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BermudaFIVE CENTURIES

Teachers Guide

Text copyright © Rosemary Jones, 2011Written and designed by Brimstone Media Ltd. Published by Panatel VDS Ltd.Printed by Island Press Ltd.

Produced for the Ministry of Education, Bermuda

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TEACHERS GUIDE

Contents 3

ContentsHow to Use this GuideNavigating Bermuda: Five Centuries

Section Synopses: Sections 1 to 5An overview of the five thematic sectionsspanning 1505–2000s, with summaries,notes, key topics and history-makers

Section 1: Isle of Devils 1505–1684CHAPTERS 1–4 LESSON PLAN MATERIALS

Age of Discovery; The Sea Venture; The First Settlers; The Company Island

Section 2: Sea, Salt & Slavery 1684–1834CHAPTERS 5–8 LESSON PLAN MATERIALS

Call of the Sea; Scourge of Slavery; Wars and Defence; Freedom and Reform

Section 3: Boomtown to Boers 1834–1918CHAPTERS 9–12 LESSON PLAN MATERIALS

From Sea to Soil; The Portuguese; American Civil War; Tourism Takes Off

Section 4: Votes, Visitors & Victory 1918–1945CHAPTERS 13–16 LESSON PLAN MATERIALS

The Fight for Rights; A Perfect Paradise;the New Tourism; Second World War

Section 5: Coming of Age 1945–2010CHAPTERS 17–20 LESSON PLAN MATERIALS

Progress in Peace; Growing Pains; Troubled Times; Into the Future

First-Person AccountsWays to integrate first-person accounts into social studies lesson plans, includingdiscussion themes and points of viewPLUS: page-finder and synopses of the book’s 48 first-person accounts

History-Makers Mini-biographies of those who madeBermuda history, with discussion guideand chapter listings

Image StudyAnalysing the book’s historic artwork andphotos, discussion guide and activities

Connecting to the CurriculumWays to use the book in Social Studies,Language Arts, Media Studies, Maths,Drama, Art, and Science classes

Real-World ResourcesInformation to help plan enrichment fieldtrips to Bermuda museums and historic sites

Multi-Media ResourcesFurther reading, websites, film

TimelinesComparing and contrasting Bermudaevents in a worldwide context, with discussion guide and activities

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Bermuda: Five Centuries brings our island’s historyalive and makes it accessible, especially for youngpeople. This special Teachers Guide was created to offer instructional support and help teachers and their students get the most out of this unprecedented narrative history that won the prize for non-fiction in the 2008 Bermuda LiteraryAwards. Now you can prepare dynamic lesson plansand take your classes on a fascinating journey backin time and experience the most dramatic momentsof Bermuda’s past.

Exploring our history: choose your pathThis Teachers Guide will aid you to navigateBermuda: Five Centuries, which is divided into fivethematic sections, each with four chapters, that tellour history in chronological sequence. Teachers candecide whether they wish to approach the booksection-by-section and chapter-by-chapter, compareand contrast historic and social themes through thecenturies, or take explore history through any ofseveral other focus areas, including:

First-Person Accounts—narratives of thosewho actually lived through historic eventsand described them throughout the book.See Pages 52–58

Image Study—images, both illustrative andphotographic, can be found throughout thebook, many from Bermuda’s national archives,museums or family and individual collections.These images capture the people and placesof Bermuda’s past in a graphic way and canbe examined as stand-alone features.See Pages 62–65

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4 How to Use This Guide

How to Use This Guide


TEACHERS GUIDE

How to Use This Guide 5

History-Makers—the characters of our history, from students to statesmen, playedtheir different parts in an unfolding drama. History can be examined through theframework of such people, whose profilesspan the chapters and centuries.See Pages 59 –61

Timelines—the island’s story unfolds againstthat of the world at large, allowing teachersand students to compare and contrast thetwo in historical, socio-economic and political contexts.See Pages 78–79

Connecting to the Curriculum—multi-disciplinary ways to use Bermuda: Five Centuries in Social Studies, Language Arts,Maths, the Arts, Media and Science classes.See Pages 66–69

Chapters in the guide explore each of these separateoptions, offering myriad ways in which teachers canguide students through Bermuda history in classesthat are both informative and engaging. Includedthroughout are sections on vocabulary, timelines,questions for group discussion, critical thinking, individual research and activities, as well as thematicconnections, allowing instructors to adapt materialto different grade levels in Bermuda’s middle andsecondary schools.

You will also find chapters containing Resources(books, websites, films) to enhance topic learning,plus a full listing of the island’s historic sites andmuseums (complete with contacts, locations andwebsites), to enable educators to build on lessonplans with additional fieldtrips and group visits.


SECTION SYNOPSES

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SECTIONS 1 to 5: 1505–2000sAn overview of Bermuda: Five Centuries

Bermuda’s historical evolution can be deconstructed and examined via major changingthemes. Bermuda: Five Centuries does this through five sections, with four chapters each,spanning the island’s 500-year history—from Bermuda’s discovery in the 16th centurythrough to the present day.

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SECTION ONE

Isle of Devils1505–1684IncludesChapter 1: Age of DiscoveryChapter 2: The Sea VentureChapter 3: The First SettlersChapter 4: The Company Island

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Isle of Devils Section 1 7

SummaryThis section details the first period of human history in Bermuda, from the island’s discovery bySpaniard Juan de Bermúdez in 1505, to the 1609accidental shipwreck by English colonists en routeto Virginia, to England’s decision to send the firstofficial colonists to the island in 1612, and the firstdecades of settlement.

Teaching Notes:l Only relatively recently have historians settled on thedate 1505 as the correct year of Bermúdez’s discovery ofthe island; in texts prior to 2000, the date 1503 wasoften used, but is now believed to be incorrect.l Refer to “England” and the “English” (not “Britain”and the “British”) in this section’s chapters. The UnitedKingdom of Great Britain was not formed until 1707;until then, England, Scotland and Ireland remainedseparate political entities.

Key topics

l Maps and early navigationl Bermuda’s fearsome reputation amongmariners

l World powers of the 1500s and 1600sl How Spain’s disinterest in Bermuda allowed for English colonisation

l Bermuda’s first early visitors (castaways)l The Sea Venture shipwreckl How Bermuda saved Jamestown (with supplies on Deliverance & Patience)

l Bermuda and Shakespeare’s The Tempestl Survival by Sea Venture’s crew and passengers

l Bermuda’s first settlers in 1612l St. George and Jamestownl Defence and fortificationl Pocahontas and native peoplel Colonial economic challengesl Bermuda’s shareholder “tribes” and parishes

l Hog moneyl Witchcraft, crime and punishmentl How government in Bermuda beganl Bermuda’s first slavesl The Virginia Company and Bermuda Company

History-Makers

l Juan de Bermúdezl Diego Ramirezl Christopher Columbusl Sir George Somersl Sir Thomas Gatesl William Stracheyl William Shakespeare

l Elizabeth Il Richard Moorel Richard Norwoodl John Rolfe and Pocahontasl Daniel Tuckerl Captain Nathaniel Butler

Turn to Page 12 for a full analysis of Section One’s chapters


SECTION SYNOPSES

8 Section 2 Sea, Salt & Slavery

Turn to Page 20 for a full analysis of Section Two’s chapters

SECTION TWO

Sea, Salt & Slavery1684–1834IncludesChapter 5: Call of the SeaChapter 6: Scourge of SlaveryChapter 7: Wars and DefenceChapter 8: Freedom and Reform

SummaryThis section marks the end of private BermudaCompany rule over the island, and the start of newfreedom as a Crown Colony. Strict economy-relatedrules set by London investors for Bermuda’s settlerswere now lifted, allowing Bermudians to forgeahead with new mercantile ventures—particularlymaritime pursuits. The 1700s can be categorised asthe major sea-going period of local history. Slaveryin Bermuda is dealt with in this section, as well asBermuda’s part in the American Revolution.

Key topics

l Whalingl Shipbuildingl Pilotingl Atlantic maritime tradel Pirates vs privateersl Bermuda cedarl Bermuda sloopl Salt-raking in Turksl Mary Princel Slavery in Bermudal Middle Passagel American Revolutionary Warl The Gunpowder Theftl Irish poet Thomas Moorel Fortifications at Bermudal War of 1812l Emancipationl Reform for Bermuda blacksl Friendly Societiesl The Enterprise incidentl The first newspaperl New capital: Hamilton

History-Makers

l John Bowen and Nathaniel Northl Jacob Minors and Jemmy Darrelll Mary Princel Olaudah Equianol Sally Bassettl Joshua Marsdenl George Washington

l Colonel Henry Tuckerl St. George Tuckerl Governor George Bruerel Lieutenant Thomas Hurdl Andrew Durnfordl Thomas Moorel Governor Henry Hamilton


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Boomtown to Boers Section 3 9

Turn to Page 28 for a full analysis of Section Three’s chapters

SECTION THREE

Boomtown to Boers1834–1918IncludesChapter 9: From Sea to SoilChapter 10: The PortugueseChapter 11: American Civil WarChapter 12: Tourism Takes Off

SummaryThis section describes Bermuda’s economic returnto agriculture in the 1800s, after the demise of theshipbuilding industry. The island is characterised atthe start of this era as an isolated, sleepy outpost,largely cut off from world affairs. That wouldchange in the later 1800s, when Bermuda played akey strategic role in the US Civil War. By the turnof the 20th century, tourism was shaping up as theisland’s new economic pillar.

Key topics

l Convicts and the building of the Royal Naval Dockyard

l Yellow fever and diseasesl Governor William Reidl Gibbs Hill Lighthousel Agriculture and the export of onions and lilies

l Portuguese immigrationl Civil rights for Portuguesel Blockade-running in American Civil Warl Artist Edward Jamesl Princess Louise and the first tourisml Mark Twain and early visitorsl Bermuda’s coat of armsl Advent of tennisl More fortificationsl West Indian immigrationl Boer War prisonersl Bermuda and the First World War

History-Makers

l John Mitchell Governor William Reidl Captain Benjamin Watlingtonl Monsignor Felipe Macedol Georgiana Walkerl Major Norman Walkerl US President Abraham Lincoln

l US Consul General Charles Maxwell Allenl John Tory Bournel Joseph Hayne Raineyl Edward Jamesl Princess Louisel Mark Twainl Mary Outerbridge


SECTION SYNOPSES

10 Section 4 Votes, Visitors & Victory

Turn to Page 36 for a full analysis of Section Four’s chapters

SECTION FOUR

Votes, Visitors & Victory1918–1945IncludesChapter 13: The Fight for RightsChapter 14: A Perfect ParadiseChapter 15: The New TourismChapter 16: Second World War

SummaryThis section follows Bermuda as it both is influencedby world changes and participates in global events.Civil-rights struggles by disenfranchised womenslowly change the island’s social landscape in thefirst half of the 20th century. Labour unions takeroot. Air travel and cruise ships bring mass tourism.Bermudians take part in the Second World War,and the island plays a critical role.

Key topics

l Tourism takes offl Gladys Morrell and suffragettesl Birth of newspapersl West Indians’ contribution to local culturel Charles Monk and Jamaican workersl First union: Bermuda Union of Teachersl William Beebe’s deep-ocean discoveriesl Bermuda’s environmental historyl Cedar blightl Return of the Bermuda petrel (cahow)l New modes of travel (by air and sea)l Bermuda Railwayl Celebrity visitorsl Second World Warl Bermuda’s baselandsl Censorettesl Rations and local defencel U-505

History-Makers

l Gladys Morrelll Charles Monkl Marcus Garveyl John Parkerl William Beebe and Otis Bartonl Louis L. Mowbray l Louis S. Mowbray

l David Wingatel Governor Sir J. H. Lefroyl Captain Lewis Yancey l Major Anthony “Toby” Smithl Sir Winston Churchilll Woodrow Wilsonl James Hartley Watlington

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TEACHERS GUIDE

Coming of Age Section 5 11

Turn to Page 44 for a full analysis of Section Five’s chapters

SECTION FIVE

Coming of Age1945–2000sIncludesChapter 17: Progress in PeaceChapter 18: Growing Pains Chapter 19: Troubled Times Chapter 20: Into the Future

SummaryThis section reveals a period of unprecedentedchange in Bermuda and the world. The advent of cars, home appliances, technology—and a newairport—brought post-war Bermuda to modernity.Tourism developed, and was later surpassed by international business. Bermuda endured growingpains of civil-rights strife as blacks fought to enddiscrimination. Racial turmoil wracked the island.Bermuda became a global citizen, sharing the troubles of terrorism, the wonder of the Digital Age,and the challenges of sustainable progress.

Key topics

l The first carsl Kindley Field Airportl New technologies: TV, appliancesl Bermuda’s NASA stationl Post-war tourism (“Jet Age”)l Departure of Royal Navyl Bermuda and the Cold Warl Dr. E. F. Gordon and the BWA (BIU)l Theatre Boycottl New Constitution and party politicsl Labour strifel Committee for Universal Adult Suffragel Racial battlesl The Sharples murderl The 1977 riotsl Independence debatel First PLP governmentl 9/11l Digital Agel “Bermuda Inc.”

History-Makers

l The Talbot Brothersl Wil Onionsl Martin Luther King Jr.l Dr. E. F. Gordonl Progressive Groupl Sir Henry Tuckerl W. L. Tuckerl Sir Edward Richardsl Kingsley Tweed

l Sir Richard Sharples and George Duckettl Erskine (Buck) Burrows and Larry Tacklynl Black Beret Cadrel Gina Swainsonl Ottiwell Simmonsl Rhondelle Tankard and Boyd Gattonl Shaun Goaterl Pamela Gordonl Jennifer Smith


CHAPTER ONE

Age of DiscoverySummaryThis chapter launches the human history ofBermuda—that is, the first century (1500s) beforeactual settlement by the English. This period ofworld history is known as the “Age of Discovery,” as mostly Portuguese and Spanish seafarers madejourneys of exploration to find previously unknownterritories. Bermuda was spotted by accident in1505 by Spanish mariner Juan de Bermúdez as hesailed back to Europe from the Caribbean. Afterthis milestone, Bermuda began to appear on maps,and trans-Atlantic mariners started using the islandas a northern landmark for return voyages. Manyshipwrecked on Bermuda’s reefs. Survivors exploredthe island, writing about it in diaries and letters.Some built ships from cedar timber to escape.

ISLE OF DEVILS 1505–1684 SECTION 1

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Fast Factsl Unlike some islands of the Caribbean, Bermudahad no indigenous people.

l The first recorded sighting of Bermuda was byJuan de Bermúdez in 1505.

l Bermuda didn’t appear on any map until six yearslater—in 1511.

l Many 16th-century sailors landed on Bermuda,usually by accident after shipwrecks.

l Mariners usually tried to avoid Bermuda becauseof its dangerous reefs and their own superstitions.

l The island served a useful purpose as a naviga-tional marker: ships returning to Europe sailednorth as far as Bermuda, then veered east onhomeward journeys.

l We have evidence of castaways spending time onBermuda, including maps, detailed accounts—plus the Portuguese Rock carving at Spittal Pondin Smith’s Parish.

n October 1603, a Spanish sea captain named Diego Ramirez foundhimself exploring a deserted half-moon-shaped island in the Atlanticwhere his galleon had run aground during a storm. Four other shipsin the same fleet had been destroyed, but he and his men lost onlyprovisions and were able to hobble into the nearest bay. They

anchored and went ashore to scout for fresh supplies. Ramirez woulddescribe his surroundings over the next 22 days in Edenic detail—a reef-

guarded oasis blanketed in cedar forests and palmettopalms, where plump pigs roamed wild with herons, sparrow-hawks and web-footed cahows so tame, his crewcaught hundreds of the strange birds to eat on theirreturn voyage to Europe. The island’s natural harboursswam rich with turtles, parrotfish and red snappers andits shallow inlets were littered with oysters, thoughwhen he cracked these open, Ramirez found no pearls.

“The island is very peaceful, it is not high,” he wroteof the idyllic but barely-known archipelago called‘Bermuda.’ “One can travel all over it on foot or onhorseback, good black soil, thinly wooded, very goodlevel country. Very deep on the south side, no shoalsfrom end to end. A vessel can come within a musketshot of land, for the sea breaks on the coast itself.”

The captain, who eventually resumed his voyage toSpain from the Americas, sailed around the whole

island and drew a rough sketch, a chubby facsimile of the map of Bermudawe recognise today. The drawing, together with his detailed account, providean engaging snapshot of early Bermuda before its eventual settlement bythe English nine years later. His description of a pearl-laden paradise alsorenewed Spanish interest in the island, which for more than a century hadbeen decried as an “Isle of Devils” or “Isla de Demonios” and shunned bymariners plying trans-Atlantic routes between the New World and Europe.

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Age of DiscoveryLAND-HO! ISLAND NAMED FOR A MARITIME PIONEER

Peter Martyr’s map of 1511 offersthe first cartographic record ofBermuda, shown upside-down at top right

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VocabularyCritical thinking

What if the Spanish had claimed Bermudafirst? Stimulate discussion on hypotheticalhistory: have students imagine howBermuda’s past might have unfolded differently, and how their lives would bechanged today, if our heritage and culturewere Hispanic.

Class activity

Brainstorm what it would have been like tobe the first human to walk on Bermuda. Encourage students to describe in detail,orally or in writing, what they see, feel andhear, as well as list the probable plants andanimals they might encounter in the 1500sbefore manmade and natural impacts on the environment.

Research skills

Direct students to go online or consult othernonfiction sources to find out more aboutthe biggest discoveries of the golden age ofexploration (late 1400s and 1500s). Who werethe European maritime heroes of the time?Who were the monarchs? What did explorersbring back from their travels? Which regionsremained unexplored by Western Europeans?How did discoveries benefit/disadvantagedifferent nations? What other countries areknown to have explored prior to or duringthis period? Remind your students to list information sources.

Unit project

On a photocopied map of the world, havestudents shade or otherwise indicate whichareas of the globe were known by Europeanworld powers before—and then after—thisperiod of major exploration, and comparedifferences. Trace the oceanic routes key explorers took on major expeditions.

Enrichment

Take fieldtrips to:l Portuguese Rock at Spittal Pond and visitthe site where Portuguese castawayscrawled to safety and inscribed the markof their king. Tour the park trails and getstudents to list native vs. introduced floraand fauna.

l Nonsuch Island, where a population ofBermuda petrels, or cahows—whosenight-time calls were thought by marinersto be the sound of attacking devils—hasbeen slowly restored.


CHAPTER TWO

The Sea VentureSummaryThis chapter describes one of the most dramaticevents in Bermuda’s history—the wreck of the Sea Venture. The episode is significant for many reasons: because it led directly to official Englishsettlement of Bermuda; because it spawned writtenaccounts that provide us with vivid detail of 400-year-old events; because it inspired William Shakespeare, the world’s greatest playwright, towrite The Tempest; because it led to Sea Venture’ssurvivors helping to rescue America’s birthplace,Jamestown, from starvation with fresh supplies fromBermuda. The chapter details the background, personalities, events and consequences of the SeaVenture story, including the survivors’ months onBermuda, and their escape almost a year later toVirginia aboard two ships, Deliverance and Patience,they built with salvaged supplies and island cedar.


14 Chapter 2 The Sea Venture

Fast Factsl Sea Venture was the flagship of a nine-vessel “relief fleet” taking colonists and supplies toJamestown from England.

l Key figures on board were: Admiral Sir GeorgeSomers; Sir Thomas Gates, later governor of Virginia; Captain Sir Christopher Newport, who earlier had headed the voyage to establishJamestown; and writer William Strachey, who became secretary of the Virginia colony.

l All crew and passengers on board Sea Venturesurvived the wreck.

l After grounding on Bermuda’s reefs, survivorssalvaged what they could from the wreck, including food, tools, rigging and timber.

l The story can be divided into three main parts:the struggle to survive the storm in July 1609;survivors’ squabbles and teamwork during their10 months on Bermuda; and their journey toJamestown in 1610, where they reunited withfriends and family.

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illiam Strachey and his fellow passengers believed theywere forging an illustrious future for themselves andtheir nation as they set sail from Plymouth, England onJune 2, 1609. Their proud fleet of seven ships, plus twosmaller attending ships, or pinnaces, was on a mission of

mercy, to be sent almost 4,000 miles across the Atlantic to deliver suppliesand expertise to James Fort, Virginia, England’s struggling two-year-oldcolony on the James River, off Chesapeake Bay. The settlement, whichbecame known as Jamestown, was facing starvation and the fleet carriedEngland’s hope for its survival.

