like many islands of the West Indies, its
DISCOVERY 7
history can offer no tales of the old sea-fighters who roved the Caribbean in a malevolent manner and never lost an opportunity to loose their guns. Nevertheless, there is a certain element of romance in the discovery of the islands and their subse- quent neglect by the superstitious mariners who constantly passed and repassed them yet failed to land.
Bermuda's name is taken from Juan de Ber- mudez, a Spaniard, who anchored his ship, La Garza (the Heron), within gunshot of the land in the year 1515. It is possible that he may have discovered the islands on a previous voyage, for they appear on a map published by Peter Martyr in 1511. Bermudez was carrying home to Spain Gonzales Ferdinando d' Oviedo, a distinguished historian, who wrote a brief account of his visit, the earliest description extant. He speaks of the " Island Bermuda, otherwise called Garza," as the furthest of all " that are found at this day in the world," but fails to indicate whether Bermudez had touched there before. Foul weather pre- vented Oviedo from landing hogs and exploring the islands as he had intended, and he sailed away with vivid recollections of the strange antics of myriads of seabirds, which found pleasure and food in the chase of flying fishes.
Not until 1527 was a plan evolved for the
8 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
settlement of the islands. In that year Her- nando Camelo, a Portuguese, received a commis- sion from King Philip of Spain to found a colony, but there is no evidence to show that he made use of his grant. Possibly Camelo was deterred by imaginary tales of evil which even then may have circulated regarding the islands. It is certain that such sailor's yarns — they were nothing more — passed from mouth to mouth in later years. In substance, they depicted Bermuda as an enchanted place, inhabited only by the spirits of darkness ; a land visited frequently by tempests, thunder, and lightning, and bordered by hidden rocks, to approach which invited destruction. Thus it was that commanders of homeward-bound Spanish gal- leons gave the islands a wide berth, even though they followed the Gulf Stream to their latitude before laying an easterly course.
These fables of supernatural inhabitants may have been concocted by buccaneers who possibly desired an undisturbed retreat on the Isles of the Devil, as Bermuda was popularly called, or they may have originated on account of disasters. At all events, the remnants of wrecks were ob- served when man settled in Bermuda, and there remains one mute token of an ancient inhabitant — probably a castaway — in Smith's Parish, on the south shore, where, graven on Spanish Rock,
DISCOVERY 9
are the mutilated initials F. T., followed by a cross and the date 1543. Local historians have attempted without success to connect this mono- gram with Camelo's name, but there is no reason to doubt the antiquity of the relic.
The cross on Spanish Rock — a warning against evil spirits it appears to have been — illustrates the terror which had sunk into the hearts of sea- farers. Years passed, and although the Spaniards appreciated the value of Bermuda, the old super- stitions held them at a distance. They did not fear to cross arms with men, but unseen wraiths were dangerous enemies. None cared to penetrate the veil of mystery which enshrouded the islands, and they remained in obscurity until Henry May, an Englishman, was cast away upon the reefs in 1593.
May was a passenger on board a French ves- sel commanded by M. de la Barbotiere, who left Laguna, in Hispaniola, on November 30. Seven- teen days later the pilots congratulated them- selves on being out of danger, so far as Bermuda was concerned, and demanded their " wine of height " — a tipple given when a safe latitude was reached. They drank long and deep, discipline was relaxed, and at midnight the ship struck. Out of a company of fifty-odd men only twenty- six reached shore by boat and raft, May and the captain being among the survivors.
10 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
The future activities of these men furnish an example of the ingenuity of sailors of their day. They saved carpenter's tools and tackle from the wreck, cut down cedar trees, sawed out planks, and built a seaworthy craft of eighteen tons, caulking her seams with a mixture of lime and turtle's oil, which hardened like cement. Fish, birds, turtles, and rain water sustained them, and they might have taken wild hogs had they so de- sired, for they saw many during their sojourn.
On May 11, 1594, the party set sail, arriving at Cape Breton in nine days. About two months later May landed in England to recount his ex- periences. By a singular coincidence the feat in which he participated was to be duplicated several years afterward by a party of his own country- men; in the meantime Bermuda was to remain a habitation for seabirds and swine.
CHAPTER IH
ROMANCE OP THE SEA VENTURE
CROSS the Market Square of quaint old St. George's Town and turn the corner into Kent Street — it is merely a step to the Public Gardens. Just within the gate, on the left wall, is affixed a tablet commemorating a man described by Fuller as " a lamb on land, so patient that few could anger him, and (as if entering a ship he had assumed a new nature) a lion at sea so passionate that few could please him." The inscription reads:
NEAR THIS SPOT
WAS INTERRED IN THE TEAR 1610
THE HEART OF THE HEROIC ADMIRAL
SIR GEORGE SOMERS, KT.,
WHO NOBLY SACRIFICED HIS LIFE
TO CARRY SUCCOUR
TO THE INFANT AND SUFFERING PLANTATION NOW
THE STATE OF VIRGINIA.
To PRESERVE HIS FAME TO FUTURE AGES,
NEAR THE SCENE OF HIS MEMORABLE
SHIPWRECK OF 1609,
12 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
THE GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THIS COLONY FOR THE TIME BEING, CAUSED THIS TABLET TO BE ERECTED, 1876.1
Such is the brief record of an unselfish deed. It is a becoming memorial, for the Admiral was a modest sailor. His personal narrative is a straightforward statement of fact without colour or suggestion of vainglory, but others have pre- served what Sir George Somers suppressed, and for detailed accounts of his resourcefulness in time of danger and after one must turn to the writings of William Strachy, Silvanus Jordan, and the famous John Smith, early historian of Virginia and Bermuda.
It was on June 2, 1609, that seven ships and two pinnaces, each having on board a goodly company of adventurers, sailed out of Plymouth Sound and laid a course for Virginia, the " infant plantation." The ship Sea Venture flew the flag of Sir George Somers, or Summers, as William Strachy, one of the members of the party, calls him, " a gentleman of approved assuredness and
1 The late Major General J. H. Lefroy, R.A., C.B., F.R.S., honorary member of the New York Historical Society, whose "Memorials of the Bermudas" and other works are a monu- ment to his devotion to the colony's interests and to his ability as a conscientious historian.
ROMANCE OF THE SEA VENTURE 13
ready knowledge in seafaring actions," and with the Admiral were Captain Newport and Sir Thomas Gates, the latter to act as Deputy Governor under Lord De La Warr. The fleet kept together until the twenty-third of July, when a gale sprang up and the pinnace which the Sea Venture had in tow was cast loose. By morning, a Monday, the ships had scattered, and the Sea Venture was fighting her lonely way through a West Indian hurricane.
" Winds and seas were as mad as fury and rage could make them," writes Strachy. " Our clamours were drowned in the winds and the winds in thun- der. The sea swelled above the clouds and gave battle unto heaven. It could not be said to rain ; the waters like whole rivers did flood the air."
The working of the seas caused the Sea Venture to leak seriously, and soon she had nine feet of water in her hold. Sir George Somers took his station on the poop to advise the steersman and hold the vessel true to her course, while Sir Thomas Gates directed the efforts of passengers and crew. They thrust pieces of beef into the open seams in a vain attempt to check the inrush of water; they bailed, pumped, jettisoned cargo, ordnance, and luggage. Their galley fires went out ; their water casks were awash ; for three days and three nights the men laboured incessantly without food or sleep, the Sea Venture plunging
14 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
forward under bare spars and always settling deeper. Once a huge wave swept her decks and she faltered, apparently about to founder, but, recovering, she laboured onward, a battered wraith of a ship, with timbers strained beyond measure.
On the night of Thursday St. Elmo's Fire made its appearance, " like a faint star," says Strachy, " trembling and streaming along with a sparkling blaze, half the height upon the main- mast, and shooting sometimes from shroud to shroud. At which, Sir George Somers called divers about him and showed them the same, who observed it with much wonder and carefulness ; but upon a sudden, towards the morning, they lost sight of it and knew not what way it made."
That was their last night of suffering. Early next day, July 28, when the end seemed only a matter of hours, Sir George Somers, who had never left his post, descried land a few miles distant. The ship was worked into shallow water and lodged between two shoals, her re- puted resting-place appearing on the charts of to-day as Sea Venture Flat. Sunset saw the whole company of one hundred and forty men and women on the shores of the thickly-wooded island that was subsequently to bear the name St. George's. Speaking of this event, an anony- mous writer says:
ROMANCE OF THE SEA VENTURE 15
" These islands of the Bermudas have ever been accounted an enchanted pile of rocks, and a desert habitation for devils; but all the fairies of the rocks were but flocks of birds, and all the devils that haunted the woods were but herds of swine. Our people in the Bermudas found such abun- dance of hogs that for nine months' space they plentifully sufficed, and yet the number seemed not diminished." 1
Tools, sails, arms, cables, boats, and stores were recovered from the Sea Venture, and the castaways dug wells and built cabins, which they thatched with palmetto leaves. The palmetto and cedar furnished them with berries, and in addition to hogs the islands provided an un- limited supply of fish, turtles, water birds, and prickly pears. After a time it was decided to communicate, if possible, with Virginia. To this
1 These animals may have been the offspring of hogs that escaped from wrecked vessels, but it is possible that the islands were stocked by far-seeing pirates. When the Bermudas came under control of the company organised for their settlement, the memory of the abundance of hogs was perpetuated by the issuing of what the proprietors called a "base coyne." This is known to numismatists as "hog money." It was a crude and imperfectly stamped piece. On the obverse side were the words "Sommer Islands " and a wild boar, with the Roman numerals over it, and on the reverse appeared a ship under sail, having the Cross of St. George at each masthead. The number of coins was limited. Only a few are in the possession of Bennudian families and foreign collectors. All are held at high figures.
16 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
end the long boat was fitted with a deck made from the ship's hatches and provided with sails and oars. Carrying a crew of seven men in com- mand of Henry Raven, this little craft cleared the reefs on September 1 and reached the open sea, to pursue her perilous voyage. Raven prom- ised to return as quickly as possible, and by pre- arrangement beacon fires were lighted on the headlands so that he might be guided to a safe anchorage. But the plucky sailors went to an unknown death, and after two months elapsed the adventurers lost hope of receiving help from the mainland.
The construction of a vessel was begun by Richard Frubbusher, a shipwright, probably at the little cove called Buildings Bay, within a short distance of the Town Cut Channel, at the eastern end of St. George's Island; but Sir George Somers, knowing that this craft would not be of sufficient size to accommodate all hands, decided to build a pinnace, and asked Sir Thomas Gates for workmen. His request was readily granted, but the spirit of discontent manifested itself, and the Governor faced three successive conspiracies against his rule, the last being so serious that he summarily shot one of the plotters. The remainder fled to the woods, but all save two — Christopher Carter and Edward Waters — re-
ROMANCE OF THE SEA VENTURE 17
turned upon receiving a promise of immunity from punishment, and thereafter the work pro- ceeded without interruption. Both vessels were constructed largely of native cedar and caulked with oakum, pitch, and tar, and lime and turtle's oil.
Frubbusher's craft was launched on March 30, 1610, and named the Deliverance. She was forty feet by the keel, nineteen feet in breadth, and of about eighty tons' burden. A month later Somers launched the Patience, a pinnace of thirty tons, nine and twenty feet long and fifteen and a half feet at the beam. The location of the Admiral's shipyard is unknown, although it may have been at a bay in St. George's Harbour.
" Before we quitted our old quarter," writes Strachy, " and dislodged to the fresh water with our pinnace, our governor set up in Sir George Somers's garden a fair Mnemosynon in figure of a cross, made of some of the timber of our ruined ship, which was screwed in with strong and great trunnels to a mighty cedar, which grew in the midst of the said garden, and whose top and upper branches he caused to be lopped, that the violence of the wind and weather might have the less power over her.
" In the midst of the cross our governor fastened the picture of his majesty in a piece of silver of
I
18 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
twelve pence, and on each side of the cross he set an inscription graven in copper, in the Latin and English, to this purpose: * In memory of our great Deliuerance, both from a mightie storme and leake : wee have set up this to the honour of God. It is the spoyle of an English ship of three hundred tunne, called the Sea Venture, bound with seuen ships more (from which the storme diuided us) to Virginia, or Noua Britania, in America. In it were two Knights, Sir Thomas Gates, Knight, Gouvernour of the English Forces and Colonie there : and Sir George Summers, Knight, Admirall of the Seas. Her Captaine was Christopher New- port, Passengers and Mariners, shee had beside (which came all safe to Land) one hundred and fiftie. We were forced to runne her ashore (by reason of her leake) under a Point that bore Southeast from the Northerne Point of the Island, which wee discovered first the eight and twentieth of July 1609.' " *
Having spent nine months in Bermuda, the expedition continued its voyage on May 10, 1610, arriving at Jamestown on the twenty-fourth. The tiny settlement was on the verge of starvation, and although the newcomers were able to relieve
1 Other accounts say the fleet consisted of nine vessels, and that the Sea Venture had but one hundred and forty souls on board. Two children were born in the course of the sojourn and five of the company were buried.
ROMANCE OF THE SEA VENTURE 19
the distress, their stock of provisions was suffi- cient only for two weeks. Accordingly, the Ad- miral and Governor decided to abandon the colony and take the people to Newfoundland. They had actually embarked and were sailing down the river when Lord De La Warr arrived with three ships. Jamestown was again peopled, and Sir George Somers volunteered to return to Bermuda for a supply of hogs and fishes. On the nineteenth of June he set sail in his own cedar pinnace, in com- pany with a vessel commanded by Captain Argall. They met fog and rough weather, were driven out of their course, and Argall returned to Virginia. Somers continued and reached Bermuda in safety. But the Admiral's strength did not answer to this last gallant effort, and he died at the age of fifty-six in the town which bears his name. Irreverent persons have said that " a surfeit of roast pig " caused his death ; nevertheless, his last thoughts were of the suffering plantation. He counselled his followers to return to Virginia, but instead of heeding his dying injunction the Admiral's nephew, Captain Matthew Somers, who had assumed command, embalmed the body and sailed for England, leaving the heart buried at St. George's. The grave was marked by a wooden cross, which Governor Butler replaced in 1619 by a marble slab bearing this inscription:
20 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
" IN THE YEAR 1611
NOBLE SIR GEORGE SUMMERS WENT HENCE to HEAVEN, Whose well-tried worth that held him still imploid Gave him the knowledge of the world so wide ; Hence 't was by Heaven's decree that to this place He brought new guests and name to mutual grace; At last his soul and body being to part, He here bequeathed his entrails and his heart."
The Admiral died in 1610, and poetic license was invoked to meet the rhyme. Butler's tablet1 disappeared long ago, and the exact location of the grave is unknown, although it was probably not far from the spot where the memorial of 1876 stands. The Admiral was buried with military honours at Whitechurch, Dorsetshire, where in the ancient Church of St. Candida and Holy Cross his long-neglected grave was marked in 1908 by a tablet engraved with these words:
ADMIRAL SIR GEORGE SOMERS, KT.,
SHIPMATE OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH,
COLONISER OF THE BERMUDAS.
BORN NEAR LYME REGIS, 1554.
OWNER OF BERNE MANOR, WHITECHURCH CANONICORUM.
DIED IN THE BERMUDAS, NOVEMBER, 1610. BURIED BENEATH THE OLD CHANTRY, UNDER THE PRESENT VESTRY, JULY 4TH, 1611. Erected by public subscription, 1908.
1 Butler's tablet may have been stolen and built into one of the numerous brick ovens in the town.
CHAPTER IV
THE FIRST SETTLERS
CAPTAIN SOMERS'S return aroused so much in- terest with respect to the Bermudas that the Virginia Company determined to colonise them, although its charter did not extend to islands more than one hundred miles from the shores of its plantation. By an amendment in 1612 the limit was increased to three hundred leagues, and, says Lefroy, " in spite of remonstrances from the Spaniards that they only had by Papal bull the inheritance of the Indies, the merchants of Lon- don proceeded to appropriate the forsaken dis- covery of Juan Bermudez with as little hesitation as they showed in advancing their plantations in Florida and Virginia."
The new plantation was first called Virginiola, but the name Somers Islands (it is still retained on official documents) was finally selected for the two-fold purpose of paying respect to the Ad- miral's memory and annunciating Bermuda's cli- mate. Richard Moore, a ship's carpenter, headed the first band of settlers, fifty in number, who sailed in the Plough, and arrived at the islands on July 11, 1612. To their surprise they were
22 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
greeted by three forlorn and ragged men, — Christopher Carter, Edward Waters, and Edward Chard, — the " three kings " as they are called by Washington Irving. Carter and Waters were the recalcitrants who remained in hiding when the wrecked adventurers took their departure for Vir- ginia, and Chard, one of Captain Somers's crew, joined them in voluntary exile at the time the Captain sailed for home. The " three kings " act- ually represented British sovereignty, and they lived peacefully as farmers and fishermen until they discovered a quantity of ambergris. This sudden acquisition of wealth created such dissen- sion that Chard and Waters agreed to fight a duel. But they reckoned without Carter,1 who surreptitiously hid their arms, preferring two living enemies instead of none. For two full years the men dragged out a lonely existence, and they had resolved to build a boat and embark for Vir- ginia when the Plough appeared in the offing.
Moore quartered his company at Smith's Island, soon moving across the harbour to St. George's, where he laid the foundations of the town. By successful diplomacy and a show of authority he acquired most of the ambergris, and he was
1 Samuel Carter, a fisherman, and a direct descendant of Christopher, died at St. George's in 1858. His fishing tackle, the old man's only possession, was placed in his coffin by the author's father for use at a happier hunting ground.
THE FIRST SETTLERS 23
shrewd enough to realise that in this valuable commodity he had a "loadstone," as John Smith aptly expresses it, which would draw ships, sup- plies, and additional settlers from England. De- spite the proprietors' orders, he shipped the am- bergris in separate consignments, thereby exciting their avarice and compelling them to reinforce him several times. Moore's explicit instructions to erect fortifications retarded the development of agriculture to such an extent that many of the colonists were ill-fed and suffered from a disease called by John Smith " the feagues."
The Bermudas remained under the Virginia Company's 1 j urisdiction but a few months, for they were transferred on November 25, 1612, to a new company composed of members of the old one. These owners assigned their rights to the Crown on November 23, 1614, and on June 29, 1615, James I granted a charter to one hundred and seventeen adventurers under the title of " The Governor and Company of the City of London for the Plantacon of the Somers Islands." About this time Moore 2 became dissatisfied with the
1 In consideration of the small area of Bermuda the Virginia Company agreed to make a grant of land in Virginia toward the support of the islands, and the arrangement, Lefroy says, is commemorated by the name Bermuda Hundred, Chesterfield County, Va.
2 Governor Moore retired to the Streights or Bermudas, in London, to escape his creditors. These obscure courts and alleys
24 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
manner in which those at home had treated him, and he departed, leaving the administration in the hands of six commissioners who, in turn, were superseded by Daniell Tucker, a Virginia planter, the first Governor under the Bermuda Company. Tucker sought to develop good husbandry, but he was thwarted by an overwhelming plague of rats, which destroyed the crops and fruits and ravaged the islands for two years, leaving desti- tution in their path. The rats were supposed to have been imported with a cargo of meal.
In 1618 Richard Norwood began his survey of the islands, dividing them into eight tribes, and assigning to each adventurer his share or proportion of land — a proceeding which enabled the orderly disposition of property. The public lands, which were devoted to the maintenance of the Governor, sheriff, clergy, and commanders of forts, included St. George's, St. David's, Long- bird, Smith's, Cooper's, Coney, and Nonsuch Islands, part of the Main, and other islets at the eastern end, — nearly one seventh part of all the land in the colony.
Each tribe contained fifty parts or shares, and they were called Bedford's, now Hamilton, Parish ; Smith's, Cavendish, now Devonshire; Pembroke,
were frequented by debtors, bullies, and others of their ilk, whose "very trade is borrowing," says Ben Jonson in "Bartholomew Fair."
THE FIRST SETTLERS 25
Paget, Mansil's, now Warwick ; Southampton and Sandys.
It would be impossible to relate within a small compass the detailed history of the plantation under proprietary rule. The colonists were granted a measure of self-government almost from the outset. A General Assembly met at St. George's on August 1, 1620, and there was another body called the General Sessions. " Twice every year each tribe sent six men, chosen by themselves, to the General Sessions," says Lefroy in his " Constitutional History of the Bermudas," " and every alternate year they sent four men to the General Assembly; it is difficult to say which of the two bodies had the more important influ- ence. The General Assembly ' had the making of Laws and Orders for the particular necessities and occasions of the Islands,' but upon the grand jury devolved the tremendous power of present- ment without indictment for any matters or of- fences within their knowledge or observation ; and it is easy to see what an opening for scandals and petty persecutions was afforded by it." All acts passed by the Assembly were subject to ratifica- tion by the company, but, as Lefroy further re- marks, " if the colonists had in some sense repre- sentative institutions from the first, they were such as afforded no security against fiscal exactions."
26 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
Indeed, the proprietors conducted an oppressive monopoly. A few of them emigrated to Bermuda and lived on their shares, but the majority re- mained in England and permitted the colonists, their tenants, to cultivate tobacco, the staple crop, as halvers ; that is, half of their products paid the rent of the land they tilled.
"Tobacco is the worst of things, which they To English landlords, as their tribute, pay. Such is the mould that the blest tenant feeds On precious fruits, and pays his rent in weeds."
By the terms of the company's charter the colonists were to be freed from taxation for seven years, and for fourteen years their products were to enter the ports of England under a duty of only five per cent, and, " after the expiration of twenty-one years, were to be charged only accord- ing to the books of rates and according to the ancient trade of merchants." In practice these conditions were openly disregarded, and long be- fore the seven years elapsed the inhabitants had petitioned the King for relief from " excessive rates of goods yearly sent over by them," the proprietors, who compelled the purchase of neces- sities from the company's depot at exorbitant prices. Tobacco being the only medium of ex- change, this system of polite extortion, combined
THE FIRST SETTLERS 27
with impositions of fines and taxes, furnished the means by which the company kept its servants in poverty. Moreover, the inhabitants were per- mitted to trade only with vessels sent out by the company, — a rule combated by several of its members, — and they were forbidden to have com- mercial intercourse with other American colonies; neither were they allowed to build ships. Denial of the right to engage in whaling, except by special commission, was another source of grievance.
Those glowing tales of Bermuda's resources which were accepted without question in England before the process of colonisation began proved to be largely fictitious. " Ambergris," as Lefroy explains, " was not * driven ashore by every storm where the wind bloweth.' The abundance of turtle, fish, and fowl came to an end." And what was even worse, tobacco never realised the profit ex- pected of it. The Virginia article was far supe- rior in quality, and what competition failed to do in the way of crushing the Bermuda grower was accomplished by the heavy imposts levied in Lon- don on his output. Tobacco never brought him more than two shillings and sixpence a pound, and its value finally declined to a point where the profit was inappreciable.
The position of the various governors, who came and went frequently, was uncomfortable, to
28 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
say the least. Dependent themselves upon the uncertain products of the public lands, and urged constantly to show results, financial results, from the colony as a whole, they threw the oppressive burden upon the people. Many of the colonists were sturdy and industrious, but others, men and women alike, came from London slums and jails. Lazy, shiftless, and morally depraved, these worth- less inhabitants had ample opportunity to satisfy their desire for intoxicants, thanks to the regular supplies brought out by the company's ships. Under the circumstances, harsh measures on the part of the governors were inevitable. Men were executed for minor offences, and the stocks, the branding iron, and the lash found victims innu- merable. The company's laws spared not even the innocent. Children of parents who had died in debt were sold into bondage, apprentices were virtually slaves, and there are records of adult colonists who lived in servitude.
As the colony grew older, it passed through the same social, political, and ecclesiastical struggles which beset England in the seventeenth century. Its population included many elements and faiths. Scotch and Irish prisoners of war were sent thither as convicts at large ; Anglicans, Royalists, Round- heads, Independents, Quakers, Brownists, Ana- baptists, and Presbyterians were represented in
THE FIRST SETTLERS 29
varying numbers, and each sect and political fac- tion had its dissensions and feuds. Secessions from the Established Church took place early in the colony's history, and though freedom of religious worship was frequently demanded, this laudable desire did not deter the Independents and others from persecuting their weaker brethren, particu- larly the Quakers, whose attempts to educate the negro slaves met with holy disapproval.
A dramatic episode occurred when news reached Bermuda, in 1649, of the execution of Charles I, and the establishment by Oliver Cromwell of the Commonwealth of England. The native Royalists not only acknowledged Charles II to be their sov- ereign, but they rose in arms, elected one John Trimingham to the office of governor, and banished the more influential Independents, sending these so-called followers of the Commonwealth to the island of Eleutheria, where, in 1646, Captain William Sayle of Bermuda had founded a Utopian plantation in which " every man might enj oy his own opinion or religion without control or ques- tion." In 1650 Parliament declared Bermuda to be in a state of rebellion, but as no attempt was made to reduce the colony to submission the in- habitants did not swear allegiance to the Common- wealth until after the surrender of Barbadoes — another rebellious colony — in 1652.
30 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
Coincident with the rise of Puritanism came a change in the personnel of the company, which, however, lost none of its privileges. Amnesty was granted to the native Royalists, and the banished Independents were recalled from Eleutheria, that colony having proved such a failure as to call forth the sympathy of the Massachusetts churches, whose congregations collected some £800 to supply its necessities.
A marked deterioration in the social and public life of Bermuda had its origin under Puritan rule with the sudden manifestation of a belief in witch- craft. Indiscreet actions and utterances of simple- minded men and women were enough to provoke indictments for sorcery, and several unfortunate persons suffered the penalty of death after notably unfair trials. Such persecution — in which, by the way, the clergy took no part, as they did in New England — continued at intervals for a period of forty-odd years. Social demoralisation became more pronounced during the reign of Charles II, and extended to the negro slaves, whose number had greatly increased since their advent in 1616. It is worthy of note that the Indians who were captured in the Pequod and Sachem Philip wars in New England and sold in Bermuda, as well as those brought from the West Indies, gave little or no trouble, but the negroes organised several
7
THE FIRST SETTLERS 31
formidable conspiracies, which resulted in severe measures against their lawlessness.
In justice to the proprietors it must be said that they established schools and endeavoured to pro- mote the moral welfare of the colonists, in so far as it was compatible with their interests. Some of their laws, especially those designed to conserve the cedar, contained much wisdom, but avarice and the ignorance of tyranny were the most conspicu- ous features of administration, and the logical result came to pass. While the colony was demon- strating itself to be an unprofitable venture, the planters were enabled to purchase the acres they tilled, and gradually the company's property, ex- cepting the public lands, was alienated. As the tenants became freemen, they openly defied the company and refused to obey its laws, taking ad- vantage at the same time of its declining influence to press their claims for relief in England. Their side of the case was conducted with irresistible vigour, and at last, in 1684, the Court of King's Bench abolished the company through quo war- ranto proceedings, Bermuda entering upon a new era as a colony of the Crown.
CHAPTER V
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN
DURING the last ten years of the Bermuda Com- pany's existence the Assembly was not permitted to meet, owing to its opposition to the high-handed method of government, but the Crown re-established this representative body and sessions were resumed on June 6, 1687. Some of the oppressive restric- tions were thereupon removed; in fact, the colo- nists were left to develop their resources without surveillance, the home government going so far as to neglect to send out gunpowder or ordnance in the period between 1701 and 1738. The Ber- mudians were not slow to desert their unprofitable farms and take a living from the sea, building small ships of cedar and finding employment for them. As early as 1678 some of the more enter- prising inhabitants carried their slaves to Turk's Island and engaged in the manufacture of salt. This lucrative trade was conducted in the winter months, the salt rakers storing their product in Bermuda and later, when the weather was fa- vourable, taking it to Virginia, Maryland, Pennsyl- vania, New York, and New England, receiving in exchange corn, bread, flour, pork, and lumber.
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 33
Before the salt season opened it was customary for the traders to carry quantities of cabbages and onions to the West Indies, returning with rum, molasses, and cotton, the last-named product fur- nishing them with the greater part of their apparel.
The salt trade continued without interference / until the rakers were driven away by Spaniards in 1710. By force of arms the Bermudians regained possession of the ponds, and thereafter they main- tained armed vessels for the protection of their industry. In the reign of George II the French landed and declared their right to Turk's Island, but were induced to withdraw peacefully; and again in 1764 they descended on the salt rakers, destroyed their buildings and effects, and took a number of them captive to Cape Fra^ois. The French, however, were compelled to give up the ponds and pay an indemnity, and the trade was rehabilitated.
From men of their own blood, too, the Ber- mudians suffered indignities and losses. In 1768 Captain Robert Gregory of H. M. S. Scarborough seized the cargoes of some twenty Bermuda vessels at Tortugas, where Bermudians had been making salt for fifty years. There was no warrant for Gregory's act ; apparently he was paid for his work by captains of merchant ships under convoy of his own; but the Bermudians obtained little or
8
34 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
/*
X no redress In this instance. At that time some
seven hundred and fifty Bermudians were employed at Turk's Island, and they desired the annexation of the colony to their own, owing to their fear that the trade might be lost, as well as the atti- tude of the government of the Bahamas, which was imposing heavy taxes and undue restrictions upon the salt rakers under pretence of superior juris- diction. Strong representations were made to the Lords of Trades and Plantations on this point, the Bermudians asserting their rights as colonisers and recalling a former decision which had given them the freedom of the ponds. / For thirty years the matter was held in abey- ^ance, then Turk's Island was granted to the Ba- hamas ; but long before that event the Bermudians had established themselves as the principal carriers in the coastwise and West Indian trade of the vNorth American provinces. They were the origi- nal colonisers under the British government of the Bahamas, and in 1701 endeavoured to obtain legal control of them, pointing to the fact that five hun- dred "lusty young fellows," natives of Bermuda, who had gone to the West Indies to earn a living, would speedily repair to the new possession and .-settle it permanently. Not receiving a favourable reply and being annoyed by a nest of pirates who made the Bahamas their rendezvous, the Bermuda
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 35 \
r government sent out an expedition in 1713 and
cleared the islands of these worthies.
At home also the people had to fight for the protection of their shipping. In 1720 Captain Joell in the sloop Devonshire attacked and dis- abled a large Spanish ship, heavily armed, and in 1741 a Spanish privateer, which had boldly landed prisoners on one of the islands, was pursued by two native sloops. At this time Bermuda priva- teers brought in many French prisoners, the number of which increased to such an extent in 1745 that they proved a burdensome expense to the colony, and measures were adopted for their transportation. The people were so much con- cerned by the appearance of two French privateer* in 1761 that the ship Royal Ann and brigantine Sally were hastily fitted to drive them away, an embargo being laid on shipping until the outcome of the cruise was learned. Though the expedition was successful, the enemy returned after a time and made many captures almost in sight of land, the government being too poor to keep armed vessels constantly in commission.
