Bermuda past and present, a descriptive and historical account of the Somers islands

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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

98 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

THE CIVIL WAR 99

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,

THE CIVIL WAR 101

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

104 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

ORIGIN OF THE ISLANDS 105

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

106 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

108 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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.

110 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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 %

ORIGIN OF THE ISLANDS 111

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.

112 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

114 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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,

LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS 117

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

118 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS 119

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

120 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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.

LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS 121

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.

2 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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,

LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS 123

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,

124 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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.

LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS 125

" 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 !

126 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS 127

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.

128 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

"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

LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS 129

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

130 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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-

LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS 131

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-

132 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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-

LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS 133

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

134 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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-

136 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 137

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

138 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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,

POINTS OF INTEREST 139

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

140 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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-

POINTS OF INTEREST 141

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

142 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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,

POINTS OF INTEREST 143

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

144 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 145

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

146 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 147

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

148 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 149

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

150 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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.

POINTS OF INTEREST 151

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

152 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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.

POINTS OP INTEREST 153

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

154 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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.

POINTS OF INTEREST 155

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

ST.'GEORGE'S

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St Dauld't
'^Head

\tfl\*S' Dafif

ll*a/^vA'*o"

..PEAR ROCKS

BERMUDA IS.

SCALE OF MILES

SCALE OF KILOMETERS

0123*5
Hoods - Parish Boundaries .

Greenwich

POINTS OF INTEREST 157

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.

158 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 159

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 161

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 163

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-

164 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 165

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

166 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 167

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,

168 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 169

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

170 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 171

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,

POINTS OF INTEREST 173

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.

174 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 173

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

176 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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.

POINTS OF INTEREST 177

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

178 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 179

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

180 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OF INTEREST 181

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,

182 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

POINTS OP INTEREST 183

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

184 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

186 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

BERMUDA DIVERSIONS 187

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

188 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

BERMUDA DIVERSIONS 189

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

BERMUDA DIVERSIONS 191

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.

192 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

BERMUDA DIVERSIONS 195

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

BERMUDA DIVERSIONS 197

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,

198 BERMUDA PAST AND PRESENT

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

BERMUDA DIVERSIONS 199

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

BERMUDA DIVERSIONS 201

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

BERMUDA DIVERSIONS 203

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

METHOD OF GOVERNMENT 205

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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