For Strachey, the journey was also a personal quest: having recently

The Sea Venture

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Pottery and a candlestick fromthe Sea Venture wreck of 1609

Right: an early map of the wildAtlantic, Bermuda and the NorthAmerican coast

Sir George Somers



The Sea Venture Chapter 2 15

affluenceallocatedapparitionbedraggledbucolicburgeoningensconcedfutileignominiousillustriousimperial

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Vocabulary

Research skills

Instruct students to carry out their own research on the first English settlement inAmerica at Jamestown, Virginia. When wasit founded, for which reasons, and by whom?Ask them to describe the hardships andtragedies that affected the colony before the Sea Venture passengers arrived aboardDeliverance and Patience in 1610. What wasJamestown’s “Starving Time”?

Unit project

Ask students to draw their own maps ofBermuda from memory, including detailssuch as parish boundaries, towns, islands,channels and harbours. Now compare theirwork with Somers’s hand-drawn map. Discuss his details and drawings, what theytell about the castaways’ time in Bermuda,and similarities and differences with modernmaps of the island.

Enrichment

Take a class fieldtrip to the Town of St.George and visit:l The replica of Deliverance at Ordnance Island, complete with an animatronic figure of William Strachey onboard.

l The Hall of History at the National Museum of Bermuda at Dockyard. Examine Bermudian artist Graham Foster’s extraordinary mural depicting thehistory of Bermuda, including the SeaVenture saga. View artifacts recoveredfrom the Sea Venture wreck site.

Critical thinking

Ask students which human qualities helpedSea Venture passengers and crew to survivetheir ordeal and continue their journey toJamestown? Encourage discussion of bothpractical skills and personality traits manywould have possessed which proved an assetto the group. Specifically, get the class to ratethe leadership of Gates and Somers; whatdid they do right—or wrong? Which qualitiesdid they display that would be valuable topoliticians or corporate chiefs today?

Class activity

Invite students to read aloud Strachey’s description of the Sea Venture hurricane, followed by sections of Shakespeare’s play,The Tempest. Discuss similarities in the details, themes and drama of both writingsand talk about how Shakespeare may havebeen inspired by the real-life wreck. Discusswhich events have inspired movies, plays orbooks (films: Titanic, Schindler’s List; TV:Band of Brothers; books: Moby Dick). Askstudents to base their own poem, song orshort story on an actual event.


CHAPTER THREE

The First SettlersSummaryThis chapter details the first years of officialsettlement in Bermuda—the arrival of Englishcolonists aboard the Plough in 1612 and the development of the first town, St. George. Fortification was a major theme of the colony’s first years, due to the precarious nature of English(vs. Spanish) occupation of Bermuda. Challengeswere tough: rats, crop failure, disease and the lack of expected riches like pearls and ambergris left investors bitter and the first Governor, RichardMoore, was replaced four years later, in 1616, byDaniel Tucker.


16 Chapter 3 The First Settlers

Fast Factsl Sixty settlers sailed from England to start acolony at Bermuda in 1612.

l The “Three Kings”—a trio of Sea Venturesurvivors who chose to stay in Bermuda ratherthan go to Virginia—greeted the new colonists.

l Bermuda first came under the Virginia Companymandate, but in 1615 became the responsibility ofthe “Bermuda Company” (both groups were runby private London investors).

l Initially, Bermuda was considered only a place ofuseful provisions for Jamestown, Virginia; whenthe colony gradually became profitable, investorssaw it as valuable in its own right.

l The first forts were built during these years.Many remain as important archaeological sites;

l St. George began as a cluster of wooden homesand a church, but gradually a stone town evolved.The town and its forts became a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site in 2000.

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n intriguing flurry of correspondence between Felipe III (KingPhilip III), his Board of Trade in Seville, and the Council ofWar in Madrid revealed just how poorly informed Spain wasabout Bermuda early in the 17th Century. Word about theisland had begun to spread throughout Europe. Given

Pope Alexander VI’s 1493 Line of Demarcation decree that all unknownterritory from 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands belonged toSpain, news that the English had claimed the mysterious Isle of Devils setoff alarm bells in the Iberian peninsula. Afraid that a lucrative source ofpearls and ambergris—not to mention a potential strategic naval base—were about to be lost forever to their rival, Spanish officials finally turnedtheir focus to the island they had virtually ignored for a century. It would

The First SettlersSPAIN’S LOSS IS ENGLAND’S GAIN AS COLONISTS TAKE ROOT

AA good example As soonas wee had landed all our company,we went all to prayer, and gavethankes unto the Lord for our safearrivall, and whilst we were atprayer, wee saw our three men comerowinge downe to us, the sight ofwhom did much revive us. Theyshowed us a good example for theyhad planted corne, great store ofwheate, beanes, peas, pompions,mellons, and tobacco; besides theyhad wrought upon timber in squaringand sawing of cedar trees, for theyintended to build a small pinnaceto carry them into Virginia, beingalmost out of hope and comfort ofour coming.—A colonist aboard the Plough, 1612

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Start a group discussion about what basic elements are needed to start a new colony or settlement. Include both tangible things(water, crops, huts, a school) to those less-tangible (a chain of command, a justice system). Get students to list suggestions in order of the most critical elements. Talk about the biggest challenges facing a fledgling society.

Class activity

Create a newspaper chronicling daily lifeand highlights of Bermuda’s early settlers.Have students write stories about imaginedevents or characters from the first town. Orencourage students to choose a character oftheir own and write diary entries detailing aweek in the first Bermuda settlement. Orfilm a mock-TV broadcast in which studentsare interviewed (in character) about theircolonial lives by a contemporary ‘presenter.’

Research skills

Have students find more information about why St. George was selected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and whatthat honour means in practical terms to the town. Which are the related fortificationsthat belong to the designation? What areBermuda’s responsibilities to the site? Howmany other such UNESCO-designated sites are there in the world? Ask the class to list and locate some of them on differentcontinents, and describe their history and attributes.

Unit project

Divide the class in half and ask one group togather resources about early Jamestown, andthe other on early St. George. Have them research and describe modes of construction,punishment, and currency, among other keyelements, as well as the toughest challengesand biggest achievements in both colonies.

Enrichment

Take students on a fieldtrip to:l The World Heritage Centre at Penno’sWharf, where audio-visual and interactiveexhibits tell the story of Sea Venture andthe East End, with a fascinating model ofthe town of St. George, and interpretivesynopses of early life and traditions.

l Fort St. Catherine has interactive exhibitson Bermuda’s fortifications and militaryhistory. Students can explore the fort, seemilitary artifacts and get a sense of what it was like to be a soldier working in aBermuda coastal fort.


CHAPTER FOUR

The Company IslandSummaryBermuda’s development as a 17th-century English colony continues in this chapter. The makeup and mandate of the Bermuda Company—and this group of investors’ strict control of the island—is key during this period.Daily life, currency, crime and punishment, parishdivisions and the first legislative assembly are alsodetailed. Notably, the emergence of slavery inBermuda is also dealt with here, including the first legal restrictions used to discriminate againstblack slaves and servants.


18 Chapter 4 The Company Island

Fast Factsl Daniel Tucker, Bermuda’s second Governor, wasresponsible for galvanising settlers to plant crops,kill vermin, and protect vanishing species such ascedar trees and sea turtles.

l Land surveyor Richard Norwood dividedBermuda up into “tribes” or parishes.

l Innocent women were frequently hanged, tortured or imprisoned as “witches” in the 17th century.

l Bermuda’s oldest stone building is the StateHouse, just off Town Square in St. George.

l By the 1620s, servants were being replaced byblack slaves, brought to Bermuda from Africa via from the West Indies.

l Native Americans were also brought to the islandand sold as slaves; descendants can still be found,particularly in St. David’s.

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he Bermuda that faced Governor Daniel Tucker on his arrivalin 1616 was an island rapidly degenerating into an idle, rat-infested place. Continual neglect by the six interim commission -ers appointed by Governor Moore before his departure had lefta fractious community lacking authority, industry or healthy

crops. Work on the forts had fallen off since the first settlers’ industriousefforts, and the island’s future was now threatened by a community complacentamid debauchery and petty crime.

Drastic changes were called for if the colony was ever to sustain itself,let alone turn a profit for the Adventurers. Captain Tucker, an energeticauthoritarian who had spent five years running a plantation in Virginia, wasknown for his self-styled brand of dictatorial discipline—a quality theBermuda Company felt was sorely needed to shake the island out of its

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The Company IslandLAND, LAWS AND THE BIRTH OF SLAVERY

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The Bermuda Company seal

Shopping list 40 dozens of shoes; 40 hundred hard soap; 12 barrels of powder; one tunof wine; 30 dozen of stockings; 5 dozen of hats —From a 1630s magazine ship bill of lading

BERMUDA M

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The Company Island Chapter 4 19

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Why did Bermuda enforce tough laws tocontrol black people in the 17th century?Stimulate discussion by students on howthese early restrictions on civil liberties cameto totally deprive slaves of basic freedomsand dignity (lack of free speech, education,freedom to travel) over the next 200 years.How did society and slave-owners justifyslavery, and how did misplaced beliefs and legal control make it easier for slavery to take place?

Class activity

Assign each student one of the nineparishes. Direct them to create a poster or advertisement celebrating the highlightsof their parish, including places of interest,national parks, beaches, folklore, schools, orparticular flora or natural landmarks. Createa class collage on a large map of Bermuda,with groups depicting their parish spacewith found objects, photographs, and newspaper or brochure clippings, etc.

Research skills

How can British influence still be seen inmodern Bermuda? Encourage students todetail the language, culture, legal and political systems of British territories. Havestudents look up and name former Britishcolonies—and locate the other 13 BritishOverseas Territories (like Bermuda) that still exist.

Unit project

Bermuda instituted some of the first environmental protection laws. Split theclass into groups and make each responsiblefor choosing and researching a protectedBermuda plant or animal. Have each groupdeliver its findings in oral presentations, anddiscuss why conservation is important.

Enrichment

Take fieldtrips to St. George’s and:l Have students photograph or sketch theearly town model at the World HeritageCentre, then walk around the town, andidentify areas from the model. Comparewith a modern street map. Discuss howthe town developed.

l Have students gather and research thehistory behind six unusual street names in St. George (e.g. Redcoat Lane, Needleand Thread Alley, Barber’s Alley, Shin-bone Alley, Turkey Hill, Duke of KentStreet, Blacksmith’s Hill). Note: Exhibitsupstairs in the WHC offer background on these and other place names.


CHAPTER FIVE

Call of the SeaSummaryThe first chapter of this section relates the start of anew era in Bermuda, following the 1684 collapse ofthe Somers Island Company (Bermuda Company).Instead of strict trade regulations and monopolies,Bermudians were now free to earn a living of theirchoice. Bans on shipbuilding and colonial tradewere lifted, and both industries fuelled a maritime-based economy throughout the 1700s. Whaling, piloting, salt-raking and privateering were also common enterprises. The chapter includes breakouts on Bermudian pirates, the cedar tree (key to shipbuilding) and the Bermuda sloop.

SEA, SALT & SLAVERY 1684–1834 SECTION 2

20 Chapter 5 Call of the Sea

Fast Factsl England continued to send governors toBermuda after 1684, but otherwise left administration of the island to Bermudians.

l The island began to thrive economically, thanksto successful maritime industries such as ship-building, Atlantic trade and privateering.

l Wars between European powers of the timeopened the door for merchants to prey on enemyships as privateers.

l Maritime industries such as trading, shipbuildingand piloting brought together white Bermudians.and black free men and slaves in a common mission

l The Bermuda sloop’s durability and design forspeed made it one of the most sought-after sailing ships in the world.

l This 150-year period (1684–1830s) of enterprise,innovation and stubborn independence shapedthe Bermudian character for future centuries.

52

n 1722, a dashing Scottish soldier in his late 30s arrived in Bermudato take up the post of Governor. Colonel John Bruce Hope was apragmatic and enthusiastic personality, who launched into his newduties with vigour and humour, but he is perhaps best rememberedfor his descriptive accounts to Whitehall about the habits and

hardships of island life of the period.“Thirty to forty years ago,” he noted, “these islands abounded with

oranges, lemons, dates, mulberries, pawpaws, plantains and pineapples inparticular, in such quantities that they loadedtheir sloops with them. But the trees andplants which remain, after blasts and mildews,seldom bear any fruit and the tobacco hasgone, having for successive years been eaten,while still green, by a worm in spite of all efforts.“The inhabitants live chiefly on fish which

they are very dextrous in catching,” he wrote,adding of Bermuda’s population: “Theygenerally reckon three women for one manon the islands, since vast numbers of men arecarried away by shipwreck. In fair weather, thewhole inhabitants are almost all out at fishing.”Bermuda had entered a new era in the

wake of the Somers Island Company’s 1684collapse, one focussed not on the land, but oneverything maritime. England, pre-occupiedwith military concerns and the management

of its larger, more profitable sugar-producing colonies in the West Indiesand America, continued to send out governors but otherwise left Bermudato its own devices—a situation the locals preferred to the decades of long-distance, monopolistic meddling by Company Adventurers. With the long-time ban on colonial trade and shipbuilding lifted, Bermuda’s inhabitants

I

Call of the SeaA MIGHTY MARITIME TRADITION IS BORN

Superior The superiority ofour ships and sailors has long beenuniversally known.—Governor William Browne, 1782

The Bermuda sloop: fast, rot-resistant and in great demand by mariners

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Vocabulary

Research skills

Invite students to select a key Atlantic portof the 1700s to research its history, economyand maritime connections with Bermudaduring that period. Which goods drove thebusiness of maritime trade? (Philadelphia,Boston, the Carolinas, Newfoundland, Halifaxand West Indies ports can be explored.)

Enrichment

l Sign up your class for a learning expeditionaboard Spirit of Bermuda through theBermuda Sloop Foundation (seewww.bermudasloop.org). Its live-aboardcoastal expeditions teach about Bermuda’smaritime heritage through a curriculum-based instructional programme.

l Visit the National Museum of Bermuda,incorporating the Bermuda MaritimeMuseum (www.bmm.bm), where the island’s seafaring past can be exploredthrough ship models and artifacts.

Critical thinking

Historians consider the 1700s/early 1800s aperiod critical in shaping our national identity.Traits such as overcoming adversity, workingtogether, and seizing opportunities to makewealth are some of the qualities that havedefined Bermudians over the centuries. Engage the class in a discussion about whatmakes Bermudian people unique, and howsome of the human qualities engenderedduring this era have translated into innovationand success as a country in later times (the boom times of the US Civil War, earlytourism, negotiating the US baselands deal, international business, etc).

Class activity

Celebrate Bermuda cedar! Grow Bermudacedar saplings from cedarberries in the class-room, then plant them on school grounds or let students take them home to plant.Discuss ways in which cedar proved vital in Bermuda history—from the making ofDeliverance and Patience to the constructionof homes and furniture. Encourage studentsto bring in items of local cedar for display.Talk about the cedar blight (see Chapter 14),and how it changed Bermuda’s landscape.

Unit project

Assign students to study piloting, pirating,privateering, whaling, salt-raking, shipbuildingor Atlantic trading. Divide the class intogroups and have students select differentmaritime industries to research. Instructthem to create a fictional character—a captain, a slave, a crewman—and describe increative writing a day of his life during aparticular voyage or incident. Have each student present their diary entry to the class.


CHAPTER SIX

Scourge of SlaverySummaryThis chapter examines slavery in Bermuda—how itstarted, where slaves came from, how slaves lived,industries they supported, how they rebelled, meansof suppressing their freedom, and the myriad waysslavery forever changed Bermudian society. Includedare sidebars on Sally Bassett, the Middle Passage,the daily life of slaves, education and punishment.This chapter continues the discussion of slaverybegun in Chapter 4 and continued in Chapter 8’sfocus on 1834 Emancipation (Freedom and Reform). Later chapters deal with the subsequentfight for equal rights, universal suffrage and socio-economic conditions (Chapter 18 Growing Pains,and Chapter 19 Troubled Times).


22 Chapter 6 Scourge of Slavery

Fast Factsl By 1700, white English servants were mostly replaced by slaves as a source of cheap labour.

l Strict laws enforced the life enslavement of blackslaves in Bermuda.

l The island’s slaves were largely natives of theWest Indies, Central America and Africa, butgenerally were purchased in Caribbean markets.

l Slaves worked as house servants, gardeners, shoe-makers, fishermen, pilots, mechanics, sailors,whalers, farmers, field-hands and executioners.

l Bermuda did not have a plantation culture because the island’s size did not allow for largesugarcane, cotton or tobacco cultivation.

l Bermudian blacks, like slaves elsewhere, foughtback by running away, poisoning owners, theft,sabotage, go-slows, uprisings and conspiracies.

l Slave artifacts such as shackles and cowrie shellshave been found on Bermuda’s reefs—remnantsof wrecked slave ships of the Middle Passage.

64

n an otherwise uneventful day in 1800, a 12-year-oldDevonshire girl saw her world disintegrate. Mary Prince, aslave, was sold. Her second owner—a woman who had keptPrince’s family as domestic help and companionship for herown daughter Betsey—died, and many of her belongings,

including her slaves, were auctioned off. For Prince, it marked the end ofchildhood comforts and an abrupt farewell to the only home she had everknown. Separated from her grief-stricken mother, three sisters and twobrothers at a public market, she was purchased for £57 by a cruel captainand his wife to work at their Spanish Point property—an excruciatingexperience that would torment her for the rest of her life.

“My mistress set about instructing me in my tasks. She taught me to doall sorts of household work; to wash and bake, pick cotton and wool, andwash floors, and cook,” Prince would later recount. “And she taught memore things than these; she caused me to know the exact differencebetween the smart of the rope, the cart-whip and the cow-skin when appliedto my naked body by her own cruel hand. There was scarcely any punishmentmore dreadful than the blows I received on my face and head from her hardheavy fist…To strip me naked, to hang me up by the wrists and lay myflesh open with the cow-skin, was an ordinary punishment for even a slightoffence.”

Little did her new owners know that history would record their brutality,and that Prince’s catalogue of harsh treatment—in Bermuda, Antigua, Londonand, perhaps most notably, in the Turks Islands salt pans—would ultimatelyaid her struggle to become a free woman. At 43, Prince gave a detailedaccount of her experiences to Britain’s Anti-Slavery Society, which publishedher life story in 1831. Along with many similar slave tales, Prince’s graphicnarrative was used as ammunition in the Society’s lobby which two yearslater would win abolition of slavery in Britain, followed by Bermuda andother English colonies.

In the 19th Century, Prince’s story, like others, created a whole new

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Scourge of SlaveryA PEOPLE’S FREEDOM DENIED FOR 200 YEARS

Floggings and punishments on a West Indian plantation

SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE

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Vocabulary

Research skills

Have students dig back in human history tofind out how long slavery has existed and inwhich societies and cultures? Does humanbondage and trafficking still occur? If so,how do economic motivations—of both thevictims and abusers—play a part and howare responsible countries working to stampout the problem? Get students to write asynopsis of their research, including a discussion of the moral issues involved.

Unit project

Encourage students to imagine they are aslave enroute from Africa to the Americasaboard a ship travelling the Middle Passage.In descriptive essays, have them write aboutthe voyage from a slave’s point of view, including living conditions, punishments onboard, sadness about leaving families behind,and fears about the future in unknown destinations.

Enrichment

l Tour the exhibit galleries—Trans-AtlanticSlave Trade and Slavery in Bermuda—inside Commissioner’s House, NationalMuseum of Bermuda, which are stopsalong the African Diaspora Trail. Herethe story of the 200-year slave trade istold through interpretive panels and artifacts from the museum’s collection.

l Visit the statue depicting executedBermudian slave Sally Bassett in thegrounds of the Cabinet Building on FrontStreet. Have students sketch the sculptureor make their own art tribute to slaves.

Critical thinking

Discuss the economic roots of the SlaveTrade with your class. Encourage debateover ways human greed has been a catalystfor gross misdeeds and inhumanity over theages. Point out the advantages New Worldcapitalists—including the island’s propertyowners—enjoyed by using slaves as cheaplabour over indentured servants. How wasslavery in Bermuda similar to slavery in theAmericas, and how did it differ because ofthe island’s size and type of industries?

Class activity

Create a display of a large map of the Atlantic, with Africa, America and Europefeatured. Split students into three groups toresearch and present their findings on the“Trade Triangle”: 1) slave trading on Africa’sGold Coast and the Middle Passage; 2) slavery on plantations of the Caribbean andAmericas; 3) products slave labour sent backto Europe (American cotton and tobacco,West Indian sugar, Peruvian silver, etc).


CHAPTER SEVEN

Wars and DefenceSummaryThis chapter’s focus is the American RevolutionaryWar (1775–83), including the key role Bermudiansplayed in the American victory against Britain, andBritain’s decision after losing its American ports tomake Bermuda a major military outpost for its Atlantic operations. Themes deal with the dividedloyalties (America vs. Britain) among Bermudians,the Gunpowder Theft, the island’s dependence onAmerican trade for vital foodstuffs, and Britain’s decision to build the Royal Naval Dockyard in theearly 1800s. The Boston Tea Party, the War of 1812between America and Britain, and the Napoleonicwars between Britain and France are also discussed.