So engrossed were the people in maritime pur- suits that little or no attention was paid to agricul- ture. The whites actually looked upon farming as a degrading occupation ; they trained their active men slaves to be mechanics and sailors, leav-
36 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
ing the tillage of land to incompetent negroes and aged women, whose implements were of the crudest type. This short-sighted policy made the people dependent upon America for three quarters of the supplies necessary for their subsistence, and brought about its punishment in due time. Twice in 1756 Gov. William Popple petitioned the Pro- vincial Congress of Pennsylvania for permission to import foodstuffs, and when the outbreak of the American Revolution led to the prohibition of trade and intercourse with the mainland after Septem- ber 10, 1775, the Bermudians faced extremities which afforded a severe test of their loyalty to the Crown. The Assembly passed a law to prevent the exportation of corn, wheat, barley, rice, beans, flour, etc., and fixed prices for these commodities, but this was insufficient to stave off the prospects of famine. Provisions could not be obtained from Great Britain because the people had no staple with which to purchase them ; productions of the unprohibited colonies were sufficient only for them- selves ; the one alternative was an appeal to the magnanimity of the Americans in revolt.
Exigencies of the situation naturally influenced the islanders. Members and friends of Bermuda families living in America had joined the cause of freedom in the field, the colony's commerce was in danger of annihilation; and a third consideration
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 37
was the urgent necessity for food. To quote from an address of the Legislature to the Crown :
" Self preservation gave the alarm, and in such an exigency there was no alternative but an appli- cation to the American Congress, setting forth the situation of the island and requesting a dis- pensation of that resolve in favour of a people who without their aid must inevitably perish, or a submission to all the horrors of famine and general distress. When such motives (and such alone) in- fluenced their conduct, the inhabitants of Bermuda assured themselves that the Father of His People would not take umbrage at a measure dictated by the most powerful and irresistible law of nature. The people therefore imprest with those sentiments deputed some persons from the several parishes to make application for that purpose in May, 1775. At that time we scarcely knew of the dawn- ing of civil war and cherished hopes that it might still be prevented from breaking out by an amicable and honourable reconciliation. Altho' this pleas- ing hope has been blasted by the event, yet we flatter ourselves that your Majesty will regard with a favourable eye a measure which if repro- bated by the malevolence of some, or the misinfor- mation and ignorance of others, was yet dictated by necessity, the most urgent of human incentives."
Congress replied to the petition by intimating
38 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
that the Bermudians would receive supplies if they brought firearms and ammunition to America. Logical reasons prompted this answer. The Revo- lutionary army was in immediate need of powder, and General Washington had been apprised of the existence of a magazine in Bermuda, the contents of which he naturally coveted. Accordingly, on August 4, 1775, when in camp at Cambridge, Mass., the General wrote a letter to Governor Cooke of Rhode Island in which he said:
" Our necessities in the articles of powder and lead are so great as to require an immediate sup- ply. I must earnestly entreat, you will fall upon such measures to forward every pound of each in the colony, which can possibly be spared. It is not within the propriety or safety of such a cor- respondence to say what I might upon this sub- ject. It is sufficient, that the case calls loudly for the most strenuous exertions of every friend of his country, and does not admit of the least de- lay. No quantity, however small, is beneath notice, and should any arrive, I beg it may be forwarded as soon as possible.
" But a supply of this kind is so precarious, not only from the danger of the enemy, but the oppor- tunity of purchasing, that I have revolved in my mind every other possible chance and listened to every proposition on the subject, which could give
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 39
the smallest hope. Among others, I have had one mentioned, which has some weight with me, as well as the general officers to whom I have proposed it. One Harris has lately come from Bermuda, where there is a very considerable magazine in a remote part of the island; and the inhabitants well disposed not only to our cause in general, but to assist in this enterprise in particular. We un- derstand there are two armed vessels in your province, commanded by men of known activity and spirit ; one of which it is proposed to despatch on this errand with such assistance as may be requisite. Harris is to go along as the conductor of the enterprise, and to avail ourselves of his knowledge of the island; but without any com- mand. I am very sensible, that at first view the project may appear hazardous and its success must depend on the concurrence of many circum- stances, but we are in a situation which requires us to run all risks. No danger is to be considered, when put in competition with the magnitude of the cause, and the absolute necessity of increasing our stock. Enterprises which appear chimerical, often prove successful from that very circum- stance. Common sense and prudence will suggest vigilance and care, where the danger is plain and obvious; but, where little danger is apprehended, the more the enemy will be unprepared, and con-
40 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
sequently there is the fairest prospect of success."
The plan was approved by Governor Cooke and the Rhode Island Committee, and Captain Abra- ham Whipple agreed to engage in the affair on condition that General Washington gave written assurance that he would use his influence with the Continental Congress to permit the exportation of supplies to Bermuda, providing the Bermudians assisted the Captain. Another letter sent by Wash- ington to Governor Cooke reveals the General's intimate knowledge of the Bermudians' temper. On August 14 Washington wrote that " our Ne- cessity is great; the Expectation of being sup- plied by the Inhabitants of the Islands under such hazards as they must run are slender, so that the only Chance of Success is by a sudden Strike. There is a great difference between acquiescing in the Measure and becoming Principals ; the former we have reason to expect, the latter is doubtful."
On September 6 Washington suggested to Cooke the seizure of the mail packet from England and said : " If the vessel proposed to go to Bermudas should cruise for a few days off Sandy Hook, I have no doubt she would fall in with her." The same day this letter was written, Washington penned the following address to the Inhabitants of the Island of Bermuda :
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 41
" GENTLEMEN, — In the great conflict, which agitates this continent, I cannot doubt but the as- sertors of freedom and the right of the constitu- tion are possessed of your most favourable regards and wishes for success. As descendants of free- men, and heirs with us of the same glorious in- heritance, we flatter ourselves, that, though divided by our situation, we are firmly united in sentiment. The cause of virtue and liberty is confined to no continent or climate. It comprehends, within its capacious limits, the wise and good, however dis- persed and separated in space and distance.
" You need not be informed, that the violence and rapacity of a tyrannic ministry have forced the citizens of America, your brother colonists into arms. We equally detest and lament the prev- alence of those counsels, which have led to the effusion of so much human blood, and left us no alternative but a civil war, or a base submission. The wise Disposer of all events has hitherto smiled upon our virtuous efforts. Those mercenary troops, a few of whom lately boasted of subju- gating this vast continent, have been checked in their earliest ravages, and are now actually en- circled in a small space, their arms disgraced, and suffering all the calamities of a siege. The virtue, spirit, and union of the provinces leave them nothing to fear, but the want of ammunition. The appli-
42 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
cation of our enemies to foreign states, and their vigilance upon our coasts, are the only efforts they have made against us with success. Under these circumstances, and with these sentiments, we have turned our eyes to you, Gentlemen, for re- lief. We are informed, there is a very large maga- zine on your island under a very feeble guard. We would not wish to involve you in an opposition, in which, from your situation, we should be unable to support you ; we know not, therefore, to what ex- tent to solicit your assistance in availing ourselves of this supply ; but, if your favour and friendship to North America and its liberties have not been misrepresented, I persuade myself you may, con- sistently with your own safety, promote and further the scheme, so as to give it the fairest pros- pect of success. Be assured that in this case the whole power and exertion of my influence will be made with the honourable Continental Congress, that your island may not only be supplied with provisions, but experience every mark of affection and friendship, which the grateful citizens of a free country can bestow on its brethren and benefactors."
Captain Whipple sailed on September 12 in the larger of the Rhode Island vessels, having instruc- tions to cruise off New York fourteen days with
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 43
i the purpose of intercepting the English mail
packet. If the vessel did not appear in that time, he was to proceed to Bermuda.
" But he had scarcely sailed from Providence before an account appeared in the newspapers of one hundred barrels of powder having been taken from Bermuda by a vessel supposed to be from Philadelphia, and another from South Carolina. The facts were such as to make it in the highest degree probable that this was the same powder which Captain Whipple had gone to procure. General Washington and Governor Cooke were both of opinion that it was best to countermand his instructions. The other armed vessel of Rhode Island was immediately despatched in search of the captain with orders, that, when he had fin- ished the cruise in search of the packet, he should return to Providence. But it was too late. Cap- tain Whipple had heard of the arrival of the packet at New York, and had proceeded on his voyage to Bermuda.
" He put in at the west end of the island. The inhabitants were at first alarmed, supposing him to command a King's armed vessel, and the women and children fled into the country; but when he showed his commission and instructions they treated him with cordiality and friendship. They had assisted in removing the powder, which was made known to General Gage, and he had sent a
44 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
sloop of war to take away all superfluous provis- ions from the island. They professed themselves hearty friends to the American Cause, but as Captain Whipple was defeated in the object of his voyage he speedily returned to Providence." (Governor Cooke's MS. letters, from " The Writings of George Washington," vol. Ill, by Worthington Chauncey Ford. )
By a singular coincidence, the magazine was depleted on August 14, the date of one of Wash- ington's communications to Cooke. Even now many details of the incident are still to be eluci- dated. George James Bruere, a man of unpleasant disposition, to characterise him mildly, was then Governor of the colony. His official residence oc- cupied a site on Government Hill, an eminence over- looking the town of St. George's, and the maga- zine stood near by. According to the local version of the seizure, the keys of the magazine were taken from beneath the Governor's pillow, and the pow- der kegs were rolled out of Government House grounds and conveyed to a spot on the north shore, now called the Naval Tanks. Here they were loaded into whaleboats in charge of a Captain Morgan,1 and carried to two Bermuda sloops at anchor outside the reefs near North Rock.
1 A Bermuda tradition relates to a heavy raincloud which hangs over the islands at a certain season and is known as "Old Morgan," whose spirit cannot rest until the descendants of the "powder stealers " are hung.
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 45
It is obvious that the affair was carefully planned, and that the participants included un- identified colonists of prominence, but it is cer- tain that the powder was not shipped in Ber- muda vessels. Bancroft says that George Ord in a sloop despatched from Philadelphia by Robert Morris under pretence of a trading voyage to New Providence, took the magazine by surprise, and, in conjunction with a schooner from South Carolina, carried off more than one hundred barrels of pow- der. The name of the South Carolina vessel does not appear, but Mr. De Lancey Cleveland,1 a de- scendant of Captain Ord, is authority for the state- ment that his vessel was the brigantine Retaliation, which anchored near Mangrove Bay, at the west end of Bermuda, and received the powder from sailboats that were sent to St. George's during the night of August 14. In view of the distance of the magazine from the point of loading and the many miles of water covered by the boats in the space of a few hours, the undertaking certainly proves the efficiency of Captain Ord's men.
The affair created extraordinary excitement in Bermuda. The Assembly offered a reward of £100 for the discovery of the offenders and said : " We are deeply concerned to find that so flagitious an act should have been committed at this time of uni-
1 New York Evening Post, February 24, 1904.
46 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
versal distress." Governor Bruere informed them that one hundred barrels had been carried away and called it a " most heinous and attrocious crime." He also made wholesale accusations of treason and strenuously endeavoured, but without success, to discover the names of the delinquents. So far as the Americans were concerned their act conformed to the legitimate rules of war, but the Bermudians were liable to severe penalties, and they naturally held their tongues. On the other hand, the Americans did not embarrass those who had helped them by unwise disclosures; thus the transaction is not illuminated to any extent by official records.
Captain Ord is supposed to have landed the pow- der at Philadelphia, and this is probably correct, for in the minutes of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, dated August 26, 1775, the following entry appears : " A letter was this day received by Capt. Ord of the Lady Catherine, from Henry Tucker, chairman of the Deputies of the several Parishes of Bermuda, enclosing an account for 1182 Ibs. of gunpowder shipped by him aboard said vessel, amounting to £161. 14. 8., that cur- rency, with an account of eight half bars, of pow- der on board said vessel, the property of Captain John Cowper of North Carolina, for which last powder Mr. Tucker has engaged that this board
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 47
or Mr. Robert Morris will be accountable for." The minutes for September 20 show this credit: " August 26. By sundry casks of powder im- ported in the Lady, Capt. Ord from Bermuda, 1800 Ibs. N. B. There is upwards of 7 cwt. of the powder imported from Bermuda that is unfit for use."
It would appear that both entries refer to the same consignment, and that the committee, of which Robert Morris was a member, took charge of all the powder. Captain Ord was the owner of more than one vessel, and the evidence seems to show that he used the Lady Catherine or Lady, instead of the Retaliation in his successful expedi- tion. A Captain Samuel Stiles of Georgia is an- other who is supposed to have participated, while a descendant of St. George Tucker l asserts that this gentleman, a Bermudian by birth but a Vir- ginian by adoption, arranged the details of the seizure when he visited the islands, for the osten- sible purpose of obtaining a cargo of salt. That the Bermuda branch of the Tucker family had close connections with the American cause is ap- parent from the Pennsylvania Committee Records, as well as from the fact that American vessels, in communicating with the islands, were supposed
1 J. Fairfax Mclaughlin, Jr., in New York Evening Post, March 5, 1904.
48 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
to stand in toward the west end and set signals, which would bring a boat from a " Mr. Tucker."
It remained for Washington to fulfil his promise to Captain Whipple, and on October 29, 1775, he wrote to Governor Cooke, saying : " Capt. Whipple's voyage has been unfortunate, but it is not in our power to command success, though it is always our duty to deserve it. ... I agree with you, that the attachment of our Bermudian brethren ought to recommend them to the favour- able regards of their friends in America, and I doubt not that it will. I shall certainly take a proper opportunity to make their case known to the honourable Continental Congress."
The Continental Congress showed its gratitude by resolving, on November 22, 1775, to permit yearly exports of provisions to Bermuda in ex- change for cargoes of salt, a commodity which was not plentiful in America. Shipments were ap- portioned among the provinces as follows : South Carolina was to send 300 tierces of rice; North Carolina, 16,000 bushels of Indian corn and 468 bushels of peas or beans ; Virginia, 36,000 bushels of corn and 1050 bushels of peas or beans ; Mary- land, 20,000 bushels of corn and 582 bushels of peas or beans; Pennsylvania, 1200 barrels of flour or bread and 600 barrels of beef or pork; New York, 800 barrels of flour or bread and 400
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 49
barrels of beef or pork. The colonists were also to be furnished with lumber, soap, and candles as necessity arose. In accordance with this resolu- tion, the Pennsylvania Committee, on November 25, granted permission to Edward Stiles to load the Sea Nymph, Samuel Stobel, master, for Bermuda. This was but one of several cargoes exported un- der the terms of the resolve, the Secret and Marine Committee being " charged with fitting out ves- sels with cargoes to Bermuda."
On July 24, 1776, the Continental Congress again extended aid to the Bermudians by permit- ting their vessels to trade with American ports, and in November, 1777, Bermuda ships were ex- empted from capture by American privateers. Notwithstanding these indulgences, the people continually suffered for lack of food because they had little or nothing of value to offer in return for provisions. Only by illicit trading with their salt vessels were they able to fulfil their urgent wants, although the government occasionally per- mitted ships to go in search of provisions. Some of the skippers who had no official commission went so far as to drive their craft among the reefs and leave the unloading to small boats.
About the middle of 1777 two armed American brigs from South Carolina put in at the west end of the islands and remained a week without inter-
4
50 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
ference, although the British sloop-of-war Nau- tilus lay at anchor in Castle Harbour. The Assembly protested against the inactivity of the sloop, but Governor Bruere explained that her bottom was foul and the pilots could not take her through the reefs. He said further that the " rebel brigs " were commanded by Bermuda cap- tains, who were " supposed to be well acquainted with the rocks and coast."
Not all the Bermudians were friendly toward the American cause, and American merchantmen suf- fered at the hands of loyalists who embarked in the business of privateering, with the approval of Governor Bruere. Though the native priva- teers captured a number of vessels, the Americans in turn took their share of prizes, one of which was a ship manned by eighty slaves, who were liberated upon their arrival at Boston.
For the captured Americans no proper accom- modations were provided in Bermuda. They were fed on raw rice once a day, and their jail at St. George's was such a loathsome place that on No- vember 19, 1779, the Assembly complained to the Governor, saying : " Unhappy are we to find . . . that men thrown among us by the calamities of war alone should be suffer'd to remain in a situa- tion shocking to every principle of humanity." As a result of this treatment a malignant fever
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 51
originated in the jail and spread throughout the islands, causing extreme mortality and interfering with the sittings of the Assembly.
The Governor died in September, 1780, and was succeeded by a man of the same name — George Bruere — who never lost an opportunity to accuse the Assembly and people of disloyalty. He complained that the Bermudians were supply- ing " the rebels " with " that great essential, salt " — a correct accusation without a doubt, for that was the only way in which they could keep them- selves alive. " As far as I can," he said, " and it constitutionally lays with me, I will make my ac- tions outgo my words against the rebel trade. Let us change our system! fit out your fine ves- sels as privateers ; the French and every enemy constantly pass close by us, often in our very sight. Conduct them in; riches and honour will attend you."
It was the Governor's theory that the islanders could easily supply themselves by capturing prizes, and he persistently endeavoured to encourage priva- teering, urging at the same time the building of adequate fortifications. But the people paid little attention to this advice, and again in June, 1781, the Governor spoke about the "wicked, designing men " who " had caused a misguided and deluded people to do all they could to serve the Ameri-
52 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
cans." Finally, he was unmercifully castigated by the Assembly and accused of prying into private correspondence by intercepting London letters on their return from Boston. These letters were probably written to Henry Tucker, the Bermuda agent at London, and it appears from the Gov- ernor's reply that they were returned by 1 John Hancock to Bermuda friends for the purpose of inflaming the people.
Had the Continental Congress possessed a fleet capable of holding Bermuda, the colony might have been lost to England. The powder expedition not only suggested the probable reception which an invading force would have received, but it revealed Bermuda's weakness in a military sense, a small body of militia constituting its only protection. All this was known to the Americans and their allies, the French, who, realising the group's im- portance as a base for naval operations, advanced tentative plans for its capture. Silas Deane, a secret agent of the Continental Congress, who stopped at Bermuda in 1776, to purchase a swift native sloop, which carried him to Bordeaux, France, advised the seizure of Bermuda, while the same subject was subsequently discussed in cor- respondence which passed between the Comte de
1 From 1775 to 1780 John Hancock was a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress.
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 53
Vergennes, Brigadier Hopkins of the French ser- vice, and the Marquis de Lafayette. The latter, writing to the Comte on February 2, 1780, said he would personally organise a "parti de la liberte " in Bermuda.
Another indication of the serious consideration given to Bermuda is contained in the Treaties of Commerce and Alliance between France and Amer- ica. This document, which was signed on Feb- ruary 6, 1778, provided that Bermuda should be added to the American confederation in the event of capture. Although the plans never materialised, they had the effect of producing in England a more intelligent recognition of Bermuda's value as a naval and military station.
A contemporary account of the colony during the eighteenth century is found in the Abbe Ray- nal's work, " A Philosophical and Political History of the Settlements and Trade of the Europeans in the East and West Indies," published by Silvester Doig, Edinburgh, 1792. It is probable that he obtained his facts from travellers, as he did not visit the islands. He tells of their settlement, and says:
" The population increased considerably, be- cause the advantages of the climate were greatly exaggerated. People went there from the Lee- ward Islands for the benefit of their health and
54 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
from the Northern Colonies to enjoy their fortune in peace. Many royalists retired there in expec- tation of the death of their oppressor, Cromwell, Waller among the rest, that charming poet, who as an enemy to that tyrannical deliverer, crossed the seas, and celebrated those fortunate islands, inspired by the influence of the air, and the beauty of the prospects, which are always favour- able to the poet. He imparted his enthusiasm to the fair sex. The English ladies never thought themselves fine or well dressed but in small Ber- muda hats made with palm leaves.
" But at last the charm was broken, and these islands fell into the contempt which their insig- nificance deserved. They are very numerous, and their whole compass does not exceed six or seven leagues. The soil is very indifferent, and has not a single spring to water it. There is no water to drink, but what is taken from wells and cisterns. Maize, vegetables, and excellent fruits afford plenty of excellent food, but they have no com- modities for exportation ; yet chance has collected under this pure and temperate sky, four or five thousand inhabitants, poor, but happy in being unobserved. They have no outward connections but by some ships passing from the northern to the southern colonies, which sometimes stop to make refreshments in these peaceful islands.
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 55
" Some attempts have been made to improve the circumstances of these people by industry. It has been wished that they would try to raise silk, then cochineal, and, lastly, that they would plant vine- yards. But these schemes have only been thought of. These islanders, consulting their own happi- ness, have confined their sedentary arts to the weaving of sails. This manufactory, so well adapted to plain and moderate men, grows daily more and more flourishing.
" For upwards of a century past they have also built ships at the Bermudas, that are not to be equalled for swiftness and durability, and are in great request, especially for privateers. They are made of a kind of cedar, called by the French, Acajon. They have endeavoured to imitate them at Jamaica and in the Bahama Islands, where they had plenty of materials which were grown scarce and dear in the old docks, but these ships are and must be far inferior to their models.
"The principal inhabitants of the Bermuda Islands formed a society in 1765, the statutes of which are perhaps the most respectable monument that ever dignified humanity. These virtuous citi- zens have engaged themselves to form a library of all books of husbandry, in whatever language they have been written; to procure all capable persons, in both sexes, an employment suitable to
56 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
their disposition; to bestow a reward on every man who has introduced into the colony any new art, or contributed to the improvement of one already known; to give a pension to every daily workman, who after having assiduously continued his labour and maintained a good character for forty years, shall not have been able to lay up stock sufficient to allow him to pass his latter days in quiet, and, lastly, to indemnify every inhabitant of Bermuda who shall have been oppressed either by the minister or the magistrate.
" May these advantages be preserved to these industrious though indigent people, happy in their labour and in their poverty, which keeps their morals untainted. They enjoy the benefits of a pure and serene sky, with health and with peace of mind. The poison of luxury has never infected them. They are not themselves addicted to envy nor do they excite it in others. The rage and ambition of war is extinguished upon their coasts, as the storms of the ocean that surround them are broken. The virtuous man would willingly cross the seas to enjoy the sight of their frugality. They are totally unacquainted with what passes in the world we live in;, and it will be happy for them to remain in their ignorance."
This society, with its outlines of old-age pen- sions, one hundred and forty years odd, before
COLONY UNDER THE CROWN 57
they were adopted in England, may have been the Somerset Bridge Club, according to Williams, in his " History of Bermuda," published in 1848 ; " but," says he, " if such extensive and philan- thropical measures were ever contemplated, they must have signally failed, as the club has long since ceased to exist and its library has not been preserved."
THE WAR OF 1812 AND AFTER
A PARTIAL state of famine still existed in Ber- muda when William Browne of Salem, Mass., ar- rived in 1782 to fill the Governor's chair for a term that lasted six years. Governor Browne had held important judicial offices in Massachusetts, but his adherence to Tory principles necessitated his withdrawal from that province, although he was highly esteemed even by those who differed from him in opinion. Having an inherent knowl- edge of the needs of colonials, he was soon able to win the sympathies of the people, and, unlike the majority of his predecessors, he was patient and tactful in his dealings with the Assembly. While he did not actually discourage privateer- ing, the weight of his counsel was thrown against what he termed the " rude, desultory kind of life " on which the Bermudians had embarked, and he steadfastly endeavoured to promote a more whole- some respect for civil authority and the pursuit of milder occupations. .
One of his first acts was to declare the whale fishery free to all, for which the Assembly ex- pressed its gratitude in florid language. Hitherto
THE WAR OP 1812 AND AFTER 59
whales had been considered "royal fishes," and as the fishery could only be conducted under licenses, fees for which were paid to the Governor, the people had practically ceased to engage in it. Another progressive step was the Assembly's provision for the colony's first newspaper, the Bermuda Gazette, which made its appearance on January 17, 1784. Governor Browne also inau- gurated a sounder financial policy, his adminis- tration being marked throughout by intelligence and a genuine desire to further the colony's interests.
But he sometimes had great difficulty in enforc- ing the laws. In 1782 and 1783, for instance, small-pox spread over the islands to such an ex- tent that many persons had recourse to a form of inoculation which was illegal inasmuch as it widened the area of infection, although the cases were less virulent. Heavy penalties were imposed, the chief justice and speaker of the Assembly were even accused of transgressing the law, and the Assembly decided it would be expedient to pass a bill for the exemption of all fines if the " Streams of Justice " were to be " preserved pure and unpolluted."
At the conclusion of peace the regulation of intercourse between the British West Indies and the United States opened to the Bennudians the
60 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
prospect of enlarged commerce, Governor Browne saying the new policy suggested fair and profit- able employment, " as the superiority of our ships and sailors has long been universally acknowl- edged." He was not mistaken. Shipbuilding 1 received an impetus and the Bermudians resumed their old position as carriers for the Americans, having a fleet of more than one hundred and seventy-five vessels in 1789. Depredations of French privateers hampered shipping in 1793, but a more serious injury was brought about by the opening of the colony's ports to vessels of foreign nations that were friendly to Great Britain. For several years competition of foreigners was keen, and then the islanders forged ahead again until placed at a disadvantage by the War of 1812.
By an order in Council dated October 13, 1812, it was permissible to export to the United States in licensed foreign bottoms British plantation sugar and coffee imported into Bermuda by British vessels, and these foreign vessels might return with certain American products without fear of moles-
1 Bermuda cedar is so close grained that the shipbuilders put it into vessels' bottoms without seasoning. Their vessels were noted for speed — an essential quality in privateering days. They constructed several ships of war with cedar, but it splintered in action and proved so expensive that the practice was discon- tinued. The colony owned a sloop-of-war and gunboat in 1795.
THE WAR OF 1812 AND AFTER 61
tation by English men-of-war. This enabled the colony's fleet to conduct trade between Bermuda and the West Indies on the one hand and New- foundland on the other. There was profit in this when the Bermudians were successful in eluding the enemy, but so many of their ships fell into the hands of American privateers that the native mer- chants were seriously crippled. The extent of their losses is better realised when it is said that thirty-nine vessels belonging to the port of Hamil- Ixm alone, valued with their cargoes at a little more than £200,000 * were taken or destroyed in the course of the war.
Conversely, scores of merchantmen flying the Swedish, Portuguese, and Spanish flags were sent into Bermuda for adjudication in the prize court, and the use of the islands as a naval base pro- vided employment for the shipbuilders and sur- plus sailors. Furthermore, the presence of a large fleet naturally attracted all manner of sup- plies, and not a few Americans engaged in the business of supplying the British squadrons.
" We hear of frequent arrivals at Bermuda of provisions from the United States," says Niles' Weekly Register of Baltimore in its issue of April 24, 1813. "The traitors may yet be
1 The colony's currency was at that period rated at twelve shillings sterling to the pound.
62 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
caught. It is a desperate game." One of the traitors, who apparently had no respect for an honoured name, brought the schooner George Washington from New Haven with forty head of cattle and offered to supply Admiral Warren with fresh beef, deliverable either at Gardner's Island in the Delaware or at Bermuda.
Commercial houses and the government were so seriously embarrassed in 1814 by the scarcity of currency that Admiral Warren endeavoured to obtain supplies of cash from New London. He planned to have money received on board His Majesty's ship Victorious, and to her commander, Captain Talbot, detailed instructions were for- warded by the Spanish schooner Rosa. But the fortune of war made the Rosa a prize to the Amer- ican privateer Viper, and the Admiral's letter was found in one of the Spanish skipper's boots.
Bermuda was never attacked or threatened with attack, but one humourously audacious American cruised off shore in the privateer Snap Dragon, after sending an " official " notice to the Governor that he had laid the islands under a rigid blockade. Two United States war vessels found their way to Bermuda under British colours. The first was the sloop Wasp, Captain Jones, which fought and defeated the British sloop Frolic in a desperate engagement off Albermarle Sound on October 13,
THE WAR OF 1812 AND AFTER 63
1812. Both vessels were disabled, and while effect- ing repairs the British liner Poictiers came on the scene and convoyed them to Bermuda.
The second capture was that of Commodore Decatur's frigate President, which was taken in a running fight with a British squadron off Long Island on June 15, 1815, and lost heavily in offi- cers and men. Among the wounded was Midship- man Richard Sutherland Dale, a son of one of John Paul Jones's officers. Dale was nursed in a private family until his death and was buried in St. Peter's churchyard at St. George's.
Journalistic enterprise in the case of the Presi- dent brought the editor of the Bermuda Royal Gazette, Edmund Ward, into high disfavour, and cost him his position as King's Printer. His side of the affair as personally related by him appears in the Bermuda Almanack for 1900, from which this quotation is taken:
" During my residence in Bermuda the Ameri- can war broke out, and just at its conclusion the American frigate President, Commodore Decatur, was captured by the Endymion, Capt. Hope. Commodore Decatur was transferred to the ship which captured his vessel, and sail was made for Bermuda. All the ship's books had been thrown overboard, and it was found impossible to ascer- tain the number of the President's crew, which,
64 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
as was supposed, were subsequently distributed on board the other ships, with the exception of some thirty men and some junior officers, who were left on board intentionally; and Lieut. Morgan of the Endymion, and the Hon. Lieut. Perceval of the TenedoSj with ninety-six men, were put on board the prize for the purpose of bring- ing her into port. On the following day the ships separated in a gale, and towards evening it was fortunately discovered that sixty-eight men were concealed in the sail room, who were imme- diately secured and put in irons, and the Presi- dent narrowly escaped recapture by a treacherous surprise.
" Having been informed of this circumstance by some gentlemen of St. George's who visited the ship, I mentioned it in the next Royal Gazette, and was directed by the Governor, Sir James Cockburn, to contradict it, on his assurance that it was not the case. Subsequently I found that I had been misled, and Commodore Decatur, on his arrival in the United States, having stated in a supplemental letter to the Secretary of the Navy that the contradiction had reference to his cap- ture by the Endymion alone, I reiterated my as- sertion as to the concealment of the men, which I was immediately required by Sir James Cock- burn to retract, and declining to do so, was
deprived of my commission as King's Printer. It happened fortunately — the ship having sailed for England — that Lieut. Perceval remained on the station, who, on his arrival at Bermuda in the Bulwark, corroborated my statement, his servant having discovered the men. Sir James refused, however, to restore me to my situation, and I published the correspondence that had taken place previous to my dismissal. ..."
American newspapers of the period industriously published statements to the effect that prisoners of war were ill-treated in Bermuda, but Dale's experience goes far to refute the assertions. The prisons hulks were not luxurious quarters, and individual cases of oppression existed without a doubt, but there is little evidence to show that the American sailors suffered more than the or- dinary discomforts of captives.
