ying in the Atlantic Ocean, at
the distance of six hundred miles from the American Continent,
extending, in crescent form, from east to west; in length, twenty miles;
in breadth, two and a half. On the coast of the principal of these
islands, Bermuda, the Sea-Venture was wrecked; and, on landing, the
English found, instead of those gloomy horrors with which a
superstitious fancy had invested it, a terrestrial paradise blessed with
all the charms of exquisite scenery, luxuriant vegetation, and a
voluptuous atmosphere, which have since been celebrated in the verse of
a modern poet. Here they remained for nearly a year. Fish, fowl, turtle,
and wild hogs supplied the English with abundant food; the palmetto leaf
furnished a cover for their cabins. They had daily morning and evening
prayers, and on Sunday divine service was performed and two sermons
preached by the chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Bucke. He was a graduate of
Oxford, and received the appointment of chaplain to the Virginia
expedition upon the recommendation of Dr. Ravis, Bishop of London. Mr.
Bucke was the second minister sent out from England to Virginia, being
successor to Rev. Robert Hunt. The company of the Sea-Venture were
summoned to worship by the sound of the church-going bell, and the roll
was called, and absentees were duly punished. The clergyman performed
the ceremony of marriage once during the sojourn on the island, the
parties being Sir George Somers' cook and a maid-servant, (of one Mrs.
Mary Horton,) named Elizabeth Persons. The communion was once
celebrated. The infant child of one John Rolfe--a daughter, born on the
island--was christened, February eleventh, by the name of Bermuda,
Captain Newport, the Rev. Mr. Bucke, and Mrs. Horton being witnesses. It
would seem from this, that John Rolfe was a widower when he afterwards
married Pocahontas. Another infant, born on the island, a boy, was
christened by the name of Bermudas. Six of the company, including the
wife of Sir Thomas Gates, died there. Living in the midst of peace and
plenty in this sequestered and delightful place of abode, after escaping
from the yawning perils of the deep, many of the English lost all desire
ever to leave the island, and some were even mutinously determined to
remain there. Gates, however, having decked the long-boat of the
Sea-Venture with the hatches, dispatched the mate, Master Raven, an
expert mariner, with eight men, to Virginia for succor; but the boat was
never more