24 Chapter 7 Wars and Defence

Fast Factsl America was Bermuda’s lifeline for food and supplies, due to thriving trade between them.

l America’s war with Britain put this relationshipin danger because Bermuda was a British colony.

l Bermuda’s trump card was its proximity to America—and it had stores of gunpowder.

l Bermudian loyalties were split: officially, the island was British, but privately, locals sympathisedwith America, due to family and trade ties.

l The island’s Tucker family played key roles:Colonel Henry Tucker went to America’s Continental Congress to argue for supplies; hisson, St. George Tucker, lived in Virginia and was an ardent supporter of America’s cause.

l George Washington led America to victory andwas elected the first US President in 1789.

l Britain signed the Treaty of Paris with the newUnited States of America, ending war in 1783but losing all its American east coast ports.

n a letter to his mother from Bermuda in 1773, Philadelphia QuakerThomas Coates described an island on the brink of famine. The situationhad grown so dire, the government detained the ship on which Coateshad sailed and confiscated its cargo of flour and rice, although thatwas a “mere mouthful” among so many people in need of food, he noted.

No other provisions would arrive for more than a month. On January 23, asloop made port with 200 barrels offlour and 1,500 bushels of corn, rationsof less than a quart per family.

“The poor people really bear themarks of hunger in their countenanceas many of them cannot muster upmore than will buy a peck or two, andin two or three days perhaps couldbuy more—but it’s all sold,” Coatesremarked. “This is a great disadvantagethey labour under. I suppose there’sone third of the families here haveneither flour, corn or rice to makebread with, obliged to live on fishalone—when they can get it.”

When America’s 13 colonieswent to war with Britain, Bermudiansfelt the fallout in very physical terms.The American Revolutionary War

(1775–83) was essentially a constitutional conflict which forged a newdemocratic philosophy and created the ‘United States.’ But the war alsoproved a milestone in Bermuda’s history, not least because it brought hometo Bermudians in very serious terms the precarious nature of survival on anisland so far removed from mainland food supplies.

The geographical problem was exacerbated by the century’s evolving

I

Wars and DefenceBERMUDA BECOMES A BASTION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Fort St. Catherine, an importantfortification, was built over oneof Bermuda’s earliest defences

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Bermuda’s strategic geographical positionhelped America in its War of Independence,but also provided a solution to Britain’s military needs in the war’s aftermath. Get students to suggest other instances inBermuda’s past where we played a key role inthe history of larger nations mostly becauseof our island’s convenient location (e.g. USCivil War, Second World War, Cold War).

Class activity

Bermuda’s ties to America began back inJamestown and continue to this day. Launcha class project in which students select andresearch different aspects of our islandlifestyle and culture that are fuelled by orbenefit from our close links to the UnitedStates (cuisine, travel, access to world-classhealth-care, universities, US tourists, currency, etc).

Research skills

What were the causes of the American Revolutionary War? Instruct students to research the background of the conflict andlist the political and economic reasonsAmerica wanted to break away from Britainand create a separate nationhood of states.What was the “Boston Tea Party”? Whatwas the Declaration of Independence andwhich basic rights did it assert? Have students name the 13 original US states and the first three US presidents.

Unit project

Split the class in half and have students research either the structure of the US government or Bermuda’s government. Create detailed diagrams for class displayto illustrate both systems of government (include executive, legislative and judicialbranches of each). Compare and contrastthe two diagrams as a class discussion.

Enrichment

l Explore the Royal Naval Dockyard, itshistoric buildings and outdoor spaces withstudents. Have them draw a plan of thearea and find out what its buildings wereoriginally intended for and how these facilities supported the Navy fleet forclose to 150 years.

l Tour the Royal Naval graveyards of Ireland Island, and get students to choosesix tombstones each to record informationabout soldiers and sailors who died inBermuda.


CHAPTER EIGHT

Freedom and ReformSummaryEmancipation and its aftermath are the focus of thischapter. The legislative process of this event is explained, in context with similar developments inBritain and, later, America. Emancipation Day itself is described from various points of view. Thesubsequent challenges facing newly-freed blacks isalso outlined, including the role of Friendly Societies.The state of education, for both white and blackBermudians, is also described. The chapter ends thebook’s section on Bermuda’s maritime heyday, explaining that increased competition fromCaribbean ports and the advent of steampower coupled to end Bermuda’s carrying trade and ship-building industry—and led to a new era with aneconomic focus on agriculture in the late 1800s.


26 Chapter 8 Freedom and Reform

Fast Factsl The Slave Trade was abolished in 1807, but slavery itself continued until 1833 in Britain.

l America did not abolish slavery until 1863, under President Abraham Lincoln.

l Emancipation Day in Bermuda was August 1,1834—now celebrated as the first day of the annual two-day Cup Match holiday.

l Bermuda’s population of 10,000 in 1834 included3,600 slaves and 1,200 free blacks.

l The 1835 arrival of US brig Enterprise, was ademonstration of the different attitudes towardsslavery in Bermuda vs. America.

l Despite the abolition of slavery, Bermuda’s blackshad a long way to go to win equal rights.

l Hamilton became Bermuda’s second capital in1793, named for Governor Henry Hamilton.

l The first edition of Bermuda’s first newspaper,the Bermuda Gazette & Weekly Advertiser, waspublished on January 17, 1784.

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anners, parades and church services throughout the islandmarked August 1, 1834 as a “new day” for Bermuda’s blackpopulation. It was Emancipation Day, bringing the long-awaitedabolition of slavery. Bermuda’s population of almost 10,000people included 3,600 slaves, as well as 1,200 free blacks, and

both groups joined to celebrate the start of a new era. Joyful festivities,mostly religious gatherings of family and friends, began at midnight on July31—the official end of more than 200 years of human bondage and indignity.

After much bitter debate, the British Parliament had finally moved toabolish the slave trade in 1807, followed by slavery itself in Britain onAugust 29, 1833. The next year, a bill was passed to eradicate slavery in allBritish colonies. In Bermuda, two abolition acts were passed: the first, theAct to Abolish Slavery, made all slaves free; the other repealed 200 years ofdiscriminatory laws against blacks. America’sEmancipation Proclamation was still 30years away—Abraham Lincoln would notissue that decree until January 1, 1863,during the Civil War. An amendment tothe Constitution two years later wouldfinally end slavery in America. Elsewhere,Britain’s Caribbean colonies followed themother country’s lead over the next fewyears, though Bermuda and Antigua werethe only two territories which did awaywith slavery immediately. Others requiredblack citizens to endure a six-year probationary period of ‘apprenticeship’before winning full freedom, though thissystem ultimately collapsed.

Mercenary motives led Bermudianslaveholders to support the immediate end

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Freedom and ReformEMANCIPATION AND ITS AFTERMATH

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Examine the moral issues of slavery withyour class, considering the perspectives ofboth slaves and slave-owners. What didEmancipation achieve, and what moreneeded to happen to give blacks equalrights? Open a discussion about the decadesthat followed Emancipation, and the manyexamples of discrimination and segregationof Bermuda’s blacks into modern times.How are we still affected by slavery as a nation? How can such wounds be healed?

Class activity

Split the class into three groups and re-enact a debate to bring alive the Enterprise incident. Have students researchand argue the case of 1) the Enterprise’sAmerican captain; 2) his human cargo ofslave passengers, and 3) Bermudian authorities and supporters of the slaves who worked to free them through legislativemeans in a Bermuda court.

Research skills

Ask students to read a biography or researchthe background of figures—black, white,slave or free—who worked for abolition inEurope or the Americas (Olaudah Equiano,William Wilberforce, Harriet BeecherStowe, Frederick Douglass, Mary Prince).On which grounds did they oppose andargue against the institution of slavery? Get students to present a report to the classwith their findings.

Unit project

Suggest that students play urban-plannersand design their own version of Hamilton asa capital city. Instruct them to include all themajor necessities for modern living (courts,police station, retail, offices, transport hubs,parks, etc.) in a street grid/layout of theirown preference, each with a map key. Makea class display of all the different designs.

Enrichment

l Visit the Enterprise sculpture at Barr’s Bay,Hamilton to see where the brigantinemade port with its controversial slave cargo.

l Go on a fieldtrip to the Bermuda HeritageMuseum in the Town of St. George. Notonly will students find the artifacts, folk-lore and history told there interesting, but the building is also relevant, as itbelonged to the Grand United Order of Good Samaritans, one of the largestFriendly Societies that helped blacks after Emancipation.


CHAPTER NINE

From Sea to SoilSummaryThis chapter launches a new era in Bermuda history,spanning the mid-1800s to the turn of the century.It was a period of change, as Bermudians returnedto the soil to develop an agricultural economy, tofeed the island and create exports. GovernorWilliam Reid’s tenure shook up the island withfresh ideas and a push to bring in immigrant farmers from the Azores and other parts of Europe.Another major development was construction of theRoyal Naval Dockyard, first by slaves and then byconvict labourers sent from Britain.

BOOMTOWN TO BOERS 1834–1918 SECTION 3

28 Chapter 9 From Sea to Soil

Fast Factsl Bermuda became a quiet backwater in the mid-1800s—food shortages and diseases like yellowfever were common and the economy slumped.

l Britain, by contrast, was enjoying rapid progressin medicine, sanitation and agriculture during the Industrial Revolution.

l Most foreign visitors in the mid-19th centurywere military officers posted to Bermuda.

l A total of 9,000 convicts were shipped toBermuda to work on the Dockyard between 1824–63.

l Governor William Reid encouraged new ideasand technologies (Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, deeper marine channels and farming expertise).

l The US was Bermuda’s main source of food atthe time—a dangerous dependency.

l Reid and his successor Charles Elliot convincedBermuda’s parliament to fund immigrants fromEurope who were skilled in farming methods.

100

s he craned his neck to get a better glimpse of Bermuda fromhis crowded ship quarters, Irishman John Mitchel was feelingdecidedly homesick. It was June 20, 1848, and the 33-year-oldnative of County Derry, with the rest of the vessel’s passengers,had spent the past several weeks journeying across the

Atlantic. Even though he was immensely relieved to have finally reachedland, Mitchel’s first impressions of the island, recorded in a detailed diary,

were not exactly glowing.“Their houses are uniformly white, both walls

and roof, but uncomfortable-looking for the wantof chimneys; the cooking-house being usually asmall detached building,” he remarked, painting adrab image of what appeared to him “an unkindlyand foreign” land.“The rocks, wherever laid bare (except those

long washed by the sea), are white or cream-coloured. The whole surface of all the islands ismade up of hundreds of low hillocks, many ofthem covered with a pitiful scraggy brush ofcedars; and cedars are their only tree,” he wrote.“The land not under wood is of a brownish greencolour, and of a most naked and arid, hungry andthirsty visage. No wonder: for not one single

stream, not one spring, rill or well, gushes, trickles or bubbles in all the 300isles, with their 3,000 hills. The hills are too low, and the land too narrow, andall the rock is a porous calcerous concretion, which drinks up all the rainthat falls on it, and would drink ten times as much, and be thirsty afterwards.Heavens! What a burned and blasted country.”But Mitchel and the other new arrivals were no ordinary visitors. Exiled

to Bermuda from Britain, they were among the 9,000 convicts—from pettythieves to brutal murderers and political prisoners like Mitchel—sentenced

From Sea to SoilCONVICT LABOUR AND THE SHIFT TO AGRICULTURE

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Two convict hulks surrounded byBritish warships at Dockyard

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Vocabulary

Research skills

Invite students to find out more about the Industrial Revolution and how it transformed life in Britain, Europe, NorthAmerica and the world, including its impacton slavery in the British Caribbean. Havethem choose a key invention and detail howit changed manufacturing, transportation,technology, or socio-economic conditions ofthe time. Which of these would have hadthe most impact on Bermuda life in that era?

Enrichment

l Tour Tom Wadson’s farm in SouthamptonParish with students and learn how modernday Bermudians are involved inagriculture, including organic methods.

l Pay a class visit to the Prisoners in Paradiseexhibit at the National Museum ofBermuda at Dockyard, where artifactsmade by convict labourers and Boer Warprisoners are on display inside a convertedmunitions magazine.

Critical thinking

Innovative approaches and fresh ideas fuelled progress in the second half of the1800s, including Bermuda, where GovernorReid encouraged Bermudians to think differently about the importance of farming.Spark a class discussion on similarly originaland creative thinking of the past two orthree decades that has changed life as peoplein Bermuda and elsewhere knew it. Pointout the vast pace of innovation—notably in healthcare and technology—in just the2000s. Ask them to imagine which developing trends might take root to alterthe way we live in the next five years.

Class activity

Encourage students to think up new inventions of their own. Have them firstsketch their idea and describe it in a detailedessay, including reasons why it is needed inthe world. Then ask them to collect materialsto try to construct their invention and puttogether a classroom display of all ideas.

Unit project

Discuss the history of penal colonies, such as the one which existed for 40 years atBermuda’s Dockyard. Why were prisonersexiled and how are they treated differentlytoday? Have the class construct a large mapof the world and pinpoint where differentpenal colonies were located and which countries used them. Split students intosmall groups to research different penalcolonies and deliver written and oral reports to the rest of the class.


CHAPTER TEN

The PortugueseSummaryThe focus of this chapter is the story of Bermuda’sPortuguese immigrants—where they came from,why they moved to Bermuda, and how their distinctculture has impacted Bermuda through its people,cuisine, religion, language and traditions. The textdescribes the beneficial economic impact immigrantshad on Bermuda, thanks to their agricultural expertise. It also deals with the challenges Portuguese immigrants to Bermuda faced over thedecades and the prejudices they had to overcome.


30 Chapter 10 The Portuguese

Fast Factsl Portuguese make up roughly a fifth, or 20 percent,of Bermuda’s population, but their influence onBermuda heritage has been far-reaching.

l The first 58 Portuguese immigrants arrived fromMadeira on November 4, 1849 aboard CaptainBenjamin Watlington’s brigantine Golden Rule.

l Failing economies in Madeira, the Azores andCape Verde prompted emigrants to start newlives in America, Canada or Bermuda.

l Just two years after Portuguese immigrants arrived, agricultural productivity was increasing.

l Attempts to bring in immigrant farmers fromSweden, Germany and Britain were unsuccessful.

l Liberal immigration policies that allowed Portuguese to become naturalised Bermudianschanged later in the 20th century when restrictive,often discriminatory measures were imposed byBermuda’s Parliament.

110

n the 1880s, a 30-year-old farmer named FrankMedeiros Simon traded life on one remoteAtlantic island for another. Both islands wereimportant whaling hubs, military outposts andports of call for mariners. Yet in every other

way, they were worlds apart. In São Miguel, theAzores, Simon bid farewell to his wife Antoinette and their five children and sailed west to Bermuda athousand miles away. In a foreign culture where he neitherspoke the language nor understood British customs, he gotbusy building a new life, one rooted in the harvests ofBermuda onions, potatoes and arrowroot.

In 1890, a few years after his arrival, Simon sent forhis family to join him and over the next two decades,they prospered and grew. Frank and Antoinettewould have seven more sons and daughters, whoselives and those of their children and grandchildrenwere infused with common threads of communityactivism, intellectual thought and indefatigable industry.Today, the names of their descendants—Marshall, Mello, Pires, Souza,DeCouto, Barboza, Johnson, Correia, Martin—touch family roots throughoutBermuda’s Portuguese community.

The names and circumstances may change, but Simon’s story is that ofmany ancestors of Portuguese-Bermudians. His journey followed the 1849path of Bermuda’s first Portuguese immigrants and would be repeatedthousands of times in the following century and a half as the story ofPortuguese emigration unfolded. Like communities in the United States,Canada and elsewhere, Bermuda offered a better future for migrants fleeingpoverty and persecution, but the island also desperately needed theiragricultural and work skills and reaped the rewards.

“The benefit I look forward to from your introducing a few European

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The PortugueseIMMIGRANTS FORGE A THRIVING NEW COMMUNITY

Naomi and Manuel DeCouto in1924 with their children, aPortuguese-Bermudian familywhich emigrated to Fall River,Massachusetts. At right, Naomi’sparents, Bermuda immigrantsFrank Medeiros Simon and hiswife Antoinette

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denominationsdiasporaimpoverishedindefatigableindenturedindustriousinfusedintegralintrinsicmainstay

manualnaturalisedpatriarchalpoignantprogressivetractsunderwrotevocationswitheringzenith

Vocabulary

Research skills

Send students on a fact-finding mission,using books, contemporary interviews, andweb resources to carry out a project on theAzores. Get them to look at the Azorean islands’ history, as well as their political andsocio-economic conditions, and to note theirsimilarities and differences to Bermuda. Plota classroom map of the islands, their majortowns and their distances to Europe,Bermuda and the Portuguese diaspora centres of North America, such as Torontoand New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Unit project

Instruct students to interview and photograph a Portuguese-Bermudian or a Portuguese resident and write it up. Havethem find out the individual’s personal andfamily history, their career details, and whattheir Portuguese heritage means to them.The subject can be a new or temporary resident or a descendent of a multi-generational Portuguese family.

Enrichment

l Take students to visit the National Museum of Bermuda exhibit, The Azores& Bermuda at the Commissioner’s Housein Dockyard.

l Have your class attend a Portuguese festasuch as the Holy Ghost Festival (Festa doDivino Espiritu Santo) or the Festival ofthe Christ of Miracles (Festa do SenhorSanto Christo dos Milagres) and recordtheir impressions in artwork, photographyor a journal. Get them to research the tradition’s origin and cultural meaning.

Critical thinking

Discuss with students the forms of bias andprejudice that often greet new immigrants to any nation. Why do they think newcomers—to a country, to a classroom—are treated in this way? Ask students for examples they may have encountered or witnessed personally? Explain how the Portuguese Consul in Bermuda today acts as an advocate for Portuguese nationals and their families.

Class activity

What has Portuguese culture given toBermuda? Ask students to choose one element of Portuguese heritage and researchhow it has changed or added to Bermuda’smulticultural society. Students should gatherphotos/images and write a report on theirchosen subject—which can vary from a food product to language, industry skills, a tradition or religious ceremony.


CHAPTER ELEVEN

American Civil WarSummaryThis chapter looks at one of the most thrillingepisodes in Bermuda’s history—the island’s majorrole in the US Civil War (1861–65). It is importantbecause of the war’s impact on Bermuda’s economy—turning the capital, St. George, into a boomtownfor several years—and also because many Bermudians secretly aided the American rebels’cause in the conflict. Britain was officially neutral,but many of its citizens also supported the Southwith shipments of weapons and war supplies because Southern states were the major supplierof cotton for British mills.


32 Chapter 11 American Civil War

Fast Factsl The US Civil War was also called the “AmericanWar of Secession.”

l At issue was the North’s push for abolition vs. the South’s dependence on slavery to support itsagrarian economy (or, in broader terms, federalpower over state rights).

l History considers this the first modern war, with2,400 battles more than 600,000 casualties.

l Bermuda’s geographic position—between America’s South and Britain—was ideal as adepot for blockade-runners. Fast vessels smuggledwar goods and luxury items past Yankee gunboatsto rebel states, in return for cotton bales that inBermuda were put on larger ships for Europe.

l Cotton became the currency of the war—it wasknown as “White Gold.”

l The war transformed Bermuda, as spies, captains,crews, merchants and political agents poured intoSt. George.

120

n March 1863, a 29-year-old Southern belle set out on a brief journeythat could have been considered either an act of commendableaudacity or an incredibly foolish stunt. Six months pregnant andwith her three young children in tow, Georgiana Gholson Walkerboarded the blockade-runner Cornubia in Wilmington, North

Carolina and set off in a bid to successfully dodge a fleet of enemy vesselsand reach Bermuda. It was the middle of the American Civil War, and Walker’shusband, Major Norman Stewart Walker, had spent the past four months onthe island in his new post as political agent for the besieged Confederacy.Desperate to see him again, she ignored the advice of friends and convincedthe ship’s captain to take her on the daring escapade. “No one gave me oneword of encouragement or hope,” she later wrote, “except that brave andblessed friend—my Father, who said, ‘My child, you are in the path of duty,I doubt not all will be well.’”

No woman had ever run the Union blockade, but the plucky Petersburg,Virginia native, daughter of lawyer and politician George Saunders Gholson,was determined to try. The dangers were substantial. The captain “laid plainlybefore me the perils of the trip, saying that the last vessel which had goneout had just been captured, that the Northern Fleet was large and stationedfor many miles out. I said nevertheless I should go,” she recalled in her journal.As the ship prepared to sail, the Confederate general in command inWilmington came on board to urge her to reconsider, as did her goodfriend, the wife of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. She “besought meto consider my children, if not myself, and to return to Richmond.” ButWalker was resolute, though privately she admitted “occasional misgivingsas I looked upon my innocents and thought of the dangers to which I wasgoing to expose them. But I had weighed the matter well and I believed it tobe my duty.”