One American, Henry King by name, escaped in a truly remarkable manner in July, 1814. King had been pressed into service on board the Pole- tiers under pretext that he was an Englishman, and later was transferred to the guard ship Ruby. He purchased a pocket compass from a shipmate, stole one of the Ruby's boats at night, and set sail for America, having two loaves of bread and a few quarts of water for provisions. When inclined to sleep he lashed his arm to the
5
66 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
tiller, so that if the boat wore 'round he would be aroused, and thus he sailed for nine days, landing in the vicinity of Cape Henry.
The close of hostilities found the Bermudians in possession of forty-three foreign-built vessels, all prizes, which were added to their depleted ton- nage, making a merchant marine of seventy-odd ships. American vessels were excluded from the British West Indies, but Bermuda ports were opened to foreign vessels from the United States, and once more the Bermudians developed a profit- able commerce, carrying cargoes to and from the Caribbean.
Their activities continued until the West Indian ports were thrown open to the United States in 1822 ; then the rapid increase of American and Canadian ships, which were more cheaply built, brought competition that could not be favourably met, and the Bermuda fleet, so long in the ascen- dancy, dwindled by degrees, the phrase " salt, cedar, and sailors " losing its significance as an expres- sion of Bermudian superiority on the high seas. One of the famous fleet, the Gleaner, a sloop of twenty tons, still does duty as a freight boat. She was built in 1820, and her stout timbers are nearly as good as ever. The Gleaner carried onions, packed in palmetto baskets, to the West Indies, and now she carries them among the islands.
THE WAR OF 1812 AND AFTER 67
A few of the shipping firms held out as long as they could employ crews of slaves, but eman- cipation, which was proclaimed on August 1, 1834, necessitated the payment of good wages to sailors and practically completed the dissolution of the waning industry. The Bermuda slaves received few religious or educational advantages. They could contract legal marriages, but for a long time were denied the office of baptism. One law enacted in 1730 exempted a master from prose- cution if he killed one of his slaves while punish- ing him, but in the event of deliberate killing the slayer could be fined and compelled to pay the value of his victim, if he were the property of another proprietor. Frequently, slaves were vol- untarily freed when employment could not be found for them, but free negroes were subject to deportation under the law. Sometimes slaves who had been condemned to death were reprieved if they agreed to become executioners, and in at least two cases the rule was applied to white prisoners. At different periods the whites were alarmed by conspiracies among the slaves, but on the whole the races lived amicably, and in pro- mulgating the emancipation act the Legislature refused to take advantage of the six years' ap- prenticeship it allowed.
The immediate extension of the rights of citi-
68 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
zenship to the coloured people and an incident occurring in 1835, the year following emancipa- tion, expressed the people's attitude toward slavery. This incident concerned the American brig Enterprise, which with seventy-eight slaves on board called at the islands for provisions. Representations by the newly-liberated race in- duced the legal authorities to hold the vessel and disembark her passengers in order that they might have the privilege of personally deciding whether they cared to proceed on the voyage. All but a woman and her five children accepted freedom, and the Enterprise left seventy-two of her pas- sengers on shore.
Virtually every white family held slaves at the time of abolition, and the compensation of £128,000 ($640,000) awarded to Bermuda was generally distributed. The system had made the whites indo- lent, but it was unattended by the same variety of demoralising evils which cropped out in large slave-holding communities. There were no great plantations, consequently no large colonies of slaves under a single master; and the seafaring life gave the coloured people a certain amount of freedom and wider opportunities for improvement than would have obtained had they been held strictly to the land. The treatment accorded the slaves is reflected in the present condition of the
THE WAR OF 1812 AND AFTER 69
race.1 The Bermuda coloured people are intelli- gent, well-mannered, contented, and respected by the whites. This respect is reciprocated. The colour line is drawn, the races have separate schools, but there is no race feeling, no race problem, and the political and legal rights of the coloured man are zealously guarded.
It is worthy of note that at the height of their prosperity on the sea the Bermudians advocated their island home as a " nursery," as they called it, for seamen of the Royal Navy, and the War of 1812 so emphasised Bermuda's advantages as a naval station and fortress that ten years prior to emancipation a draft of convicts was sent from England to begin the development of the " Gibral- tar of the West." The convicts were employed in building the dockyard at Ireland Island and in the erection of fortifications and other imperial works in various parts of the colony. None was leased to private interests, neither were any dis- charged in the colony.
The headquarters staff lived at Boaz Island, and the greater number of prisoners were kept in hulks anchored off the dockyard. Some lived in vessels at St. George's. They were sent to
1 In a number of coloured families there is a strain of Indian blood, due to intermarriage with Pequod and Carib slaves, high cheek bones and straight hair indicating the ancestry.
70 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
labour on shore only when the weather permitted ; were not exposed necessarily in the sun ; and their hours of employment never exceeded eight per diem. With the idea of stimulating the prisoners to behave themselves and so obtain commutation of their sentences, they were classified as very good, good, indifferent, suspicious, bad, very bad, and were kept in separate compartments accord- ing to the classification. Their liberal food allow- ance included a gill of rum each day, and under certain conditions they were paid for their labour. One third of their weekly earnings they were per- mitted to spend for " articles of comfort," exclu- sive of meat, beer, and spirits ; the remainder was reserved until their discharge. Good convicts were therefore able to carry home a tidy sum. To unruly prisoners the cat-o'-nine-tails was ad- ministered in the presence of their mates, " for the sake of example," the number of lashes depending upon the state of the victim's health as prejudged by an attending surgeon. Sometimes a man re- ceived five hundred lashes, — enough to keep him in hospital for two weeks and scar him for life. Yellow fever scourged the prison hulks, particu- larly during one epidemic, and the records of the service were darkened by several murders and violent outbreaks. The last draft was sent home in 1863, without regret on the part of the natives.
THE WAR OF 1812 AND AFTER 71
The immense sums of money expended in forti- fications and the maintenance of the convict ser- vice naturally benefited the people, who were slow in adjusting themselves to the change in conditions resulting from the decline of their maritime in- dustry. Farming was their only alternative, but for men trained to the sea it was a difficult pur- suit, and the problem was further complicated by the apathy of the Legislature, which had long neglected the colony's internal welfare. But under the intelligent direction of Gov. William Reid, " the good governor," who assumed his duties in 1839, when but two ploughs were to be found in the islands, the people seriously devoted their energies to the soil, producing their far-famed arrowroot in large quantities and increasing their output of onions and green vegetables. Governor Reid's ad- ministration of five years marked the beginning of a more enlightened and progressive Bermuda, al- though the colony existed mainly upon the British taxpayer's gold until the outbreak of the Amer- ican War of the Secession.
CHAPTER VII
BERMUDA'S PART IN THE CIVIL WAR
NEVER again, perhaps, will Bermuda experience such a sudden transformation as that which fol- lowed the American War of the Secession. A year before the Southern States seceded the colony was known only as a British military outpost. Its trade was limited; its people were poor and con- tent to eke out an humble existence, following as best they might in the footsteps of their fore- fathers. Communication with the outside world was restricted, and Bermudians were but mildly interested in fragmentary reports which told of the mighty political contest that was to place Abraham Lincoln in the White House.
The year 1860 passed, Lincoln was inaugurated, the foundation of the Confederacy laid. Sumter fell; on April 19, 1861, the President proclaimed a blockade of the Southern States from South Carolina to Texas. On April 27 the blockade was extended to Virginia and North Carolina, and within five months the Federal cruisers had be- come numerous enough to close many of the larger Southern ports to sailing vessels engaged in trade with the enemy. In September Bermuda was re-
THE CIVIL WAR 73
ported to Washington as swarming with secession- ists, and the eyes of the United States government were directed thither in the knowledge that the islands were admirably situated for the operations of steam blockade runners, which were already beginning to make their appearance in Southern waters.
October 21 witnessed the arrival of the first American warship, the Connecticut, whose mission was to intercept the rebel steamer Nashville, which was supposed to be carrying the Confederate agents, Mason and Slidell, and $2,000,000 for the purchase of supplies in England. Hearing nothing of his quarry, the Connecticut's comman- der left to cruise south, and in so doing missed the Nashville, which in the meantime had slipped out of Charleston and laid a course for Bermuda. She arrived there on October 26, but Mason and Slidell were not among her passengers ; they had gone to Havana in another vessel. Taking six hundred tons of coal at St. George's, the Nashville got away on her voyage to Southampton before Washington could send another cruiser after her.
It was obvious that Bermuda was to become an entrepot for the Confederates, and its life quick- ened in response to the tide of events. Cotton was to furnish the sinews of war in the Confed- eracy, and arrangements had already been made
74 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
in England for credit upon the faith of the crop of 1860, and upon that proportion of subsequent crops which the rebel government could reasonably control. The situation was a simple one. Eng- lish mills needed raw cotton, the Southerners needed munitions of war, manufactured supplies and food. There was plenty of cotton available in Southern ports for the private speculator at four cents and six cents a pound, and the Liver- pool merchant foresaw great profits if he could successfully market it in England, where the price had risen to sixty cents in anticipation of a great shortage. The question was one of transporta- tion, but the difficulties were not insuperable. Ships and men were quickly commandered, and with so much energy did the Liverpool merchants prosecute their plans that the United States gov- ernment was moved, in the latter part of Novem- ber, to order the Keystone State to cruise in the vicinity of Bermuda for the purpose of interdict- ing traffic with Confederate ports.
Her visit was unhappily timed on account of the diplomatic friction which had arisen over the seizure of Mason and Slidell on board the Royal Mail steamship Trent,' and her commander re- ceived few civilities from the Bermuda authorities. He was refused the privilege of taking government coal, ostensibly because the supply was limited,
THE CIVIL WAR 75
and the Quaker City, which followed the Keystone State into port, suffered a similar experience. The vessels, however, were not denied the right to avail themselves of private supplies, as the Nashville had done ; nevertheless, the Washington authori- ties considered the incident of sufficient importance to quote it in their case dealing with the Alabama Claims, as evidence of unfriendly feeling toward the North.
There was no exaggeration in the statement that Bermuda swarmed with secessionists. The winter of 1861-62 revealed to the people the possibilities of their newly-found trade, and their sympathies were extended in no half-hearted manner to the land whence it flowed. If commercial greed ruled their actions, they at least had the excuse of fol- lowing the example of England herself. At first blockade running direct from England was at- tempted, ships carrying papers which indicated their destination to be either Bermuda or Nassau, at which ports they might await a favourable op- portunity for the dash to their real objective. The Fingal, Captain Bulloch, C. S. N., Gladiator, Bermuda, and Watson were four steamers loaded in Great Britain with munitions of war and sent out to Confederate ports in 1861 via Bermuda.
It was soon discovered, however, that direct voyages would not be profitable, particularly as
76 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
the Supreme Court of the United States had con- demned several captured vessels, and the plan of transshipment was adopted. By this device the trade between England and the points of trans- shipment — Bermuda, Havana, Nassau — was con- ducted in vessels of large capacity, while a class of swift, light-draught steamers, especially de- signed to meet the exigencies of blockade running, were employed in the actual work of supplying the Confederacy.
Nassau was a greater station than Bermuda, though the Bermudians had no cause for jealousy. The harbour of Hamilton saw a considerable num- ber of vessels, but the principle centre of activity was St. George's, because of its proximity to the open sea. The older town completely lost its lethargy. Its warehouses were crowded with mer- chandise, its wharves with cotton and coal; often a score or more of steamers lay at anchor in the harbour. And there roamed about the streets a cosmopolitan crowd of sailors, with whom were mingled Northern and Southern spies and adven- turers from the seven seas. There were not enough houses to accommodate the motley crew. Men slept wherever they could, — among the cotton bales, under verandahs, in streets, vacant lots, pub- lic houses. They were willing to do anything almost, or suffer any inconvenience for the sake
THE CIVIL WAR 77
of one thing — money; that was the bait which had drawn them to the hitherto neglected islands.
There was plenty of money. Tales whispered in the ports of the world had not been embroi- dered, as these adventurers discovered when they came to Bermuda, and those who knew how could feather their nests. Captains of blockade runners received $5000 for the run in and out; chief officers, $2500; chief engineers, $2500; second and third officers, $1250; able seamen and fire- men, $250; pilots, $3750. Pilots were so well paid because, being Southerners, they were not exchanged when captured.
These sums represented gold, not Confederate currency, and in each instance half of the amount was paid as a bounty before the voyage began. Wages on shore were proportionately high, and it was common knowledge that the labourer could afford to live in luxury; but the money went as it came, — freely and swiftly, like the liquor it purchased in the nightly revels. These, too, were days of prosperity for the local merchant. Into his till flowed the capital of blockade skippers who succumbed to the allurement of private ventures, and though he called frequently upon New York as well as England for goods, he had difficulty in meeting the insistent demand. He also served as banker for thrifty sailors, and sometimes in-
78 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
duced a friendly skipper to carry a small con- signment of shoes or cloth on commission, to the profit of both.
To return to the cruisers. The Nashville came back to Bermuda on February 20, 1862, the day after the American consul, Mr. C. M. Allen, had been notified of instructions issued by the British government which forbade men-of-war of either belligerent to take a supply of coal in excess of what would be necessary to carry them to the nearest port in their respective countries, or to some nearer destination. If, however, such vessels had coaled at a British port within three months, they were to be denied a further supply. As the Nashville had been accommodated at Southampton before sailing for Bermuda, Mr. Allen tried to prevent her from filling her bunkers ; but his pro- test was disregarded because the instructions had not been officially promulgated, and the cruiser was sent to sea under escort of H. M. S. Spiteful.
This incident created a good deal of feeling, which was further intensified by differences aris- ing between the Governor of Bermuda, H. St. George Ord, and Acting Rear-Admiral Charles Wilkes, U. S. N., upon the arrival of the latter, September 27, 1862, with the flagship Wachusett and the Sonoma and Tioga, all of which were at- tached to the West India Squadron. The Admiral
THE CIVIL WAR 79
was the same impetuous Wilkes who as captain of the San Jacinto had taken Mason and Slidell from the Trent ten months before and nearly precipi- tated war between Great Britain and the United States. He came into St. George's Harbour with the Wachusett and Tioga, leaving the Sonoma to cruise outside for the purpose of intercepting blockade runners. This annoyed Governor Ord, and after two days he sent a naval lieutenant on board to tell Stevens, her commander, that he must either anchor inside the harbor or stand off to sea. Stevens curtly refused to obey any person save his superior officer, and some sharp corre- spondence passed between Admiral and Governor. Wilkes complained that in entering port no national flag had been displayed at the staff on shore; that the Queen's proclamation relative to repairs and coaling had been handed to him by a person in " ordinary " dress ; and that only after he had sent an officer on shore to tender a salute was that formality carried out, gun for gun. The Governor sent a verbal apology for the delay in accepting the salute, and Wilkes brought the Sonoma into port on October 1. Immediately a misunderstanding arose over her right to take coal, the Governor asserting that her supply had been unnecessarily depleted while cruising outside. Wilkes contended that the Governor had already
80 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
approved all his plans, and the point was settled in the American's favour without delay. The Tioga then went to sea, the Wachusett, whose machinery had become disabled, and the Sonoma following soon after.
Wilkes himself went direct to the rendezvous in the New Providence Channel, but he had not finished with Bermuda. His instructions to the Tioga and Sonoma bade them remain in the vicinity of the islands and suffer nothing to escape. He had found, so he wrote Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, in his first report, that Bermuda was the " principal depot of arms and munitions of war " for those intending to run the blockade ; and he had seen at St. George's seven British steamers preparing to make the run at the most favourable opportunity. His desire to capture or at least to bottle up these vessels led him to institute an ex- traordinary " blockade," which was not j ustifiable in view of the fact that England and the United States were at peace.
The Sonoma and Tioga kept in touch with Consul Allen by boats and signals, receiving in- formation about the movements of blockade run- ners. On the 5th Commander Rogers of the Tioga heard that the little steamer Ouachita would try to get away through Chub Cut, a passage in the reefs at the west end, and succeeded in stopping
THE CIVIL WAR 81
her. Two days afterward the Gladiator came out from St. George's, convoyed by H. M. S. Desper- ate. Stevens boarded her outside the marine limit, and while doing so he observed the Harriet Pinck- ney leaving the harbour. Finding the Gladiator's papers to be correct, he permitted her to proceed, and steered for the Pinckney, which promptly re- turned to port. The same night a steamer ap- peared in the offing, and the Sonoma prepared to speak her. She ran for the harbour, with lights extinguished, but was stopped by a shot across the bows. She proved to be the Royal Mail steam- ship Merlin.
That was the culminating incident of the " blockade." The Governor's temper had reached the breaking point. On October 10 he despatched H. M. S. Plover to notify Rogers that he must not communicate with shore except by special per- mission. The warning made no great impression on the two commanders, but they were obliged to depart on October 12, having barely more than enough coal to carry them to the New Providence Channel, and the worries of the blockade runners were lightened. In his final report to Secretary Welles, Wilkes characterised the Bermuda officials as " a pack of secessionists," who " were in hopes to get rid of us, but notwithstanding we procured all we wanted."
6
82 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
A strong remonstrance from the British govern- ment followed these incidents. Writing to Wil- liam H. Seward, Secretary of State, Lord Lyons, British Ambassador at Washington, said : " I am directed to express the regret of Her Majesty's government that Rear- Admiral Wilkes, who treats with contempt the lawful orders issued by the duly instigated authorities of the British Crown, should have been appointed to a command in which he could not fail to be brought into contact with those authorities."
It was asserted that Wilkes had offensively and unlawfully placed sentinels on British territory ; that he had contemptuously evaded orders in re- gard to coal supplies ; and that he had anchored his vessels in a position to control shipping, in addition to cruising in neutral waters in excess of his rights as a belligerent. Wilkes denied that he had tried to control shipping and said he had merely placed sentries at the foot of the gangway while his cruisers were coaling, to prevent the smuggling of liquor on board.
In one of his letters to Governor Ord, Wilkes, referring to the expression, " I have to inform you that the vessel (Tioga) cannot be permitted to return within these waters," replied in the fol- lowing terms : " This I cannot permit ; my gov- ernment alone has the power of instructing me."
THE CIVIL WAR 83
The British government objected to this language, but it was upheld by Secretary Seward, and the matter was dropped after an exchange of several notes.
Late in 1862 Major Norman Walker, a Vir- ginian, took up his residence in Bermuda as po- litical agent of the Confederacy, commercial trans- actions being left in the hands of John T. Bourne, a Bermudian. Major Walker's duties were to fa- cilitate transportation of supplies, smooth the way for blockade runners, and to provide sufficient coal for their use, each vessel taking about one hundred and eighty tons every voyage. The task was not a light one, particularly that part which concerned the coal. The steamers could not burn with safety fuel which would give out a black smoke to reveal their presence to alert cruisers, and as the United States had prohibited the exportation of anthra- cite it was necessary to keep on hand a large sup- ply of semi-bituminous Welsh coal. Without the assistance of the colliers the blockade runners would have been seriously crippled, for the fleet had grown to amazing proportions through the formation of English companies for the sole purpose of prosecuting the trade.
The craft they sent out were quickly and flim- sily built of iron and, in a few cases, steel, at a low cost. Some were propelled by screws, the ma-
84 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
j ority by paddle wheels ; all were picturesquely rakish, with a low freeboard and a turtle-back deck forward, which enabled them to be driven at high speed in a seaway. They drew nine or ten feet of water, and could usually make fourteen knots when pressed, enough to outfoot the fastest cruiser. Their tonnage varied from one hundred to nine hundred, with crews in accordance with their size, the maximum number being fifty men.
Every conceivable precaution was taken to ren- der the slippery vessels invisible at night. They were painted a dull lead colour and carried two low spars with a minimum of rigging and no yards, merely a crow's nest on the foremast for the look- out. Their boats were lowered to the level of the rail, and their funnels could be telescoped in case of emergency. Steam was blown off under water; not a light was displayed in dangerous waters ; even the binnacle lamps were screened to all but the helmsman. In the poultry crates no cocks were allowed; such birds could not be trusted to keep silence when the smell of land floated seaward.
Practically all the steamers which ran out of Bermuda cleared for Nassau but went to Wilming- ton, N. C., — a comparatively easy port to enter, although guarded by a vigilant fleet. Dark nights — the darker the better — were chosen for the
THE CIVIL WAR 85
voyage, which could usually be accomplished in sixty hours, if Federal cruisers did not lay chase. Outward cargoes consisted of artillery, rifles, and other munitions of war, billed as " hardware," and sometimes as military supplies ; army boots, uni- form cloth, medicines and a variety of foodstuffs. Returning, the vessels carried cotton and occa- sionally rosin and turpentine, as much as could be stowed under hatches and on deck. Invariably they were loaded to the danger line, and only su- perior seamanship brought them through the winter gales, particularly when they developed leaks under the excessive strain of heavy cargoes.
As soon as a new vessel arrived from England, Mr. Allen sent her description and name to Wash- ington, whence all information was transmitted to the blockading squadrons. He also kept a record of the amount of coal imported by Major Walker. Surveillance, however, did not hamper the opera- tions, neither did the numerous diplomatic pro- tests forwarded to London from Washington. Great Britain maintained that there was nothing contrary to the law of nations in the transship- ment of blockade-running cargoes, and put no obstacles in the way of the vessels. The United States was therefore unable to control the activi- ties of the people at Liverpool, Befmuda, and Nassau, and the trade went merrily on. The com-
86 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
panies had reduced the business to a science, and so enormous were their profits that they were more than compensated if they lost a ship after she had made two successful voyages. There were losses, of course, about twenty steamers being captured or destroyed between Bermuda and Wilmington, but in the first three years the vessels made their voyages almost as regularly as mail boats. A rather unusual wreck was that of the Vesta, carry- ing nine passengers, including several Confederate naval officers. Her fate is thus recorded in the Richmond Examiner of January 20, 1864:
" This was the first trip of the Vesta from Eng- land. She was a double-screw steamer, perfect in all appointments, and commanded by Captain R. H. Eustace, an Englishman.
" The Vesta left Bermuda on the 3rd inst. For seven days she was chased over the seas by a num- ber of Yankee cruisers, and succeeded in eluding them, and on the 10th made the coast in the vicinity of Wilmington. Being compelled to lay to, she was descried by a Yankee cruiser, which gave chase, and in half an hour eleven Yankee vessels were pouncing down upon the suddenly discovered prey. The Vesta, though apparently surrounded, ran the gauntlet in splendid style, through one of the most stirring scenes the war has yet witnessed on the water.
THE CIVIL WAR 87
" Some of the cruisers attempted to cross her bows and cut her off, but she was too rapid for this manoeuvre, and at half a mile's distance some of the cruisers opened their broadsides upon her, while five others in chase were constantly using their bow guns, exploding shells right over the decks of the devoted vessel. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the vessel ran the gauntlet, raising her flag in defiance, suffering only from a single shot, which, though it passed amidships, above the waterline, happily escaped the machinery.
" But the trouble seems to have commenced with what the passengers anticipated to be the trium- phant escape from their captors ; for the captain and the first officer, Tickler, are reported to have become outrageously drunk after the affair was over and the night had fallen. It is said that the captain was asleep on the quarter-deck, stupefied with drink, when he should have put the ship on land; and that at two o'clock in the morning he directed the pilot to take the ship ashore, telling him that the ship was ten miles above Fort Fisher, when the fact was that she was about forty miles to the southward of the Fryingpan Shoals.
" Fifteen minutes afterwards the Vesta made land, the pilot having run her so far ashore that it was impossible to get her off. She was run aground at Little River Inlet; the passengers
88 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
landed in boats minus their baggage; and, al- though there were no cruisers in sight, and not the least occasion for precipitation, the vessel, with all her valuable cargo, was fired before day- light by order of Captain Eustace and burned to the water's edge. The cruisers did not get up to the wreck until two o'clock on the afternoon of the next day, and they were attracted to it by the smoke from the conflagration.
" The cargo of the Vesta was of the most valuable description; three-fourths of it on gov- ernment account, consisting of army supplies and including a very extensive lot of English shoes. There was also lost in the wreck a splendid uni- form intended as a present to General Lee, from some of his admirers in London. Nothing of any account was saved."
Disasters from carelessness were not often re- corded. On the whole the companies were admi- rably protected by the men they employed, the glittering bounties enabling them to get picked crews and the most resourceful pilots and cap- tains. Of the latter the majority were Britishers, including officers of the Royal Navy on fur- lough, who succeeded Xinder assumed names in screening their identity, even from the Bermudians.
The most famous of all the naval men was " Cap- tain Roberts," afterward Hobart Pasha of the
THE CIVIL WAR 89
Turkish Navy. He joined the Don, a twin-screw steamer, at St. George's and was persona grata at Government House whenever he returned to Ber- muda. The American cruisers were ever on the alert for the Don; finally one of them got her — but not " Roberts." " The first remark of the boarding officer was : * Well, Capt. Roberts, so we have caught you at last ! ' and he seemed much disap- pointed when he was told that the captain they so particularly wanted went home in the last mail." So relates " Roberts " in his little book, " Never Caught in Blockade Running." He did not keep his resolve to drop the business — it was too fasci- nating. In 1864 he was back again with a new ship, but after one lucrative trip an attack of yel- low fever, contracted in Bermuda, put an end to his activities as a blockade runner. " Roberts " made seven voyages and once travelled through the Northern lines from Richmond to Washington, thence going to New York.
Among his naval associates who ran from Ber- muda, with more or less success, were Murray (Admiral Murray- Aynsley in later years) ; Hugh Burgoyne, V. C., who lost his life in the sinking of the ironclad Captain; and Hewett, V. C., who died an admiral, after commanding the Queen's yacht. No one knew every member of the ad- venturous naval company.
90 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
Conspicuous among the merchant captains were the mysterious John Burroughs — a naval officer, some called him — master of the Cornubia, North Heath, Gertrude, and Pavensey; Coxetter of the Herald, who made his trips with surprising regu- larity; cool-headed J. W. Steele, of the Banshee; Peniston, who commanded the Siren, a nutshell of a steamer; and Robert C. Halpin, of the Emily, in later years captain of the Great Eastern.
While the Confederates compelled privately owned blockade runners to include in their cargoes cotton on government account, they also operated three or four vessels of their own and held an interest in several more. One of the vessels flying the Stars and Bars was the Robert E. Lee, whose master, John Wilkinson, an accomplished officer of the rebel navy, was extraordinarily successful in dodging the enemy. The Lee was called the Giraffe when Wilkinson bought her in England for $32,000. At the end of December, 1862, he took her into Wilmington, where she was trans- ferred to the government and renamed. Under Wilkinson's command the Lee ran the blockade twenty-six times, bringing valuable cargoes to the Confederates and carrying abroad between 6000 and 7000 bales of cotton valued at about $2,000,000 in gold.
On July 16, 1863, while the Lee was lying in
THE CIVIL WAR 91
St. George's Harbour, the Confederate cruiser Florida came in, with the Wachusett close on her heels. The Florida had sailed from Pernambuco early in May, taking many prizes, among them the ship B. F. Hoxie, bound from the west coast of Mexico to Falmouth, England, with a cargo of logwood and $105,000 in silver bars. The silver was transferred by bill of sale to the Confederate agent and sent to Liverpool by the British brig Eagle, and aboard the Lee were placed twenty-one chronometers, fourteen quadrants, four sextants, twenty-five compasses and other nautical instru- ments captured on the cruise, in addition to a quantity of tea and coffee, a donation from the Florida's crew to the Richmond hospitals.
Officers of the Florida and Wachusett studi- ously refrained from recognizing one another, but the crews fraternized in public houses with that degree of amiability which sailors can always assume. Maffitt, who commanded the Florida, carried out his intention of avoiding an engage- ment by going to sea, but before leaving he received the first and only salute tendered the Confederate flag in Bermuda. Anxious for the honour, he sounded the military commandant on the subject, and after learning that a salute of twenty-one guns would be returned he burned up his powder and received an answer, gun for gun,
92 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
the Confederate flag flying from the signal station at Fort George.
The Florida took so much coal that the Lee could get scarcely enough to carry her to Wil- mington. Wilkinson, however, reached there safely, came out again with a full cargo, and was chased, circumstances having forced him to use an inferior quality of North Carolina coal, which smoked profusely but would not make steam. The Lee lost ground steadily, and it seemed as if she must be caught, so rapidly did her pursuer come up. As a last resort Wilkinson told his engineer to throw cotton saturated • with turpentine into the furnaces, and through this device he escaped, bringing to Bermuda a large amount of Con- federate gold. When he was detached from the Lee at the end of 1863, he apparently took her luck with him, and she fell into the hands of the Federals on her next voyage.
Bermuda saw the Florida twice again, in May and June of 1864. On her last visit Morris, to whom Maffit had relinquished command, effected repairs to the ship and obtained coal supplies and money necessary for a long cruise. After- ward she lay off the islands and boarded incoming vessels before resuming her famous voyage of destruction to Bahia. In the case of this vessel the Alabama Claims Tribunal held Great
THE CIVIL WAR 93
Britain responsible for a violation of the neutrality laws.
A few months after Wilkinson left the L,ee he went to Bermuda and took charge of the Whisper, a new steamer just out from England. In his " Narrative of a Blockade Runner " he relates that freights at this time had advanced to such a point that £500 sterling was charged for a small box of medicines which he stowed in his cabin, the only available place left for cargo. Within twenty-four hours after the Whisper sailed for Wilmington five other steamers took their depar- ture for the same port. All met heavy weather and the Whisper was the only one to land her cargo; the others were either captured or driven ashore.
On October 29, 1864, Wilkinson left Wilming- ton with the ChicJcamauga, which was fitted out as a cruiser and manned by a crew of " dock rats " and other worthies. Under the name Edith she had previously run the blockade from the islands, but as the Chickamauga she received scant courtesy on her arrival there on November 7, with a record of having destroyed several Ameri- can merchantmen. Protests from the American consul prevented Wilkinson from obtaining the coal he needed for a long cruise, with the result that he was forced back to Wilmington.
94 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
The Confederacy was fast losing ground; Its armies were starving, and the services of the re- doubtable Wilkinson were again called into play. He was told to take the Tallahassee to Bermuda and return with a cargo of provisions. He did not hesitate, but first he had to purge the ship of her aliases. The Bermudians knew her as the Atlanta, a blockade runner; the Confederate navy as the Olustee and Tallahassee, a cruiser. Wil- kinson dismounted her guns, and she received the ironic yet appropriate name of Chameleon, with an elaborate set of merchant papers. Thoroughly " whitewashed," as they said at the time, she passed the scrutiny of the Bermuda authorities, obtained her cargo, and was off again to Wilming- ton. She actually lay under the guns of Fort Fisher, whose energetic commander, Col. Wil- liam Lamb, " the guardian angel," had saved so many blockade runners from destruction, before Wilkinson discovered that the Federals were at last in control. He promptly turned the Chame- leon around and ran out for the last time, going straight to Nassau. Maffitt of the Owl (the Florida's old commander) had a similar adven- ture and returned to -St. George's, his sailing port. There were others, too, some of which were captured.
