Titles

Sea Venture: The Ship That Rescued Jamestown
and Established the English Presence in the New World

Kieran Doherty
St. Martin's Press
May 2007
ISBN: 0-312-35453-3

In one of the most triumphant high seas stories ever told, Kieran Doherty brings to life the true story of the ship that rescued the Jamestown settlement in 1610 and ensured England’s place in the New World. When the Sea Venture left England in 1609, it was flagship in a fleet of nine bound for Jamestown with roughly four weeks at sea, as the voyage neared its end, a hurricane devestated the fleet, leaving the Sea Venture shipwrecked on the island of Bermuda.

It took Sea Venture’s passengers nearly a year and a half to reach their destination. Awaiting them was not a thriving colony, but instead the remaining fifty colonists—beleagured, desperate and hingry. But, the question remains, would the English have lost their place in the New World if the ship never arrived?

A story of strife and triumph, but above all, endurance, Sea Venture begins and ends in hope and remains one of the greatest “What Ifs” in history. With a bravado reminiscent of Patrick O'Brian’s legendary sea sagas, Doherty braves the elements, delivering a powerful history willed by a people destined to change the New World forever.

Author Bio

Kieran Doherty is a freelance journalist and award-winning author of numerous biographies for young adults. He lives in Lake WOrth, Florida.