Walker and her children—eight-year-old Carey, nicknamed “Lillie,”Norman Stewart, Jr., seven, and Georgie Gholson, two—boarded the shipon March 18 and with the captain and crew, waited for the safety of nightfall.

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American Civil WarBLOCKADE-RUNNERS BRING FLEETING FORTUNE

Georgiana Gholson Walker, whobraved the Union blockade to bewith her husband in Bermuda

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A cotton bale fire captured by artist Edward James



American Civil War Chapter 11 33

circumventclandestineconsternationcosmopolitancrucibledispiriteddissipationdurationexorbitantflagrant

foreshadowinnatelifebloodliquidatemisgivingsnoncombatantprofiteeringproximityresolutestrategists


Initiate a class discussion about the rights ofindividuals vs. a group or central authority,and states vs. a federal government. How isindividual autonomy achieved in a greaterwhole? Can it be peaceful? What types oflaws or restrictions on individual rights arenecessary in a democratic society? How have rebellions against authority or societalnorms (staged by industrial organisations or environmental lobby groups, for example)achieved a greater good? When would it beacceptable to challenge convention?

Class activity

Divide the class in half, with one side taskedto learn about the South and the other aboutthe North in the US Civil War. Have eachgroup work together to research and itemizein detail the rationale for entering the conflict, and explain why they feel justifiedin waging a costly war. Stage a debate inclass, with students working in two teams to use the researched information to maketheir points.

Research skills

Have students conduct online and/or libraryresearch on US President Abraham Lincoln.They should gather biographical details, aswell as information about Lincoln’s philosophical beliefs, including his stanceagainst the institution of slavery. Instructthem to write an essay about Lincoln, highlighting his lifetime achievements and lasting legacy.

Unit project

Use Georgiana Walker’s diary as a startingpoint to discuss the power of journals ascommunication tools. Discuss as a class whather descriptions of Bermuda life in the1860s say about the way people lived thenand about her own character, traits and qualities. Invite students to record their ownjournal entries with descriptive writingsabout a family gathering, a school event,cherished or hurtful memories, etc. Encourage candid writing that records both emotional and scenic detail.

Enrichment

l Go on a fieldtrip to the Bermuda NationalTrust Museum at the Globe Hotel in St. George. Students will enjoy learningabout the US Civil War through artifacts,film and interpretive panels in the museum’s exhibit, Rogues & Runners. The building itself was the Confederate headquarters and home of Major NormanWalker, who sent guns and suppliesthrough Bermuda to the blockaded South.


CHAPTER TWELVE

Tourism Takes OffSummaryThis is a multi-themed chapter that deals with several large topics stretching from the late 1800s to 1918: the birth of tourism as an industry inBermuda starting in the late Victorian era; theBritish strengthening of island forts and military facilities; Boer War prisoners in the first years of the 1900s; and the impact of the First World War(1914–18) and Bermudians who joined the Alliedeffort in Europe. Sidebars detail turn-of-the-century Bermuda life, the advent of tennis, and the island’s attraction to celebrity writers.


34 Chapter 12 Tourism Takes Off

Fast Factsl Media publicity over the 1883 visit of PrincessLouise (Queen Victoria’s daughter) spurred morevisitors to “winter” on the island.

l Until the 1880s, Bermuda visitors consisted primarily of traders, military personnel andhealth-seekers; the concept of holidays emergedin the late 19th century.

l Scientists, artists and writers were among the first true tourists.

l Hotels, swimming pools and golfcourses werebuilt, and the Bermuda government signed a weekly-arrival contract with steamship companies.

l Tourism emerged as agricultural exports waneddue to less-costly US produce.

l A total of 4,000 South African Boer War prisonerswere kept in camps in Bermuda from 1901–02.

l Eighty Bermudians from the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and Bermuda Militia Artillery were among the First World War dead.

132

ermuda is not the place for consumptives,” declared Americanvisitor Julia Dorr. “But for the overworked and weary, forthose who need rest and recreation and quiet amusement, forthose who love the beauty of sea and sky better than noisycrowds and fashionable display, and can dispense with some

accustomed conveniences for the sake of what they may gain in other ways,it is truly a paradise.”

Dorr spent two months in the spring of 1883 on the island she wouldlater describe as “Eden” in her book Bermuda: An Idyl of the SummerIslands, published the following year. In the memoir, Dorr described howshe and her companion, “H.,” fled the late snows of New England forBermuda aboard the New York steamer Orinoco after ignoring the adviceof friends to tour Europe instead.

“What a contrast to icy mountains and valleys of drifted snow!” sheexclaimed on her first morning in Bermuda. “Before me were large pride-of-India trees, laden with their long, pendulous racemes of pale lavender,each separate blossom having a drop of maroon at its heart…Beneath mewere glowing beds of geraniums, callas, roses, Easter lilies, and the many-hued coleus…As far as the eye could reach was one stretch of unbrokenbloom and verdure.”

Dorr spent her bucolic holiday exploring the island on foot or by boat,admiring quaint gardens and pondering traditions such as limestone-quarrying.She attended events such as the Pembroke boys’ school sports day, andrhapsodised over the colours and climate of a place where people enjoyed astate of “perpetual summer.” She rode the ferry (a rowboat) across HamiltonHarbour, climbed Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, took a horse and carriage to St.George’s and visited Pembroke Church (St. John’s), home of the gravesiteof Governor R. M. Laffan, who had died the previous year.

“I found myself continually wondering how life looked, what the wideworld was like, to eyes that had seen nothing but blue seas, blue skies…andthe narrow spaces of this island group,” Dorr marvelled. “It would be

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Tourism Takes OffNATURE’S FAIRYLAND COURTS THE RICH AND FAMOUS

The enticing cover of the firstofficial guidebook, 1914

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Bermudian First World War soldiers



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Vocabulary

Class activity

Encourage students to imagine they are touroperators in Bermuda in contemporarytimes. How would they entertain visitorsand what would they deem to be the island’shighlights—from their own point of view.Perhaps they would show visitors differentaspects of Bermuda than typical touristsites? Get students to write up their ideasand suggestions in a first-person essay andread it to the class, or design a brochure oncomputer or film a short documentary.

Research skills

Have students find out more about the FirstWorld War, including its causes, the nationsinvolved in the conflict, types of warfare, key battles—and how the war changed the20th-century world.

Unit project

Recreate the first decades of the 1900s inyour classroom. Break the class into groupsand have students find out about the fashions, cuisine, transport, music, heroes,celebrities, leisure activities, and culturalhighlights of the time. Have them makedrawings or posters and gather images orprimary-source documents, such as poems or letters, and make a montage of life inBermuda and abroad during those years.

Enrichment

l Tour Bermuda’s Defence Heritage—a largeaudio-visual exhibit on island-based military and Bermuda’s war veterans onthe lower floor of Commissioner’s House,at the National Museum of Bermuda.Students can watch video footage of vetsremembering their wartime experiences,and see artifacts and weaponry used in defence and conflicts over the centuries.

Critical thinking

Read the book’s margin excerpts and textdescriptions of Bermuda in the 1880s andthe turn of the last century. Encourage students to note how different Bermuda wasin that era, compared to today. Compare thetypes of activities tourists could enjoy, modesof transport, and what were considered “luxuries” at hotels and guesthouses. Whattypes of services and experiences should atourist destination offer its visitors? Get students to participate by giving examples of different types of tourism and what theyprefer to do during their leisure time inBermuda or when they travel.


CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Fight for RightsSummaryThis chapter launches a new section covering thefirst half of the 20th century. It deals with the firstof many social battles of the 1900s—the struggle forwomen’s rights. The cause of Bermuda’s suffragettesis explained in the context of similar lobby efforts bywomen in Britain. The setbacks suffered by GladysMorrell and her supporters, and the legislative hurdles they eventually overcame, are detailed. Female suffrage in the context of its impact on blackcivil rights is also told, with universal adult suffragedealt with in Chapter 18 (Growing Pains). Thechapter also details West Indian immigration toBermuda and the first newspapers.

VOTES, VISITORS & VICTORY 1918–1945 SECTION 4

36 Chapter 13 The Fight for Rights

Fast Factsl Women were barred from voting in Bermuda byarchaic restrictions requiring property ownership(the laws were made to restrict blacks from voting).

l British women won the vote in 1919, and theirUS counterparts in 1920.

l As in many countries, women’s suffrage paved theway for universal suffrage, which in Bermuda didnot occur until 1963.

l Bermudian women began their lobby for votingrights in 1919 and succeeded when they finallywon legislative approval in 1944.

l There were some black Members of the ColonialParliament; the first was William Henry ThomasJoel, elected in 1883.

l West Indians began emigrating to Bermuda inthe 1890s and continued into the 20th century.

l Two activists for black rights early in the centurywere Charles Monk and Marcus Garvey.

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he large crowd which gathered outside Mangrove Bay policestation on December 18, 1930 was abuzz with excitement. Aweek before Christmas, the usually quiet streets of Somersetrippled with high anticipation, as journalists, photographersand Bermudian men, women and children made their way to

the West End, eager to see the outcome of a bizarre showdown—an ‘auction’pitting a group of the island’s society women against Parliament itself.

They would, indeed, witness an historic spectacle that Thursday morning,but one whose larger impact would not be felt for a further 14 years. Whilethe day marked the climax of a single courageous act of civil disobedience, itwould best be remembered in newspaper photos as symbolising the quarter-century-long crusade for women’s rights.

At 10 o’clock, the streets erupted into equal parts cheers and boos as ahorse-drawn bus arrived from Hamilton carrying a group of well-dressed

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Suffragettes protest outsideSomerset police station as theyauction an antique cedar table

Bermudian suffragette leader Gladys Morrell



The Fight for Rights Chapter 13 37

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militantnon-commitaloligarchypaltryparamountparochialpermeatedprejudiceresurrectedsuffrage

Vocabulary

Research skills

Have students examine international figureswho were catalysts for major social change.Have them delve into online and publishedsources, including primary-source materials,to contrast those who insisted on peacefulmeans to achieve reform (India’s father ofnationhood Mahatma Gandhi, civil-rightsleader Rev. Martin Luther King) and thosewho preferred more militant efforts for social protest (suffragette EmmelinePankhurst, animal-rights activist Paul Watson). Which worked best in differentnations and circumstances, and why?

Enrichment

l Visit Bermuda & the West Indies, an exhibit about Caribbean immigration tothe island, at the Commissioner’s House,National Museum of Bermuda. Your classcan check the display of surnames andtrace them back to specific islands.

l Visit the House of Assembly in Hamiltonwhere, from November to June, studentscan watch Parliament in session as MPsdebate national issues. When the House isnot meeting, students can stage their owndebate in the chambers and invite parentsand the public to spectate.

Critical thinking

Using the story of the suffragettes’ struggle,ask students how attitudes towards womenhave changed since the days of Gladys Morrell. What freedoms do women enjoytoday—thanks to the fight for female rights?Have women achieved total equality withmale peers—in Bermuda and the US? In Third World nations? If not, how can societies improve life for women?

Class activity

Hold a West Indian celebration in yourclass. Encourage students to bring inCaribbean dishes for a potluck lunch, WestIndian CDs, and regional poems, short stories or narratives to read aloud. Split theclass into small groups and have each gatherinformation about specific West Indian nations, their people, culture and traditions.Depict countries on a large map, showingtheir relative distance from Bermuda.

Unit project

Create a class newspaper. Students shouldfirst form an editorial board, determiningthe paper’s various departments, and the stories they should carry. Have student writers and photographers gather contentand editors review materials and designpages. Discuss factual reportage vs. opinionpieces and include both.


CHAPTER FOURTEEN

A Perfect ParadiseSummaryBermuda’s environmental history is an importantpart of our country’s heritage. This chapter focusseson key events in the natural history of the island, including the individual stories of rare and threatened species, along with the scientists andnaturalists who played major roles. The evolution of the worldwide conservation movement and itsimpact on Bermuda is also treated, as well as international interest over the years in Bermuda’sunique biodiversity.


38 Chapter 14 A Perfect Paradise

Fast Factsl American scientists William Beebe and Otis Barton reached a record depth of 3,028 feet (half a nautical mile) on August 15, 1934.

l Bermuda’s location makes it an ideal laboratorybecause of its mild climate, unique marine habitat, 12,000-foot seas and coral reefs.

l Louis L. A. Mowbray and his son, Louise S.Mowbray, were both keen environmentalists and curators of the Bermuda Aquarium.

l Nineteenth-century Governor Sir J. H. Lefroypublished the first scientific paper on Bermuda.

l The Bermuda petrel or cahow was rediscoveredon the Castle Harbour islands in January 1951.

l The introduction of foreign species (casuarinas,Jamaican anole, kiskadee) upset the ecosystem.

l Non-profit agencies BIOS, Bermuda ZoologicalSociety, Bermuda Audubon Society, BermudaNational Trust work to preserve the environmentand educate people about its importance.

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he morning of June 6, 1930 dawned perfectly calm, the latespring gales of the previous days giving way to a silky stillnessalong Bermuda’s South Shore. Brooklyn-born biologist,explorer and author Dr. Charles William Beebe decided totake advantage of the good weather and, with his colleagues,

struck out to sea early in an entourage that included the tugboat Gladisfenand a converted Royal Navy gunboat, the Ready. Leaving their East-Endheadquarters at Nonsuch Island, they chugged through the island-sprinkledCastle Roads channel, where the clifftop ruins of Richard Moore’s fortslooked down on the flotilla. The timewarp wasn’t lost on Beebe, 52, whowondered what Moore might have said 300 years earlier, “if he could havewatched our strange procession steaming past. In all likelihood, the steamingpart would have mystified and interested him far more than our chief object.”

The “chief object” of the day was to be a test run of the bathysphere, anodd-looking contraption that would make history in Bermuda’s waters bycarrying Beebe and its inventor Otis Barton to record-breaking oceandepths which until then, had been strictly the realm of science fiction.Brought to Bermuda that year, the bathysphere was a steel pod attached to3,500 feet of 7/8-inch steel cable that would be lowered and raised by a seven-ton steam winch that had been installed, along with boilers, on the barge.With three window ports made of three-inch-thick fused quartz, a circularbolted door, and a diameter of four feet, nine inches, the bathysphere wasdesigned to carry to record depths a maximum of two people—even a coupleof six-footers, as Beebe and Barton happened to be.

An hour later, 10 miles offshore amid mildly heaving swells, Beebestopped the group. Here, where Bermuda’s sea floor fell away to more thana mile and a half, they would attempt their first manned descent. The half-

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A Perfect ParadisePROTECTING OUR UNIQUE BUT FRAGILE ENVIRONMENT

Bermuda: a perfect paradise in which an earnest Naturalist may luxuriate.—The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist on Bermuda, 1857

Dr. William Beebe, left, and OtisBarton with the bathysphere

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Early Aquarium curator Louis L. A. Mowbray



A Perfect Paradise Chapter 14 39

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iridescentmicrocosmmunitionsornithologyperiodicallyrepossessedsensitivityspecimenstreatisevoracious

Vocabulary

Research skills

Instruct students to consult local resourcessuch as environmental group websites, theNatural History Museum, field guides orother published materials to learn about an endangered native or endemic plant oranimal currently listed as a Bermuda Protected Species (see www.conservation.bm).The Bermuda skink, cedar, marine turtles, the cahow, eagle ray, longtail, seahorse,corals, palmetto, Bermuda scallop and bluebird are examples. What is the history ofthis piece of legislation and what penaltiesfor abuse can it enforce?

Unit project

Have your class create two large diagramsconnecting flora and fauna elements to depict the food webs in Bermuda’s delicateecosystem—one marine, the other terrestrial.Instruct students to select and research onespecies, then post their photos and a fact box on the diagram and deliver a report oneach plant or creature to the class.

Enrichment

l Screen the documentary Rare Bird, byBermudian Lucinda Spurling about thecahow’s return from the edge of extinction.

l Tour the Natural History Museum atBermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo and learn about our geology and habitats.

l Arrange a terrestrial or marine fieldtripthrough Bermuda Zoological Society’sEducation Department (www.bamz.org).

l Visit the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) to learn about researchon climate change, pharmaceuticals andcoral reefs (www.bios.edu).

Critical thinking

Divide the class in half and stage a debateover the question: should the natural environment be protected by conservationlegislation? Have students research facts to support either side of the issue and arguetheir separate points of view, with a focus onfact-filled reasoning and clear, persuasivecommunication.

Class activity

On a fieldtrip, or even a tour of the schoolproperty, have students record numbers andtypes of different species they encounter, including both plants and animals. In theclassroom, have them use a graphing deviceto illustrate the total number of every speciesseen, and compare and contrast the data.Hypothesise why some species are morecommon than others. Choose two separatehabitats and note the differences.


CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The New TourismSummaryThe development of the tourism industry betweenthe First and Second World Wars is the focus ofthis chapter. It describes Bermuda’s gradualtransformation through investment and develop-ment into a “mid-ocean playground” for the richand famous. The advent of air travel is chronicled, as floatplane flights arrived in Bermuda from theUS. Other modes of new transport included belovedsteamships like the Queen of Bermuda and theBermudian, and the ill-fated Bermuda Railway.


40 Chapter 15 The New Tourism

Fast Factsl Shipping company Furness Withy partnered withBermuda to bring cruise passengers and invest inhotels and resort areas, including Tucker’s Town.

l Black homeowners were forced to sell and moveout of Tucker’s Town when it was developed inthe 1920s for a golfcourse and country club.

l Pioneering floatplane Pilot Radio arrived atBermuda from New York on April 2, 1930.

l A seaplane base was built at Darrell’s Island andPan American Airways and Imperial Airwaysbegan flying passengers and mail from New York.

l In 1920, Bermuda had 13,000 visitors; by 1937,that number had jumped to 82,000.

l Celebrity visitors in the 1920s and ’30s includedbaseball hero Babe Ruth, scientist Albert Einsteinand child actress Shirley Temple.

l A total of 33 bridges linked Bermuda’s islands tobuild a railway in the 1920s. The railway ran forjust 17 years before being dismantled in 1948.

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s the First World War neared its end, Bermuda’s tourism industryhit a major snag. Visitor numbers had been declining drastically,and in 1917, Canadian Steamship Lines decided not to renewthe island’s regular service, citing high costs and the notinsignificant dangers of sailing in war-troubled waters.

Moreover, Bermudian, which had been kept on the New York-to-Bermudaroute, was requisitioned in March that year as a British troop carrier.Suddenly, Bermuda had no way to export its agricultural goods or to bringin visitors. The island needed to attract another large shipping company.

In the summer of 1919, the New York arm of British steamship companyFurness Withy came to the rescue, promising to refit Bermudian in returnfor a five-year, $15,000 annual subsidy from the island government. Thedeal, signed in June, marked the beginning of a long and mutually fruitfulrelationship between the island and Furness that would continue until 1966.During that time, the shipping company acted as a partner in the business of Bermuda tourism, providing not only luxury liners such as Bermuda,Monarch of Bermuda and Queen of Bermuda to bring in thousands of visitors,but also investing in capital projects such as new hotels to modernise theisland’s infrastructure. Above all, Furness helped generally to hone Bermuda’simage as an upscale resort—a “Mid-Ocean Playground”—that wouldattract the type of American visitor who would fuel the island’s economythroughout the 20th Century.

By 1920, it was decided by government and subsidiary Furness BermudaLine officials that the answer to Bermuda’s tourism question lay in givingAmerica’s ruling classes what they wanted—an exclusive enclave where themega-rich could rub shoulders while they wintered in Bermuda. All eyeseventually fell on Tucker’s Town, the quiet peninsula community overlookingCastle Harbour which had been named for Governor Daniel Tucker (whoseearly 17th-Century aim to relocate Bermuda’s capital there never wentahead). The plan envisioned a self-contained neighbourhood of more than500 acres for America’s aristocracy, complete with golf-courses, tennis

The New TourismADVENT OF AIR TRAVEL AND LUXURY CRUISES

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A Furness Bermuda Line cruisebrochure promises fun in the sunfor shivering North Americans

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The New Tourism Chapter 15 41

aestheticaffablealleviatearistocracybedlamdirigibleemanateenclaveepochalequable

exclusivefervourfirmamenthoneinauguralmavericksubsidiarysubsidyupscalewhorls


Open a discussion on the injustice of forcingblack Bermudians to relinquish their homesand land so a resort could be built for richtourists in Tucker’s Town. Compare theirtreatment to the way Native Americans and other indigenous peoples have been relocated from tribal lands in the name ofprogress. Encourage students to talk aboutwhy societies have made such decisionsagainst minorities and less powerful citizens.Can such issues be resolved by money?