Bermuda had a visit late in 1864 from the no-
THE CIVIL WAR 95
torious John C. Braine, whose manner of captur- ing vessels was that of the pirate. Braine and John Parker, whose real name was V. G. Locke, and a party of eight men, boarded the American mail steamer Roanoke as she was about to leave Havana for New York on September 29. They had tickets and passports and seemed to be genu- ine passengers. That night, at sea, Braine and his men, who proved to be Confederates, over- powered Captain Drew and the Roanoke's officers, the majority of whom were asleep in their berths, killed the carpenter by shooting, wounded the third engineer, and took possession of the ship. All of the company, excepting the firemen, were put in irons.
After rifling the ship's safe of $21,000 Braine laid a course for Bermuda. He anchored in Five Fathom Hole on the evening of October 4 and im- mediately went to St. George's in a pilot boat. Early next morning he returned with several men and took the Roanoke to sea. The following even- ing she came to anchor again and was boarded by another party of men, who brought information to the effect that a brig would come out with coal and provisions for the steamer. For the second time the Roanoke stood off to sea, returning again on the night of October 6, just as the brig Village Girl came out of port. October 7 was spent in
96 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
an effort to transport supplies from brig to steamer, Braine having arranged for another brig to take the passengers, forty in number, to Hali- fax. This vessel, the Mathilde, flying Danish colours, hove in sight that night, and received the Roanoke's passengers and crew, excepting three men, who were in irons.
It was Braine's plan to have the Roanolce navi- gated to Wilmington by a Captain Reid and R. E. N. Boggs, a Bermuda blockade runner, but the sea was so rough that it was impossible to accomplish the task of coaling, and the steamer lay in the anchorage on the evening of October 8, with only a few tons in her bunkers. Without coal the Roanoke was useless, and Braine knew that she would be detained if she entered a Bermuda harbour, because the American consul was already addressing protests to the Governor; so without any preliminaries the buccaneering skipper de- cided to set her afire and proceed to land in a boat. Boggs was aboard when the torch was ap- plied, and in a moment of deviltry he thought for once in his life he would take a shot at what he termed a " live man." Standing before the saloon mirror, he aimed a bullet at the heart of his own reflection, shattering the glass into atoms. In a few minutes flames were leaping from the Roanoke.
THE CIVIL WAR 97
Braine and his followers were taken into court, but upon producing commissions from the Con- federate Government, said to have been manu- factured over night, they were released after a perfunctory hearing, despite the protests of Con- sul Allen, who declared they had committed an act of piracy against his country. By a similar ruse Braine and other men, including Parker, had captured the steamer Chesapeake in De- cember, 1863, off Cape Cod, taking her to Halifax, and escaping from the custody of the authorities. Braine was accounted a pirate by the United States and was arrested in New York in 1866, but the charges against him were never pressed.
A more sinister figure than Braine came to Ber- muda from Halifax about the same time in the person of Dr. Luke P. Blackburn, who purported to be a physician of New Orleans. He was, by the way, an acquaintance of Braine. Yellow fever was then sweeping over the colony and devas- tating the crews of blockade runners. By asserting that he had a special knowledge of the disease, Blackburn was able to co-operate with the local physicians and sanitary officers, and he was ex- tremely active in assisting all plans for checking the epidemic. He refused offers of a pecuniary nature, either for his services or for expenses he
7
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incurred, and the people were genuinely sorry when he returned to Halifax at the end of a month. Little did they suspect that he was concerned in a diabolical plot to collect the clothing of fever patients for distribution in New York and other Northern cities during the coming summer.
Details of the affair reached Consul Allen in April, 1865, through a spy, who told a circum- stantial story of the location of the clothing and its owner. Mr. Allen communicated with the health officer, and the matter was laid before the Corporation of St. George's. While the meeting was in progress, a member of the Corporation, who happened to be a strong Southern sympa- thiser and a traitor to his associates, signalled to a Confederate spy outside the window. That in- dividual lost no time in notifying the guardian of the clothing, a man named Swan, that trouble was in the air. The suspicions of the Corporation were aroused by the peculiar actions of the traitor- ous member, and a committee was appointed to search the suspected house, which was reached at the moment Swan was preparing to burn the damaging articles.
The clothing consisted of blankets, sheets, underwear, handkerchiefs, stained with " black vomit " ; a number of new garments, and many poultices, the latter being distributed with a view
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of incubating the germs, if any existed. There were three trunks, one of which was labelled " St. Louis Hotel, Upper Town, Quebec " ; another "Clifton House, Niagara Falls, Canada Side." At the request of Mr. Allen the clothing was taken to the quarantine station at Nonsuch Island and buried with a solution of oil of vitriol.
Swan was sent to j ail for " harbouring a nui- sance," but his employer had long since been out of the law's reach. The chain of evidence was too strong to absolve Blackburn. He had gathered and brought the clothing to the storage place and had hired the caretaker. So much was proved beyond a shadow of doubt. Whether he acted purely on his own initiative in a spirit of misguided patriotism, or whether he was a gov- ernment tool, are points not entirely clear. In reporting the affair to Washington, Consul Allen said he believed that Dr. Blackburn's expenses had been paid with funds from the rebel treasury.
That so horrible a scheme should have received official approval seems hardly conceivable, yet Thomas E. Taylor, in his book, "*Running the Blockade," cites an instance which shows that there were official hands willing to take up the desperate game. Taylor, famous for his exploits with Banshee, Night Hawk, and Will-o' -the- Wisp, says an " eminent Confederate military doctor pro-
100 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
posed to me during the prevalence of the yellow fever epidemic that he should ship by our boats to Nassau and Bermuda sundry cases of infected clothing, which were to be sent to the North with the idea of spreading the disease there. This was too much, and I shouted to him, not in the choicest of language, to leave the office." This incident probably took place at Wilmington, where " yellow jack" caused frightful mortality.
In view of the modern theory of yellow fever transmission, Blackburn's plan, or any other plan, might have proved abortive, even though the de- tails had been carried out; but this can have no bearing on the atrocious motive.
The exposure* of Blackburn and the Owl's re- turn were the last exciting incidents of the war, so far as Bermuda was concerned. The fall of Wilmington was a stupefying blow to the Ber- mudians. Their faith in the ultimate success of the Confederacy had never been shaken ; pros- perity had blinded them to the palpable weaknesses of the South. But now they faced the abrupt ending of a business on which they had thrived for four years. The market for their large stocks of goods had disappeared overnight, and with it the picturesque fleet of blockade runners. Having played the game to the limit, ships and men de- serted St. George's as rats desert a doomed ship,
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and the townspeople were left to count their losses.
They were mostly losses. A few of the far-seeing merchants came out of the wreck with fattened bank accounts ; the maj ority shouldered a burden of debt which took years to liquidate ; and to this day you may find in St. George's traces of that financial demolition which came about when Wil- mington was lost to the Confederacy.
The growth and extent of blockade running and its influence upon the imports and revenue are seen in the following tables:
VESSELS ENTERED AND CLEARED
1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865
Hamilton . 107 136 176 140 158 121
St. George's 80 84 138 247 367 143
Total ... 187 220 314 387 525 264
GRAND TOTAL OP 1897 VESSELS IN THE YEARS OF THE WAB
Imports
1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865
£152,887 £164,503 £238,932 £321,427 £371,084 £200,983 $764,435 $822,515 $1,194,660 $1,607,135 $1,855,420 $1,004,915
Revenue
1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 £11,210 £10,245 £13,135 £16,251 £19,642 £24,079 $56,050 $51,225 $65,675 $81,255 $98,210 $120,395
The colony derived no revenue from the im- mense consignments of munitions of war, pro-
102 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
visions, medicine, clothing, and cotton landed there for transshipment, as all merchandise of this de- scription came in bond and was not even subjected to a landing tax. Increase of taxable importations was due to the heavy demands for marketable goods made upon local merchants by blockade runners and by the natives who indulged in speculative ventures.
CHAPTER VHI
ORIGIN OP THE ISLANDS CLIMATE AND
CHARACTERISTICS
COUNTLESS ages ago the rugged crest of a huge submarine mountain, rising some fifteen thousand feet from the ocean floor, became the abode of myriads of lime-secreting corals which, in the course of a period only to be reckoned in terms of geology, strengthened, expanded, and raised the structure until at last there arose above tide- water numbers of sandy beaches composed of the shells of tiny dead mollusks, which had been ground into atoms by the waves after giving their lives, generation by generation, to the work of reef building. Then the winds took up the task, drifting these broken shells, whose substance was carbonate of lime, into sand dunes, which, as they grew in height and became hills, were bound to- gether and converted into rock through chemical action superinduced by the percolation of rain water.
By this process was evolved the Bermudas, a series of aeolian or wind-built limestone islands, with hills and valleys and water spaces, the whole covering the greater part of the area enclosed
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within the existing outer barrier reef or coral atoll. As the islands grew older they were cov- ered by red soil — the residue of decomposed lime- stone — and to this migrating birds and ocean currents brought their tribute of seeds. A mantle of vegetation crept over the country to beautify and increase its fertility, but it was decreed that the islands should not remain inviolate. As the ages rolled by much of the land disappeared be- neath water, and when the period of subsidence ceased there was left only a remnant — the Ber- mudas substantially as we see them to-day, 19^ square miles or about 12,373 acres.
The group takes the form of a fish hook, St. George's Island at the east end forming the be- ginning of the shaft, Ireland Island at the west representing the curve. On all sides lie the reefs, a closely-knit, formidable barrier of rock — the most northerly coral structure in the world. It assumes the appearance of an ellipse, with the axis running from northeast to southwest, and is about twenty-two miles long and eleven broad in its widest spot. On the south or weather side the breakers follow the shore line at a distance of a few hundred yards ; on the north side they stand out seven miles or more from land, with North Rock, a gaunt vestige of ancient Bermuda, as the most prominent feature. Not until the navigator
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arrives off the eastern extremity does he find the one surveyed and buoyed passage giving access to the coral belt. Through this he must pass in order to reach any anchorage or harbor. The reefs therefore serve two purposes: they afford protection against ocean's ravages and form a natural line of submarine defences.
Full advantage has been taken of the hydro- graphic characteristics in planning the fortifica- tions, for it must be remembered that Bermuda is the strategic centre of the North America and West Indies station, and as such an important link in the British Empire's chain of; military strongholds. The tortuous Main Ship Channel — the passage mentioned above — is practically im- passable at night and is commanded throughout its length of two miles by the guns of several forts on St. George's and St. David's Islands. The town of St. George's lies over the hills, hidden within the fish hook is the dockyard at Ireland Island, twelve miles up the north side; while across the Great Sound from the dockyard is Hamilton, the capital, and its harbour, even more safely ensconced. To assail these places would not be an easy task, if a defending fleet were at hand.
But what of Bermuda itself? First the mind should be disabused of a common and ill-founded
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fallacy. Bermuda has no geographical connection with the West Indies. It lies in the latitude of Charleston, South Carolina, far above the tropical 2one, the exact bearings of the dockyard being lat. 32° 19' north, long. 64° 49' west. The distance between New York and Bermuda, counting from dock to dock, is 700 nautical miles ; from Sandy Hook, where the voyage begins, to St. David's Head 666 miles intervene. Halifax, N. S., is about 736 nautical miles from the group ; Cape Hat- teras, the nearest point of the continent, is 568 miles distant.
It cannot be denied that the Bermuda voyage has its discomforts, particularly if the Gulf Stream, whose southern edge is 293 miles from the islands, be churned to anger. But without this strange body of warm water to take the sting from the winter gales Bermuda would be unable to boast of a sub-tropical climate which suffers no extremes or sudden changes of temperature. In winter the mercury ranges about 68 de- grees and seldom falls below 50; in summer it rarely climbs above 86 in the shade, the average mean temperature for the year being about 70 degrees. The rainfall is heavy and generally dis- tributed, but the porous soil is nothing more than a huge sponge which soaks up water so rapidly that all traces of a downpour are removed within
ORIGIN OF THE ISLANDS 107
a few hours. While the climate is not suitable in all respects to persons with weak lungs, neither fog nor frost occurs, and the extreme purity of the sea air forbids the intrusion of diseases which find a medium in miasmatic atmosphere. " Malaria unknown," a phrase commonly applied to Ber- muda, is wholly true. There is not a suspicion of aerial poison — the porosity of the soil is a guarantee against unwholesome emanations.
Meteorological conditions on the Atlantic sea- board naturally influence the winter and spring weather. October, November, and December are usually delightful months; in January, February, and March the weather becomes cooler and there are dry, bracing periods in which light overcoats, blankets, and occasional open fires are comforts not to be despised. April, May, and June are wonderfully calm and pleasant, and then come the southern breezes of summer. The heat of July, August, and September is relieved by fre- quent showers, and though the sun beats down with surprising intensity, causing a dazzling glare from the white roads and houses, summer temper- atures actually do not reach the heights which New York experiences.
Withal the climate is healthy, none is more so — a statement that is made without reserve. Per- haps its best recommendation is the longevity of
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the people. That fact speaks not for the climate alone, but for the environment in which their lives are spent. Theirs is a land of perpetual delight to the eye, a little world unto itself, law-abiding, peaceful, breeding contentment and hospitality. Its pleasures are the joys of out of doors; its keynote of life, simplicity. Why wonder if the 'Mudians live long and " die of nothing in par- ticular," as they say themselves?
Bermuda is a miniature as to colour and form. Its highest hill is but 260 feet above sea level, its lowest island is a water-washed rock. A popular tradition holds tl&t the islands number 365, one for every day in the year ; actually, there are not more than 150, a comparatively few of which are inhabited. Their setting is a sea as changeable as the opal, and so transparent that twenty feet below its surface the eye may follow the coral world and its denizens. Over the white bottom, near the shore the water is shaded into delicate greens ; over the shoals it assumes brownish hues ; beyond the reefs it varies from bright blue, the blue of sapphire, to deep green. Scarcely for a moment is its colour fixed ; a ruffling of the surface, a shadow, a different slant of sunlight — each is sufficient to deepen or brighten the tone, so rapid is the prismatic play.
All the colour is not on the surface. Look be-
ORIGIN OF THE ISLANDS 109
neath, through the glass bottom of your boat, as it drifts idly over the submarine gardens. Tall black rods and purple sea fans, having root in the sandy floor, rise upward and wave gracefully in the tide, like tree ferns swept by mild zephyrs. Weeds of many colours, scarlet and green sponges, clusters and sprays of white coral, spiny sea eggs, bulky sea puddings — the Chinaman's delicacy — are scattered about promiscuously, and to ledges of rock, coated sometimes in pink, cling brilliant anemones and more strange weeds, delicate alike in shade and texture.
There is constant play of fishes. The spotted moray coils its length in a coral cavity to watch its prey; grey snappers lurk in the shade of an overhanging shoal; the fishing fish, motionless beside the scarlet sponge, of which it seems a part, sets its baited rod above its mouth to lure harmless shrimps. Gorgeous parrot fishes ; angels, fringed with gold; jaunty sergeant majors, bear- ing stripes of rank; dainty four eyes, red squir- rels, white and yellow grunts, schools of silvery fry pass in review, and occasionally, if hunger be pressing, the octopus, ever ready to baffle an enemy by changing colour, is seen to spread its repulsive tentacles for the unwary crab. It is all very unique, and deceptive, too, for the trans- parency of the water makes every living object seem almost at arm's length.
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By contrast the beauties of the country are none the less alluring. Grandeur of mountain scenery is absent, rivers and lakes have no place in the ensemble, but the undulating land is ever chang- ing in its aspect, romantic in its whimsical vistas. The larger inhabited islands are from one to three miles in width, terminating on their ocean sides in abrupt cliffs, undermined by the surf, curiously eroded, carved into fantastic columns, cloisters and arches, like the ruins of ancient shrines — breeding places, be it said, of the shy tropic bird or longtail.
Less precipitous is the shore line of the sheltered sounds and bays, studded with dainty islets, broken by sandy coves, or fringed with dense thickets of mangrove. Here the water is calm and glass-like, a crystal mirror, reflecting faithfully the pano- rama of hill and dale, so richly clad in sub-tropical vegetation. The cedar or juniper is the most conspicuous and useful tree. Without it Ber- muda would be barren and uninhabitable. It at- tracts the rain, catches the salt spray that accom- panies the gales, protects the farmer's " patches " of productive soil. It is, moreover, a durable and ornamental wood, excellent for building purposes and those of the craftsman.
From an artistic viewpoint the cedar's dark, thick foliage is merely a background for brighter,
**1 %
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more diversified flora. Bermuda justly earns its title, " Land of the Lily and the Rose." It is a wild flower garden at all seasons, supporting not only tropical trees and shrubs, but many from temperate climes, excepting those which require the resting period of frost. From January until May rose borders are abloom; at Eastertide the far-famed lily carpets the ground by acres and perfumes the air — an emblem of purity, serene and fair, a pleasing substitute for snow. April sees the oleander arrayed in pink and crimson, a riotous and splendid growth, sending its roots deep into the rock. The hedges, twenty feet high, serve as wind breaks, and hold their blos- soms for nine months. Cattle will not touch ole- ander on account of the poison in its leaves; it thrives undisturbed, increasing its area constantly. There is no end to the flowers. Morning glory drapes its purple bells over cedars, wild passion vines trail across the rocks ; wherever there is moisture and a handful of soil the life plant sends up shoots laden with " floppers." Pin a leaf against a wall, watch it sprout, and cease to wonder why the word " life " is applied to this little plant. Lantana, topped with yellow and red, grows side by side with fennel and the native sage bush; in pockets of sand, hard by the water, sea lavender, sea marigold, and prickly pear find nourishment.
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There are hedges of Spanish bayonet, for- midable as chevaux-de-frise, hedges of acalypha (match-me-if-you-can), and flowering pomegran- ate; clumps of broad-leaved bananas, groups of palmetto, an indigenous palm, out of whose rust- ling leaves hats are made. Avocado pears and seaside grape trees (not vines) are numerous enough to attract attention ; and any man's prop- erty are the fiddlewood, mulberry, pride of India, pigeon berry, American aloe, and curious pawpaw, with its summit crowned by golden fruit, a remedy for indigestion. In the glades silk spiders weave, and birds of bright plumage, harmonising with the flowers, make sport. The cardinal's cheerful call is the daybreak signal, and in the morning chorus there are notes of bluebird, ground dove, chick-of- the- village, goldfinch, and catbird. There are no snakes, and if insects are numerous the only one to be feared is the centipede, whose bite is easily cured.
When the colonists turned their tribal paths, winding over and among the hills, into highways, they dug into the solid white rock, as engineers cut a bed for steel rails, creating a road system that has peculiar features. One minute you may be on a level stretch, beside the sea ; the next may carry you through a deep cutting with cedars meeting overhead in a natural bower to shade the
ORIGIN OF THE ISLANDS 113
maidenhair fern that clings to damp crevices of the walls. There are not six places in the islands where you can gaze ahead on the road for five hundred yards ; thus you meet unexpected pic- tures, generally including glimpses of water, at every turn.
The freeholds are partitioned by stone walls, between which on hillside and in valley are pockets of brick-red soil, the " patches " of onions, pota- toes, arrowroot, celery, lilies, and parsley. The green of the standing crops is a relief after the sombre cedar, and at the end of harvest it is supplanted by golden sprays of wild mustard, effective while they last and a contrast to the domi- nating reds of the flowers. Cottages stand half hidden among the cedars, and as likely as not you will find near-by quarries from which builders took the stone for them. If anything causes the stranger to pause, it is a quarry where men are chiselling out big square blocks, while others, with heavy hand saws, are cutting the stone into build- ing sizes and roof slate. The stone is nothing more than a matrix of broken shells, and one won- ders how a substance soft as cheese can be used for building purposes. But there is no secret in utilising it. Exposure to air is sufficient to harden the stone, and it will last indefinitely. The ma- jority of Bermuda houses are from fifty to one
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hundred and fifty years old, and more solid than the day they were occupied. Construction of wooden buildings is forbidden within town limits; probably there are not more than a dozen except- ing military structures in the colony. As the stone successfully resists heat, destructive fires are virtually eliminated.
Mark Twain once said of the Bermuda house: " It is exactly the white of the icing of a cake and has the same unemphasised and scarcely percepti- ble polish." That description will probably hold for all time. The white stone is eminently suited to the climate. It is cheap, makes a substantial, cool, dry house, and no material could be cleaner. There is nothing strikingly beautiful about the houses, but they seem to fit into their surround- ings. The Bermudian of older days was a ship- wright, not an architect. He introduced ship- building ideas into the construction of his houses and churches, locking the cedar beams into the masonry as if he intended they should resist the battering of waves; building big chimneys and stone porches. He looked for comfort rather than beauty and developed his house in accordance with the means at his disposal. He never went above two stories, always made a sloping roof to catch rain water for household uses, and added a verandah if he could afford it. He believed in
ORIGIN OF THE ISLANDS 115
plenty of windows, to which he affixed green blinds that pushed outward, thus assuring better protection from the sun than any awning could give. Generally speaking, he created a comfort- able dwelling. On his voyages abroad he pro- cured trees and plants for his domain, this being the way in which Bermuda gained many foreign growths that are now common. Every house has its garden, and nearly every garden has a tree or shrub that somebody's grandfather brought from the West Indies, or perhaps it was the Med- iterranean or Brazil.
CHAPTER IX
LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS
WASHINGTON IRVING, sailing past the Bermudas on a peaceful day, could hardly realise those islands as " the still-vexed Bermoothes " of Shake- speare, " once the dread of mariners, and infamous in the narratives of the early discoverers for the dangers and disasters which beset them." In his " Knickerbocker Miscellanies " Irving describes the wreck of Sir George Somers, not very accurately, to be sure, and tells the amusing story of " The Three Kings of Bermuda and Their Treasure of Ambergris." He surmises that the story of the shipwreck and subsequent events on the lonely isl- ands may have furnished Shakespeare with some of the elements of his drama of " The Tempest," saying finally:
" But above all, in the three fugitive vagabonds who remained in possession of the island of Ber- muda, on the departure of their comrades, and in their squabbles about supremacy, on the finding of their treasure, I see typified Sebastian, Trin- culo, and their worthy companion Caliban. . . . I do not mean to hold up the incidents and char- acters in the narrative and in the play as parallel,
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or as being strikingly similar : neither would I in- sinuate that the narrative suggested the play; I would only suppose that Shakespeare, being occu- pied about that time on the drama of the ' Tem- pest,' the main story of which, I believe, is of Italian origin, had many of the fanciful ideas of it suggested to his mind by the shipwreck of Sir George Somers on the * still vext Bermoothes,' and by the popular superstitions connected with these islands, and suddenly put in circulation by that event."
It would be unseemly for an humble writer to enter the long-standing controversy over the origin of " The Tempest," or to attempt to prove that Shakespeare must have had knowledge of the picturesque tracts written by Jordan and Strachy, but one may quote Lefroy without apology :
" The question whether Shakespeare had the Isla de Demonios in view in writing the ' Tem- pest' can scarcely be passed over in treating of the Bermudas. That the play does not contain a single plain allusion, and very few phrases, which, taken apart from their context, have a local colour, is very apparent. The flight of his fancy also di- vided * the still vexed Bermoothes ' from the isl- and of Prospero by perhaps an imaginary sev- erance; but it was in his time believed that the
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true Bermudas were another group not now to be found; and not only are the early accounts very imperfectly descriptive, but it is also obvious that to look for attention to details in such a flight of glorious invention would be dull in the last degree. Malone was assuredly right in considering the circumstances attending the storm by which Sir George Somers was wrecked as having suggested the title and some of the incidents of the play."
Lefroy quotes two passages which, he asserts, go far to prove that William Strachy's narrative, published before the drama's appearance, was the one the poet had before him. As Lefroy indicates, Strachy's description of " clamours drowned in the winds and the winds in thunder," might readily have suggested these lines:
"... Jove's lightnings, the precursors
O' the dreadful thunderclaps, more momentary
And sight-outrunning were not . . .
The fire and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune Seemed to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble, Yea, his dread trident shake."
The second passage is plainly an allusion to St. Elmo's Fire, which Somers called his shipmates to observe:
"I boarded the king's ship: now on the beak, Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin
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I flamed amazement: sometimes I 'd divide And burn in many places: on the topmast, The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly, Then meet, and join."
There is also a little touch of submarine Ber- muda in the sea-dirge of the airy spirit Ariel:
"Full fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones are coral made; Those are the pearls that were his eyes; Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange. Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell. Hark ! now I hear them, — ding-dong bell."
We may leave " The Tempest " with a quota- tion from Kipling, who knows his Bermuda al- most as well as other corners of the Empire. Writing to the Spectator in 1898, he said:
" May I cite Malone's suggestion connecting the play with the casting away of Sir George Somers on the island of Bermuda in 1609; and further may I be allowed to say how it seems to me possible that the vision was woven from the most prosaic material, — from nothing more promising, in fact, than the chatter of a half- tipsy sailor at a theatre? . . . Much, doubtless, he discarded, but so closely did he keep to his original information that those who go to-day
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to a certain beach * some two miles from Hamilton will find the stage set for Act II. Scene 2 of ' The Tempest,' — a bare beach, with the wind singing through the scrub at the land's edge, a gap in the reefs wide enough for the passage of Stephano's butt of sack, and (these eyes have seen it) a cave in the coral within easy reach of the tide, whereto such a butt might be conveniently rolled (' My cellar is in a rock by the seaside where my wine is hid'). There is no other cave for some two miles. ' Here 's neither bush nor shrub ' ; one is exposed to the wrath of ' yond same black cloud,' and here the currents strand wreckage. It was so well done that, after three hundred years, a stray tripper, and no Shake- speare scholar, recognised in a flash that old first set of all."
Edmund Waller's name has been associated with Bermuda through his " Battel of the Summer Islands," published in 1645, but there is no record to reveal his presence in the islands, notwithstand- ing assertions to the contrary. The name Waller occurs frequently in Bermuda history, and there is a little promontory on St. David's Island called Waller's Point, where a- gold ring bearing the initials E. W. was picked up by a roving boy, but such slender evidence is insufficient to prove
1 Possibly Kipling had Spanish Point in mind.
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that the poet stopped in Bermuda at the time of his exile from England. Lefroy states positively that Waller was never there and brings proof to support his assertion.
The " Battel of the Summer Islands " relates the incidents of a gory fight between two whales and a nation, and the fruitfulness of Bermuda is glowingly pictured in the first canto. Waller was right in speaking of cedar beams of houses and liquor made from palmettoes, but when he sang of taming savages he drew upon his imagination ; Bermuda never had an aboriginal inhabitant. Lines from the first canto are herewith appended:
"Bermuda wall'd with rocks, who does not know That happy island, where huge lemons grow; And orange trees, which golden fruit do bear, The Hisperian garden boasts of none so fair: Where shining pearl, coral, and many a pound, On the rich shore, of ambergreece is found. The lofty cedar, which to heav'n aspires, The Prince of trees ! is fewel for their fires : The smoke by which their loaded spits do turn; For incense might on sacred altars burn: Their private roofs on od'rous timber born, Such as might palaces for Kings adorn. The sweet palmitoes a new Bacchus yield, With leaves as ample as the broadest shield: Under the shadows of whose friendly boughs They sit, carowsing where their liquor grows.
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Figs there unplanted thro' the fields do grow, Such as fierce Cato did the Romans show; With the rare fruit inviting them to spoil Carthage, the mistress of so rich a soil. The naked rocks are not unfruitful there, But, at some constant seasons ev'ry year, Their barren tops with luscious food abound, And with the eggs of various fowls are crown'd. Tobacco is the worst of things which they To English landlords, as then* tribute pay, Such is the mould that the blest tenants feeds On precious fruits, and pays his rent in weeds: With candy'd plantains, and the juicy pine, On choicest melons, and sweet grapes, they dine: And with potatoes fat their wanton swine. Nature these cates with such a lavish hand Pours out among them, that our coarser land Tastes of that bounty; and does cloth return, Which not for warmth, but ornament is worn: For the kind spring, which but salutes us here, Inhabits there, and courts them all the year: Ripe fruits, and blossoms, on the same trees live: At once they promise, what at once they give. So sweet the ah", so moderate the clime; None sickly lives, or dies before his time. Heav'n sure has kept this spot of earth uncurst, To show how all things were created first !
Oh ! how I long my careless limbs to lay Under the plaintain's shade, and all the day With amorous airs my fancy entertain; Invoke the Muses, and improve my vein ! No passion there in my free breast should move,
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None but the sweet and best of passions, love.
There while I sing, if gentle Love be by
That tunes my lute, and winds the strings so high;
With the sweet sound of Sacharissa's name
I '11 make the list'ning savages grow tame."
Another literary production, that of Andrew Marvel, has no historical basis so far as Bermuda is concerned. The islands attracted but three prominent Puritans, who probably did not flee from " prelates' rage " ; nevertheless, Marvel's beautiful " Song of the Emigrants in Bermuda " has a high place in English literature. It is given here in full:
"Where the remote Bermudas ride In ocean's bosom unespied, From a small boat that rowed along The listening waves received this song: — 'What should we do but sing His praise That led us through the watery maze Unto an Isle so long unknown, And yet far kinder than our own ! Where He the huge sea monsters racks That lift the deep upon their backs; He lands us on a grassy stage, Safe from the storms and prelates' rage ? He gave us this eternal spring, Which here enamels everything; And sends the fowls to us in care, On daily visits through the air,
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He hangs in shades the orange bright, Like golden lamps in a green night; And does in the pomegranate close Jewels more rich than Ormus shows. He makes the figs our mouths to meet, And throws the melons at our feet; But apples plants of such a price, No tree could ever bear them twice. With cedars chosen by His hand From Lebanon, He stores the land, And makes the hollow seas that roar Proclaim the ambergris on shore. He cast (of which we rather boast) The Gospel pearl upon our coast, And in these rocks for us did frame A temple, where to sound His name. Oh let our voice His praise exalt, Till it arrive at heaven's vault, Which thence perhaps resounding, may Echo beyond the Mexique bay.' Thus sang they in the English boat, A holy and a cheerful note, And all the way, to guide their chime, With falling oars they kept the time."
The true poet of Bermuda is Thomas Moore, that humorous, sentimental Irishman, the poet of Erin, too. Tom Moore came to the islands from Norfolk, Va., by the Driver, a Bermuda-built sloop of war, in January, 1804, to fill the rather pro- saic post of Registrar of the Court of Vice- Admiralty.
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" Oh, what a tempest whirl'd us hither," he wrote to George Morgan, an attache of the Brit- ish Consulate at Norfolk, by way of describing his stormy voyage, and then,
'"But bless the little fairy isle! How sweetly, after all our ills, We saw the dewy morning smile Serenely o'er its fragrant hills ! And felt the pure, elastic flow Of airs, that round this Eden blow, With honey freshness, caught by stealth, Warm from the very lips of health !