Class activity

Split the class into small groups and haveeach conceive of a new branding forBermuda as a tourism destination. Letstudents in each group design and createtheir own posters and advertisements “selling” the modern island to would-be visitors from overseas—using the marketingstrategy they devised in a carefully plannedcampaign. Ask each group to explain theirapproach as if the rest of the class were theirclient (i.e. the Bermuda government).

Research skills

Aviator Charles Lindbergh made history inMay 1927 with his non-stop monoplaneflight from New York to Paris—the firsttrans-Atlantic crossing at 3,600 miles. Askstudents to find out more about the US AirMail pilot who shot to fame and later became an author, explorer and inventor.What tragedy led the Lindbergh family to later leave America?

Unit project

Have students trace a large map of Bermudafor display. Assign sections of the RailwayTrail to small groups and have them plot thehistoric route of Bermuda’s train, includingthe stops and stations. Instruct the class towrite descriptive essays about their section ofthe route, describing an imaginary journeythey might take aboard the train in that areaof Bermuda if it were still in service.

Enrichment

l Take the class on a fieldtrip to the Railway Museum, near Shelly Bay, andencourage students to interpret the train’sstory through historic artifacts. Then walkalong a nearby stretch of the tracks.

l Pay a visit to the Commissioner’s House,National Museum of Bermuda, where theexhibit Destination Bermuda on the firstfloor tells the story of local tourism withartifacts such as cruise ship china and vintage advertisements and posters.


CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Second World WarSummaryThe Second World War (1939–45) and the dramatic changes it brought to Bermuda are the focus of this chapter. Bermuda’s strategic importance to world powers and the changing role of women are once again key themes. Includedin the content are first-person accounts—by aBermudian soldier and a pilot—details of the USbaselands deal, the story of military missions againstGerman U-boats off Bermuda, and descriptions ofhow local people lived with rations and restrictionsduring the war years.


42 Chapter 16 Second World War

Fast Factsl The Second World War began when Hitler’stroops invaded Poland in September 1939 andended with Japan’s surrender in August 1945.

l Some 500 local men joined British, Americanand Canadian forces to fight overseas andBermudian women also joined wartime services.

l A total of 36 Bermudians died in the war.l Britain agreed to lease Bermudian land to the USfor naval and air bases.

l Britain sent 1,200 censorettes to Bermuda tocheck mail and telecommunications for secretsbeing passed to Germany.

l German and Austrian nationals were interned at Huntley Towers, Paget during the war years.

l Local forces were split along racial lines—as desegregation of whites and blacks was yet tooccur in Bermuda and America.

l Tourism disappeared during the war, butBermuda was busy with military activity.

178

t may sound ridiculous,” Bermudian Anthony “Toby” Smith wroteto his wife Faith from war-ravaged England in the 1940s, “but mywork and efforts are helping—if ever so little. Some critics mightsay that I was wrong to leave you and the babies. My answer is theywouldn’t say it if they had heard the terrifying, anticipatory drone

of enemy planes, the roar of anti-aircraft guns, the fluttering scream ofbombs, the crash of bombs and the almost dead silence which follows.

“And I would tell them that this isn’t that rather indefiniteplace, ‘the battlefield.’ These are the towns, villages, valleys, hillsand roads of England, of people like you, women, children andold fellows. God be willing, I hope you and the children will neverhear them like so many people of this country have.”

Thanks to heroic islanders like Smith, and his counterpartsfrom all over the world who joined the Allied forces of theSecond World War, they never had to. Smith was among the firstcontingent of 21 Bermudians who volunteered for overseasservice; the group of 17 Bermuda Volunteer Rifles Corps(BVRC) and four Bermuda Volunteer Engineers (BVE) boardedthe troop ship Mataroa on June 24, 1940 and sailed out of St.George’s Harbour for England. Like many to follow, these soldiers would join the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment which sawaction throughout Europe. Driven by duty and patriotism,Bermuda’s soldiers, sailors, pilots, engineers, doctors and nursesshared both the horror and exhilaration of a dark global conflictthat split the world in a showdown viewed in the most basic ofterms, between ‘good’ and ‘evil.’ It was a war waged for the first

time with modern mechanised weaponry against ordinary citizens. Andordinary citizens like Smith realised the unprecedented bloodshed andbarbarity could be stopped only by their own determination.

“Do you suppose that German planes will stop murdering our peopleby our wishing it?” wrote Smith to his family. “No. I know you realise as well

I

Second World WarCONFLICT MAKES HEROES AT HOME AND ABROAD

Major “Toby” Smith (standing,second right) and others from thefirst contingent of Bermudians,sail to war aboard the troop shipMataroa in 1940

BERMUDA MARITIME MUSEUM

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Bermudian RAF gunner Randolph Richardson



Second World War Chapter 16 43

annexedanticipatoryartillerycatapultciviliancontrabandconvoyscurtaileddecipheringexhilaration

ferventhunkeredinterceptedmaraudingplacidproficientprospectivereconnaissancetyrannyvile

Vocabulary

Class activity

As a class, read Bermudian pilot JamesHartley Watlington’s account of being shotdown over France in 1943. Discuss the descriptive detail he includes to bring a storyfrom the past alive, even for modern readers.Ask students to create a fictional characterfrom the Second World War—a censorette,the mother of a local family living on rations, a militiaman on duty at a battery—and write an account of a particular incidentor day spent in Bermuda during the warfrom their point of view.

Research skills

Ask students to research the Battle of theAtlantic using online, film and/or librarysources. They should find out about key battles, figures, vessels, combatants and therole of convoys in the struggle for supremacyin waters around Bermuda. Have studentswrite up their findings in a 600-word essay.

Unit project

Have students track down stories of peoplein their communities—perhaps friends orrelatives—who played a part in the war. Encourage them to find photos, medals, letters, diaries or other artifacts, then writethat person’s wartime story. Have studentsdescribe their chosen individual to the class.

Enrichment

l Tour Bermuda’s Defence Heritage exhibit atthe National Museum of Bermuda andlisten to war veterans’ video testimonials,and see weaponry and artifacts.

l Take students to the war memorial outside the Cabinet Office, Hamilton, andrecord names of Second World War dead.Do they have relatives among them orknow families who do?

l Visit St. David’s Battery and see the gunswhere Bermuda soldiers kept a lookoutduring the war years. Tour Southside, former home to US military forces beforethe US bases closed in 1995.

Critical thinking

Discuss the advantages different partiesgained in the US-British deal to lease landfor naval and air stations in Bermuda. Whywas the arrangement useful to America—what did they fear if Bermuda fell into Nazihands? Why did Britain need US help?What were the immediate and long-termbenefits for Bermuda? (Students should include key points such as protection byUS bases; the economic boost from militarypersonnel; a civilian airport post-war.) Werethere disadvantages to the deal for Bermuda?


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Progress in PeaceSummaryThis chapter covers the post-war period of prosperityand progress in Bermuda following the SecondWorld War. It traces developments such as the advent of commercial aviation, television, cars andhousehold appliances on the island, plus the impactof American troops who had come to live and work on the US bases. Dockyard’s British Navy apprenticeship scheme, the height of the Cold Warin the 1950s and ’60s, Bermuda’s part in the SpaceRace, and the arrival of international business arealso detailed.

COMING OF AGE 1945–2011 SECTION 5

44 Chapter 17 Progress in Peace

Fast Factsl The sale of cars began in Bermuda after the Legislature passed the Motor Car Act in 1946.

l The East End’s Kindley Air Force Base became a civilian airport—launching mass tourism.

l In 1938, Bermuda’s population was 32,000; in 1970 it had jumped to 53,000.

l Tourism recovered by the 1960s, with new hotelsto accommodate air passengers, then hit high gearin the 1970s and ’80s.

l The Royal Navy shut down its Dockyard operations in 1951.

l Bermuda’s US bases acted as refuelling stationsfor American nuclear bombers in the Cold War;the US tracked Soviet submarines from the island.

l The NASA station at Cooper’s Island played akey role in the Space Race, including the Apolloprogramme moon landings.

l The first multi-national companies moved toBermuda in the 1950s, paving the way for others.

192

ompany manager John Plowman was 34 years old when arevolution of sorts rolled through Bermuda in 1946. Automobiles,long forbidden on the island, were finally legal and available—and Bermudians raced to get their driving permits and buyone of the shiny first models to make their way out of Hamilton’s

showrooms and on to the parishes’ newly-paved roads, attracting rubber-neckers everywhere they went. Plowman, himself, was in a perfect positionto witness the phenomenon; not only did he run Holmes Williams & Purvey,the island’s first car importer, but he was one of the first Bermudians toactually get behind the wheel of a car.

“I bought a Hillman convertible in January 1947,” he later told TheBermudian. “Licence plate 5281. The numbers were supposed to finish at5,501, because people thought there would be only 300 or so cars on the road.”

Legislators assumed the cost of buying and licensing a car wouldrestrict ownership, but such conservative predictions soon proved short-sighted. Bermudians fast developed an appetite for American-styleconsumerism that began to permeate island life in the post-war years. TheMotor Car Act, passed by the Legislature in early 1946, allowed private carsand taxis, while limiting vehicle size and cars per household, and curbingtheir speed to 20 miles per hour.

More than merely a status symbol, the car was a greater visible token ofthe victory of capitalism and democracy generally, as well as a catalyst forsweeping social, economic and political changes as the island emerged fromits quiet, isolated past. Bermuda no longer could be considered an insignificantoutpost or a colonial backwater. The war had changed the island and itspeople, and the world’s perception of them. Now Bermuda could enjoy theshared victory by Allied countries, its soldiers home from years of fighting,its national sentiment one of hope, energy and far-reaching ambition.

The world at large was never to be the same again, and nor was Bermuda.Aside from the positive mood of its people, the island had transformeddramatically in physical ways, thanks to the advent of cars, commercial aviation

C

Progress in PeaceTHE COMING OF CARS AND COLD WARRIORS

Ambulances stand readyin post-war Bermuda

BERMUDA ARCHIVES

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN



Progress in Peace Chapter 17 45

adjacentadventassassinatedblocclassifiedconglomeratedespondenteavesdropemblematicesoteric

genesisillegitimacynewfangledre-armamentreinvigoratedreverberatesurveillanceunprecedentedvengeancevernacular

Vocabulary

Research skills

Have students conduct research into the keyevents, political figures, idealogical differencesand outcome of the Cold War, and the eventual breakup of the Soviet Union. Who joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the Warsaw Pact or neither organisation? What was the “Iron Curtain” and what role did spies playin this era? Find out about the creation ofthe United Nations. Instruct students tomap out today’s independent nations thatonce were Soviet states—and those that remain communist (Cuba, North Korea).

Enrichment

l To give a sense of the international emotion and events of the Space Race, in which Bermuda played a role, have the class watch Apollo 13, the 1995 movie based on the true story of themoon-bound mission that suffered near-tragic pitfalls.

Critical thinking

Discuss the different political ideologies ofdemocracy and communism, their similarities(goal of equality) vs. differences (the contrastin economic systems: group control vs. freeenterprise). Encourage students to thinkabout why communist economies havefailed. Why has capitalism shown better results for its societies? Debate whetherequality and incentive are compatible—or not. Is this why egalitarian societies havenot succeeded?

Class activity

Wil Onions was an architect of the 1940sand ’50s who celebrated the Bermuda vernacular. Assign students the task ofchoosing a traditional Bermudian building,photographing it, then deconstructing anddescribing its elements and their purpose inoral presentations to the rest of the class.

Unit project

Have students go to the library or online togather advertisements from the 1950s, ’60sand ’70s. Have them also collect current consumer ads for cars, jewellery, appliancesand fashion. Discuss as a class, then havestudents write reports on how the adsdemonstrate the evolution of marketingtechniques—as well as the products themselves—over the decades. Studentsshould consider how ads reflect differentvalues and target certain audiences, and howtoday’s marketing appeals to more sophisticatedbuyers. How did sexism play a part in ads ofthe 1950s and ’60s? Has the role of womenchanged in modern advertising?


CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Growing PainsSummaryThis chapter details the turbulent civil-rights struggles of the late 1950s and ’60s as black Bermudians sought socioeconomic equality. Thetext describes milestones such as the Floral PageantDay Riot of 1968, the Theatre Boycott of 1959, andthe 1965 Belco Riot, set within the context of upheaval in western democracies and events such as Vietnam War protests, student uprisings and political assassinations. The work of civil-rights activist Dr. E. F. Gordon is detailed, along with thatof UBP leader Sir Henry Tucker and the boycott’sProgressive Group. The chapter also deals with thegrowth of unions and labour strife in the 1960s.


46 Chapter 18 Growing Pains

Fast Factsl The 1950s and ’60s brought racial desegregation,universal suffrage, the political party system, thefirst elections, labour standards and workers’ rights.

l Dr. E. F. Gordon headed the Bermuda WorkersAssociation (BWA) which became the BermudaIndustrial Union (BIU).

l Bermuda’s schools, churches and theatres dividedblacks from whites; hotels and restaurants routinely turned away blacks and Jews.

l Sir Edward T. Richards, a black teacher andlawyer, became Bermuda’s first Premier under thenew constitution of 1973.

l The Theatre Boycott started on June 15, 1959and overturned segregation within two weeks.

l The Progressive Group’s 18 members concealedtheir identity for 30 years.

l Universal adult suffrage followed in 1963.l The first general election was held on May 22,1968; the UBP defeated the PLP 30–10.

204

n April 25, 1968, thousands of Bermudians and touristspacked into Hamilton to watch what had become a highlypopular rite of spring—the Floral Pageant parade. Vyingfor choice vantage spots, many arrived as early as noon,three hours before the event was to start, and took their

seats on the Front Street stands or sidewalks, some bringing picnic lunchesto eat as they waited for the colourful spectacle. As the parade, in its 18thyear and boasting 52 flower-bedecked floats, prepared to wind its wayaround the city, youngsters clambered up the branches of harbourfronttrees for a better view and spectators lined balconies and windows.

But what happened later that balmy Thursday was as far from the innocentgaiety of blossoms, pageant queens and community bonhomie as anyonecould imagine. As darkness fell, gangs of rioters suddenly erupted within thecrowded streets, hurling bottles and firebombs at helmeted police officersarmed with truncheons and shields. Hundreds of youths charged throughthe city, overturning cars, shattering windows and setting storefronts ablaze.When it was all over, five officers had been beaten, 17 people arrested and astate of emergency, with dusk-to-dawn curfew, had been declared. Petalsand glass intermingled on Hamilton’s tear-gassed avenues, an incongruoustestimony to the fact that beneath Bermuda’s pretty façade, ugly truthscould no longer be ignored.

In hindsight, the so-called “Floral Pageant Day Riot” was dramaticallysymbolic, a clash of the island’s quaint past and rebellious present, of itseconomically and socially segregated black and white societies, of theirrespective fears and concerns—a flashpoint which would have far-reachingconsequences for Bermudian culture. Its direct cause may have been linkedto the barring of a black youth from a party held in a Front Street buildingthat evening, but its true roots were far more widespread. The night representeda snapshot of racial tensions affecting not only the island, but the wholewestern world, particularly America. The 1960s and ’70s, for the most part,would prove a jarring passage into the latter decades of the century, and

O

Growing PainsHURDLES ON THE PATH TOWARDS EQUALITY

Unsustainable In Bermuda—even though everyone is politicallyequal—it has too often beensupposed that, to preserve an old-world atmosphere for Americanvisitors, the coloured people mustappear mainly as servants or hewersof wood. Socially and politically,this has proved unsustainable.—From a front-page story headlined

“Riots in the Sun” in The Times ofLondon, April 1968

The Floral Pageant parade wasan unlikely prelude to a riot

THE BERMUDIA

N

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Picketing outside the Bermudiana Theatre as early as 1951



Growing Pains Chapter 18 47

blatantbonhomiecivicfaux pasfirebrandjarringjockeyedlibertariansmetamorphosisposthumous

provocativerelegatingresonancerhetoricritesolidaritythroesunsustainablevehementvying

Vocabulary

Research skills

Encourage students to carry out primary research. Have them identify a local person,either black or white, who lived through the social upheavals of the 1950s and ’60s.Students should interview their individualabout biographical details, and what it waslike to live in those years under racially-segregated conditions. Ask them to write up what they learn in the interviewee’s voiceas a first-person account based around thefacts they gathered.

Unit project

Investigate the issues of racism, discriminationand civil rights by having your class examinedocuments issued by the World ConferenceAgainst Racism, Racial Discrimination,Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, heldby the United Nations in South Africa in2001 (www.un.org/CAR/durban/pdf ) andSwitzerland in 2009. The materials can beused to evaluate local and global progressand programmes for action.

Enrichment

l Screen for your class When Voices Rise, the award-winning documentary film byBermudian Errol Williams about the1959 Theatre Boycott and the individualswho drove the lobby effort.

l Visit the Chesley Trott sculpture erectedat Wesley Park, Hamilton that pays tribute to the successful civil-rightscampaign by the Progressive Group. Pointout where the Island Theatre once stoodat Wesley and Church Streets.

Critical thinking

Open a discussion on race with your students.Does racism still exist in Bermuda? Whatare the roots of racism here and whom doesit affect most? What steps do students thinkare needed to eradicate racism? Can theygive examples of subtle or overt racismthey’re encountered personally or throughanecdotal evidence? What do they envisionas a more equal society?

Class activity

Explore the labour movement. Have studentsconduct research to find out about keychanges in labour law over the 20th century.What did labour unions in Bermuda andoverseas achieve for workers? Have unionsundergone demographic changes? Once students have finished gathering key information, stage a class debate, with twosides arguing for or against the statement: societies need unions to protect workers.


CHAPTER NINETEEN

Troubled TimesSummaryThis chapter examines the turbulent 1970s andearly ’80s, when social and racial unrest boiled over in the form of high-profile murders, capitalpunishment, riots and labour strikes. It was an era of national crisis that led to introspection andefforts to heal deep social wounds. Among theevents covered are the 1973 assassinations of SirRichard Sharples and his aide Hugh Sayers, themurders of Police Commissioner George Duckettand shopkeepers Victor Rego and Mark Doe, thehangings of convicted killers Erskine “Buck” Burrows and Larry Tacklyn, the subsequent 1977riots, and the resulting royal commission of inquiry.Labour strife of the period is also detailed.


48 Chapter 19 Troubled Times

Fast Factsl Police Commissioner George Duckett, GovernorSir Richard Sharples and shopkeepers Victor Regoand Mark Doe, were shot dead in 1972 and 1973.

l Buck Burrows was convicted of murdering theGovernor and Police Commissioner. Burrows and Larry Tacklyn were found guilty of killingRego and Doe and were hanged in 1977.

l Riots swept Hamilton the night of December 1;British soldiers restored order.

l Many Bermudians felt blacks were not beingtreated equally by the island’s justice or educationsystems, in politics, or in social reform.

l A royal inquiry, the Pitt Commission, identifiedunequal economic opportunities as a key cause of the ’77 riots.

l The government and private sector promised tohelp heal social ills; aid was pledged to smallbusinesses, more scholarships were created, and a hotel-training college was opened.

214

ermudians awoke on the morning of Sunday, March 11, 1973to shocking news. Governor Sir Richard Sharples and hisaide-de-camp, Captain Hugh Sayers, had been assassinatedthe previous night in the grounds of Government House—shot dead while taking a late stroll through the gardens with

the Governor’s great dane dog, Horsa, which was also killed. For allBermuda’s simmering social and racial turmoil, such cold-blooded murdersin their own community stunned islanders so unused to violent crime.

“If we were uncertain about our diagnosis before, we are not now. Avirulent cancer is threatening the life of Bermuda, and, without further delayor procrastination, it has got to be located and cut right out,” said an editorialin The Royal Gazette. “The assassination clearly indicates there is a directmove by power-seeking bandits to disrupt the life of this peaceful nation.”

Less than six months into his Bermuda posting, the governor had beenverbally attacked in budget debates only the previous day when PLPParliamentarians labelled him “a symbol of Colonialism” and criticisedgovernment spending on his salary and staff. But generally, Sharples was anaffable administrator who had been well-liked by Bermudians. On the nightof his murder, when many police officers had been attending a police choirperformance at the Southampton Princess Hotel, the governor hosted asmall informal dinner party at Government House before taking his regularwalk around the 15-acre property. He was gunned down shortly beforemidnight, within sight of the main door to the House; he and Sayers diedwithin minutes of the attack.

The double-slayings prompted the government to invoke a state ofemergency—only the second in the island’s history, and just five years afterthe first, imposed after the 1968 Floral Pageant Day Riot. The crackdownalso slapped an unprecedented 48-hour ban on people leaving Bermuda, asa full-scale hunt for the killers was launched by Scotland Yard, local policeand the Bermuda Regiment. Headlines around the world—“Murder inParadise,” “Guns in the Sun”—recorded the event with the kind of crude

B

Troubled TimesTURBULENCE ROCKS A FRAUGHT ISLAND

Rule of the gun In asmall tight-knit community there isa natural tendency to avoid gettinginvolved or implicating others. ButI must ask anyone who knowsanything about this crime to thinkmost seriously about the implicationsfor themselves and the community asa whole if the rule of the gun becomesthe way of life on this island.

—Acting Governor Ian Kinnear,

The New York Times, March 11, 1973

The Royal Gazette, March 13, 1973

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Murdered: Governor Sir Richard Sharples and aide Hugh Sayers



Troubled Times Chapter 19 49

acquittedbicentennialcapitulatedcrossfirecitizenrycurfewelectoralfiscallyflashpointfraught

haemorrhagingmagnitudemalignpetitionproverbialreminiscentsensationalismsymptomatictraumatisedvirulent


Ask students to examine the chapter’s first-person accounts—one by Governor SirRichard Sharples, the other by accused murderer Buck Burrows. Have the class readthe final paragraphs of Burrows’s letter andcompare his viewpoint with the Governor’sobservations about Bermuda, its people andthe state of social peace or unrest. Ask students to postulate reasons for differentviews of the same society—and comment onwhat we can ascertain about each of the individuals through the tone and contentof both passages.

Class activity

Hold a class debate on the death penalty.Divide the class into three groups and stagea debate with two groups arguing either thepros or cons of capital punishment. Have thestudents all do research on both sides of theissue first. For the debate, have a third groupact as judging panel. Later, get students towrite an essay outlining their own personalpoint of view on the issue, using facts theyresearched as a basis for their arguments.

Research skills

Encourage students to find out more aboutBermuda’s stamps. Ask them to choose atopic (local heroes, pioneers, flora and fauna,architecture, commemorative anniversaries)and then gather actual examples or imagesof local stamps that reflect those themes.Have students explain stamp image detailsin an historical context.

Unit project

Explore the topic of racism, including systemic racism within public bodies, privatecompanies, the media, or education, whenstandard policies or operating methods putcertain ethnic groups at a disadvantage. Discuss how ignorance about race comesfrom knowing little about people who aredifferent from us. Ask students to select areal person in Bermuda—of a race differentto their own—and write their history.

Enrichment

l Take your class to the Magistrates andSupreme Courts and later have them draw a detailed structural diagram of theisland’s judicial branches.

l Visit the House of Assembly—when Parliament is in session if possible—showing students where MPs sit and how procedure is followed.

l Our money went decimal in the 1970s.Visit the Bermuda Monetary AuthorityMuseum in Victoria Street.


CHAPTER TWENTY

Into the FutureSummaryThis final chapter wraps up the book in the modernera, with a focus mainly on the 1990s and 2000s andBermuda’s evolution into a stable, prosperous globalparticipant. The fallout from the 9/11 terror attacks,the challenge of sustainable development, the closure of US bases, the Digital Revolution,“Bermuda Inc.’s” reinsurance boom—set against theeconomic fragility of the island—are all covered.Text also details the political victories of the PLPand Bermuda’s ambivalence towards independence.


50 Chapter 20 Into the Future

Fast Factsl Two Bermudians were killed in the 9/11 attacks;the tragedy changed the way we travel.

l Examples of Bermudians becoming global citizensinclude studying overseas, fighting in conflictslike the Gulf War, joining Barack Obama’s campaign for the US Presidency, or winning success on the world stage—in entertainment,sports, diplomacy and many other fields.

l Tourism peaked in the mid-1980s with 650,000visitors per year; soaring costs on-island and competing destinations caused a subsequent slide.

l The “New Economy” coincided with a boom inthe island’s financial and insurance sectors.

l Bermuda’s GDP—the average income percapita—is one of the highest in the world.

l Bermuda’s first capital, the Town of St. George,became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.

l The PLP formed the government for the firsttime with its 1998 election win over the UBP.

224

s Bermuda residents sipped their morning coffee, deliveredchildren to school or checked email in Hamilton offices onSeptember 11, 2001, anyone near a television screen orcomputer terminal suddenly was riveted. Like citizensaround the world with access to live news coverage,

islanders watched in disbelief as a tragedy of enormous proportions grippedAmerica. At 8:45 a.m. (Eastern Time), on what began as a balmy, late-summerTuesday in Manhattan, an American Airlines flight hijacked by Islamicterrorists crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. A quarterof an hour later, at 9:03 a.m., a second 767 passengerjet was slammed into the New York landmark’s southskyscraper. Witnessed from neighbouring downtownstreets and captured on global TV, the disaster unfoldedlike a grotesque replay of a Hollywood blockbuster.Giant fireballs engulfed the twin 110-storey towers,trapping thousands in a deadly inferno before bothbuildings imploded over the next 90 minutes, andcrumbled to the ground.

The attacks—“acts of war,” in the words of USPresident George W. Bush—were part of a devastatingonslaught that morning. In Washington DC, anotherairliner was plunged into the Pentagon, while in afailed fourth attack, a passenger jet crashed into afield outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Within a fewhours, nearly 3,000 people would be listed as dead ormissing—including two Bermudians, RhondelleTankard and Boyd Gatton, who worked at the WorldTrade Center. The seemingly impenetrable Pentagon,the concrete embodiment of American military might,lay torn open and on fire, while lower Manhattan’sskyline was irrevocably altered. For islanders, like

Into the FutureTERRORISM, TRAFFIC AND THE DOWNTURN OF TOURISM

AI’ve got to go Oh my God! The secondhalf of the building justfell. I’ve got to go.

—Yvonne Morgan, at the

Bermuda Department of

Tourism office in midtown

Manhattan, during a phone

interview with The RoyalGazette, September 11, 2001

COURTESY OF TOM MARADAY

THE ROYAL GAZETTE

CHAPTER TWENTY

BermudiansRhondelle Tankardand Boyd Gattondied in the 9/11terrorist attack

Ruins surrounding the World Trade Center after the twin towers fell

Traffic: a by-product of economic boomtimes



Into the Future Chapter 20 51

afflictionblockbustercelluloiddiminutiveeclipsedembodimentexpertisefundamentalgrotesqueimploded

inconsequentialinsularityirrevocablyjurisdictionlargesseluminariesoffshorepandemicrivetedsaturation

Vocabulary

Class activity

Bermudians struggle with the question ofnationhood and whether to become an independent country. Get students first toresearch the various viewpoints on Bermuda’sindependence, then to choose a viewpointand argue their reasons for it, using both factual evidence (estimated costs) and emotional reasoning (national pride, etc).Have students orally present their argumentsto the rest of the class for discussion.

Research skills

Compare Bermuda’s economy to othercountries of the world. Have students carryout research to collect the island’s financialstatistics—including industry percentagebreakdowns, population and GDP in percapita terms. They should choose three othernations, compare their data with Bermuda’s,and come to conclusions in a written reportabout the reasons for Bermuda’s relative success—and whether current trends look to change or continue the status quo.

Unit project

Have students embark on a creative writingproject linking different eras of Bermudahistory. Instruct them to imagine they are a real character from our past—Juan deBermúdez, E. F. Gordon, Sir George Somers,Mary Prince—who visits contemporaryBermuda. Have them write essays describingthe individual’s observations and feelingsabout modern life on the island, and how itdiffers from their own period.

Enrichment

l Take your class to the Bermuda HistoricalSociety Museum at Par-la-Ville Park,Hamilton, Verdmont Museum, Smith’sParish, or Tucker House, St. George’s. Encourage students to list artifacts thatindicate how people lived in past eras. Inclass, get them to compare how differentdaily lives are today, thanks to new technologies. What has stayed the same?Question how artifacts are the legacy ofpersonal history and get students to createtheir own time-capsule of relevant objects.

Critical thinking

Economists continue to call for diversificationin Bermuda, because the island historicallyhas depended heavily on only one industryat a time. Review the industries that havekept Bermuda afloat and successful over the centuries—then brainstorm possible new industries with your class. Encourageentrepreneurial thinking. How can Bermudastay competitive, create jobs and hold downthe deficit and cost of living?


First-Person Accounts“In Their Own Words” sidebars (first-person accounts) are included in every chapter of Bermuda:Five Centuries. In total, there are 48 passages—theirsynopses are here on Pages 53–58. These reflect the voices of people who helped shape Bermudahistory—or who witnessed or lived through an historic event. Some are foreigners’ observations ofthe island; others are Bermudians’ own reflections.

Educators can focus on and use these sections of the book in many different ways:

l Discussion theme: Is history different when we actually live through an historic event and remember it during our lifetime? Have studentsthink about personal reactions to memorable or significant events and the impact felt by themselvesor other individuals who witnessed or lived througha particular moment in history.

l Reportage or observational writing: how to structure a first-hand account. Get students to describe an event using these key elements: whathappened/how it made me feel/what I think it

meant/what was the most memorable part of what I saw or felt.

l Fact vs. opinion: explore the issues of bias, contrasting points of view, hidden motivationsand subjectivity with students.

l Exploring different types of writing: persuasive,descriptive, factual/informative, emotive, subjectivevs. objective—have students find examples of eachthroughout the first-person texts.

l Compare and contrast varying viewpoints on thesame event or point of history: Encourage criticalthinking by students as they examine a writer’s motivations, background and purpose while analysing the information provided.

l Conducting interviews: use first-person accountsto demonstrate how to structure an interview, encourage detailed responses and fact-check a subject’s memories. Have students conduct theirown interviews modelling a theme reflected in first-person texts in the book.

52 First-Person Accounts


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Chapter 1

Gonzalo Fernandezde Oviedo y ValdesDiary, 1515

The Spanish authorof La HistoriaGeneral y Naturalde las Indias, writesabout passing byBermuda, thenknown as “Garza”aboard the ship ofhis countryman,Juan de Bermúdez.Textbook Page 13

Antonio de Herreray TordesillasWritings, 1527

The Spanishhistorian describesa contract betweenthe King of Spainand Azorean Hernando Cameloto coloniseBermuda before it was claimed bythe English in the17th century.Textbook Page 14

Diego RamirezDiary, 1603

The Spanish seacaptain describesexploring Bermudaand drawing a mapof the island afterhis vessel wasthrown off courseby a storm in 1603.Textbook Page 16

Henry MayDiary, 1594

The Englishmariner writesabout building asmall escape barque of nativecedar after the ship he is sailingon wrecks offBermuda in 1593.Textbook Page 17

Silvanus JordanPublished account,1610

The Sea Venturecrewman describesBermuda as abountiful paradisegreeting the survivors of theshipwreck in 1609.Textbook Page 24

The Royal SocietyPublished records,1660

A vivid account of whaling inBermuda quotingan unnamed “seaman” who describes a whalehunt and the products derivedfrom it.Textbook Page 36

Richard NorwoodPublished account,1616

The English surveyor details aninfestation of ratson early Bermuda.Textbook Page 39

William StracheyPublished account,1610

In a detailed account believed to have inspiredShakespeare towrite The Tempest,the Sea Venturepassenger tells ofthe hurricane thathits the flagship,and its wreckingat Bermuda.Textbook Pages 20–21

Chapter 2 Chapter 3

First-Person Accounts 53

TEACHERS GUIDE




Joan de Rivera y SaabedraLetter, 1639

The scrivener toSpanish King Felipe IV describesthe early colonists’settlement inBermuda, after La Viga, the shiphe travelled on,wrecks off itsshores.Textbook Page 48

Philip FreneauDiary, 1778

The New York-born poet describes Bermudaas a paradise, butits people as argumentative and uneducated,after he spent five weeks on the island.Textbook Page 56

Edmund WardPublished account,1840s

The Canadian editor and printerhighlights theagility of Bermudian vesselsand the expertiseof local pilots.Textbook Pages58–59

James E. ForbesNewspaper account,January 8, 1825

A King’s pilot, hedescribes a 21-dayordeal at sea thatbegins with histrying to helpguide a sailing vessel into port.Textbook Page 61

Hezekiah FrithLetter, 1797

The Bermudianprivateer tells howhis ship, Hezekiah,is captured by theSpanish and heldin Havana, Cuba.Textbook Page 63

Mary PrinceAutobiography,1831

In an emotive passage, theBermudian detailshow she was separated from her mother andsiblings and sold at auction inHamilton.Textbook Page 66

Olaudah Equiano,Autobiography,1789

The slave, authorand abolitionistdescribes an incident involvingcruel treatment ofa man aboard theBermuda sloop onwhich Equianospent four years asa crew member.Textbook Page 68

Mary PrinceAutobiography,1831

The slave girl describes livingand working conditions afterbeing sent tolabour in the saltworks of the Turks Islands.Textbook Page 62

Chapter 5 Continued Chapter 6

Chapter 4 Chapter 5


TEACHERS GUIDE


George WashingtonLetter, 1775

The Generalwrites this provisory letter appealing toBermudians foraid—in the formof smuggled gunpowder—tohelp America winits independencefrom Britain.Textbook Page 76

George BruereLetter, 1775

The embattledGovernor writesthis letter to Lord Dartmouthdescribing theevents of the“GunpowderTheft.”Textbook Page 78

Edmund WardPublished accounts,1775

In his chronicles oflife in Bermuda,Ward describessubterfuge and divided loyalties asrival ships navigaterestrictions imposed by theAmerican War ofIndependence.Textbook Page 80

Tom MooreLetters, 1804

The Irish poet tellshis mother headores Bermuda’snatural beauty butthinks the peopleare homely to lookat and provincial intheir ways.Textbook Page 84

AnonymousLetter, 1843

An unknownwriter to the Inverness Courierdetails the island-wide despair of a yellow fever epidemic.Textbook Page 104

John Harvey DarrellPublished account,1819

A Bermudian describes how joyat returning homeafter years awayquickly turns tohorror as he discovers Bermudain the grip of yellow fever, andtries to find if hisfamily has survived.Textbook Page 105

Sandra RoujaInterview, 2003

A modernday Portuguese-Bermudian recalls family folklore, and tells how her immigrant farmergrandfatherproudly learned to write his own name.Textbook Page 118

J. HoltLetter, 1834

An American visitor chronicleshis impressions ofEmancipation Dayand its aftermathof celebration inBermuda in a letter to the NewYork Observer.Textbook Page 88

Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10

Chapter 7




Charles MaxwellAllenLetters, 1861

The AmericanConsul writes tohis wife about anti-Yankee sentimentin Bermuda duringthe US Civil War;he says he has been accosted by Southern sympathisers.Textbook Page 124

T. L. OuterbridgePublished account,1864

The Bermudiancaptain describeshis capture aboardblockade-runnerSiren off NorthCarolina by Unionwarships in the US Civil War.Textbook Page 127

Georgiana GholsonWalkerJournal, 1863

The wife of Confederate agentNorman Walkerdetails lavish dinner parties, theback-and-forth ofblockade runnersto the South, andthe fashions andchatter at a soiréewith the Governor.Textbook Page 130

Helen FessendenPublished account,1870s

The wife of inventor ReginaldFessenden—fatherof transmissionradio—remembersthe way lime wasmanufactured inBermuda using atraditional kiln.Textbook Page 137

Cassie WhiteDiary, 1918

The Bermudiannurse recalls thehorrors of the FirstWorld War battle-field in her work tohelp the woundedat a US Army BaseHospital in France.Textbook Page 145

Charles MonkPublished article,1900

The Americanpastor laments theplight of Jamaicanworkers at Dock-yard in a front-page Royal Gazettearticle that resultedin a libel convictionand a four-monthjail term.Textbook Page 153

William BeebeHalf Mile Down,1934

The New York scientist describesin his 1934 bookthe otherwordlycreatures he seesfrom a bathysphereon his historichalf-mile descentof the Bermudaseamount.Textbook Page 158

August Carl SchulenburgDiary, 1901–02

A Boer War prisoner held in aBermuda campwrites about beingshipped to the island, and thedaily routines ofPOW existenceon Burt’s Island inthe Great Sound.Textbook Pages142–143

Chapter 12 Continued Chapter 13 Chapter 14

Chapter 11 Chapter 12


TEACHERS GUIDE


John MatthewJonesPublished account,1859

The British naturalist describesseeing the auroraborealis during aresearch visit toBermuda.Textbook Page 161

David WingateInterview, 2003

The Bermudianconservationist recalls how in 1951,as a schoolboy, hejoined scientistsRobert CushmanMurphy and LouisS. Mowbray atNonsuch Island,where they rediscovered theBermuda cahow.Textbook Page 162

Bill MottsPublished account,circa 1935

The Queen ofBermuda’s navigation officerdescribes with humour and anecdote the popular annualChristmas cruisefrom New York tothe island.Textbook Pages170–171

Jane DublonPublished account,1931

An American visitor describestaking an inauguralride aboard aBermuda Railwaytrain from ElbowBeach to Somerseton May 15, 1931.Textbook Page 176

James HartleyWatlingtonPublished account,1943

The Bermudianpilot with theRoyal CanadianAir Force describesbeing shot downover France. Heremained on therun in France formore than a year.Textbook Pages184–185

William WayInterview, 2003

Way describes howNASA’s Bermudastation played akey part in spaceexploration. Hetells of tense daysof communicationsbetween astronautsand Florida’s CapeCanaveral duringthe 1970 Apollo13 crisis.Textbook Page 200

Winston ChurchillLetter, 1954

Writing to USPresident DwightEisenhower afterthe Big Three conference inBermuda, theBritish PrimeMinister sums uptheir agreementson world issues,particularly tamingthe new “nuclearmonster.”Textbook Page 203

Anthony “Toby”SmithLetters, 1944

The Bermudianarmy majorpoignantly reminisces fromwar-torn Europeabout meeting hiswife and why hedecided to leavehis family to fightin the SecondWorld War.Textbook Page 180

Chapter 16 Chapter 17





President DwightEisenhowerLetter, 1954

In a letter replyingto Churchill,Eisenhower arguesthat worldwidediscussion andpromotion ofpeaceful uses ofnuclear power are necessary deterrents to anatomic war.Textbook Page 203

Andrew BerminghamInterview, 2003

The British-bornpolice constableinjured in the February 2, 1965BELCo riot describes the day’schaos and violence,when he was a 23-year-old memberof the force.Textbook Pages212–213

Sir Richard SharplesInterview, 1973

The Governorcommends Bermudians forbreaking downracial barriers,weeks before beingassassinated duringan evening walk atGovernmentHouse, BermudaTextbook Page 215

Erskine “Buck” BurrowsLetter, 1976

Burrows confessesto killing SirRichard Sharplesand aide HughSayers, PoliceCommissionerGeorge Duckett,and two Hamiltonshopkeepers. Hewas hanged thefollowing year.Textbook Page 217

Nichole TatemInterview, 2003

The 29-year-oldBermudian describes her escape from theWorld Trade Center in NewYork City after aterrorist attack on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.Textbook Page 225

Noel ChiappaInterview, 2003

The BermudianMIT scientistspeaks about hispioneering workduring the birth of the Internet inthe 1970s.Textbook Page 227

Shaun GoaterInterview, 2003

The Bermudiansoccer star describes his impact on UK fans during hisfifth season as a Manchester City striker.Textbook Page 228

Rick RichardsonInterview, 2003

The former ZBM reporter and ABC Newscorrespondent describes coveringthe December1977 riots.Textbook Pages220–221


Chapter 17 Continued Chapter 18 Chapter 19


TEACHERS GUIDE

Key Figures 59

CHAPTER 1Age of Discovery

Juan de Bermúdez TheSpaniard who first spottedBermuda from his ship LaGarza on a trans-Atlanticreturn voyage from theAmericas to Europe in 1505.

Diego Ramirez A Spanish seacaptain who spent 22 dayson Bermuda in 1603 afterhis ship was caught in astorm and lost its provisions.

Christopher Columbus(1451–1506) The Italian explorer who sailed the Atlantic and found theAmericas in 1492. Thiseventually led to Bermuda’sdiscovery and settlement.

CHAPTER 2The Sea Venture

Sir George Somers (1554–1610) The English admiralwho led the Sea Venture expedition and successful escape to Jamestown who returned to Bermuda forsupplies and died in 1610.

William Strachey Writer andSea Venture passenger wholater became Secretary ofVirginia; his descriptions ofthe adventure are believed tohave inspired Shakespeare’splay, The Tempest.

Silvanus Jordan Sea Venturecrewman who, like WilliamStrachey, recorded details of the storm and arrival at Bermuda.

William Shakespeare(1564–1616) English play-wright and one of literature’sgreatest influences; his finalplay, The Tempest, was inspired by the real-life story of Sea Venture.

Sir Thomas Gates(1585–1621) English noblemanaboard the Sea Venture wholater became Governor ofVirginia; the house he laterhad built in Jamestown used limestone brought from Bermuda.

Elizabeth I (1533–1603) Thelast monarch of the Tudordynasty gave her name to anera (Elizabethan) rememberedfor flourishing drama andmaritime exploration.