"'Oh! could you view the scenery dear, That now beneath my window lies, You 'd think, that Nature lavish 'd here Her purest wave, her softest skies, To make a heaven for love to sigh in, For bards to live and saints to die in! Close to my wooded bank below In glassy calm the waters sleep, And to the sun-beam proudly show The coral rocks they love to steep !
"'The fainting breeze of morning fails, The drowsy boat moves slowly past, And I can almost touch its sails That languish idly round the mast. The sun has now profusely given The flashes of a noontide heaven, And, as the wave reflects his beams, Another heaven its surface seems !
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Blue light and clouds of silvery tears
So pictured o'er the waters lie
That every languid bark appears ,
To float along a burning sky ! "
Moore soon became enamoured of Bermuda. It was no great task for him to sing its praises; he wrote of the things as he saw them — wooded islets, limpid water, graceful boats, white cottages, which, said he, " assume often the appearance of little Grecian temples." His descriptive pic- tures were remarkably faithful — what could be more so than his verses to the Marchioness Dowager of Donegall ?
"Believe me, Lady, when the zephyrs bland Floated our bark to this enchanted land, These leafy isles upon the ocean thrown, Like studs of emerald o'er a silver zone; Not all the charm, that ethnic fancy gave To blessed arbours o'er the western wave, Could wake a dream, more soothing or sublime, Of bowers ethereal and the spirit's clime !
"The morn was lovely, every wave was still, When the first perfume of a cedar-hill Sweetly awaked us, and with smiling charms The fairy harbour woo'd us to its arms. Gently we stole, before the languid wind, Through plantain shades, that like an awning twined
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And kiss'd on either side the wanton sails, Breathing our welcome to these vernal vales; While, far reflected o'er the wave serene, Each wooded island shed so soft a green, That the enamour 'd keel, with whispering play, Through liquid herbage seem'd to steal its way ! Never did weary bark more sweetly glide, Or rest its anchor in a lovelier tide ! Along the margin, many a brilliant dome, White as the palace of a Lapland gnome, Brighten'd the wave; in every myrtle grove Secluded bashful, like a shrine of love, Some elfin mansion sparkled through the shade; And, while the foliage interposing play'd, Wreathing the structure into various grace, Fancy would love, in many a form, to trace The flowery capital, the shaft, the porch, And dream of temples, till her kindling torch Lighted me back to all the glorious days Of Attic genius; and I seemed to gaze On marble, from the rich Pentelic mount, Gracing the umbrage of some Naiad's fount."
Though Moore lived at St. George's, he spent many idle hours at Walsingham House, the home of the Trott family, charmingly situated on the banks of a quiet pool, whose waters still reflect the outlines of this historic dwelling. And, if a winding path among the curious grottoes be fol- lowed, you will come to that ancient calabash tree under whose branches the poet sat and dreamed and wrote.
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"Last night, when we came from the calabash tree, When my limbs were at rest and my spirit was free, The glow of the grape and the dreams of the day Put the magical springs of my fancy in play; And, oh ! such a vision as haunted me then I could slumber for ages to witness again! The many I like, and the few I adore, The friends, who were dear and beloved before, But never till now so beloved and dear, At the call of my fancy surrounded me here ! Soon, soon did the flattering spell of their smile To a paradise brighten the blest little isle."
So run the lines to Joseph Atkinson.
But it was not romantic scenery alone which tempted Moore's poetic fancy, as his " Odes to Nea " bear witness. In one of these he pleads :
"Nay, tempt me not to love again, There was a time when love was sweet; Dear Nea ! had I known thee then, Our souls had not been slow to meet ! "
Moore's boyish heart — he was only twenty- five — was touched, as some believed, or perhaps merely fluttered, by Nea — Hester Louisa Tucker, the fascinating young wife of William Tucker of St. George's. The poet said that the ideal Nea of his odes was made out of two " real ones " ; nevertheless, his harmless attentions to Mrs. Tucker succeeded in arousing the jealousy of her
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husband, and it is related of the latter that he religiously excluded his rival's works from his house. But the genial, warm-blooded Irishman bore no malice, if one may draw conclusions from this rhyme:
"Well — peace to thy heart, though another's it be, And health to thy cheek, though it bloom not for me ! To-morrow, I sail for those cinnamon groves Where nightly the ghost of the Carribee roves, And, far from thine eye, oh ! perhaps, I may yet Its seduction forgive and its splendour forget ! Farewell to Bermuda, and long may the bloom Of the lemon and myrtle its valleys perfume; May spring to eternity hallow the shade, Where Ariel has warbled and Waller has stray'd ! And thou — when, at dawn, thou shalt happen to roam Through the lime-cover 'd alley that leads to thy home, Where oft, when the dance and the revel were done, And the stars were beginning to fade in the sun, I have led thee along, and have told by the way What my heart all the night had been burning to say — Oh ! think of the past — give a sigh to those times, And a blessing for me to that alley of limes ! "
The alley of limes has disappeared and Nea's childhood home is now a crumbling ruin, but time has served to heighten the memories of Moore's sojourn, all too brief, as it was. In April he left not for the West Indies but New York, having become thoroughly disgusted with his office, which
9
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gave him a pittance Instead of the handsome in- come he had expected. Unfortunately, he placed his affairs in the hands of a dishonest deputy, who embezzled several thousand pounds, for which the poet became responsible in 1818. Fear of im- prisonment kept him out of England for two years, but the matter was compromised and Moore actually retained the office of registrar until 1844, the authorities then concluding that forty years of continued absence from Bermuda was sufficient reason for them to supersede him.
In the autumn of 1858 Anthony Trollope was sent to the West Indies to " cleanse the Augean stables of our post office system there," he relates in his autobiography. He ended his tour of duty with a brief visit to Bermuda, a description of which appears in " The West Indies and the Spanish Main."
"Looking back at my fortnight's sojourn there," he writes, " it seems to me that there can be no place in the world as to which there can be less to be said than there is about this island — sayings at least of the sort in which it is my nature to express itself."
Trqllope disliked the food and climate; he complained reasonably about the backwardness of agriculture, despite the opportunities afforded planters, the islands having " many gifts of na-
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ture to recommend them." He found Bermuda poor. " Perhaps, I should add," he remarks, " that on the whole she is contented with her pov- erty. And if so, why disturb such contentment? . . . The sleepiness of the people appeared to me the most prevailing characteristic of the place. . . . To say that they live for eating and drink- ing would be to wrong them. They want the energy for the gratification of such vicious tastes. To live and die would seem to be enough for them. To live and die as their fathers and mothers did before them, in the same houses, using the same furniture, nurtured on the same food, and enjoy- ing the same immunity from the dangers of excitement."
Rather an uncomplimentary characterisation, but the Bermudians, on their part, regarded Trollope as an erratic individual who was more fond of sea-baths than hard work; and perhaps they neglected to welcome him with their usual warmth. However, he could not escape certain of Bermuda's charms. He liked the water and the " singular way in which the land is broken up into narrow necks, islands, and promontories, running here and there in a capricious, half- mysterious manner. . . . But it is mostly the beauty of the sea and not of the land. The islands are flat, or at any rate there is no consider-
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able elevation in them. They are covered through- out with those scrubby little trees [cedars] and although the trees are green and, therefore, when seen from the sea, give a freshness to the land- scape, they are uninteresting and monotonous on shore. I must not forget the oleanders. . . . The Bermudas might almost be called the olean- der isles."
More appreciative accounts have come from the pens of such well-known American authors as Mark Twain, the late Charles Dudley Warner, and William Dean Howells, all of whom found de- light in the oddities of the " Summer Islands." Mark Twain's first impressions were obtained in 1867, when the steamer Quaker City was nearing the end of that memorable voyage described in " The Innocents Abroad." " A few days among the breezy groves," he wrote, " the flower gardens, the coral caves, and the lovely vistas of blue water that went curving in and out, disappearing and anon again appearing through jungle walls of brilliant foliage, restored the energies dulled by long drowsing on the ocean, and fitted us for our final cruise — our little run of a thousand miles to New York — America — home."
Again, in 1877, Mark Twain found Bermuda the " tidiest country in the world. And very much the tidiest, too. . . . Bermuda is the right coiin-
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try for a jaded man to * loaf ' in. There are no harassments; the deep peace and quiet of the country sink into one's body and bones and give his conscience a rest, and chloroform the legion of invisible small devils that are always trying to whitewash his hair." (" Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion," Atlantic Monthly.) Many times since that was written has Mark Twain given " his conscience a rest," by " loafing " in the warm sunlight of Bermuda.
It was in 1894 that Charles Dudley Warner recorded his sympathetic observations in Harper's Magazine, saying in the course of a long article: " The honoured descendants of the early mariners and adventurers, who live here as their family gen- erations here lived, with not much to mark their lives, and commonly not an inscription to mark their resting place in the whitewashed tombs in the flower-grown, or sea-lapped, peaceful church- yards — these people in their white bungalows amid semi-tropical gardens are perhaps as con- tented as any in the world, and as little disturbed by the fluctuations of modern life."
" What will be said to you when you tell that in the Summer Islands one has but to saw a hole in his backyard and take out a house of soft, creamy sandstone and set it up, and go to living in it ? " asked Howells. " What, when you relate that
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among the northern and southern evergreens there are deciduous trees which, in a clime where there is no fall or spring, simply drop their leaves when they are tired of keeping them on, and put out others when they feel like it? What, when you pretend that in the absence of serpents there are centipedes a span long, and spiders the bigness of bats, and mosquitoes that sweetly sing an the drowsing air, but bite not; or that there are swamps but no streams, and in the marshes stand mangrove trees whose branches grow downwards into the ooze, as if they wished to get back into the earth and pull in after them the holes they emerge from." (Harper's Magazine, June, 1901.) En passant one cannot forget that the late John B. Tabb (Father Tabb, poet and teacher) paid several visits to Bermuda while serving as cap- tain's clerk in the blockade runner Robert E. Lee, commanded by John Wilkinson, C. S. N., one of the most successful of all men engaged in supplying the Confederates with munitions of war.
CHAPTER X
POINTS OF INTEREST
HAVING no railroads, the Bermudians must neces- sarily depend upon horse-drawn vehicles for their transportation requirements, and they have not overlooked the economic importance of good high- ways. The roads are macadamized with crushed limestone and present a smooth, almost slippery surface, having in many instances concrete gut- ters to carry off the rainfall; but owing to steep grades and sharp turns and the restricted area of the group, it was deemed advisable in 1908 to prohibit the use of motor cars, after a trial last- ing several months. A restricted motor 'bus ser- vice for mails and passengers or an electric trolley road may, however, be established within a few years, as the necessities of the colony seem to demand a more rapid mode of transit.
It is possible to drive from one end of Bermuda to the other without ferrying. St. George's is joined to the Main or Bermuda proper by a cause- way nearly two miles long ; from the Main a suc- cession of bridges leads to Somerset, Watford, Boaz, and Ireland Islands, thus completing a con- tinuous roadway of some twenty-odd miles. Par-
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allel and intersecting roads enable one to visit almost every point of interest by carriage. For the sake of simplicity the different localities are set down under separate headings.
IRELAND, BOAZ, AND WATFORD
These islands, reached by steam ferry from Hamilton, as well as by road, are devoted to the uses of the Imperial Government, and are places of activity when the fleet is on the station in winter. The trip across the Great Sound and Grassy Bay occupies about forty minutes. Long ago Boaz was the convict headquarters, but now, like Watford, it is simply a military station. The dockyard at Ireland is typically British and seems more a part of old England than Ber- muda. Its limestone machine shops and store- houses, erected by convict labour, are substantial and almost imposing. In a niche of one build- ing hangs a bell supposed to have belonged to H. M. S. Shannon, and damaged in her engage- ment with the United States frigate Chesapeake off Boston, June 1, 1813. Within the Cambre, an artificial basin, is anchored a floating dock capable of lifting 17,500 tons, — one of the largest and most powerful of its kind. It was built in England, and towed out in 1902 to super- sede the old dock, which now lies, a corroding
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wreck, at Spanish Point. The naval hospital, sailors' home, and the cemetery are worth visit- ing. From time to time immense sums of money have been expended on the dockyard; between 1902 and 1906 extensive alterations changed the whole aspect of the works and completely mod- ernised the station.
To Ireland and to a small islet named Cross on its southern shore is attached a legend of buried treasure, which was supposed to have been hidden by shipwrecked Spaniards before Bermuda was settled. In 1691 one Thomas Neale of the parish of St. Martin in the Fields, county of Middlesex, received by letters patent from King William and Queen Mary the right to " all Treas- ure Trove and all Treasure of what nature or kind soever formerly hidden in the ground or else- where in which none of our subjects have prop- erty in the Little Island called Ireland nere the Island of Bermudas in America or in other of the islands or islets . . . always reserving unto Our Soveraigne Lord and Lady King William and Queen Mary their heirs and successors One full Fifth part of all such Treasure Trove"; but if Neale or any one else recovered the spoil they kept their counsel. Several affidavits taken in 1693 speak of the discourses of " old standers," who recalled a triangular heap of stones on Ireland
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and a yellow wood tree, to which an engraved brass plate was affixed; also, a wooden cross on Cross Island, with one arm pointing toward Spanish Point, on the Main, the other toward the mysterious stone pile. In these documents, too, are related traditional tales of how the treas- ure was buried, and how ancient and credible in- habitants had seen phantom ships sail about Cross Island and " fire drakes " alight upon it. All of which may have had some foundation in fact.
SOMERSET
The greater part of Sandys Parish, named after Sir Edwin Sands, one of the original ad- venturers and absentee landowners, is included within Somerset, reached by the same ferry which runs to Ireland. The boat passes through the Watford swing bridge and makes a landing in Mangrove Bay, near which Captain Ord's powder foraging ships anchored. This inlet, with its group of rocks in the centre and its broken point of .land jutting northward on the west shore, is one of many for which the island is famed through- out the colony. Near by is Long Bay, an exten- sive stretch of coralline sand facing the ocean and ending at Daniel's Head, which, with its island, is virtually land's end. Somerset is largely an agricultural community, but fishermen, pilots,
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and persons connected with the naval establish- ment live there. Near the main road stands the parish church, St. James's, built in 1789 on the site of an edifice which had been partly destroyed by a gale. It has several memorials, and an organ built in accordance with specifications furnished by a convict. The road leads through farm land until it reaches the little bridge that connects the Main. In the centre of the bridge is an oddity in the form of a trap door, which when raised gives room for the masts of fishing boats passing from the Great Sound to Ely's Harbour, where stand the Cathedral Rocks, perhaps the most striking example of erosion in Bermuda. This achieve- ment of wind and water should not be missed. Profitable hours may be spent in exploring the islands and bays of the beautiful harbour, which is partly enclosed by an arm of land on which stands Wreck Hill, looking out upon the south- west breakers, the graveyard of many fine ships.
SOUTHAMPTON
Below that part of Sandys which lies on the Main is Southampton, in which the Earl of South- ampton held land, hence the name. The north road follows the shore of the Little Sound to a point near Jew's Bay, where a spur climbs inland to Gibb's Hill Lighthouse. The view from the
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lighthouse gallery, three hundred and sixty-two feet above high water, is a superb panorama. Bermuda, all save the eastern parishes, lies at your feet. Mentally, you make a topographic survey. The eyes sweep across the low islands sprawling in disorderly array about the Great Sound to the dockyard, to Somerset, to the fringe of breakers ; thence backward over the hills and valleys of Southampton, Warwick, and Paget, where the roads wind like white ribbons, and cot- tage roofs break through the cedars, resting finally upon the city of Hamilton and its heights. No view gives a better idea of the Bermuda archi- pelago. The lighthouse is a symmetrical iron tower resting on a concrete base, the height of the gal- lery being 105 feet 9 inches. It is a revolving flashlight, burning oil, with an illuminating power of 99,930 candles, visible twenty-seven miles in clear weather. It was first lighted on May 1, 1846, and a new lantern was installed in 1904. A visit to Southampton is not complete without a detour from the north to the south longitudinal road, beginning at the parish church of St. Ann's, by the sea, the locality being called Port Royal. Ser- vices are held to the accompaniment of the ocean surge, which is never subdued.
A story told about a former rector of St. Ann's illustrates the character of the old seafarers here-
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abouts. Not a few Bermuda captains rested under the suspicion of being pirates, and when the trade of piracy lost its glory they took to the next best thing — wrecking. "Lame ducks," as the people called distressed vessels, were welcome visitors, and when one made a dangerous landfall and drifted over the reefs she was quickly surrounded by whale-boats and gigs, whose crews revelled in the prospect of salvage. Many an unfortunate skipper saved ship and cargo only to lose both in satisfy- ing the claims of wreckers, and thus Bermuda acquired an unsavoury reputation among mariners. To this day the signal denoting a ship passing the islands is known as the " starvation flag," al- though wrecking long ago ceased to be a lucra- tive occupation. But to return to the rector. He was preaching fervently one stormy Sunday when a man entered St. Ann's and whispered in the ears of several members of the congregation, who promptly reached for their hats. It did not take the rector long to descry signs of uneasiness, and he paused to ask : " John Smith, what are you say- ing to these people? "
" Parson," was the reply, " there 's a ship on the southwest breakers."
Sabbath piety, as the rector knew, must dis- appear under the circumstances, and he remarked impressively : " The congregation will remain
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seated until I take off my surplice, and then, boys, we '11 all start fair."
WAEWICK
The Earl of Warwick gave his name to this; parish, which contains fertile, undulating land, luxuriant vegetation, and a variety of scenery. A walk or drive should be taken along the south shore when a heavy swell is beating against the barrier reef, sending torrents of spray across the wild rocks and promontories. The Atlantic has left deep scars here for two miles or more, and such inlets as Sinky Bay, an elliptical rim of sand guarded by brown cliffs, are not likely to be passed by photographer and artist. Deep valleys on one side and bold cliffs on the other characterise War- wick Camp, where Tommy Atkins learns to shoot, deploy, and take cover, but in traversing this region signboards that mark the stray-bullet area should be heeded. The Khyber Pass, the deepest artificial canon in Bermuda, should not be missed while taking the cross roads north again to the Presbyterian Church. The kirk was built in 1719, but the congregation existed long before that date and is supposed to be the oldest of the Pres- byterian denomination in any British colony. A mural tablet commemorates the services held by George Whitfield, a celebrated English evangelist,
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in 1748, and the box pulpit from which he preached is preserved. Near by is St. Mary's, the parish church, erected in 1832. Salt Kettle ferry, sug- gestive of the days of ships and salt, brings War- wick within a few minutes of Hamilton; thus a carriage may be dispensed with if short excur- sions are in order.
PAGET
Lord Paget was responsible for the name of this parish, a favourite residential district, having fine estates with large houses and well-kept gar- dens, filled with rare plants and flowers. The north shore is the southern boundary of Hamil- ton Harbour, crossed by steam ferry. From the water's edge and heights at the back an unex- celled panoramic view of Hamilton is obtained. Paget, like Warwick, is thickly wooded, and the vegetation is luxuriant. A favourite drive starts at the north road and passes the parish church, St. Paul's, the oldest portion of which dates back to 1796, eventually reaching Elbow Bay, on the south shore, to which bathers resort. But the Sand Hills may prove more attractive to a stranger. One sees in these high mounds exactly the process by which all of Bermuda's hills were built. For a half mile or more inshore the fine shell sand has been drifted as the wind drifts
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snow, covering undergrowth and trees, and in one instance burying a house until only the chimney remains in sight. Trailing seaside vines and bushes have bound the dunes successfully, and now the destructive encroachment of sand is halted, perhaps permanently. If the drift does not be- come active again, the mounds will probably harden into rock, showing the irregular stratification that is found everywhere. Farther down the coast is Hungry Bay, solitary, weird, fascinating. The boilers or coral atolls, circular cups of frothing water, stand in close to shore, and on wild days the tumble and break of the sea is inspiring. In the eastern section of Paget, on the highway to Hamilton, is the Public Garden, where the gov- ernment carries on experimental work. The re- sults obtained here in field and greenhouse fully prove that Bermuda might be made more beauti- ful and prosperous if scientific methods of farm- ing were general.
PEMBROKE PARISH AND THE CITY OF HAMILTON
Pembroke is entered from Paget at the head of Crow's Lane, another name for the harbour. The first conspicuous objects are the royal palms at Pembroke Hall, almost on the water's edge. " These were not the largest or the tallest trees I have ever seen," wrote Mark Twain more than
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thirty years ago, "but they were the stateliest, the most majestic. That row of them must be the nearest that Nature has ever come to counter- feiting a colonnade. . . . Other palm trees always lean out of the perpendicular, or have a curve in them. But a plumb line could not detect a de- flection in any individual of this stately row ; they stand as straight as the colonnade of Baalbec; they have its great height, they have its graceful- ness, they have its dignity; in moonlight or twi- light, and shorn of their plumes, they would dupli- cate it."
Spread over the southern slopes of Pembroke Parish, to which the Earl of Pembroke lent his name, Hamilton is a dazzling town of whitewashed limestone, regularly laid out, with excellent streets and substantial stone wharfs, the latter bearing revenue to their owner, the municipality. In the latter part of the eighteenth century trade was centred about the shores of the Great Sound, and the necessity of a port for the middle and western parishes led to the foundation of Hamilton in 1790, after several years of agitation. The town was named in honour of the then Governor, Henry Hamilton, was incorporated on June 30, 1793, and succeeded St. George's as the seat of government on January 1, 1815, the Assembly first meeting at the Town Hall two weeks later. Since that 10
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time Hamilton has steadily increased in wealth and population, rising to the dignity of a city in 1898, by special act of the Legislature. Its population is about 2500. As the port of call for mail steamers from New York, Hamilton is the chief distributing point for imports and ex- ports, and, therefore, the busiest and most pro- gressive community. The merchants import food- stuffs and cattle on the hoof from the United States and Canada, and the larger retail dry- goods stores, which adopt American ideas of mer- chandising, send their buyers to England and the Continent of Europe, the low tariff enabling them to offer high-grade articles, particularly linens and laces, at moderate prices. Hamilton has a number of modern business buildings, lighted by electricity ; a telephone system, which reaches to all parts of the colony ; two banks, two news- papers, — the Royal Gazette and Colonist, — one theatre, and three secondary schools. The gaiety of its social life is enhanced by the presence of the Governor and Admiral in residence and the hospitalities extended by the Royal Artillery and Engineers and the battalion of infantry that hap- pens to be stationed at Prospect. English garri- son towns are usually lively, and Hamilton is no exception.
In recent years the energies of the people of
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Hamilton have centred about the tourist traffic, and hotel building has progressed on an extensive scale. Two large hotels, with the latest conven- iences, several smaller ones, and a number of boarding-houses and furnished villas, which are rented for the season, provide accommodations for the constantly growing army of American vis- itors. Hotel and private liveries have increased in proportion to the demand for carriages, while boatmen have added to the mosquito fleet, provid- ing among other craft motor and glass-bottomed boats for sea-garden excursions.
Hamilton's central and dominating feature is the Cathedral, — a Gothic edifice, standing on Church Street. It rivals any ecclesiastical pile in the Western Hemisphere, not in size, but in beauty, form, and workmanship. Selected stones from the United Kingdom, Indiana, and Nova Scotia have been harmoniously blended with Caen and native limestone, and each block has been carefully dressed and laid by superior workmen, the result being a splendid specimen of the builder's art. The Cathedral was begun in 1885 to replace Trinity Church, which had been destroyed by in- cendiaries, and is not wholly completed. From the massive tower, with its battlemented parapet and pinnacles, extensive views of the neighbouring parishes may be seen. It is by far the best
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observatory in Hamilton. Interior fittings and arrangements are in keeping with the whole de- sign. Especially fine examples of church sculp- ture are the pulpit and lectern, copies of those in St. Giles's Cathedral, Edinburgh. Among other memorials is a replica of the tablet erected in memory of Sir George Somers at Whitechurch. No expense has been spared to make the Cathe- dral worthy of the Church of England, but few persons can tell how much it has cost.
Whenever state or special naval and military services are held at the Cathedral the scene is most brilliant and effective. Detachments from the Royal Navy, Royal Artillery, and Engineers, the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, and infantry, the latter clad in scarlet tunics, with band and colours, march to the edifice, and are met there by the Governor and staff officers in gorgeous uniforms, the chief justice, in wig and knee breeches, colo- nial dignitaries, the clergy and their ladies. The band participates in the service, playing a volun- tary as the colours are brought in and the national anthem when they are carried out at the close of the service. Then the troops are drawn up in front of the Cathedral and reviewed by the Gov- ernor, marching to barracks to the tune of a quickstep. The colour, music, and dignity of the ceremonies are both inspiring and impressive.
THE CATHEDRAL, HAMILTON
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East of the Cathedral are the Wesleyan Methodist and Presbyterian churches; the Afri- can Methodists and Roman Catholics also have edifices, and there is, of course, a parish church. Within the square bounded by Reid, Parliament, and Court Streets, facing on Front, the main business thoroughfare at the harbour's edge, is the structure known as the Public Buildings, opened in 1833. This contains the Council Cham- ber, library, departmental offices, and those of the Governor. At the opening and closing of Par- liament for the session the Governor, attended by a guard of honour and band, drives to the Council Chamber, and there meets the members of both houses, reading his speech from the throne. The proceedings follow on a small scale the ceremonies attending the opening of the British Parliament, the Governor representing the sovereignty of Great Britain.
Back of the Public Buildings is the Post Office, and, on higher ground above, the Sessions House, where the Assembly and Supreme Court have chambers. The commanding clock tower com- memorates the jubilee of Queen Victoria. The building itself was erected in 1817. Another point of interest is the museum cf the Bermuda Natural History Society at Par-la-ville, on Queen Street. In front of the building, hanging its great
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branches across the street, is a gigantic rubber tree, about sixty years old, which was imported from Essequibo, British Guiana, and planted by the late William B. Perot, a former owner of Par-la-ville. Facing Cedar Avenue, lined on either side with large cedars, is Victoria Park, a pretty flower garden, with closely trimmed lawns, a large variety of shrubs and shade trees, and several pleasing specimens of the candelabra cactus, which is described exactly by its name. The band stand, erected by the corporation, is another memorial of Queen Victoria's jubilee. On Fridays, in the winter season, the regimental band plays to large audiences, and the park presents a very gay appearance.
Hamilton shows its prosperity in its villas, — comfortable houses surrounded by gardens in which the regal poinciana, with yellow and crim- son flowers, bamboo, sago palm, screw pine, cen- tury plant, loquat, and palmetto spread them- selves without much cultivation. These gardens are ornamented by the bougainvillea, clothed in purple, by geraniums half the height of a man, by hibiscus, the scarlet stars of the poinsettia, and the gorgeous blossoms of the night-blooming cereus, to name only a few of the plants one finds in them. There is little formality in the method of planting, but a marvellous combination of colour.
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West of the city, in the Fairyland district, are located some of the larger estates, to reach which either the Pitt's Bay road or the Serpentine may be taken. Beyond Fairyland, or you might say at the north end, is the Mangrove Creek, which exhibits the manner in which this hardy swamp tree will close up a sheltered inlet, if not dis- turbed. From each branch strong shoots descend into the water and root themselves in mud or sand, weaving a thicket that is dark^ and im- penetrable. Climbing upward from the man- groves the road is flanked by thick woods, a short drive bringing you to Clarence Hill, the winter residence of the Admiral of the North America and West Indies station. The Admiral has a splendid view of the dockyard, with which he has to communicate constantly by signal flags, and he has also a private landing at a cove on the north shore. Keeping onward, you finally reach the extremity of Spanish Point, meeting the waters of the Great Sound, the whole of which is within the range of vision. Returning, the north shore road passing the golf links should be followed to the Ducking Stool (a reputed place of punishment for witches), then there is a steep climb through a cut in the hill to Mount Lang- ton, the residence of the Governor. Government House, completed in 1892, and its gardens form
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one of the show places, the entrance being con- tinually ablaze with flowers. Permits are neces- sary to visit both Government and Admiralty houses.
The descent from Mount Langton into Hamil- ton overlooks the beautiful Pembroke valley, at the foot of which stands St. John's, the parish church, which originated in 1621 and was rebuilt in 1721 and again in 1821. The edifice and its peaceful churchyard are venerable objects of in- terest. After seeing St. John's it is well to go eastward to Prospect Hill and look down upon the roofs of Hamilton. The picture extends across the harbour to Paget and Warwick, dotted with houses, and far in the distance, standing like a monolith, is the tower of Gibb's Hill Lighthouse, with the Great Sound islands resting in the water at the right. From Fort Hamilton, near by, there is a less extended but not less charming view of the harbour's tinted waters, beginning at its head. Sunday church parade is an attraction at Prospect; and there is Happy Valley, where the soldiers have camp-fires, sing- ing music hall ditties and retailing good-humoured jokes at the expense of their audience. The Cot- tage Hospital, opened in 1894, and supported largely by voluntary contributions, is also in the Prospect district.
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Hamilton has in the Great Sound an aquatic " playground," the best sailing course in the islands. From the harbour mouth the main ship channel is carried through the narrow Two-Rock Passage, where it is almost possible to leap ashore from the steamer's deck, curving around the Great Sound toward the dockyard, thence straightening down the north side to the break in the barrier reef. For small boats, however, there are other channels, and as the Sound is deep you may sail about all the islands and make a landing when- ever the spirit moves. Just outside the harbour is Agar's Island, lying off Fairyland, where, an anonymous writer says, " you row into little coves, then into what seem to be lakes, so per- fectly enclosed in the water, hard by the shore, looking up through dells in which you can al- most see the fairies dancing under the trees; under great rocks which threaten to send you down among the fishes, around islands, into in- lets, where the mangroves, every leaf glistening in the moonlight, throw out their branches in the most welcoming way."
.Visiting scientists are afforded opportunities for study and research at Agar's Island, for here is the biological station and aquarium maintained by the Bermuda Natural History Society. The station was established in 1903 at the suggestion
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of Prof. Charles L. Bristol of New York versity, in co-operation with Prof. E. L. Marls of Harvard and the Natural History Society. Temporary headquarters were occupied at Flatt's Village, and in 1908 the station was removed to Agar's, where an old powder magazine had been converted into a novel aquarium. This under- ground structure of solid masonry is divided into five transverse chambers, crossed by a dark pas- sage. The chambers, in which are installed glass tanks for specimens, are surrounded by a moat called the " lighting passage." Tops of the tanks are thus exposed to light and air and their contents advantageously displayed. The whole scheme of lighting, ventilation, and display is excellent.