James I (1603–1625)The monarch supported exploratory expeditions and relief voyages such as the Sea Venture journey, and controlled Crown affairs during the birth of Bermuda’s colony.

CHAPTER 3The First Settlers

Richard Moore Bermuda’sfirst Governor, a carpenterwho arrived in 1612 andspent the next two yearsspearheading construction ofbridges, towers and forts.

Richard Norwood Scholar,teacher and surveyor whomapped out Bermuda’s firstland (tribes) division on hisfamous 1618 map.

John Rolfe and PocahontasSea Venture survivor JohnRolfe sailed on to Virginia,where he married the NativeAmerican princess Pocahontas.The couple had a son,Thomas. Pocahontas died of smallpox during a visit to England. Rolfe helped develop the tobacco crop at Jamestown.

CHAPTER 4The Company Island

Daniel Tucker The island’ssecond Governor, a toughVirginia planter who tookcharge of creating a functioning government,killing rats, dividing landand ordering crop-planting.

Captain Nathaniel ButlerA progressive Governor whoorganised bridge-building tolink Bermuda’s islands andpushed for environmentalconservation.

CHAPTER 5Call of the Sea

John Bowen and NathanielNorth Bermudians who became known in the late17th century as pirates in the Far East. Bowen wasRichard Norwood’s son-in-law; North succeeded him ascaptain of the Speedy Return.

Jemmy Darrell Bermudianslave who won his freedomafter impressing Vice AdmiralSir George Murray with hisship-piloting skills in 1796.

Jacob MinorsSt. David’s-born descendantof Native American slaves,known as one of Bermuda’sbest boat pilots; he died atage 84 in 1875.

CHAPTER 6Scourge of Slavery

Mary Prince Bermudian slavewho chronicled her life in an 1831 biography printedin Britain and used by theabolitionist movement towin support for abolishingslavery.

Olaudah Equiano ProminentAfrican author, merchantand explorer who purchasedhis freedom from slavery,then helped influence Britishlawmakers to abolish theSlave Trade in 1807.

Sally Bassett Bermudian domestic slave known forrebelling against her ownersthrough a poison plot in1729 for which she was laterburned at the stake at CrowLane, Paget.

Joshua Marsden Methodistclergyman who came fromNewfoundland to Bermudain 1808 to preach to blacks;he also opened a Sundayschool for black children.

CHAPTER 7Wars and Defence

George Washington (1732–99) Military leader who appealed for Bermudian

History-MakersThumbnail biographies of personalities featured in Bermuda: Five Centuries who helped shape the island’s history



60 Key Figures

support before leadingAmerica to victory in itsRevolutionary War overBritain; he was elected thefirst US President.

Colonel Henry TuckerProminent St. George’s businessman who led a localdelegation to appeal to theContinental Congress for anend to US food embargoesduring the RevolutionaryWar; he was later implicatedas a key figure in the 1775Gunpowder Theft.

St. George TuckerSon of Colonel HenryTucker who lived in Virginiaand was a vocal supporter ofthe American cause in itsWar of Independence.

Governor George JamesBruereStaunch British Governorduring the RevolutionaryWar, when he was publiclyembarrassed by Bermuda’sGunpowder Theft to aidAmerica’s war efforts.

Lieutenant Thomas HurdRoyal Navy hydrographerwho in 1792 surveyedBermuda’s reefs, identifiedtwo anchorages suitable forNavy warships and proposeda dockyard at Sandys.

Andrew DurnfordBritish Army engineer sentto Bermuda to survey andupgrade Bermuda’s fortifica-tions; he repaired defencesand built four new forts inthe East End.

Thomas MooreIrish poet and bon vivantwho wrote ballads and romantic poems to lady loves during his few monthson the island working asRegistrar of the Court ofVice-Admiralty.

CHAPTER 8Freedom and Reform

Governor Henry Hamilton (1788–94) Bermuda Governorwho in 1790 gave his support and name to thenew capital of Bermuda,which had previously beencalled “Pembroke Town.”

CHAPTER 9From Sea to Soil

John MitchelIrish political prisoner exiledas a convict to Bermuda in1848; his book, Jail Journal,recorded his prison custody,including the 10 months hespent on the island.

Governor William ReidThe “Good Governor”known for his energy andpush for new technology and foreign labour to reviveagriculture; Reid Street wasnamed for him.

CHAPTER 10The Portuguese

Captain Benjamin WatlingtonBermudian captain whosebrigantine, Golden Rule,brought the first Portugueseimmigrants to the islandfrom Madeira in 1849.

Monsignor Felipe MacedoCatholic priest who spokeout for the rights of Portuguese immigrants toBermuda and their families,who were often victims ofdiscrimination.

CHAPTER 11American Civil War

Georgiana WalkerMother of four and wife ofthe South’s political agent in

Bermuda; her diaries of island life during the USCivil War years provide captivating social and political details.

Major Norman Stewart WalkerPolitical agent for theConfederacy in Bermudaduring the US Civil War; he and his family lived at the Globe Hotel on King’sSquare, now a museum.

Charles Maxwell AllenEmbattled US Consul during the American CivilWar, when Bermudian sympathies lay with theSouth rather than withAllen’s Northern unionists.

President Abraham Lincoln(1809–65) US Presidentwho successfully led America through its bloodycivil war and ended slaveryin the US. He was shot deadby an assassin.

John Tory BourneSt. George’s shipping agentwho made a fortune duringthe boom times of the USCivil War, as the town became a transshipment hub for Southern cotton and military supplies.

Joseph Hayne RaineyFormer American slave who opened a barber shop in St. George’s during theUS Civil War; he later became one of the first black members of the House of Representatives.

Edward JamesCrown surveyor and prolificEnglish water-colourist whospent 16 years in Bermuda;his works are best known forchronicling events and dailylife during the US Civil War.

CHAPTER 12Tourism Takes Off

Princess LouiseQueen Victoria’s fourthdaughter, whose 1883 visit to Bermuda from Ottawa,Canada spurred new interestin tourism to the island,especially from the US.

Mark Twain(1835–1910) American author and humourist whosereal name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens; hemade frequent visits toBermuda and lobbiedagainst motor cars here.

Mary OuterbridgeBermudian who introducedtennis to the US in 1874,when she took racquets, anet, balls and a rule book toNew York and designed thefirst court, on Staten Island.

CHAPTER 13The Fight for Rights

Gladys Morrell(1888–1969) Bermudianchampion of local suffra-gettes, who led the decades-long fight for local women’sright to vote—achieving that goal in 1944.

Charles Vinton MonkDelaware-born pastor andjournalist who fought for therights of Jamaican workers at Dockyard and was brieflyjailed for libel; he marriedBermudian Fanny Parker.

CHAPTER 14A Perfect Paradise

William BeebeBrooklyn-born biologist, explorer and author whomade a record-making diveof a half nautical mile in a


TEACHERS GUIDE

Key Figures 61

bathysphere off Bermuda in1934.

Louis L. Mowbray(1877–1952) PioneeringBermudian environmentalistwho designed the BermudaAquarium in 1926 and became the facility’s firstcurator.

Dr. David WingateBermudian conservationistrenowned for his work tobring back Bermuda’s cahowpopulation and restore Nonsuch Island as a “livingmuseum” of endemic floraand fauna.

Sir J. H. LefroyNineteenth-century Governorwhose deep interest in science and nature saw himpublish the first scientifictreatise on the island andcompile records that revealedthe cahow’s existence.

CHAPTER 15The New Tourism

Captain Lewis Yancey, WilliamAlexander and Zeh BouckTrio which in April, 1930flew the first airplane, aStinson cabin monoplanecalled Pilot Radio, betweenAmerica and Bermuda.

CHAPTER 16Second World War

Major Anthony “Toby” SmithMember of the BermudaVolunteer Rifles Corps(BVRC) who joined theRoyal Lincolnshire Regiment as an armyinstructor during the Second World War; he waskilled in 1944 in Holland.

Sir Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Prime

Minister revered for his oratory and leadership in the Second World War; hevisited Bermuda in 1942 tothank the island for the USbaselands deal.

CHAPTER 17Progress in Peace

The Talbot BrothersBeloved Bermudian musicalgroup and calypso performersof the 1950s made up ofbrothers Archie, Austin,Bryan, Ross and Roy, withtheir cousin Cromwell.

Wilfred (Wil) OnionsArchitect who reinvigoratedthe traditions of Bermuda’svernacular architecture; hisbest-known design was forHamilton’s City Hall.

CHAPTER 18Growing Pains

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–68) American clergyman and black civil-rights hero known forhis inspiring speeches andbelief in peaceful protest; he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

Dr. E. F. GordonTrinidad-born physician,member of the Colonial Parliament and firebrandunion leader who launchedthe fight for black civil rights in Bermuda in the1940s and ’50s.

The Progressive GroupSecret society behind thesuccessful, non-violent Theatre Boycott of 1959that toppled racial barriers in Bermuda’s public institutions; members keptanonymous until 1989.

Sir Henry TuckerProminent businessman andUBP founder who becamethe first Premier after 1968’selection under a new consti-tution and two-party system.

W. L. TuckerFirst black Bermudian appointed to Parliament’sExecutive Council beforepolitical parties; he helpedpush the campaign for universal adult suffrage tovictory in 1963.

Sir Edward Richards(1908–91) First black government leader, replacingSir Henry Tucker as Premierand UBP head in the Houseof Assembly from 1971–73.

Kingsley TweedStreet activist who helpedturn the 1959 Theatre Boycott from a simpleprotest to a mass movementthat helped overturn racialsegregation in Bermuda’s public institutions.

CHAPTER 19Troubled Times

Sir Richard SharplesBritish Governor assassin -ated with his aide CaptainHugh Sayers while walkinghis Great Dane in thegrounds of GovernmentHouse the night of March10, 1973.

Erskine (Buck) Burrows and Larry TacklynConvicted murderers of aHamilton shopkeeper and abookkeeper; Burrows wasalso convicted of killing Police Commissioner GeorgeDuckett and Governor SirRichard Sharples. Both Burrows and Tacklyn werehanged in December 1977.

George DuckettPolice Commissionergunned down at his home,Bleak House, Devonshire, in September 1972.

Gina SwainsonBermudian winner of theMiss World crown in 1979;a postage stamp and publicholiday, “Gina Day,” werecreated in her honour.

Ottiwell SimmonsLabour union leader of the1970s and ’80s who oversawthe Bermuda IndustrialUnion (BIU) during itsbiggest faceoff, a 21-daygeneral strike in 1981.

CHAPTER 20Into the Future

Rhondelle Tankard and Boyd GattonBermudians killed in the terrorist attacks on theWorld Trade Center, NewYork City, on September 11, 2001.

Pamela GordonDaughter of civil-rights activist Dr. E. F. Gordon, she became Bermuda’s firstfemale and its youngest Premier when she replacedDr. David Saul as UBPleader in 1997 and served for a year until the party wasdefeated for the first time ina general election.

Dame Jennifer SmithPremier of Bermuda from1998–2003 after leading theProgressive Labour Party toan unprecedented electionvictory of 26 seats to 14.


Image Study

l Critical analysisVisual materials are often rich in information and can be used byinstructors to teach students to develop a keener sense of historicalcomprehension and critical thinking.Using photos, students can be encouraged to reflect, speculate,make fact-based assumptions, drawinferences, make generalisations,and reach conclusions based on evidence and details they see in images. What hunches do theyhave? What did they miss at firstglance? Did they have to changetheir hypothesis after studying theimage further? Inspire solid reasoningthrough careful data-gathering. Students shouldalso be encouraged to empathise—to think aboutwhat the photographer or artist is trying to depict;

what emotions or actions the photographer hascaptured through his/her lens, what the mood of a particular picture or photo may be.

62 Image Study


The hundreds of images from archives and private collections in Bermuda: Five Centuriesprovide myriad teaching opportunities for educators.

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TEACHERS GUIDE

l Reach all learnersAs a core for certain lesson plans, the book’s black-and-white and colour photographs and illustrationsprovide visual historical source materials that canhelp visual learners and less-able readers better explore history, social studies and language arts.

l Compare and contrastCertain images can be usefully compared to othersin class discussion. Good examples shown above are the (Chapter 1 and 2) hand-drawn maps ofBermuda by Diego Ramirez (1603) and later SirGeorge Somers (1609–10), or Bermuda’s changinglandscape of past eras compared with areas from thesame vantage points today.

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64 Image Study

l PhotojournalismMany unstaged images can be used to explore theskills and effects of the craft of photojournalism, aswell as to interpret the actual subject/event of theiroften-dramatic photos (Belco Riot, 1977 riots, PLPvictory, 9/11).

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Image Study 65

l Historical investigation skillsStudents can learn to use such visual clues asfashions, car styles, modes of transport, orboat designs to accurately guess the dates ofparticular historical eras. Throughout thebook, numerous images reflect evolving dresscodes and transport methods in particular.

l Timeline artCreate an illustrated timeline to develop students’ chronological thinking skills.

l Research skillsThe book’s Index can be used to identify images by keyword or theme; images arethen trackable through italicised page numbers in the Index. All images carry a credit, indicating the source museum, photographer or owner.

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66 Curriculum

l Social StudiesAmong the key topics dealt with in the book are:the island’s changing economy over the centuries;slavery and its ramifications; immigration; civil-rights battles; women through the ages; Bermuda’sgeopolitical role at different times; transportation;the structure of Bermuda’s government and judicialsystems; Bermuda’s part in major wars; howBermuda’s geography shaped its people, politics and history; roots of social conflict, etc.

l Language ArtsThe book provides a wealth of concrete examples ofdifferent modes of writing, and its thematic contentcan be an easy springboard for numerous languagearts projects and activities (many are suggested inthe earlier chapter breakdowns). Examples of therange of writing modes depicted include: first-person accounts, diaries, letters, speeches, and

narrative text. Teachers can use any part of the bookto encourage creative writing, speech-writing, journalpractice, plus persuasive, emotive or informativewriting styles. Lessons can also examine objectivevs. subjective tone, formal vs. colloquial style, story-telling, and language style and syntax through theages. Vocabulary lists for each chapter are providedin the various sections of this guide.

Connecting to the CurriculumWhile Bermuda: Five Centuries is a textbook geared primarily towards the teaching of Social Studies and History, its content can be integrated into lesson plans across the curriculum. Elements of the book’s chapters can be usefully applied in a wide arrange of study areas, bringing a Bermuda focus—and local relevance—to many different subjects.

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Curriculum 67

l Media StudiesThe book takes a narrative, journalistic approach to Bermuda’s history and key elements can be incorporated into Media Studies classes. Through-out the book, teachers can use excerpts, quotes and first-person accounts to encourage studentsto examine the issue of bias and point of view, and objective reportage. Interviewing skills can behoned through the study of the book’s first-personaccounts in the latter chapters. Classes can study examples of print advertisements and posters forcomparison with contemporary media, as well as portraiture through the ages. The story ofBermuda’s first newspapers is told, as well as how media covered certain events. Numerous international publications, such as foreign newspaper articles, books and journals, TV andradio broadcasts are excerpted for study in largesidebars or margin breakouts in every chapter.

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68 Curriculum

l MathsMathematics instructors may find it useful to applycertain content in the book to their lesson plans, including: mapping; graphing of statistics such aspopulation or immigration growth; percentage datasuch as population increases, tourism or industrygrowth, GDP growth, etc. Information onmoney/Bermuda currency (pounds vs. dollars), and decimal applications can also be incorporated. Demography, gender percentages, voting statistics,racial demographics, ranking events or their consequences in order, may also be useful tools for mathematical applications.

l Science/HealthSubjects of scientific interest in the book include:biodiversity and habitats, Bermuda’s seamount, temperature and climate, disease, navigation, inventions and new technologies. From observationsof Bermuda wildlife by the first castaways to earlyconservation laws, Science students can explore theevolution of the conservation movement inBermuda. The topic of the development of newtechnologies for survival and progress (Bermudasloop, electricity, the Digital Age) can also beadapted to bring a local element to Science classes.

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Curriculum 69

l DramaThe fascinating stories, characters and themesfound in Bermuda’s history can be employed inmany different ways in Drama classes. Teachers canuse the book to stage fictional conversations or skits,role-playing, the study of history as an oral tradition,debating, speech-giving, oral performances of essays,journal accounts, or fictionalised creative writing.

l Art/PhotographyThe book’s hundreds of photos and illustrations can be a rich source of specific material and creativeideas for Art/Photography classes. Teachers can use visual sources to plan lessons on map-making,drawing to scale, use of perspective, portraiture, still-life drawing, multi-ethnic art (African, West Indian,Portuguese influences), military artists, slave artifacts(beads, Chapters 6, 8), convict and POW artworks(figurines, tools, Chapters 9, 12), art as a form of reportage before the era of photography (EdwardJames, Chapter 11), posters, advertisements, etc.Certain chapters lend themselves as a springboardto lesson plans incorporating dioramas, murals,models or collages to learn or reinforce key

historical points. The book also contains images in a variety of media for teaching students about thevaried use of engraving, black-and-white and colourphotography, and oil and watercolour painting.

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Bermuda is full of museums and heritage sites thatcan enhance students’ understanding of the island’shistory. You can help them explore our historythroughout the parishes. At many of these places,statues, tributes, artifacts and information givepupils a real sense of how past Bermudians lived,the objects they used at home and work, exact siteswhere historic events occurred, plus more detailsabout all the milestones, characters and topics youread about in these pages. Plan a fieldtrip and goand see for yourself ! Heritage groups’ websites oftencontain useful additional information which teacherscan use. Here are a few of Bermuda’s best historicalsites, along with contact and website information tohelp instructors organise group visits:

ST. GEORGE’S

World Heritage CentrePenno’s Wharf, St. GeorgeThe St. George’s Foundation, 297-8043, www.tsgf.bmThis interactive museum offers a walk-through tourof Bermuda’s history on its ground floor, with historic dioramas (the Sea Venture wreck, whalers,sea turtles and cahows), plus the voices of peoplefrom our past. See a superbly created town modeldepicting St. George when it was just a basic settlement. The gallery also contains areas foryounger students—lift-the-flap facts and historicdress-ups (pirate, soldier, old-time Bermudianmaid). A “Time Tree” with milestones leads upstairs,where students can spend time exploring the historyof the East End in greater detail in a large hall ofinteractive and video installations. Included arespotlights on historic St. Georgians, archaeology,the US military bases, the origin of street names,and the rich maritime culture of St. David’s. Educational films about Bermuda and St. George’sare also screened in the centre; ask for details on

various available titles and schedules. The buildingitself is an historic warehouse, and interpretive panels explain its colourful past.

Ducking Stool & StocksKing’s Square, St. GeorgeCorporation of St. George, 297-1532Visit a weekly re-enactment of a “ducking,” inwhich actors play men and women of the past getting punished for misdeeds like gossiping orstealing. Students can also play the culprit by putting their arms, legs and heads through cedarstocks and pillories at the town square.

Deliverance replicaOrdnance Island, St. GeorgeThe St. George’s Foundation, 297-8043, www.tsgf.bmThis replica of “The ship that saved Jamestown” hasbeen restored as a walk-aboard museum. It brings to life the story of the first shipwrecked Englishcolonists in 1609 and their escape to Virginiaaboard Deliverance, one of two vessels they built ofBermuda cedar. Walk on its decks and go below tosee living conditions and details of their remarkablestory of survival—and how their Bermuda supplieshelped rescue starving relatives and colleagues inAmerica’s birthplace. The focus of entertainment forstudents will be the animatronic figure of passengerand writer William Strachey, who “speaks” about thewreck and fateful voyage. Strachey’s accounts laterinspired William Shakespeare to write his last play,The Tempest. Students will also get a very tangiblesense of how cramped, fragile and devoid of moderncomforts vessels of the time were.

St. George’s Historical Society & MuseumFeatherbed Alley, St. George, 297-0423Take students up the “welcoming arms” of this tiny

Plan fieldtrips to these historic Bermuda sites

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museum to see rooms full of old-time possessionsshowing how people lived before TV, cell phones oremail. Downstairs is the historic printery, whereBermuda’s first newspaper was made.

Bermuda Heritage MuseumSamaritans Lodge, corner of Duke of York and WaterStreets, St. George, 297-4126One of the stops on the African Diaspora Trail, thismuseum is a tribute to black history. Inside, you’llsee artifacts and information telling the story ofslavery, the gombey tradition, the origins of CupMatch, and the civil-rights struggles of the 1950sand ’60s, including the groundbreaking TheatreBoycott. Even the museum building is historicallyimportant: it is a 19th-century lodge that once belonged to one of the Friendly Societies.

Rogues & Runners, Bermuda National Trust MuseumGlobe Hotel, King’s Square, St. George, 297-1423Bermuda National Trust, 236-6483, www.bnt.bmRevisit the drama and intrigue of the US CivilWar—and Bermuda’s role in the conflict—at thissmall but fascinating museum. Students can learnabout spies, smugglers and blockade-runners, andsee artifacts from the 1861–65 war that broughtwealth and people to sleepy St. George.