Advantages of the station are several. There is no place nearer the universities of the north- eastern American states where coral formation can be studied ; the surrounding seas are wonder- fully rich in specimens, and it is possible to re- stock the tanks frequently at small expense. A laboratory, photographic room, library, and other rooms, motor and row boats are included in the equipment. Membership dues, donations, admis- sion fees, and fees of American and Canadian bio- logical students who visit the station in the summer vacation are devoted to its maintenance.
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Steamboats from Hamilton call regularly at the island, which is also reached by rowboat from a point west of the city, the distance being a few hundred yards.
For the last fifty years Bermuda has been a resort of scientists. Sir Wyville Thompson, of the famous Challenger expedition; J. Matthew Jones, George Brown Goode, of the Smithsonian Institution ; Alexander Agassiz, of Harvard ; An- gelo Heilprin, Addison E. Verrill, of Yale, author of " The Bermuda Islands," an exhaustive text- book; and many others, in addition to Mark and Bristol, have studied the natural history of the islands. Nor is it possible to forget Bermuda's own naturalist, John Tavenier Bartram, private of the Thirtieth Regiment, who bought his dis- charge and lived for nearly half a century in the pursuit of birds, shells, and fishes, dying at the age of seventy-eight.
More than ten years ago Professor Bristol in- augurated the work of supplying the New York Aquarium with Bermuda fishes, which at once proved to be one of the most popular free exhibits in the metropolis. He continued this work for a decade, and then it was taken over by the Agar's Island station. The fish are first " seasoned " in the local aquarium to accustom them to captivity and then are transported in iron tanks, the water
156 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
in which is artificially kept at the same tempera- ture throughout the voyage as Bermuda water, in order to preserve the fish. Between six and seven hundred are sent to New York every sum- mer in four consignments, a number of the speci- mens jgoing west to the Detroit Aquarium.
Without discrediting Professor Bristol it must be said that not he, but no less a personage than Phineas T. Barnum, was the first to introduce Bermuda fishes to the New York Aquarium public. Barnum, ever on the alert for new thrills, con- ceived the idea of bringing live specimens from tropical waters, and sent out two expeditions, — one to Honduras, the other to Bermuda. Both returned without their fish, all having died in transit. Barnum was disappointed, but was pre- vailed upon by one of his assistants, Mr. W. E. Damon, to fit out the well-smack Pacific, which sailed to Bermuda in the summer of 1862. These being the days of blockade running, all Northern- ers were regarded with suspicion, and soon it was rumoured that Mr. Damon, in his frequent trips across the bays, was taking soundings, not fish. Finally, a peremptory order from the authorities halted his work, and not until the American con- sul had intervened in his behalf was Mr. Damon allowed to resume his harmless occupation. His party caught six hundred fish, all of which were
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BERMUDA IS.
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successfully transported, to the greater glory and profit of Barnum, and the pleasure of his patrons at the Ann Street Museum.
On Tucker's, Darrell's, Morgan's, Marshall's, Burtt's, Hawkin's, and Port's Islands — the larger of the Great Sound group — about five thousand Boer prisoners of war were confined for nearly two years. The burghers were guarded by sol- diers and gunboats, but the internal government of each laager rested with the prisoners, who selected their own officers to enforce camp rules. The men occupied their time in fishing, bathing, and making souvenirs, with which they flooded Bermuda. They were well fed and clothed, and there was practically no sickness in the camps. After the war the majority took the oath of alle- giance to Great Britain and were sent home. A few elected to remain in Bermuda, while the recal- citrants found their way to New York.
Tucker's Island should be visited, if only to see its cavern and underground lake, which is lighted by acetylene gas. The stalactites are of great size, — much larger, indeed, than the roof pendants of caves in other localities. It is con- ceivable, when better facilities for reaching these islands are afforded, that they will be populated by winter residents who desire solitude and their own private bathing places.
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DEVONSHIRE AND SMITH'S
Devonshire, named in honour of the Earl of Devonshire, and Smith's, in honour of Sir Thomas Smith, are the two central parishes, occupying that portion of the Main from Pembroke and Paget to Harrington Sound, between the north and south shores. The north road may be entered below Mount Langton or, like the middle road, through Prospect, which is a part of Devonshire. The north road skirts the shore at the foot of a ridge of hills, and commands a restful view of the ocean. It is hedged by the feathery tamarisk, which is never affected by the salt spray that flies from the rocks below. The middle road taps a typically rural district, a noticeable feature being Devonshire Marsh, in which the palmetto attains an unusual height. Both north and middle roads converge at Flatt's Village. Near the marsh reposes quaint old Devonshire church, and Christ's Church, the newer parish edifice, com- pleted in 1851. Parts of the older building date from 1719. It is a curious structure, exemplify- ing1 the methods of shipbuilders as applied to architecture. At one end is a gnarled, venerable cedar> once used as a belfry.
St. Mark's, the parish church of Smith's, is also reached by the middle road, and thence a
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junction is made with the south shore road, near Spittal Pond and Spanish Rock. St. Mark's, consecrated in 1848, supplanted a church that had crumbled to decay. It is a striking building, containing examples of native crafts- manship, the pulpit, especially, of cedar and ma- hogany, being an exquisite piece of wood carving. Time has almost obliterated the initials (de- scribed elsewhere) on Spanish Rock, but the place will always remain a landmark surrounded by the mystery of the ancient sailor who carved his name in local history at a time when hogs overran the islands. The natural checker board, a singular rock formation, is here, but the greatest attraction is the scenery. Looking east and west, it is wild and magnificent, if such a word may be applied to tiny Bermuda. The surf thunders across the reefs, churns a froth among the boilers, and rolls onward to the gray cliffs, hollowed, torn, dis- torted by constant warfare with the ocean, and strewn with boulders at the base. Such is the picture, modified or emphasised, as you drive east- ward over the military road from Spanish Rock to Tucker's Town, a lonely settlement of farmers and fishermen. Here, as at Paget, are sand dunes, some active, shifting with each wind; others held together by strong creepers. Here, too, at the eastern end of the long, wide beach, stands the
160 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
Natural Arch, a rugged piece of seashore archi- tecture, with a background of massive cliffs. A similar arch is to be seen some distance down the shore of Castle Point. Few visitors forego a pil- grimage to Tucker's Town Beach. Solitary, noiseless, save for the surf and the plaintive cry of the longtail, it is a spot where the wayfarer is inclined to linger.
HAMILTON PARISH
Flatt's Village, popular as a place of residence for tourists, by reason of its central location, is on the border line of Hamilton Parish, named in honour of the Marquis of Hamilton. A century ago the Flatts, as it is called, was a shipping point of importance, but the silt from the ocean has made its little harbour shallow, and now only small boats can enter it. Off the mouth is Gibbet Island, so named because the skull of a slave who had killed his master, was exhibited there on a gibbet for years. Flatts has one large and several smaller boarding houses. Two roads lead east- ward from the village, one crossing a bridge over a turbulent channel that feeds Harrington Sound, the other winding about the sound to Paynter's Vale and Walsingham, both meeting near the Ad- miral's Cave and continuing toward the Cause- way. The road that crosses the bridge passes
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Shelly Bay and Bailey's Bay and is the shorter route to St. George's, but the sound road is more beautiful and interesting.
Harrington Sound, a circular body of water with Trunk Island in the centre, is enclosed by bold cliffs wooded almost to the edge. The settlers used to say that the sound waters neither ebbed nor flowed, and they were nearly correct, for the tidal change is less than a foot. The sound road passes Lion Rock, a remarkable effigy of that beast, and then you come to the Devil's Hole or Neptune's Grotto, which is within the precincts of Smith's. It is a natural grotto, in the side of a hill, and is fed with water by underground chan- nels that are connected with the Sound. It con- tains about two thousand fishes, representing thirty different species, with the wide-mouthed, voracious grouper in the majority. Standing on the bridge, you look down into the red jaws lifted out of water as the groupers listen for the rattle of the keeper's bait can. The pond is quiet, and one may study the mottled bodies until bait is thrown in; then there is great commotion, and the water is churned into a whirlpool. When the ripples smooth out, there is a surprising trans- formation, for the groupers have changed their dress to black — an instantaneous and unseen process. Let no one entertain the delusion that
11
162 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
these fish are not dangerous. A British officer once ridiculed the fact and to test its truth threw his dog into the pool. In a second the animal was torn to pieces, and its master departed much chastened in spirit.
Near the Devil's Hole there is a road climbing over Knapton Hill toward Spanish Rock, while another cuts across country by way of Mangrove Lake and Trott's Pond to Tucker's Town. Keep- ing to the sound road, you pass Shark's Hole, a seaside cavern extending under the rocks, the turn at the left leading along the eastern shore into Walsingham, the cave district. Close by Shark's Hole are two boundary stones, a short distance apart. The intervening strip of land is reserved to St. George's and furnishes a right of way to the sound for residents of that parish, to which Tucker's Town belongs. The latter place is also reached by a road from this locality.
There is no part of Bermuda where the vegeta- tion is wilder, more luxuriant, or the colouring more intense than at Walsingham, named after its first explorer, the coxswain of the Sea Venture. It is as riotous a tangle- as it was in bygone days, when Tom Moore sallied forth from Walsingham House, beside a rocky pool, and rambled through the woods to his hospitable calabash tree, now
FISHES IN THE DEVIL'S HOLE
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struggling against age in a cool, green glen. Here cedar brush is shrouded in jasmine, which in early summer is white with blossoms and heavy with perfume ; there are coffee trees, oranges, lemons, and wild olives ; stalactitic walls of fallen caverns and mouths of subterranean chambers are masked by creepers, ferns, and moss, while the fiddlewood, which assumes as its regular dress soft autumn tints, lends touches of brown and red to the fresh green of the undergrowth.
The government should preserve Walsingham tract as a public park, for it represents that ancient and wonderfully fertile Bermuda of which scientists have only a vague conception. Verrill, in " The Bermuda Islands," says that Walsingham seems to contain the " oldest rocks now exposed to view on the islands," and that the caves were " excavated by percolating rain water and fresh water streams in the hard limestones." The per- colation washed out through hidden channels the loose sand and earth underlying the hardened surface, thus producing recesses in which stalac- tite and stalagmite have formed by the constant dripping of water, each drop carrying a minute deposit of carbonate of lime, which was acquired from the calcareous soil in the filtering process. Some of the caverns grew too large to support their roofs, and so we find throughout Walsing-
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ham " sinks " or depressions caused by the col- lapse of the structure overhead. In such rocky glens there are broken boulders and irregular cur- tains of honey-combed limestone — damp, shad- owy glades that try shoe leather but delight the eye and fire the imagination.
On the way from Walsingham House is Holy Trinity, the parish church of Hamilton, and one of the oldest in the colony. It is beautifully situ- ated on the north shore of the sound, just above Church Bay. The original church, with a thatched roof of palmetto leaves, was built in 1622, and parts of that structure are embodied in the pres- ent building, if the records are not misleading. North of the church, and reached by Wilkinson Avenue, is the residential district known as Bailey's Bay, the road being lined with characteristic dwellings and gardens.
Just off the road is Crystal Cave and Cahow Lake, a recent discovery, the most dazzling cavern in Bermuda. You enter at the top of a hill and descend ninety feet through a rift in the strata by means of a stairway fitted at intervals with rest-platforms. At the bottom you stand on the shore of Cahow Lake, across which is moored a pontoon bridge, lighted by gas. The scene is not to be conjured. It is another world, a scintillating creation of lime and water, the drip, drip, drip
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signifying the slow but steady growth of pendants clinging to the salmon-tinted ceiling.
There are thousands of stalactites not larger than a knitting needle; there are conical masses, pure as crystal, a foot in diameter at the base; there are translucent draperies, mushroom ef- fects, banks of calcite, snow-white, and polished like diamonds. Here are donkey's ears, there an alligator, at the foot of the stairway a faithful model of a turtle. Each living stalactite holds a glistening drop at its extremity and vibrates tune- fully, but those that are dead, having lost their nourishment — water — no longer contain a sug- gestion of melody.
Cahow Lake takes its name from the fact that in one of the chambers were found deeply em- bedded in the calcite bones and fossilized feathers of the cahow, which became extinct about 1630. This " silly " bird, as one early writer called it, was exceedingly plentiful when the settlers arrived and could be caught in hundreds after dark by hand. In the first few years of settlement the nightmare of famine was ever present, and the cahow, being the principal victim of man's ra- pacity, soon became extinct. Long had modern scientists searched for traces of the bird, but not until Crystal Cave was discovered were their ef- forts rewarded. The birds lived in holes among
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the rocks, coming out at night, and the cave's colony was apparently entombed by a sudden dis- turbance of the strata. The lake is subject to tidal changes, indicating connection with Castle Harbour or Harrington Sound, the whole of the hill apparently being undermined. The depth of water is thirty feet or more, but at some remote period the floor was not wholly submerged, for numerous stalagmites of large size are visible, these having been formed by the drip from the ceiling.
A short distance from this cavern, on the road to St. George's, are the Admiral's Cave and the Joyce's Dock or Shakespeare grottoes, all of which should claim attention. The district has the same characteristics as the Walsingham tract, of which it may be considered a part, and there are several caverns not accessible to the public. Two are retained for the enjoyment of their owners' private guests. The Admiral's Cave is a long one, the first chamber being decorated by hundreds of stalactites that assume forms of the vegetable world. Farther down into the earth, the way being illuminated by gas lights, is the organ chamber, where stand one large and a series of smaller columns — the organ — resulting from the union of stalactite and stalagmite. These when struck by metal send forth musical notes
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that echo and re-echo against the dripping roof. Another descent brings the explorer to a lake of clear water, the strange silence of this chamber being disturbed only by the occasional rumble of vehicles passing directly overhead on the St. George's highway. From this cave, in 1819, Admiral Sir David Milne cut a huge stalagmite weighing three and a half tons and sent it to the museum of the University of Edinburgh. His son, Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, visited the chamber in 1863 and observed the new matter that had been formed by five drops of water on the stump during the intervening forty-four years. From his measurements the admiral estimated that the stalagmite had occupied six hundred thousand years in formation, if during the period it was forming the drips were not more numerous and did not fall more rapidly than in 1863. The accuracy of the deduction is by no means con- clusive, in the opinion of present-day geologists. Down the road a few hundred yards is the gate- way of the Joyce's Dock caves, explored by sight- seers of three centuries. They are also lighted by gas. The Cathedral Cave, so named because it contains a great stalagmite fashioned like a pul- pit, is entered through a natural gateway of solid rock. Growing stalactites, wrought in the form of icicles, are reflected in the water of its lake,
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while great pillars support the sloping roof. The full beauty of this recess is realised from the en- trance to the diamond chamber, where, looking upward, the eye meets a ceiling with the sparkle of a jeweller's cabinet.
More wonderfully conceived is the companion grotto, the Island Cave. A circular lake nearly half an acre in extent, is covered by a dome of stalactitic material arranged in fantastic clusters. Groups of artistic columns beautify the edges, an island of stalagmite rises in the centre of the lake, and without stretching the imagination it is possible to find among the draperies faces and figures of familiar personages, including a bust of Shakespeare.
ST. GEORGE'S
Leaving underground mysteries behind, the way points across the Causeway from the Blue Hole to Long Bird Island, thence across the Swing Bridge to St. George's. On the left hand is the Reach, extending from the bridge to the Old Ferry, the point of crossing before the Causeway was built; on the right is the expanse of Castle Harbour, with the ruins of ancient fortifications standing at the skyline. The Causeway was completed in 1871 at a cost of £32,000 ($160,000), and, being partly demolished by the hurricane of 1899, was
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repaired the following year. Leaving the bridge, the road twists and turns with the contour of Mullet Bay, climbs gentle grades, and enters the old town, the cradle of Bermuda history, com- memorating in its name the exploits of Sir George Somers.
When the site of St. George's was cleared of cedars, men planted their homes irregularly over the open space heedless of the inevitable advent of vehicles, and so the town is a maze of narrow streets and crooked alleys, bordered by high- walled gardens — a Spanish-looking, unconven- tional place, you may say, dignified by age, asso- ciations, and the hospitality of its people. Silk Alley, Shinbone, Old Maid's Alley, and Turkey Hill are some of the curious names given to the byways. Although older by one hundred and eighty-eight years than Hamilton, St. George's was not incorporated until 1797, four years after the capital. Since the American civil war St. George's has experienced many vicissitudes and marks of decay are apparent, but its former pres- tige, which departed when the seat of government was removed to Hamilton, is likely to return four- fold after its spacious, land-locked harbour, the natural port of the islands, is made accessible to large steamships, by the deepening of the chan- nel, a project that will not long be delayed. The
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bulk of the colony's coaling trade is conducted by the town's merchants, but unfortunately for the corporation the wharfs are largely controlled by private interests, and its sources of revenue are therefore restricted. The town's tourist traffic is increasing, there being one large modern hotel and several boarding houses. Furnished houses are also available. For the use of excursionists there are livery stables, yachts, fishing boats, launches, and glass-bottomed boats, water expeditions, and drives to the caves and south shore beaches being the principal diversions. The population of the town is a little less than one thousand.
St. Peter's, mother of all the parish churches, and its graveyard are in the centre of the town. Governor Moore, in 1612, built a cedar church on this site, but it was soon destroyed by a hurri- cane. In 1620 Governor Butler built a more sub- stantial church, and it is probable that some of his masonry is contained in the existing walls, raised in 1713, and covered with a thatched roof of palmetto leaves, which made way about fifty years later for one of stone. Time had worked havoc with St. Peter's until 1908, when through public subscriptions it was possible to renovate the struc- ture thoroughly, and now the old church bids fair to double its age. Within the shadow of the clock tower, erected in 1814, is the grave of Mid-
STREET IN ST. GEORGE'S
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shipman Dale, closely crowded by family tombs, weather-stained and hoary with age. It bears this inscription:
IN MEMORY OF
RICHARD SUTHERLAND DALE
ELDEST SON OF COMMODORE RICHARD DALE OF PHILADELPHIA IN THE U. S. OF AMERICA, A MID- SHIPMAN IN THE U. S. NAVY.
He departed this life at St. George's, Bermuda on the 22nd day of February, A. D. 1815, aged 20 years, one month and 17 days. He lost his right leg in an engagement between the U. S. Frigate President and a squadron of His Britannic Maj- esty's ships of war on 15th January, A. D. 1815.
His confinement caused a severe complaint in his back which in a short time terminated his life.
This stone records the tribute of his parents' gratitude to those inhabitants of St. George's, whose generous and tender sympathy prompted the kindest attentions to then* son while living, and honoured him when dead.
The interior arrangements of the church belong to the past. At the centre of the north wall is a triple-decked pulpit, while the altar is built at the east wall, making it necessary for the con- gregation to face right about when the creed is repeated. Between pulpit and altar are large
box pews, with seats on two sides, the preacher looking at the backs of some of his auditors. One of these pews is reserved for the Governor, who has the legal right to a sitting in each parish church. St. Peter's massive silver communion ser- vice was given to the parish in 1684 by King William III, the christening basin was the gift of Governor Browne of Salem, Mass., and among the archives is an inventory of plate, linen, and books, taken in 1744. Mural tablets cover the walls, telling the story of yellow fever epidemics and extolling the virtues of long-forgotten men and women. There are examples of the sculpture of Bacon and Westmacott, but the memorial which attracts most attention is that erected to Gov- ernor Alured Popple, " who," says Lefroy, " is gratefully remembered by the ladies of Bermuda for imposing a tax on bachelors." It is worded as follows:
Died at Bermuda November 17 1744
in the 46th year of his age, After nine days illness of a bilious fever,
The Good Governor,
ALURED POPPLE Esq;
During the Course of his Administration,
which to the inconsolable grief of the Inhabitants
Continued but six years,
Of the many Strangers who resorted Thither for their health The Observing easily discovered in him,
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Under the graceful Veil of Modesty, An Understanding and Abilities equal
To a more important Trust;
The Gay and Polite were charmed with the Unaffected Elegance and amiable Simplicity of his Manners
And all were chear'd
By his Hospitality and diffusive Benevolence Which Steadily flowed and Undisturbed,
From the Heart, To Praise, according to his Merit,
The Deceased would be but too sensible a Reproach
To the Living;
And to enumerate the many rare Virtues which shone united in the Governor
of that little Spot
were to tell how many great Talents and excellent Endowments are
Wanting in Some Whom the capriciousness of Fortune
Exposes In a more elevated and Conspicuous station.
Governor Popple was far from popular with Bermudians, and apparently he incurred the dis- pleasure of some who occupied " a more elevated and conspicuous station " in England, where the inscription was written by friends. To Bermu- dians it is irreverently known as Governor Popple's " certificate of character." His tax on bachelors, it may be said, amounted to one shilling a head.
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On Water Street is the Post Office and Custom House, formerly the colonial jail in which the American revolutionary prisoners were confined. Between the exterior and interior walls are blocks of hard limestone, which probably thwarted many a convict. A notable prisoner was John Stephen- son, confined for six months in 1801 for " preach- ing the gospel of Jesus Christ to African blacks and captive negroes," a law having been enacted especially to fit his so-called crime. But it was ineffective, for the dauntless Stephenson preached through his cell window, drawing sympathy and followers from the crowd. This was practically the last instance of religious persecution in the colony.
A few doors above the Post Office is the house in which the Duke of Clarence, afterward King William IV, lived as an officer of the Royal Navy, and a short distance below, on Market Square, is the Town Hall, in which are pictures of the several mayors. The former home of the Courts of Jus- tice and Council, on rising ground at the east of the square, is held in trust by the Corporation for Lodge St. George, No. 200, which is supposed to pay an annual rental of one peppercorn, according to the deed of gift made by Governor Sir James Cockburn in 1816. The deed also provided that parliamentary elections should be held in the
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building. Lodge 200 was chartered in 1797 under the Grand Registry of Scotland and is the oldest body of freemasons in Bermuda.
Just north of the lodge, in York Street, is the Public Garden, the garden of the governors when St. George's was the capital, and the burial place of Sir George Somers's heart, as the memorial tablet (mentioned elsewhere) indicates. It is a bright spot, with flowering shrubs and rare trees, including a " monkey's puzzle," date palms more than one hundred and fifty years old, and effective specimens of the screw pine. While this is being written the colony is erecting in the garden a limestone monument to commemorate Somers and the ter-centenary of Bermuda. On Government Hill, which rises back of the garden, is the new parish church which when completed will supplant venerable St. Peter's. Here stood the powder magazine which Captain Ord depleted in 1775, also the residence of the Governor. Eighty years after the powder episode a curious discovery was made in the course of excavations on Government Hill. The skeleton of a man was exhumed, the skull showing a fracture. He had evidently been killed and buried in haste, as his grave was only two feet deep. Buttons, gold lace, spurs, and a whalebone riding whip indicated that he had been a French staff officer, probably a prisoner of war on parole
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when the magazine was entered. This man was supposed to have escaped with Ord's men, but it is apparent that they killed him in the belief that he was spying on their movements. Thus the shallow grave vindicated his honour.
From the heights above the town the outlook can scarcely be surpassed. The signal station at Fort George sweeps the entire north shore, the near and distant islands of Castle Harbour on .the south, the ocean at the east — a comprehensive picture by daylight and a singularly attractive scene when moonrays cut a path across the phos- phorescent waters of the town harbour and tinge the foliage of St. David's with silver grey. Under the brow of Rose Hill, facing York Street, is the Methodist Chapel, while on the eastern slope are the crumbling ruins of Nea's home, reminiscent of Tom Moore. From Barrack Hill, rising above the cliffs of Convict Bay at the eastern end of the town, you may look down into the crooked alleys and private gardens, and realise the extent and beauties of the harbour. This hill and the plateau extending north and east comprise a mili- tary reservation, where Tommy Atkins lives in large, airy barracks, St. George's being the head- quarters of the Royal Artillery. The colonel's residence is a conspicuous building, back of which is the officers' mess.
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On the Cut Road, which runs below Barrack Hill, are several large houses and gardens, the ocean coming into view at the extremity of Ber- muda, hard by the Town Cut Channel, which runs between St. George's and Higgs Islands. Power of empire is typified in the surrounding fortifica- tions — guardians of the channels — but they are not open to public inspection and sketching or photographing them is prohibited. On this shore Somers and his company landed; here, too, is Building's Bay, where their shipbuilders laboured, and Lunn's Well, which they dug three centuries ago. And the bachelor who drinks a thimble full of its water will surely be married before leaving Bermuda — so runs the legend. A drive from this point past the parade ground, military church, Fort Victoria, and the barracks back of Govern- ment Hill brings one to the Naval Tanks — large water catches — the traditional landing place of Captain Ord's crew. Coot Pond and the limestone pinnacles called Tobacco Rocks are in the vicinity, and looking eastward is Fort Catherine, crowning St. Catherine's Point, around which vessels turn from the Ship Channel to proceed up the north shore to the dockyard and Hamilton. Another drive is by the Ferry Road leading west from the town about Mullet Bay and going through the neck of land that stretches to the Old Ferry.
W
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Lover's Lake, the Martello Tower, and the salt house on Coney Island — the latter a relic of the salt industry — are seen en route.
Opposite St. George's is St. David's Island, running the length of the harbour, with Smith's lying parallel at the eastern end. Between Smith's and Paget Island is the harbour mouth, commanded by Fort Cunningham on Paget. The first settlers landed on Smith's Island, and the remains of their ovens are visible there. St. Da- vid's, reached by steam ferry from St. George's, is the only large island having no highway con- nection with the others, and through isolation its inhabitants, a sturdy race, have closely retained the old 'Mudian traditions of living. They farm, fish, pilot vessels, go to sea when they hear the call, and chase the whale at every opportunity, according to the ways of their ancestors. You will find their prototypes in Nantucket and along the south shore of Long Island. The capture of a whale, now a rare occurrence, carries the greater part of the population to Smith's Island, where the blubber is tried out in vats that were built when the industry supported many families and the colony burned sperm oil only. They tell many stories of the simplicity of the David's Islanders, or " Mohawks," as some call them. One concerns a bearded patriarch who said he would have " no
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graven images " in the house when his son of forty brought home the first photograph of him- self. There is another which depicts the consterna- tion of an old fisherman when he caught sight of the Thames, the first steamer to visit Bermuda. It was in March, 1842, and he was anchored off shore in a dinghy, with a boy as his only com- panion. When he saw the mysterious fire-ship bearing down upon him, a cloud of smoke trailing in the sky, he cried in terror : " Sonny, sonny, cut the killick, perdition cometh." A killick, by the way, is a stone anchor protected by cedar or oleander boughs. It was devised by the early settlers and is still generally used.
The ferryboat's course lies through a narrow passage between Smith's and St. David's into limpid water, the shore on either side being in- dented by tiny coves. On the sand of one called Dolly's Bay is the remnant of a civil war torpedo raft, one of three built in New York to be used in assaults upon Charleston. In 1862 the rafts left New York in tow of the steamer Ericsson, but in a gale off Cape Hatteras one of the trio broke away and could not be recovered. For six years it drifted, a dangerous ocean waif, then the cur- rents directed its course to Bermuda. In 1872, four years later, a sea captain representing Boston underwriters, came to the islands. He was
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told about the strange derelict and went to Dolly's Bay to see it. " Well, well, did I ever expect to be shipmates with it again ? " he exclaimed, as he boarded the raft and without hesitation picked out the government number. He was none other than Captain E. H. Faucon, once an auxiliary officer of the United States navy, and commander of the Ericsson, also, in earlier days master of the brig Pilgrim, in which Richard H. Dana sailed and collected the material for " Two Years Before the Mast."
Captain Faucon recalled the wild night off Hat- teras, the loss of the raft, and the drowning of a boy who with other seamen had tried to save the tow. The raft was built of heavy pine timbers, at one end of which projected two arms, each in- tended to hold a torpedo. The other end or tail was constructed to fit the bows of a monitor, which was supposed to push the raft against the submarine barricades of Charleston Harbour, ex- ploding the torpedoes by contact with the ob- struction. No longer does the relic resemble the derelict of 1868. It is simply a mass of rusty spikes and spongy timbers, which resisted the efforts of those who tried to pull them apart.
From the last ferry landing it is a short climb to St. David's Lighthouse on Mount Hill. The lighthouse is an octagonal limestone tower, 55 feet
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from base to lantern and nearly 209 feet above sea level. It was built in 1879, exhibiting a fixed white light, which enables navigators to take cross bearings with the Gibb's Hill flash. The eastern gallery overlooks the new St. David's Fort, and the rugged cliffs of Great Head, beyond which are the buoys marking the channel through the barrier reef. Turning north, the bays between St. David's and Smith's, the harbour and town, showing pink- washed government buildings on Ordnance Island, come into view, while south and west are breakers and the islands of Castle Harbour in bold relief. All of the north shore affords views of St. George's, and on the south shore are several bathing beaches. Castle Harbour, the chief anchorage of early Bermuda, lies between the west end of St. David's and the shore of Walsingham and Tucker's Town, and is entered from the head of the town harbour. For two centuries the coral builders have worked here so rapidly that the harbour is filled with shoals, and it is now a succession of sea-gardens — prolific in specimens for the collector. Vessels can no longer enter, but with a small boat and a com- petent pilot it is a simple matter to avoid the rocks and sail to the desolate islands on its southern edge. Practically the whole of Castle Island is covered with grey ruins. It is a bleak, barren spot supporting only sage bush, prickly pears,
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and scrub cedar, — an abode of goats, rabbits, liz- ards, and crabs. Even so, its inhospitable shore is inviting. You land on the south side, clamber up needle-like rocks to the ruins, and find yourself carried back to 1612, when Governor Moore built his cedar gun-platforms to protect Castle Harbour and the struggling settlement against attacks of the much-feared Spaniards. The scheme of defence is readily traced. King's Castle is built at the eastern escarpment, and here in addition to gun embrasures is a chamber hol- lowed in the rock, with circular compartments for round shot. A stone parapet or rampart runs along the ocean side, with more casemates for guns at the west end. An old kitchen and brick oven are near by, and on rising ground about the centre of the island is the citadel or Devonshire Redoubt, named by Governor Butler, who in 1620 repaired and extended Moore's works. Close by the abrupt cliffs on the north side are the so-called " dun- geons," in reality the barracks. It is Difficult to tell the exact age of the ruins, for the fortifications were frequently repaired, probably for the last time in the War of 1812.
Only once, in 1613, was the garrison of King's Castle called upon to exhibit its prowess. In that year two Spanish ships appeared off the harbour with the intention, it was believed, of recovering
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buried treasure, and, says John Smith : " Master More made but two shot, which caused them to depart. Marke here the handiwork of the diune providence, for they had but three quarters of a barrell of powder, and but one shot more, and the powder by carelessnesse was tumbled down vnder the mussels of the two peeces, were discharged, yet not touched with fire when they were dis- charged."
On the eastern side of the channel, opposite King's Castle, is Brangman's or Southampton Island, on which there is another ruined redoubt, and a third crumbling fortification stands on Charles or Goat Island. Castle Island, however, is more accessible than its neighbours, and its ruins are more extensive and have a greater his- toric interest. East of Brangman's Island is Nonsuch, the quarantine detention station, and then Cooper's Island, the home of regiments of land crabs, which scurry into their burrows, like prairie dogs, at the slightest noise. The beaches are composed of sand almost as fine as sifted flour, and on them are thrown quantities of the little pink and green shells that the native jewellers utilise in trinkets. There is a natural bridge, and the island is invested with a romance of hidden treasure. " The marks and signe of it," accord- ing to the deposition of Joseph Ming, " were
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three yallow wood trees, that stood tryangular upon one of wch was a plate of brass nailed, and on the other were severall names or lettrs cutt theron." That redoubtable " king," Christopher Carter, grandfather of Joseph Ming, found a quantity of ambergris on Cooper's, and with this he purchased the island, being convinced that he would find the treasure, although the proprietors offered him St. David's, which was a greater bar- gain. Of course, Carter never found the treasure, and his investment proved to be a costly one, for, under the terms of the purchase, he was obliged to maintain at his own expense a garrison of seven men at Pembroke's Fort, the island redoubt. It will be remembered that a yellow wood tree also figured in the Ireland Island treasure tale, but, as with the treasure, only the memory of the wood remains. It disappeared long ago.
Cooper's Island completes the list of points of interest — the principal points. A month is a brief space in which to see them all; indeed, you might profitably spend six months or a year in your rambles, for, though circumscribed, Bermuda is kaleidoscopic. She is not wholly known to her people. If they who live there year after year can find new pictures, new viewpoints, what must there be in store for the casual visitor?
CHAPTER XI
BERMUDA DIVERSIONS
WHAT to do in Bermuda is not a problem, but before telling what you may do it is proper to say what you should do. Be it remembered that Bermuda is so compact and its social intercourse so interwoven that every man feels it his duty to be polite to his fellow whether or not he has seen him before or may see him again. One hour on shore is sufficient for you to learn that it is cor- rect to pass the time of day with every man, woman, and child, white or coloured, ahorse or afoot, at all hours. A roadside salute is the out- ward manifestation of native hospitality, intended only to make the stranger feel at ease in a land where small amenities of life count for much. The barefoot boy gives it, so does the staid old gentle- man, and if the visitor does not think himself an exalted personage, upon whom unusual honours are showered, he is likely to be lacking in self- esteem. It has been so since the beginning, may it remain so forever, if the natives are to retain their reputation for uniform politeness.
The person who wishes sidelights on native life should board a 'bus, the time-honoured means of
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conveyance. He may be compressed into a small space between passengers and parcels ; his " in- nards " may be j olted out of place ; he may decide never to go again, but he will remember the ex- perience always. Likewise he will not forget the man who pilots the team. The 'bus driver is typically Bermudian. He never refuses a passen- ger nor a commission. He is guide, philosopher, friend, weather prophet, and messenger for the people along his route. All know and respect him, and impose upon his everlasting fund of good nature, which radiates from his black skin. His memory is automatic, he never complains, never seems tired nor out of sorts, though he works twelve hours each weekday.
If Mrs. Lambert wants a pair of shoes for Johnny, her youngest, she stands at the roadside and hands to the 'bus driver a note addressed to Mr. Jackson in town. Evening finds her again in the same spot, and, sure enough, the driver de- livers three pairs, one of which Johnny will wear in church on Sunday, thereby creating envy among his small companions. The others she returns to Mr. Jackson by the same conveyance. If Mrs. Jones needs a prescription renewed, she gives the empty bottle to the driver; if Mr. Jones wants his watch repaired, he does the same thing. Mrs. Packwood asks the driver to fetch her a joint for
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dinner, while her neighbour gets him to land the family wash at Bolton's store, where it remains until somebody's child from over the hill calls for it.
With a shrill whistle the driver alarms a drowsy household. " Seen any of the Simmons people around this morning?" he inquires. "No; well give them this when they come," and he may hand out a chair, or milk can, or two gasping chickens, with wings locked and legs tied. He knows the Simmons people will get their articles, even though a member of the drowsy household has to go a mile out of his way to deliver them. Nothing seems to go astray; if anything does, it is not irretrievable.
It is the same the length of the line. Tables, buckets, bicycles, rolls of oil cloth and matting are strapped to the vehicle, to be delivered en route; frequently the array of household goods on the dashboard and front seat is so great that the driver stands on the wagon pole. Passengers, too, have personal baggage and livestock. One man grasps a dog, another a crate with a fright- ened pigeon in it; a soldier has his kit bag and rifle, a woman rests a market-basket on her lap; and everybody seems to carry a bouquet in this land of blossoms.
As for the horses, they are overloaded, but not
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ill-treated otherwise. The driver does not use the whip; he is content to travel leisurely. He has to carry the grist of news from parish to parish, bearing tidings of the sick to their friends, telling the daily crop prices to onion packers in the fields, conveying messages, commenting on the weather. Truly, he is a man to be reckoned with.
There is another man of the same race whose character is quite as unique. He is the driver of the victoria you engage for the day. You can choose no better courier for sightseeing. Probably his knowledge of the world is extremely limited, but ask him anything about Bermuda and he will give an intelligent answer. He has been on the road since boyhood and is familiar with every stone and corner, every house, tree, hill, and bay. Also he has an appreciation of the beautiful, and pride of native land prompts him to point out uncommon bits of scenery as you spin along.
Drives are popular, but there are other diver- sions which cannot be overlooked. Bathing, sail- ing, fishing, perennial pastimes are these, and in making an engagement the proviso " weather per- mitting " does not often have to be inserted. Bath- ing in primitive Bermuda fashion is a delight. Row to an uninhabited island, don your suit in the bushes, and plunge overboard — that is the way. Women use one side of the island as a
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dressing-room, men the other. Not a soul dis- turbs the party ; the place is yours until you leave. At any beach there is the same seclusion and no danger. No man-eating sharks are about
— they dare not brave the reefs ; the undertow is insignificant, and bottom is always in sight — you know where you are treading. And the water
— a filter could not make it cleaner. It is a re- freshing appetizer for the tea that invariably fol- lows the bath. Bermudians have a habit of picnick- ing at the slightest opportunity. They carry kettles, spirit lamps, water, every conceivable ne- cessity for a square meal, and unsociable is the person who cannot enjoy these informal little gatherings.
The true native sport is yachting. Your Ber- mudian takes to a boat as soon as he is able to walk — he cannot help it. His environment and family traditions belong to the sea, and he in- dulges himself where boats are concerned. Some- times he is competent to design and build his craft; always is he able to handle it. Before the days of steam, comprehensive charts, and buoyed channels, the Bermuda pilots gained the admira- tion of every shipmaster with whom they came in contact. They had quick eyesight, presence of mind, and the ability to manreuvre a ship under trying conditions. Taking a position in the top
190 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
or on the forecastle, the pilot directed the vessel's course through the reefs, simply by noting the appearance of the bottom, and in masterly style would pick out a devious passage, even in half a gale.
In similar fashion the coloured yacht pilot, standing by the mast, cons the brown shoal- patches, keeps an eye on the weather, and shouts his orders to the helmsman. " Luff, sir, hard-a- lee, steady ! " and as the boat responds she flies between two ugly ledges, with a few inches of water to spare on either side. At night, when the novice sees only a blur of darkness, confidence in the pilot is measurably increased. Experience has taught him to remember his landmarks. A hole in the water-worn rock, a clump of cedars, somebody's window lamp, a lone palmetto — these and other guides he picks up one by one; never for a moment is he confused or at a loss for a proper bearing. Never sail without a pilot is sage advice for those unaccustomed to Bermuda waters. He knows his boat, what the wind is likely to do in a certain quarter, where and how far to go, and you may trust his judgment and eyesight.
There are scores of amateur yachtsmen who do not hesitate to match their wits against the professional pilots. They are on the water day
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after day, and scarcely a week goes by without at least one race. No water sport provides more exciting incidents than a race between dinghies, — little open boats built of the buoyant cedar, sloop- rigged, with leg-o'-mutton mainsail. According to the rules, a dinghy must not be more than 14 feet 1 inch over all, but no limitation or penalty is placed on the sail-spread, time allow- ances being based on the boat's measured ton- nage. The result is a most impressive exhibition of canvas, three suits of which are provided, — one for light weather, another for moderate breezes, the third for a strong wind. Some idea of the amount of sail carried in light weather is apparent from the size of the spars. The bow- sprit is longer than the boat, the mast twice as long, and there is nearly as much sail on the boom as on the mast. The spinnaker contains nearly as much cloth as jib and mainsail combined. With this smother of sail the dinghy must neces- sarily be tender. She has a lead-filled false keel, with a deep sheet-iron j aw or " fan " attached, but despite this weight below water the boat is so cranky that she will capsize when the mast is stepped, unless men and ballast are on board. This element of instability gives the crew oppor- tunities to show their seamanship, especially when the breeze comes in puffs which end as quickly as they begin.
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The crew is usually composed of four men and a boy, the latter to sit in the boat's bottom, bail continually, and keep her free of water. He has to work hard, but if the breeze softens his ser- vices are dispensed with, and he jumps overboard and swims until a friendly spectator picks him up. The captain or " connor " sits opposite the mast and handles the jib sheets. Next to him is the man who shifts ballast, then the one who holds the main sheets, and finally the steersman. The " Conner's " word is law, for he is the man who sails the boat. A master sailor is he. Keen of eye, self-reliant, he not only watches his antago- nists, but discovers and takes advantage of every slant of wind. A slight ripple far ahead, the behaviour of other boats, convey much to the mind of the " connor," and luffing, luffing, he eats his way to windward and to victory if he makes no mistakes.
With every stitch of canvas drawing and the mast buckling like whalebone, with her lee gun- wale under water and the men leaning so far out to windward that their backs are flecked with foam — this is the way a dinghy drives along under the impetus of a -full breeze. And all the while the ballast-shifter is moving heavy pigs of lead, resting one on his knees and another on his chest as he stretches his length over the weather
BERMUDA DIVERSIONS 193
side, with toes braced in cleats. Turning the weather stakeboat, sheets are slacked, the spin- naker is broken out, and the crew, huddling aft, seem to be sitting between two walls of foam. If the load of canvas proves too much, there is one ending only. The dinghy rolls, buries her stem, and sinks slowly to bottom. Sails disappear, and only men are left to flounder about in the water. A buoy attached to the boat floats to the surface, and they pull her up and rig a suit of dry sails in time for the next event.
The only obstacle to dinghy racing is the ex- pense. It is not possible to use the boats for any other purpose, and their elaborate equipment is costly; but there are enough enthusiasts to keep the game alive — may it never die. Racing of larger boats grows apace, and on regatta days the scene is a moving picture of all manner of craft loaded with gaily frocked women and men in flan- nels, while less fortunate spectators line the shore, shouting encouragement to their favourites. There are three yacht clubs at Hamilton, — the Royal Bermuda, premier organisation ; the Hamilton Dinghy, and the Bermuda Boat and Canoe Club; at the east end the St. George's Yacht Club is active in promoting regattas.
The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club was organised as the Bermuda Yacht Club by several civilians IS
194 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
and army officers at a meeting held under Tom Moore's calabash tree on November 1, 1844, the first commodore being Lord Mark Kerr of the Twentieth Regiment. Its first regatta was held in 1845, when Prince Albert became a member of the club and Queen Victoria gave her permission for the organisation to be styled the Royal Ber- muda Yacht Club. Two years later the Lords of the Admiralty authorised the club to fly the blue ensign of the British fleet, with its own dis- tinctive emblem thereon. This is an honour few colonial yacht clubs enjoy, and it means that vessels flying the red ensign must first salute the blue. The club's boats, on the other hand, are supposed to offer the first salute to the white ensign, or Admiral's flag. There are several challenge cups in the club's possession, one of which was presented by the late Duke of Edin- burgh, who succeeded his father as patron, and another by Princess Louise, who visited Bermuda in 1883. These two trophies are sailed for an- nually. The present royal patron of the club is the Prince of Wales, who commanded a ship-of- War on the North Atlantic and West Indies Sta- tion in 1901, and succeeded his uncle, the Duke of Edinburgh, in this capacity.
Yachting is no longer localised, thanks to the energies of American Corinthians of the type
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who enjoy the rough and tumble of deep water. Through the efforts of Thomas Fleming Day, editor of the Rtidder, New York, the first ocean race between that port and Bermuda was sailed in the summer of 1906 for a cup donated by Sir Thomas Lipton, and the event has become an an- nual fixture, in which several American clubs par- ticipate, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club acting as host for the visitors. Three yachts entered the first race, — the schooner Tamerlane, owned by Frank Maier, Rear-Commodore of the New Rochelle Yacht Club, and sailed by Mr. Day ; the yawl Lila, commanded by her owner, D. L. Floyd, and the little sloop Gawntlett, which had on board J. B. Robinson, his bride, and two men. The race was started in so heavy a gale that Tamerlane preferred to return to port and await moderate weather. Lila and Gauntlet t contin- ued, but the former was driven off her course to seek a coast harbour. When Tamerlane finally started, sixty-five hours later, she made fairly good weather and won the race, beating Gauntlett to port by a day. Her time was a little more than five days; Gauntlett took nine to cover the distance.
Twelve boats made the race of 1907 in two classes. Two were Bermuda craft. Entries in class A were the schooners Deruish, owner H. A.
196 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
Morss, Corinthian Yacht Club; Mist, H. Binney, New York Yacht Club; Shamrock, Frederick Thompson, Brooklyn Yacht Club ; Priscilla, Man- son and Neun, Rochester Yacht Club; Zuhrah, Henry Doscher, New Rochelle Yacht Club ; Tam- many, W. C. To wen, Brooklyn Yacht Club ; sloops Zinita, H. Cohen, Brooklyn Club; Isoldt, W. E. Meyer, St. George's (Bermuda) Yacht Club; yawl Flamingo, W. H. Fleming, Brooklyn Club. In class B: Lila, flying the Brooklyn Club flag; Mr. Maier's yawl Hyperion, and the tiny sloop Zena, owned by D. R. W. Burrows of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club were entered. Der- vish and Lila were winners in their respective classes, the former accomplishing the voyage in 98 hours, 50 minutes, Lila taking 103 hours, 45 minutes.
The race of 1908 again brought out Dervish and Zuhrah, in addition to the schooners Espe- ranza, owned by J. Dalzell McKee of the Atlantic Yacht Club, and Venona, owned by J. Elmer Bliss of the Eastern Yacht Club; also the yawl Mar- chioness, whose owner, John B. Crozer, flew the flag of the Yachtsmen's Association of Philadel- phia. Dervish was again a winner, and so was Venona, which was matched with the Marchioness. Th«^se two small boats beat their larger and more powerful rivals, Venona sailing the distance in a
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little more than 98 hours. This race was started from Marblehead, Mass.
A curious feature of the race of 1909, started from New York, was the close contest between the schooners Margaret., George S. Runk, owner, New York Yacht Club, and Amorita, Dr. W. L. Baum, owner, Chicago Yacht Club. Although Amorita finished only three minutes ahead of Margaret, the boats never sighted each other during the voyage. Other yachts in the race were the Cru- sader II, Edward Palmer, owner, Atlantic Yacht Club; Restless, Leedom Sharp, owner; and the Marchioness, the two latter representing the Yachtsmen's Association of Philadelphia. Mar" garet, the winner, took time from Amorita, but the latter broke all records for the course, sailing to Bermuda in 78 hours, 19 minutes, and 15 seconds.
Motor boat racing for high-powered craft, a much more hazardous undertaking than wind- jamming over the New York-Bermuda course, was inaugurated in 1907, James Gordon Bennett of New York having presented a cup. There were two entries, — Ailsa Craig, owned jointly by James Craig and Eben Stevens of the Motor Boat Club of America, and Idaho.
Ailsa Craig won this race, also the contest of 1908, her competitor that year being Irene II,
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owned by S. W. Granberry of the Motor Boat Club of America. The 1909 race drew four en- tries — Heather, owned by Richmond Levering of Cincinnati; Nereides II, by Francis Rogers of Camden, N. J. ; Eys, by J. G. N. Whitaker of Philadelphia; Insep, by William G. Proctor of Cincinnati. The boats finished in the order named. Aside from their sporting features, the New York-Bermuda races have created a wide interest among naval architects. Valuable experience with regard to the structural qualities of ocean-going yachts has been acquired, and each year has wit- nessed the production of safer, faster, more suitable craft, with improved engines in the case of motor boats. At the same time the races have exerted a wholesome influence on the sport in Bermuda. The natives have learned that if they are to keep up with the nautical procession they must forego their old-fashioned, heavily built boats for others modelled in accordance with modern ideas, and the nucleus of a new fleet is already formed. American boats from the yards of noted designers have been imported, and the home builder has ceased to lay down craft of ancient pattern. The new order means, too, the passing of the leg-o'- mutton rig — it is not suited to fin keels and long overhangs — and though wrinkled boatmen may sigh at the thought they cannot stay the process
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of evolution. From a sentimental viewpoint it is a pity, for the rig seems as much a part of Ber- muda as the reefs.
After yachting, in the eyes of the native, comes fishing as a marine diversion. Rod and reel are practically unknown, for the larger fish make deep soundings and long hand lines — fifty fathoms in localities where the succulent red snapper feeds — are necessary. Some fishermen use heavy dinghies, but there is more comfort in a whaleboat or sloop fitted with a well for preserving the catch if a whole day at the reefs is contemplated.
If Bermudians cannot offer tarpon at the angler's altar, at least they can name a dozen big fish which have the fighting instinct. The dean of all is the rockfish, running up to one hundred pounds, and when he is hooked you have on your hands a contest that burns the skin off tender fingers. The hogfish, chub, and amberfish, all of respectable weight, are game to the bone, and for downright treachery green and spotted morays, long, supple, and slimy, are to be commended. Israel, a leather-skinned fisherman of veracity, as fishermen go, often told how he and his partner, Toby, caught and lost a green moray the size of a man. Toby violated all ethics of the game by pulling the fish over the gunwale before it had been despatched, and both men were the objects
200 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
of a vicious attack. " To get rid of the devil," as Israel said, they shinned the mast and capsised the dinghy. Probably the yarn was not overdrawn in some details. It is foolhardy to take liberties with the jaws of a green moray; one that was captured for the New York Aquarium bit a piece out of an inch plank in its struggle for liberty.
More easily handled are the cub sharks, two or three feet long, that suddenly surround a boat at night, fighting, plunging, illuminating the phosphoric sea in their efforts to find a meal. When they come all other fishing suspends, but they enliven a whole evening with their voracious antics. The average person shudders at the sug- gestion of eating shark, but the highly spiced dish that a Bermuda cook can make of a sixpenny cub is not to be scorned.
In June, when word goes out that the groupers are " snapping " in their spawning grounds along the south shore, there is the fastest kind of fishing. The fish are ravenous and reckless, biting at unbaited hooks, and one man's work is to string the captives by their mouths on a line kept over- board for the purpose. Thus " winded," or in- flated by contact with the air, they are towed ashore and put into reserve ponds to regain their strength and fatten for the market. Cub sharks sometimes add an exciting feature by their raids
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on the " winded " fish, but a more disagreeable adjunct is seasickness. Boatmen say that the person who can withstand the smell of bait and hours of tossing under a hot sun is qualified to be a useful member of a grouper crew.
Some of the smaller fishes, such as breams, grunts, sailor's choice, grey snappers, and porgies are plentiful in shallow water, where it is possible to watch them nibble at the bait, but others are too shy to touch a hook, and must be trapped in "pots," which resemble cages, or taken in nets. The great variety of species, their habits, and bril- liant colouring, apart from their qualities as game, are sources of pleasure to the sportsman who reflects upon the peculiarities of Nature.
Far be it from the Bermudian to devote his whole attention to the water. Cricket is his principal game, and there is a multiplicity of elevens, white, coloured, military, naval. At Rich- mond, the field of the Hamilton Cricket Club, teams from Philadelphia, the home of American cricket, are occasionally entertained. There is great rivalry between the coloured elevens, but they play the game with its accustomed etiquette, and good cricket it is.
The Hamilton Golf Club has a nine-hole course at Spanish Point, to which followers of that game are welcome, and there are military links at Pros-
BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
pect and St. George's. Tennis and football are well supported, while Americans even find oppor- tunities for baseball. The bicycle is an important factor in transportation, and there is no better way to see the islands than awheel, always re- membering that the rule of the road is left instead of right, as in the United States.
Good mounts are available, interest in riding having led to a revival of racing under the auspices of the Bermuda Hunt Club, whose course is at Shelly Bay. Race meetings bring out a procession of carriages, buggies, wagons, donkey traps, and bicycles, not to speak of those who use shank's mare, for, His Excellency the Governor having " lent his patronage " to the " Bermuda Derby," there is valid excuse for a general holiday. In the promotion of sport the Bermudian receives generous assistance from the officers and men of the army and navy. Tommy Atkins might grow discontented if his recreations were curtailed and the men in command encourage him to exchange the familiar scarlet and khaki tunics for flannels and running suits. Rank is forgotten on the cricket and football field, officers and men playing together for the honour of the sport. Soldiers and sailors, too, have their theatricals, minstrels, and camp fires, all of which help to break the monotony of foreign service. At their various messes officers
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of the regular establishment extend hospitality to visitors with proper credentials, and they are not outdone in this respect by the native officers of the Bermuda Militia Artillery and Volunteer Rifle Corps.
CHAPTER XII
METHOD OF GOVEKNMENT
BERMUDIANS govern themselves through the me- dium of a Colonial Parliament, consisting of the House of Assembly, a body of thirty-six elected members, and the Legislative Council of nine members, who are appointed by the Crown. The Governor and Commander-in-Chief, usually a lieutenant-general either of the Royal Artillery or Engineers, is also a Crown appointee, serving from three to five years.
The census of 1901 gave the population as 17,535, the divisions being as follows: White — male, 3149; female, 3234; coloured — 'male, 5457 ; female, 5695. The proportion of coloured to white is, therefore, nearly two to one. It is probable that the population at the present time numbers a little more than 19,000, not including the naval and military establishments, which ag- gregate about 2200 persons. In fifty years the population has nearly doubled, and it is possible that Bermuda could comfortably support many more people if agriculture were established on a firm basis.
Political and economic codes handed down
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through generations have produced some anoma- lies which are worthy of attention. Any man, white or coloured, is qualified to stand for elec- tion to the House of Assembly if he possesses a freehold rated at £240 ($1200), the rating being the actual value of the property, and he may be a candidate in any parish. To exercise the franchise a man must receive the profits of a freehold rated at £60 ($300). In this connection a husband is entitled to be registered in respect of his wife's real estate, and a voter holding property in two or more parishes may vote in those parishes. Thus a freeholder may have several votes.
Each of the nine parishes returns four members to the Assembly, without regard to the size of their respective constituencies, and while this system of distribution is contrary to the recognised princi- ple that a small number of voters shall not have the same parliamentary representation as a larger number, it is satisfactory to the Bermudians inas- much as it equalises the voice of each parish in the affairs of government and prevents that concen- tration of administration which is so much to be feared in a small colony having representative institutions. The tenacity with which the older families have retained their holdings, and the absence of thrift on the part of the working class are factors which have operated to concentrate
206 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
property in the hands of a comparatively few in- dividuals, and notwithstanding the small sum neces- sary to enable a man to qualify as a voter, there were in 1908 only 1298 electors, of which 852 were white and 446 coloured.
These are the men who actually rule Bermuda through their chosen representatives, but the very land which gives property holders the right to vote is not taxed for purposes of general revenue, and the monetary support they extend to the government is not greater than that given by their tenants, to whom political privileges are de- nied. That is to say, tenant as well as landlord, pays his share of indirect taxation through the tariff, which provides the bulk of revenue. The property holder, however, supports certain parish and municipal enterprises, but his assessments are exceedingly small, by comparison with other coun- tries, and he lives as nearly tax free as he might wish. One might say almost without contradic- tion that the Bermudian's burden of taxes is the lightest in existence.
In recent years aliens have been allowed to ac- quire property, but they are not permitted to vote on it, although subjected to parochial assessments and jury duty. Before the alien law was enacted the property of a woman who married an alien might pass to the government by escheat, and this
METHOD OF GOVERNMENT 207
legal obstacle was supposed to have prevented some women from marrying outside of Bermuda. At all events, the islands once were credited with an excess of " old maids," but the roving nature of the men in old days may have had as much to do with female celibacy as the law. With the beginning of more cordial relations between Great Britain and the United States in the Spanish- American war period, Bermuda ceased to be re- garded primarily as a fortress, and this circum- stance, combined with the disposition of Americans to maintain winter residences there, was responsi- ble for a more liberal policy toward aliens. The alien legislation, however, is not intended to en- courage the acquisition of property for specu- lative purposes, and attempts in this direction would be frustrated by the Governor in Council, in whom is vested power to approve or disapprove purchases by persons who hold allegiance to countries other than Great Britain. The total area of land held by aliens cannot, under the law, exceed 2000 acres.
General elections are held every seven years, but as the electoral body is too small to demand the aid of party machinery, political contests are mat- ters of individuals rather than of policies. Mem- bers of the house are therefore free to serve their constituents without interference from partisan
208 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
sources. Although the office carries a salary of eight shillings ($2) for each day's attendance, this sum merely covers travelling expenses in the case of the maj ority ; accordingly, the honour of service is the chief reward held out to the candidate.
Public office attracts, as it has always, members of the more conspicuous families, and notwith- standing the disparity of electors, the legislators generally are amenable to public opinion when vital issues are concerned, rarely failing in the long run to accomplish their duty toward the people as a whole. The very fact that the public debt adequately guaranteed amounts only to £46,500 ($232,500), and the additional fact that the colony is self-supporting and able to meet its yearly obligations, are indications of conservatism in legislation and proof of the Bermudian's capacity for self-government.
The revenue is derived from ad valorem duties amounting to ten per cent, from moderate specific duties, from lighthouse tolls (paid by incoming ships), receipts of the postal establishment, court and office fees, and miscellaneous items. Out of the revenue are supported legislative, judicial, and customs establishments, an island constabulary, jails, a lunatic asylum, library, museum, and ex- periment garden; and the government engages
METHOD OF GOVERNMENT 209
in public works and maintains approximately one hundred miles of good roads, of which the colony is justly proud. A fair proportion of the ex- pense for the executive branch of government is also borne by the colony.
In explanation of the accompanying table of revenue and expenditure, it may be said that the year 1906 was one of financial crisis, due to a combination of unexpected circumstances, and to meet the deficit and to provide for future con- tingencies, the Legislature found it necessary to increase the ad valorem duty from five to ten per cent.
REVENUE EXPENDITURE
|
1904 . 1905 . 1906 . 1907 . 1908 . |
. . £63,457 ($317,285) . . £53,321 ($266,605) . . £53,213 ($266,065) . . £61,140 ($305,700) . . £59,803 ($299,015) |
£61,133 ($305,665) £65,307 ($326,535) £69,064 ($345,320) £59,191 ($295,955) £52,904 ($264,520) |
Dating from 1620, the Colonial Parliament is one of the oldest law-making bodies in existence. In the beginning legislative functions of the colo- nists were subject to the by-laws and regulations of the Bermuda Company, but with the abrogation of the company's charter the power of the House was greatly extended, as its duties, instead of mainly concerning the private affairs of the pro- prietors, took cognisance of the whole field of posi-
14
HO BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
tive law. Controversies between the Assembly and various governors arose upon occasions, particu- larly during the American War of the Revolution, but their differences usually related to matters political, and no serious constitutional question was ever raised. No constitutional change, in fact no change of any importance, has taken place in the House since the company's charter was annulled.
What may be termed the constitutional privi- leges of the House of Commons, the right to grant supplies, to appropriate grants, to claim redress of grievances before supplies are granted, seem always to have been among the admitted privileges of the House of Assembly. The Council is the lineal descendant of the company's Council, which was appointed by the Governor, sat with the As- sembly, and concerned itself with the enforcement of the law. After 1683 the Council was appointed by the Crown, and until 1888 it sat not only as the upper branch of the Parliament, but as the Gov- ernor's advisory body, giving assent in the latter capacity to bills passed by the House of Assembly. The law of 1888 created two councils, — one legis- lative, the other executive, both having certain members in common. Latterly, one or two mem- bers of the House have been appointed to the Executive Council while retaining their elective
METHOD OF GOVERNMENT 211
offices. Membership of the Legislative Council includes the chief justice, who acts as president, the colonial secretary and receiver general, the theory being that these officials, by their contact with administrative affairs, are peculiarly fitted to mould legislation.
The work of the Legislature is distinguished by the absence of those methods of obstruction which sometimes find favour in the House of Commons and in the Congress of the United States. Bills may be introduced in either House, with this im- portant exception: that bills involving the ex- penditure of public money must originate in the House of Assembly, and with regard to these bills the Council has only the power of acceptance or rejection in toto, not of amendment on details. By this rule public expenditures are placed in the hands of representatives of the voting class.
Bills are read three times in the House, the discussion taking place on the second reading, when the members go into the committee of the whole to consider details. This procedure permits a member to address the* chair as frequently as he pleases, and there is less formality than in the House, for with the speaker in the chair a member may speak only once, although the original mover is privileged to speak once in reply.
After passing three readings a bill is sent to the
212 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
other legislative branch for concurrence. There it passes through similar stages, and, if amended, is sent back to the House in which it originated. If this House concurs, no complications arise ; if it does not, the other House has the option of insist- ing upon its changes or accepting the measure in its original form. It it insists, the bill is lost; if it does not insist, the bill is passed and laid before the Governor, who usually gives his assent unless there has been some informality in the manner of introduction.
Unless there is a " suspending clause " the bill then becomes law, but if such a clause is attached, providing that " this act shall not come into opera- tion until His Majesty's pleasure has been made known concerning the same," the measure awaits the royal pleasure before enactment. The sus- pending clause is not on every bill, but is usually added to measures of great public importance, or those which make drastic changes in the existing law.
Local affairs in the parishes are conducted by " vestries," which are chosen yearly by the electors. The vestries have charge of the relief of the poor and pauper lunatics, acting also as local boards of health. To carry out these objects they are empowered to impose assessments on real estate.
The parochial system is an ancient institution,
METHOD OF GOVERNMENT 213
dating back to the days of settlement. When no church or denomination was recognised by law except the Church of England, the vestries were authorised to raise money for the maintenance of the parish churches and ministry by an assessment of all property held by persons in connection with the Established Church and others, and pew rents were appropriated to the relief of the poor and various secular purposes. In 1867, however, it was deemed just to exonerate from liability to assessment for the Church of England all persons who contributed toward the maintenance of other churches. Elective bodies called church vestries were thereupon instituted to control all matters pertaining to the Church of England, and pew rents were restricted exclusively to the use of parish churches. The vestries were also per- mitted to assess communicants when pew rents proved insufficient to maintain church and clergy. Grants by the government to the Church of England have practically ceased, and the Bermuda Church Society, organised in 1876 to accumulate a fund for the benefit of the clergy, has taken the place of the Treasury, thus fulfilling the purposes of its founders, who saw the necessity of providing against the day when legislative aid would no longer be forthcoming. Bermuda is attached to the See of Newfoundland, and the Established
214 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
Church holds the premier position; but other re- ligious bodies, more particularly the Wesleyan Methodist, Presbyterian, and African Methodist, are strong numerically and possess valuable prop- erty, which is held either by trust, deed, or special act of the Legislature.
Only within recent years has Bermuda possessed any but an archaic judicial system. While the Bermuda Company existed, certain members of the Council performed the duties of chief justice, and practically all the jurisdiction was on the common law side, with juries to hear the cases. A few years after the abolition of the company a chief justice was appointed, the court holding the lengthy title of " King's Bench Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery," and taking cognisance of both civil and criminal matters.
Later, the Governor in Council began to exer- cise equitable functions, sitting as a Court of Chancery, and in many cases affording relief to parties to whom justice was not forthcoming in the King's Bench by reason of the highly technical nature of the pleading and practice in this court. In 1744 the Legislature abolished appeals to the Governor in Council as the Court of Chancery, but established the same body as the Court of Errors to hear appeals from the common law court (King's Bench). Thus there was the
METHOD OF GOVERNMENT 215
anomaly of the Governor in Council — a purely lay body — exercising a jurisdiction as the Court of Chancery concurrent with the common law court, as well as a superior jurisdiction at common law as the Court of Appeal from the King's Bench. Naturally, inconveniences arose from this state of affairs, and they influenced the work of the court so late as the year 1908.
The courts continued to exist as set forth, with statutory changes in detail only, until 1814, when the Legislature fused all common law jurisdictions into one court, that of General Assize, and brought the practice up to the English standard of that date. In 1876 the equity jurisdiction was taken from the Governor in Council and placed in the Court of Assize, though the former body still con- tinued to hear appeals from the latter. The great difficulty which faced the common law courts lay in the complicated nature of their rules and regula- tions. Up to the latter part of the eighteenth century the pleadings, or statements of fact relied upon by either party to a cause and filed by them before action were in Latin, and practically up to 1904 technical errors in pleadings were fatal to clients, who had to start afresh after paying costs already incurred.
From time to time acts were passed with the purpose of simplifying the work of dispensing
216 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
justice, but they were of little value, and the old order continued until Chief Justice Gollan ar- rived from England in 1904. He proceeded to rip up the planks of ancient fabric, and the Legis- lature, at his suggestion, merged all courts, whether common law or chancery, into one, termed the Supreme Court, fused law and equity, and gave the court power to make rules governing the pleading and practice. As a consequence, the technicalities of former days have disappeared, and the court's business is despatched with greater facility.
The last change in the judicial system took place in 1908. Then the Legislature abolished^ the Court of Errors, which had subsisted in the Governor in Council for upward of one hundred and seventy years, and directed that in future all appeals should be from the Supreme Court direct to the King in Council.
CHAPTER
RESOURCES
BERMUDA'S sole industry is agriculture, the de- velopment of which began in earnest after the fictitiously prosperous years of blockade running. American and Canadian tourists contribute a large sum annually to the colony's wealth, and the ex- penditure of the naval and military establishments, though somewhat reduced of late years through the policy of home concentration adopted by the War Office, still represents a valuable asset. The coaling of tramp steamers is another business which should assume large proportions if proper advantage is taken of opportunities which must certainly present themselves, after the opening of the Panama Canal, and are even now existent.
Staple productions are onions, potatoes, green vegetables, arrowroot, and Easter lily bulbs, cul- tivation of the latter for commercial purposes having been started in the eighties by the late Gen. Russell Hastings, an American soldier, who made his home in Bermuda. The bulk of the produce goes to New York, the colony's natural market, but prices fluctuate to such an extent that the farmers are no longer assured of a profit.
218 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
For a succession of years Bermudians practically had a monopoly of the early onion market, but now they meet the increasing competition of Texas growers, who farm on a large scale, with the advantage of a high protective tariff and an efficient system of distribution ; and it seems only a question of time when Texas will eliminate Ber- muda as a factor in this industry, or compel the islanders to enter into a selling combination. The colonial authorities appreciate the gravity of the situation, but little or no progress has been made in promoting the cultivation of crops which would render the growers independent to a large extent of their major products, onions and potatoes.
From experiments conducted at the Public Garden it is reasonable to assume that citrus fruits, bananas, strawberries, avocado pears, va- nilla, tobacco, and even India rubber, might be produced in quantities for export, but the problem of leading the planter in the right direction is a complicated one. It is frankly expressed in the report of the Board of Agriculture for 1906, which says:
" The department . . . has . . . before it the task of correcting the evil effects of fifty years' neglect of our one industry on the one hand and of the dependence of the populace upon external, and, of course, uncertain sources of
RESOURCES 219
revenue on the other. It would be reasonable to assume that if Bermuda had not been maintained as a fortress by the Imperial Government, spend- ing large sums of money on army, navy, and dockyard, the brains and brawn of the colony would have remained on the land and developed agriculture.
" Here we have the most remarkable and prob- ably the most valuable climate in the world, within two days' sail of the very best market, utterly wasted for want of expert agriculturalists and sufficient capital. . . . The climate that will sup- port the rankest vegetation all the year round in comparatively sterile soil is worth experimenting upon; and indications point to the possibility of our being able to turn to profitable account the vegetative energy that has for many years been permitted to waste.
" . . . The combination of excessive atmos- pheric pressure, intensified light, and equable temperature make up a set of conditions that tend to develop those forces in plants which per- tain to the vegetative; that is, directly opposed to those conducive to the large production of large crops of seeds. Thus we see immense corn stalks and half-filled cobs; gigantic avocado pear trees covered with dense foliage but no seeds; mango trees that have ceased to bear; grape-
220 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
vines rampant with but little fruit; rank growth in vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, beets, celery, cabbages, etc., etc. ; large onions — if the temperature refrained from rising above the maxi- mum for this crop ; large banana plants with heavy bunches — for the banana is all vegetation, since no seeds are produced; and heavy crops of weeds that spring up in a few days. . . .
" Probably in no other country in the world can there be found, growing and fruiting, so many different kinds of fruit trees ; fruits both temperate and tropical grow here with the great- est luxuriance and attain the highest perfection. Several of the tropical kinds, however, grow with such vigour that unless root pruning be regularly carried out the trees fail to yield an annual crop of fruit; some individual trees indeed have quite given up bearing fruit and expend the whole of their energies upon the development of leaves and branches ; more especially is this so where they are found growing in deep and sheltered valleys.
" Here again our unique climate is absolutely wasted, and might, during the past forty or fifty years, have been utilised in producing choice fruits for the New York market at a season of the year when they are not obtainable elsewhere. What Bermuda might have been if the proper attention
RESOURCES 221
had been paid to agriculture it is not very diffi- cult to conceive; one has only to imagine each cultivated valley surrounded by the choicest varie- ties of all kinds of fruit trees — planted in the zone between the deepest soil and the rocky hill- sides, where excessive vegetation is not possible — to gain some idea of the terrific waste of valuable forces that has been going on all these years."
Waste of valuable forces means the science of agriculture disregarded and acres of good land untilled. The ancient Bermuda mariner was wise in his generation, inasmuch as he brought home with him from foreign lands a variety of useful trees, not the least of which were the orange and peach. These were put into the ground and left to grow without cultivation. They flourished, seedlings were propagated, and the islands, half a century ago, were well supplied with oranges and peaches, not to speak of other fruits. But in the course of time the fruit fly was unknowingly imported to attack the plantations, and not until it had ruined practically every tree was a serious attempt made to check its ravages. The result of this neglect is apparent to-day. A valuable source of income has been thrown away, and not enough fruit for home consumption is produced.
About 2600 acres are under cultivation; sev- eral thousand more might be utilised if adequate
£22 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
capital were available; but with his limited re- sources the planter hesitates to experiment with unfamiliar crops or to increase his acreage. His outlay for labour is large, owing to heavy field work necessitated by rapid growth of weeds ; he is handicapped by American tariff impositions and loose methods of marketing, all of which help to make him dependent on those who supply him with the money and foodstuffs that represent a crop mortgage. On the other hand, he is, gener- ally speaking, far from being a scientific farmer. He has allowed his soil to deteriorate, his efforts have often been misdirected, and he has not co- operated intelligently with the Public Garden, whose power to assist him has thereby been weakened. Furthermore, the farmer's insularity has prevented him from keeping in touch with the progress of other countries in his field of labor.
But the fault may not be laid entirely at his door. Back of the farmer's problem lies that of education. The colony pays too little attention to the training of its youth. Education is com- pulsory, it is true, the government aiding about twenty-five primary schools, which are actually private institutions and exact small fees from their pupils ; but teachers are poorly trained and underpaid, and the instruction they impart em-
RESOURCES 223
braces only the most rudimentary subjects. Sev- eral secondary schools exist, but these reach only the wealthier class, and the average Bermuda boy is taught in much the same manner as was his grandfather. If he learns anything, it is not be- cause of educational opportunities but in spite of them.
Until the colony provides a better and broader system, embodying courses in agriculture and other vocational subjects, there will probably be no per- manent improvement in farming methods. With a suitable educational system, designed to meet the colony's needs, there is every reason to suppose that scientific experimentation and suggestion, so far as it related to agriculture, would be more readily accepted and digested by the growing generation; and, following the question out to its logical conclusion, a more enterprising, well- informed body of farmers would eventually take hold of the soil. It might even be profitable at the present time to take men straight from the farms and have them trained in agricultural col- leges in the United States and Canada. The suc- cess of the American student of agriculture could be repeated in Bermuda, without a doubt. For- tunately the colony is eligible for appointments to Oxford under the Rhodes Trust, and no doubt holders of these scholarships from Bermuda will,
224 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
in the future, be influential in promoting more desirable educational methods.
It would be unjust to give the impression that all Bermuda farmers are poor agriculturalists. Some, indeed, particularly the green vegetable growers, having adopted modern methods, realise fair profits, but there exists a large, unprogres- sive class, which includes Portuguese immigrants, who began to resort to the islands from the Azores in the latter part of the last century. In 1909 the Agricultural Commission, appointed by the Governor to investigate the situation, emphasised the fact that the Portuguese, while industrious, were lacking in the necessary education that would enable them to compete with trained agricultural- ists. A great number were in poor circumstances, and many had exhausted the credit advanced to them by produce dealers. The commission re- ported that nine tenths of the cultivable land was " under the direct management, in small lots, of persons as a rule less capable than agricultural laborers of other countries."
Recognising the fact that the farmer must be educated, the commission suggested that four typi- cal plots of ground .be set aside in separate par- ishes as demonstration stations, including school gardens for children and teachers ; also, that the services of a lecturer in agricultural science be
RESOURCES 225
engaged. Undoubtedly this would be a step in the right direction, and much benefit would accrue to the colony if the commission's ideas were put into practice.
Progress in other lines is certain to help the farmer. The phenomenal growth of the tourist business simultaneously with the decline in the value of exports has opened a home market for fruits and vegetables which may be sold daily fry cash to hotels and boarding-houses. The extent of the tourist traffic is seen in the fact that Ber- muda entertained more than 9000 visitors in the season of 1908-9, and that fully $1,000,000 in American money was distributed throughout the colony. It is doubtful, however, in view of the increasing population, whether the people could live by the proceeds of the tourist trade, and even if this were possible it would not be sound eco- nomic policy to do so. The colony should be pre- pared to take advantage of its agricultural re- sources, if through an epidemic of disease or other unlooked-for causes the tourist trade should sud- denly fail, and to that end the necessary education and experimentation should be vigorously pursued.
Competition of transportation companies, ad- vertising campaigns, and the complete change in two days from the rigours of a northern winter IS
226 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
are factors in the development of the tourist trade. Two steamship lines from New York and one from Halifax, with frequent sailings and low rates, to- gether with the proximity of the islands to the western metropolis, give them an exceptional ad- vantage over other foreign winter resorts; they have also direct passenger service with Great Britain, wherein lies a possible market for the onion.
The hotels compare favourably in size and ap- pointments with those of other resorts, and each year more luxurious accommodations are provided for that class of the travelling public which Ber- muda desires to entertain. In this connection the authorities are alive to the wisdom and necessity of safeguarding the health of the permanent and transient population through efficient sanitary regulations. The colony's remarkable immunity from epidemics of any description in the past forty years testifies to the efficacy of the health laws as well as to favourable climatic conditions.
No one need have fears about the drinking water. It comes down from the clouds through an uncontaminated atmosphere, falls upon coral roofs, which are tarred and lime-washed, and is impounded in closed tanks or cisterns, built of the same stone, each dwelling-house and hotel hav- ing its own private supply, the purity of which
SCREW PINE, PUBLIC GARDEN, ST. GEORGE'S
RESOURCES 227
is unquestioned. If a large supply is needed, a natural water catch may be formed by digging the soil from the side of a hill, and white-washing the exposed rock, and by exercising simple sani- tary precautions wholesome water is assured at all seasons.
An undoubted source of prosperity for Ber- muda lies in its favourable position with regard to trade routes leading to the Panama Canal and the Gulf of Mexico, and the colony has decided to improve its port facilities with the view of becoming a great coaling station, rivalling, per- haps, Newport News, to which merchant steamers now resort on their way to the gulf. Under pres- ent conditions steamers calling at Bermuda for coal must anchor in open roadsteads such as Five Fathom Hole or Murray's Anchorage off St. George's, or else go to Grassy Bay, the naval anchorage at the dockyard, which is twelve miles from the channel entrance and cannot be reached after sunset. The manifest results of an attempt to utilise these facilities are inconvenience and the loss of time ; and thus it happens that while scores of steamers pass the islands every month, only those in dire necessity call for coal, others pre- ferring to take advantage of facilities at Newport News.
Hamilton cannot be made a coaling port because
228 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
its harbour is too small and too far from the open sea; it is proved beyond a shadow of doubt that steamers cannot be quickly accommodated in the roadsteads; the question is therefore narrowed down to providing a deep channel for the land- locked harbour of St. George's, which is commo- dious, affords good holding ground, and is but fifteen minutes' sail from the open sea.
The situation of Bermuda demands improvement in its port facilities. Routes to the Panama Canal will lie through the Mona Passage, west of Porto Rico, if from Great Britain or the north of Europe, and either through the Mona Passage or by way of St. Thomas, if from the Mediterranean. These routes are respectively 4353 and 4347 miles in length, and pass from 450 to 500 miles to the southward of Bermuda. Stopping at Bermuda, steamers would thence go through the Windward Passage, east of Cuba, the distance being ap- proximately 4600 miles from Europe to the canal entrance.
Bermuda is nearly on the Great Circle route from Europe to the Gulf of Mexico, and there would be no appreciable increase in the distance due to calling there. . From Europe to Newport News the distance is 3320 miles, and from the latter port to the canal 1800 miles, a total of 5120, or 520 miles longer than the route via
RESOURCES 229
Bermuda. Part of this increased distance lies through opposing currents. The advantage New- port News now possesses as a port of call is the relative cheapness of coal there, in combination with facilities for putting it on board. If, how- ever, Bermuda can provide similar appliances for loading, as well as cheap coal, its attraction for shipmasters who desire to save time and the dis- tance of 520 miles becomes apparent.
Concerning the Panama routes, a distinguished authority on maritime matters, after exhaustive investigation as far back as 1899, was moved to say in the London Times that Bermuda " is very nearly the same distance as from London to Port Said, and as steamers often go from London to Port Said without coaling, so, if ever a maritime canal is made across the isthmus, Bermuda will bear something like the same relation to it for coaling purposes that Port Said does to the Suez Canal."
For thirty years the whole subject of adequate port arrangements has been agitated in Bermuda, and the sponsors for the St. George's Channel scheme, at first in the minority, have, despite many discouraging defeats in the Legislature, brought to their side the majority of the popula- tion. It would lead too far into local and even Imperial politics to give reasons for the delay in
230 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
throwing open the port of St. George's to com- merce; suffice it to say that in 1908 the Legisla- ture, with the approval of the home authorities, adopted a financial scheme which will provide funds for the project. The port will be made available for steamers of heavy draught at all hours of the day or night, either by deepening the existing channel or by deepening and widening what is known as the Town Cut Channel, and they will be able to take coal and be at sea again three hours after their arrival. In a few years the channel should be completed, and then the colony will be able to realise on what may prove to be its most important commercial asset. Future necessities of the British mercantile marine, based on the commerce that will flow through the Pan- ama Canal, would be sufficient justification for the speedy completion of the project, even if Bermuda were to receive no benefit from it, and this fact may have prompted the approval of the Imperial Government, after a long period of hesitancy.
USEFUL FACTS FOR THE TRAVELLER
BERMUDA has direct steam communication with New York, St. John, N. B., Halifax, N. S., the West Indies and Great Britain, as follows:
QUEBEC STEAMSHIP COMPANY.
Weekly sailings from Pier 47, North River, New York. A. E. Outerbridge & Co., agents, 29 Broadway, New York.
Watlington & Conyers, agents, Hamilton, Bermuda.
BERMUDA-ATLANTIC STEAMSHIP COMPANY.
Weekly sailings from Pier B, Jersey City. Philip Manson, general manager, 290 Broadway, New York. A. S. R. Spurling, agent, Hamilton, Bermuda.
ROYAL MAIL STEAM PACKET COMPANY.
Bermuda-Antilla, Cuba, service.
Fortnightly sailings from Pier 42, North River, New York.
Sanderson & Son, agents, 22 State Street, New York. W. T. James & Co., agents, Hamilton, Bermuda.
PICKFORD & BLACK STEAMSHIP COMPANY.
West Indies and Demarara service. Leave St. John, N. B., and Halifax, N. S., and Bermuda every twelve days. W. T. James & Co., agents, Hamilton, Bermuda.
232 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT
London for Bermuda about every four weeks. Henry Langridge & Co., agents, 16 Gt. St. Helen's E. C., London.
W. T. James & Co., agents, Hamilton, Bermuda.
English money is the legal tender of Bermuda, but American greenbacks and gold of the smaller denomina- tions are generally accepted at their face value by mer- chants. Letters of credit may be addressed to the Bank of Bermuda and N. T. Butterfield & Son, whose facilities are at the disposal of travellers. Check books issued by tourist agencies and express companies are used to a large extent by visitors.
Rates of postage for letters to Great Britain are two cents (one English penny) an ounce or fraction thereof; to the United States, five cents (twopence halfpenny) an ounce or fraction thereof; for each additional ounce or fraction thereof, three cents. Pictorial post cards carry a one-cent stamp, if they bear only the sender's initials. Inland letters are carried for two cents (one penny) an ounce.
The islands are. in touch with other parts of the world through the Halifax and Bermudas cable and the Direct West India cables.
LIVERY RATES.
Bicycle, 24 cents (one shilling) an hour; 36 cents (one shilling and sixpence) for two hours; 50 cents (two shil- lings and one penny) for hah* a day; $2.50 a week; $8 a month.
Carriage, single, holding three passengers and driver, $1 an hour and 50 cents for each hour thereafter; per diem, $4 to $5. Double, holding five passengers and driver, $2 for first hour, $1 for each hour thereafter; per diem.
USEFUL FACTS FOB THE TRAVELLER 283
$8 to $10. Rates are quoted for drives to certain fixed points.
Sailboats, including pilot, $1 an hour, $5 to $6 a day; for fishing excursions, $7 to $8 a day. Boats carry from six to twelve passengers. Rowboats, 24 to 36 cents an hour without man; with man, 50 cents an hour.
Motor boats and glass-bottomed boats for sea-garden excursions may also be hired.
HOTELS AND BOARDING HOUSES.
CITY OF HAMILTON.
Hamilton Hotel, William A. Barren, manager; accom- modations for 600 persons. New York office, 1180 Broad- way, also 389 Fifth Avenue.
Princess Hotel, Howe & Tworoger, managers; accom- modations for 400 persons.
American House, A. Pascal, manager.
The Windsor, A. A. Moore, manager.
The Kenwood, Allan McNicol, manager.
Imperial Hotel, Mrs. Rappleyea.
The Oleanders, J. A. Fuller.
Phosnix Apartments, F. W. Grantham.
Victoria Lodge, H. G. Outerbridge.
Cedarhurst, Mrs. E. Harrington.
Washington House, H. Gady.
Sunny Brae, Miss L. Frith.
Hillside, Mrs. R. Bradley.
Nokomis Inn, Mrs. A. F. Cook.
Point Pleasant, H. C. Outerbridge.
Brayton Lodge, Miss Kirkham.
Brunswick House, C. M. Cooper.
Allenhurst, Mrs. W. H. Spurge.
Corner House, Mrs. 0. DarrelL
PEMBROKE.
Grassmere, N. E. Lusher. Rockville, J. H. Masters. Eagle's Nest, Mrs. M. Dallman. Falkirk, Mrs. George Tear. Glyngarth, Mrs. W. M. Conton.
PAGET.
Newstead, Paget West, Miss K. E. Smith. Invemrie, Paget West, H. B. Koster. Abbotsford, Paget East, F. H. Bell. The Netherlands, Paget East, Miss Davis. Seabright, F. C. Stephens. Rural Hill, Mrs. W. A. Baker. Harbour View, Mrs. A. G. Montagu.
WARWICK.
Mrs. A. E. Conyers. Spithead, Mrs. E. Prescott. Belmont, Balch & Carlisle. Southcote, Misses Smith.
SOUTHAMPTON. Seaward Lodge, Mrs. S. E. Alford.
SOMERSET.
Summerside, L. Curtis. . Fairview, H. Durant.
SMITH'S PARISH. Tenhurst, F. W. E. Peniston.
USEFUL FACTS FOR THE TRAVELLER 235
HAMILTON PARISH.
Harrington House, on Harrington Sound, B. J. H. Peniston. Seaward, Bailey's Bay, L. T. Constable.
FLATT'S VILLAGE. Frascati, Alonzo Peniston.
ST. GEORGE'S.
Hotel St. George, Harry Manson, proprietor; accom- modations for 100 persons. New York office, 1180 Broadway.
Globe Hotel.
Kington House, Mrs. Rankin.
Wellesley Lodge, Miss Bruce.
Mount Eyrie, S. Todd.
Station View, Miss Outerbridge.
Hill Crest, Mrs. Greig.
Block House, Mrs. Hayward.
Burch Castle, Mrs. Thomas.
Somers Inn, F. B. Kimball.
Poinciana, W. D. Lent.
THE BERMUDA SANATORIUM.
Ferry Point, Dr. R. R. Higginbothom, resident physi- cian. New York agents: E. F. Darrell & Co., Produce Exchange.
Hotel rates range from $2.50 a day upward, while the terms of boarding houses are from $10 to $25 a week.
INDEX
ADMIRAL'S residence, 151
Agriculture, 35, 36, 71, 217
Aliens, rights of, 207
American, civil war, 72; Con- gress, 37, 48, 49, 52; consul, 78, 80, 85, 98, 99; prisoners, 50, 51, 63, 65, 174; Revolu- tion, 36; War of 1812, 58; ships captured, 50, 62, 63, 64, 65
Aquarium, the, 153, 154, 155, 156
Assembly, General, 25, 32, 36, 45, 50, 51, 52, 58, 59
Assembly, House of, 204, 205, 210, 211
BAHAMAS, 34
Bailey's Bay, 164
Bermuda and Panama Canal, 227, 228, 229
Bermuda, area of, 104; dis- covery of, 6; early names for, 7, 8, 21; settlement of, 21 ; under the Crown, 32
Bermuda Company, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31
Bermuda Hundred, 23
Bermudez, Juan de, 7, 21
Blackburn, Dr. Luke P., 97,
99, 100
Blockade, 72, 73; captains, 88, 89, 90; cargoes, 85, 90, 93; runners, 75, 76, 80, 81, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90, 94,
100, 101; wages, 77 Boer prisoners, 157 Braine, John C., 95, 96, 97 Browne, Gov. William, 58, 59,
60.172
Bruere, Gov. George, 51, 52 Bruere, Gov. George J., 44, 46,
50,51
Buildings Bay, 16, 177 Butler, Governor, 19, 20, 170,
182
CAMELO, Hernando, 8, 9
Carter, Christopher, 16, 22, 184
Castle Harbour; 50, 181
Cathedral Rocks, 139
Cathedral, the, 147, 148
Causeway, the, 168
Caves, 157, 163, 164, 165. 166, 167, 168
Chard, Edward, 22
Climate, 106, 107
Cooke, Gov. (of Rhode Island), 38, 40, 43, 48
Colonial Parliament, 204, 209
Colonists in Rebellion, 29
Confederate agents, 83, 85
Confederate flag saluted, 91, 92
Convict service, 69, 70
Council, executive, 210; legis- lative, 204, 210, 211
Cruisers, Confederate, 73, 78, 91, 92, 93; federal, 73, 74, 75, 78, 79, 80, 81, 91
DE LA WARR, Lord, 13, 19 Deliverance, the, 17 Devil's Hole, 161, 162 Diversions, 185 Dockyard, 105, 136.
EDUCATION, 222
238
INDEX
FISHING, 199 Flatt's Village, 160 Flora, 111, 112
GATES, Sir Thomas, 13, 16, 18 Gibb's Hill Lighthouse, 139,
140
Government Hill, 44, 175 Government House, 151, 152 Government, method of, 204 Great Sound, 105, 145, 151,
153, 157 Gulf Stream, I, 8, 106
HAMILTON, City of, 76, 101, 105, 136, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 169
Hancock, John, 52
Harrington Sound, 161
Hog money, 15
Hogs, wild, 10, 15
Hotels, 233, 234
Houses, 113, 114, 115
Howells, William Dean, 132, 133, 134
IRVING, Washington, 22, 116, 117
Islands: Agar's, 153, 154, 155; Boaz, 69, 135, 136; Castle, 181, 182, 183; Coney, 24; Cooper's, 24, 183, 184; Cross, 137, 138; Great Sound, 157; Ireland, 69, 104, 135, 136, 137, 138; Longbird, 24; Main, 24, 133; Nonsuch, 24, 99, 183; number of, 108; Smith's, 22, 24, 178; Somerset, 135, 138, 139; St. David's, 24, 105, 178, 179; Watford, 135, 136
Islands, geographical position of, 2, 106, 227, 228; origin of, 103, 104
JAMESTOWN, 18, 19 Jordan, Silvanus, 12, 117 Judicial system, 214
KINGS, the three, 22, 116 Kipling, Rudyard, 119, 120
LAFAYETTE, Marquis de, 53 Lefroy, Gov., 12, 21, 23, 25,
27, 117, 118 Legislature, 37. 71, 209, 211,
216 Literary associations, 116
MANGROVE BAY, 45, 138 Marvel, Andrew, I, 123, 124 May, Henry, 9, 10 Moore, Gov. Richard, 21, 22,
23, 170, 182, 183 Moore, Thomas, 124, 125, 126,
127, 128, 129, 130 Morris, Robert, 41 Museum, Natural History, 149
NASSAU, 76, 84, 94, 100 Naval tanks, 44, 177 Newport, Capt., 13, 18 New York, 1, 3, 97, 98 Newspapers, 59, 146 North Rock, 44 Norwood's survey, 24
OED, Capt. George, 45, 46, 47,
138, 175, 177 Ord, Gov. H. St. G., 78, 79,
81,82 Oviedo, Gonzales Ferdinando
d', 7
PARISH churches, 139, 141, 142, 143, 152, 158, 159, 164, 170, 171, 175
Parishes: Devonshire, 24, 158; Hamilton, 24, 160; Paget, 25, 143; Pembroke, 24, 144; Sandys, 25, 138; Smith's, 8, 24, 158; Southampton, 25, 139; Warwick, 25, 142
Patience, the, 17
Population, 204
Powder episode, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 175. 176
INDEX
239
Privateers, 35, 49, 50, 51, 60,
61, 62
Prospect, 152 Public buildings, 149 Public gardens; St. George's,
11, 175; Paget. 144
QUARRIES, 113
RAYNAL, Abbe, 53, 54, 55, 56
Religion, 28, 29, 213, 214 Reid, Gov. William, 69 Resources, 217 Revenue, 208, 209 Roads, 112, 113, 135, 136 Roanoke, burning of the, 96
SALT trade, 32, 33, 34 Sand hills, 143, 144 Scenery, 110, 111, 112, 113 Sea gardens, 108, 109, 181 Sea Venture, the, 11, 12, 13,
15, 18
Sessions House, 149 Shakespeare's "Tempest," 116,
117, 118, 119, 120 Shipping industry, 32, 60, 61,
66, 67
Slavery, 30, 67, 68, 69 Smith, John, 12, 23, J83 Social conditions, 28, 29, 30, 31 Somers, Capt. Matthew, 19, 21,
22
Somers, Sir George, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 116, 117, 118, 119, 175, 177 Spanish Point, 120, 137, 138,
151
Spanish Rock, 8, 9, 159 St. David's Lighthouse, 180, 181 Steamship lines, 231 St. George's, 11, 14, 19, 22, 24, 44, 45, 69, 73, 76, 80, 94, 95, 98, 100, 101, 104, 105, 127, 133, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 228, 229, 230
St. Peter's Church, 170, 171,
172, 173 Strachy, William, 12, IS, 14,
17, 117, 118
TABB, Father John B., 134 Tourists, 147, 225; facts for.
231
Town Cut Channel, 16, 177 Treasure trove, 137, 138, 183,
184 Trollope, Anthony, 130, 131,
132
Tucker, Gov. Daniell, 24 Tucker's Town, 159, 160, 162 Turk's Island, 32, 33, 34 Twain, Mark, 114, 132, 133,
144,145
VICTORIA PARK, 150 Virginia, 11, 12, 15, 18, 19 Virginia Company, 21, 23
WALLER, Edmund, 54, 120,
121, 122
Walsingham, 162, 163, 164 Warner, Charles Dudley, 132,
133 Washington, George, 88, 39,
40, 41 42, 43, 48 Waters, Edward, 16, 22 Whipple, Capt. Abraham, 40,
42, 43, 44, 48 Wilkes, Admiral Charles, 78,
79, 80, 81, 82 Wilkinson, Capt. John, 90, 92,
93, 94, 134
Wilmington, N. C., 84, 86, 93,
94, 100 Witchcraft, 30
YACHTING, 189
Yellow fever clothing episode, 98,99
Hayward, Walter Brownell 1636 Bermuda past and present
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