St. Peter’s ChurchDuke of York Street, St. George, 297-0216This is one of Bermuda’s most famous buildings,mostly because it is the oldest continually-used Anglican Church site in the New World. Have students examine its cedarwork, silver artifacts andinteresting plaques commemorating town citizensof the past. The graveyards are also worth exploring.Murdered Governor Sir Richard Sharples lies here,along with notable townfolk. The slave graveyard on the west side of the church holds the bodies oflocal slaves and freed blacks, buried there at a timeof segregation.

State HouseKing Street & Princess Street, St. GeorgeDating to 1622, the rebuilt State House isBermuda’s oldest stone building. It’s believed someof the island’s first West Indian slaves may havehelped build it. Over the years, it had many roles,including a meeting place for government, a court-house for witch trials, and a store for gunpowder.Every year, a token rent of one peppercorn is paidfor the building by Bermuda’s oldest Masonic lodge.Take students to witness the colourful PeppercornCeremony, held every April, attended by the Governor and Bermuda Regiment in King’s Square.

Tucker House MuseumWater Street at Barber’s Alley, St. GeorgeBermuda National Trust, 236-6483, www.bnt.bmStudents can step back in time at this formerBermuda house that once belonged to HenryTucker, president of the Governor’s Council. The18th-century merchant’s home takes visitors back to the time of candlelit rooms, brick ovens and four-poster beds. There are quilts, cradles andkitchen utensils. Don’t miss the lower floor, wherearchaeologists discovered artifacts below the cellarfloor: these are on display. The building’s kitchen iswhere freed slave Joseph Rainey operated a barber-shop—giving the nearby alleyway its name.

Somers GardenYork Street, St. GeorgeThis pretty park is where Sir George Somers’s heartwas buried after he returned to Bermuda for suppliesin 1610 and died on the island. Although his bodywas returned to England, tradition ensured his heartremained in Bermuda. A stone monument in thepark’s centre commemorates the town’s namesake.(Sculptor Desmond Fountain’s bronze of Sir Georgestands a short walk away, on Ordnance Island.) Agood place to soak up history while stopping for alunch break while on a fieldtrip to the town.



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Fort St. CatherineCoot Pond Road, St. Catherine’s Point, 297-1920Parks Department, 236-5902Peek over the ramparts of Fort St. Catherine, and you’ll see the same stretch of ocean the first castaways saw when they escaped the shipwreckedSea Venture. The vessel’s wreck lies just offshorefrom this fort, which is one of the island’s best-kept.Inside you can learn about early Bermuda and howsoldiers lived and worked in the fort. You will alsosee swords, cannon and other weapons—and audio-visual and interactive exhibits on Bermuda’s forts.

Martello TowerFerry Reach National ParkParks Department, 236-5902This egg-shaped structure is part of the chain offorts belonging to the UNESCO World HeritageSite. A drawbridge leads over a ditch into the tower,where two floors of exhibits tell the story of its importance as a first line of defence against attackon the first capital. Two levels include an ammunitionmagazine and quarters for soldiers from the Britishgarrison. Mounted on top is an authentic gun on areproduction revolving carriage. The Tower is keptclosed in some seasons, but special visits can bearranged through the Parks Department.

Carter HouseSouthside Avenue, St. David’sSt. David’s Historical Society, 293-5960The oldest dwelling on St. David’s Island, believedto date from 1640, is today a quaint museum thattells the story of area characters, traditions, heroesand history. Artifacts linked to whaling, piloting,fishing, boatbuilding and farming are on display.The cottage itself is a perfect example for studentsof Bermudian vernacular architecture—with welcoming arms, buttresses, sloping roofline andcedar beams. It was built by Christopher Carter, oneof three Sea Venture survivors who stayed in Bermudawhen the other colonists continued to Virginia.

St. David’s BatteryGreat Head National Park, St. David’sParks Department, 236-5902Local soldiers manned this battery during the SecondWorld War, when Bermuda was an important basefor the Allies. Large gun emplacements, with hugeguns, sit above magazines and storerooms. A bronzememorial to Bermudians lost at sea, created bysculptor Bill “Mussey” Ming, can also be seen here.

Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS)Biological Lane, Ferry Reach, 297-1880,www.bios.eduYou can see global research right here in Bermuda.At BIOS, local and international scientists investigate everything from ocean health, coral reefs,genomes, global warming and ways the sea may oneday provide materials for vital medicines. Tours forschool groups can be organised.

HAMILTON PARISH

Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo (BAMZ)Flatts BridgeBermuda Zoological Society, www.bamz.orgBZS Education Officer Joseph Furbert,edoff [email protected], 293-2727, ext. 2142Students can learn about endangered species ofBermuda and the world—and find out what theycan do to help the environment. Scientists, teachersand other staff at Bermuda Zoological Society offermarine and terrestrial fieldtrips, along with scienceclasses that link to the national curriculum. Field-trips can be organised to give students a closeuplook at coral reefs, caves, habitats, invasive species,frogs and toads, seabirds and other endangeredspecies. At the Zoo, students can tour the islands of the world through exhibits spotlighting theCaribbean, Australasia and Madagascar. At LocalTails, students can walk through Bermuda’s habitats,from seashore to forest, and learn about skinks, butterflies and other species. In the Aquarium, theywill see real coral reefs and all the marine life these



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support, from seahorses to sharks. The Natural History Museum explains how Bermuda wasformed and what makes our fragile island unique.

Crystal Cave & Fantasy CaveWilkinson Avenue, 293-0640These eye-popping caverns were discovered by two boys who lost a cricket ball in the early 1900s.The caves show the three oldest formations ofBermuda’s five limestone ages, with the effects oftime and water. Descend steps cut 80 feet into theearth, where you will see stalagmites, stalactites andother wonderfully-shaped crystalline formations,and an underground lagoon which you can cross by a floating trail of pontoon bridges.

SMITH’S PARISH

Spittal Pond Nature ReserveSouth Shore RoadParks Department, 236-5902; Bermuda NationalTrust, 236-6483, www.bnt.bmTrails make this scenic 64-acre site accessible to students and all visitors. Climb up to PortugueseRock and see where castaways carved markings aftertheir shipwreck in the Age of Discovery—years before English colonists arrived at Bermuda. Followthe trail to the rocky shoreline, and you’ll come toJeffrey’s Cave, where legend says a slave hid after escaping in the early 1800s. Science students canspot numerous local and migratory birds that usethis park as a nesting or resting spot, includingherons, egrets, grebes and various species of duck.

VerdmontCollector’s HillBermuda National Trust, 236-6483, www.bnt.bmInside this historic house, see how people of allsocio-economic levels lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. There’s a formal “parlour” and a nurserycontains a rocking horse and a Victorian dollhouse.Slaves helped build the house in the early 1700s andmany lived and worked there until Emancipation.

DEVONSHIRE PARISH

Old Devonshire ChurchMiddle Road, 236-4906This whitewashed limestone landmark remains aparish church. It was built in 1716 on the site of a17th-century wooden structure that was destroyedin a hurricane. Inside the current church, you willsee a cedar pulpit and pews; outside are the historictombs of parish residents.

PAGET PARISH

Paget MarshLovers Lane, off South RoadBermuda Audubon Society, 292-1920,www.audubon.bm; Bermuda National Trust, 236-6483, www.bnt.bmFollow the pontoon bridge into the heart of this 25-acre wetland. Signs describe the flora and faunayou may see along the way. Wax myrtles, red mangroves and Bermuda sedge are anchored in thepeat marsh, home also to night herons, great egrets,kingfishers, moorhens and yellow-throat warblers.At trail’s end stand centuries-old cedars and palmetto palms—just as the first settlers might have seen them.

Masterworks Museum of Bermuda ArtBotanical Gardens, South Road236-2950, www.bermudamasterworks.comSet in a beautiful park, this modern museum hasregularly changing exhibitions that exploreBermuda’s history and culture. Works by local andforeign artists are housed here, including a stunningcollection of works by celebrities such as WinslowHomer, Georgia O’Keeffe and Albert Gleizes. TheMasterworks Foundation’s education departmentdoes a good job of interpreting the collection forstudent groups. Masterworks has worked for a quarter-century to bring home Bermuda paintingsby famous artists who visited the island and wereinspired by its beauty.



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PEMBROKE PARISH

Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute(BUEI)40 Crow Lane, East Broadway, Pembroke292-7219, www.buei.orgSchool groups can explore the world’s last frontier—the ocean—at this museum. Its structure allows students to pretend to voyage to the seafloor in asimulated submersible ride. On the main floor, visitors can see old-fashioned diving gear, climb intoa model of William Beebe’s bathesphere, view anincredible shell collection and experiment with interactive exhibits that show how Bermuda wasformed by a volcano. Downstairs are shipwreck artifacts, including beautiful bottles, gold and areplica of the Spanish emerald cross found byBermudian diver Teddy Tucker. Fun exhibitry includes a shark cage that lets students feel what it’s like to be pushed around by great whites!

Bermuda Monetary Authority Museum43 Victoria Street, City of Hamilton295-5278, www.bma.bmSee Bermuda’s first money and learn how notes andcoins are made. On display are beautiful examples ofshillings and pence, dollars and cents—see howBermuda currency has changed and how nationalsymbols like flowers and animals are incorporatedby note artists. Commemorative coins pay tribute toendangered species like sea turtles. Learn how secretthread, holograms and other built-in security deviceson our banknotes help fight counterfeiters.

Bermuda Historical Society MuseumQueen Street at Par-la-Ville Park, City of Hamilton295-2487If students wonder what a living room from the1800s looked like, or how bygone Bermudians settheir dining tables, here’s a place full of tangible answers. This little museum, divided into householdrooms, is full of artifacts that show how people usedto live—items such as silver spoons, teacups, cedar

furniture, hurricane lamps, palmetto seats, chandeliers,even Hog Money. There are also displays onBermuda police, war veterans and beautiful cedarartifacts carved by Boer War prisoners. In the mainentrance hall is the only known portrait of SirGeorge Somers and models of Sea Venture, Deliverance and Patience.

Historic Statues in the City of Hamiltonl Sally Bassett (Cabinet Office grounds, FrontStreet): A 2009 bronze memorial made by CarlosW. Dowling to the Bermudian slave rememberedfor rebelling against white slave-owners with a poison plot for which she was burned at the stake at Crow Lane in 1729.lTheatre Boycott (Wesley Street Park, southwestcorner of City Hall carpark): Created by Bermudiansculptor Chesley Trott, this bronze installation wascreated in 2009 as a tribute to the ProgressiveGroup and its supporters, who helped tear downBermuda race barriers with their widespread lobbyeffort in 1959.l Enterprise (Barr’s Bay Park, Pitts Bay Road): Located at the site where slave passengers aboardthe ship Enterprise landed on Bermuda, this sculpture honours the Enterprise passengers forwhom Bermudians fought—and won—a legal case for their freedom in 1835.l Mark Twain (XL Capital, Bermudiana Road, andButterfield Bank, Reid Street): two statues rememberthe American humourist and author who spent muchtime in Bermuda in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Bermuda Sloop FoundationVictoria Place lower ground/courtyard31 Victoria Street, City of Hamilton737-5667, [email protected] and teachers get hands-on learning—about Bermuda, the sea and our maritime heritage—through the foundation’s popular education programme. Among courses offered are:



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five-day coastal cruising Middle School LearningExpeditions (ages 12 to 14), which teach basic sail-training, along with skills such as public-speaking, written expression, problem-solving, anddeductive reasoning; Coastal Skiller Expeditions forstudents 13-plus during mid-term vacations andsummer months; and Overseas Skiller Expeditionsfor ages 14 to 25 years.

WARWICK PARISH

Cobb’s Hill Methodist ChurchMoonlight Lane, Cobb’s Hill Road236-8586This little church was “built by slaves in moonlight”at a time when black Bermudians were banned fromworshipping in white churches. Its steeple and tinysanctuary date back to 1827. The church’s quaintcedar beams and limestone also make it a testamentto Bermuda’s architectural heritage.

SOUTHAMPTON PARISH

Gibbs Hill LighthouseLighthouse Hill, 238-8069Visit Governor Reid’s legacy, and climb the 185steps to the top of this cast-iron structure—built asa navigational marker for approaching ships. Thelandmark’s lamp, first lit in 1846, can be seen 26miles away. Lighthouse-keepers used to run thelighthouse, but now the lamp works electronically.Even though ships now rely on GPS systems, modern mariners still appreciate the lighthouse for shoreline navigation.

SANDYS PARISH

National Museum of Bermuda, incorporating theBermuda Maritime MuseumRoyal Naval Dockyard234-1333, www.bmm.bmBermuda’s biggest fort is today its largest museum,containing thousands of artifacts—from Spanishgalleon treasure to slave shackles found on ship-wrecks. Boat models, priceless Bermuda maps, and

nautical gear from every age are displayed. Exhibitsin the buildings, including Commissioner’s House(with perhaps the island’s best views from its verandahs), tell the stories of convicts who builtDockyard, Boer War prisoners, the Royal Navy andUS military, Portuguese and West Indies connections,slavery—and lots more. A stunning mural byBermudian artist Graham Foster traces 500 years of Bermuda history—a student guide to the mural is given out free to all visiting groups. And an impressive exhibit about Bermuda’s defence heritagetells of the island’s defences and of local men andwomen who gave their lives in the two World Wars.Recently expanded to include the nearby Casematesproperty, the museum will in time offer many morebuildings of exhibits; for now, have students walkalong the re-opened northern ramparts, the originalmilitary access to the Keep that now links the twoareas again.

Royal Naval CemeteryIreland Island, Bermuda National Trust, 236-6483,www.bnt.bmGraveyard dating to the early 19th century containsintriguing headstones honouring the lives of navalofficers, crewmen, civilians and their families withtouching inscriptions.

Fort ScaurScaur Hill, Parks Department, 236-5902Look through a telescope from this hilltop to see as far as Fort St. Catherine and St. David’s Lighthouse. The fort, erected in the 1870s, is a good example of local defences. It was built to guardthe crossing at Somerset Bridge to prevent enemyarmies from reaching Dockyard (which never happened). Look at the ramparts, cannon and gunplacements, surrounded by a defensive ditch.


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GENERAL REFERENCE

Articles & Essays

Granatstein, J. L., and Hillmer, Norman, “Canada’s Century, The 25 Events ThatShaped the Country,” Maclean’s, July 1, 1999

Hitchens, Christopher, “Why Americans Are Not Taught History,” Harper’s, November 1998Kirn, Walter, “Lewis and Clark, The Journey That Changed America Forever,” Time, July 8, 2002

Books

Bernard, Bruce, Century, One Hundred Years of Human Progress, Regression, Suffering and

Hope (London, Phaidon Press, 2000)Bryans, Robin, Azores (London, Faber & Faber, 1963)Chisholm, Jane, Timelines of World History (Usborne, 2002)Evans, Harold, The American Century (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1998)Farndon, John, Concise Encyclopedia (New York, DK Publishing, 1999)Garner, Joe, We Interrupt This Broadcast, The Events That Stopped Our Lives…from the

Hindenburg Explosion to the Death of John F.Kennedy Jr. (Illinois, Sourcebooks, Inc., second edition, 2000)

Jennings, Peter and Brewster, Todd, Century (New York, Doubleday, 1998)The New American Desk Encyclopedia (New York, Meridian, 1987)The Norton Anthology of English Literature, third edition (New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1975)

The Random House Timetables of History (New York, Random House, 1991)The Riverside Shakespeare (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1974)Schama, Simon, A History of Britain, At the Edge of the World? 3500 B.C.–1603 A.D. (New York,Hyperion/talk miramax books, 2000)

BERMUDA REFERENCENewspapers, Periodicals & Journals

Bermuda Journal of Archaeology and Maritime History, Volumes 1–13, 1989–2003Bermuda Historical Quarterly, Volumes 1–39, 1944–83Henderson, Dwight Franklin (ed.), The Private Journal of Georgiana Gholson Walker 1862–

1865, With Selections from the Post-War Years,1865–1876 (Confederate Publishing Company, 1963)

Market Solutions 2003, Bermuda: The World’s Risk Capital, Insurance Advisory Committee(Bermuda, 2003)

The Royal Gazette, Bermuda Sun, The Mid-Ocean News, The Workers Voice, The Bermudian,

Bermudian Business, Bermuda, RG magazine,MARITimes (various issues)

Film

Bermuda: Five Centuries, six-part series, Panatel VDS Ltd. for the Bermuda Millennium Committee, 1999

The Lion and the Mouse, documentary on Bermuda links with America, LucindaSpurling, narrated by Michael Douglas, Afflare Films, 2009

Rare Bird, documentary on Bermuda cahow, Lucinda Spurling, Afflare Films, 2009Where the Whales Sing, documentary about humpback whales in Bermuda waters, Andrew Stevenson, Humpback Whale Research Project, 2009

When Voices Rise…, Williams, Errol, 2002

Articles & Essays

Allen, Frederick Lewis, “Bermuda, 1938,” Harper’s Monthly, No. 1,055, April 1938The Association of Bermuda Affairs, “An Analysis of Bermuda’s Social Problems (the limited franchise, segregation and discrimination),” 1953

Barreiro-Meiro, Roberto, “Las Islas Bermudas y Juan Bermúdez,” Instituto Histórico deMarina, Madrid, 1970

Forster, Tony, “The Day the Captive Was Born,” The Fred Reiss Foundation, 2002Higginbottom, Dennis J., “The Development of the Bermuda Reinsurance Market,”

Journal of Reinsurance, Spring 2002Jarvis, Michael J., “Cedars, Sloops and Slaves: The Development of the Bermuda Ship-building Industry 1680–1750,” thesis presented to the Faculty of the Departmentof History, The College of William & Mary,1992

Lavela, Bean Jolene, “West Indians in Our Midst, A Brief Study of Our West Indian-Bermudian Heritage,” The Bermudian, May1992

Mardis, Allen, “Richard Moore, Carpenter,” Virginia Magazine of History & Biography, Oc-tober 1984

Maxwell, Clarence V. H., “Race and Servitude: The Birth of a Social and Political Order inBermuda, 1619–1669,” BJAMH, Vol. 11,1999

McCombe, Leonard and Skadding, George (photogs.), “Bermuda Makes Modern History,” Life, Volume 35, No. 24, December14, 1953

Strock, George (photog.), “Old Bermuda, Honeymoon Isles Become US Defense

Bastion,” Life, August 18, 1941Surowiecki, James, “Tax Cheat, Inc.,” The New Yorker, April 22 & 29, 2002Taft, William Howard, “The Islands of Bermuda, A British Colony with a UniqueRecord in Popular Government,” NationalGeographic, Volume 41, January–June 1922

Ziral, James, “The Seduction of Black America,” The Bermudian, May 1997

Books

Aspinall, Algernon, The Pocket Guide to the West Indies (London, Sifton, Praed & Co., 1923)Beebe, William, Adventuring with Beebe, Selections from the Writings of William Beebe (NewYork/Boston/Toronto, Duell, Sloan andPearce/Little Brown, 1955)

Bell, Frank R., Beautiful Bermuda: The Standard Guide to Bermuda (New York, BeautifulBermuda Publishing Co., ninth edition, 1946)

Benbow, Colin H., Gladys Morrell and the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Bermuda(Bermuda, The Writers’ Machine, 1994)

Benbow, Colin H., Boer Prisoners of War in Bermuda (Bermuda, Bermuda Historical Society, third edition, 1994)

Bermuda Islands Guide: The Complete Map and Information Guide to Bermuda (Bermuda,Clarion Enterprises, 1982)

Bermuda National Trust, Bermuda’s Architectural Heritage: Devonshire (Bermuda, 1995)Bermuda National Trust, Bermuda’s Architectural Heritage: St. George’s (Bermuda, 1998)Bermuda National Trust, Bermuda’s Architectural Heritage: Sandys (Bermuda, 1999)Bermuda National Trust, Bermuda’s Architectural

Heritage: Paget (Bermuda, 2010)Bermuda Trade Development Board, Residence in Bermuda, 1936Bernhard, Virginia, Slaves and Slaveholders in Bermuda, 1616–1782 (Columbia, Missouri,University of Missouri Press, 1999)

Blagg, G. Daniel, Bermuda Atlas & Gazetteer (Dover, Delaware, Dover Litho PublishingCompany, 1997)

Boyle, Peter G. (ed.), The Churchill-Eisenhower Correspondence 1953–1955 (Chapel Hill,North Carolina, The University of NorthCarolina Press, 1990)

Britton, Nathaniel Lord, Flora of Bermuda (New York, Scribner & Sons, 1918)Butler, Dale (ed.), L. Frederick Wade: His Legacy (Bermuda, The Writers’ Machine, 1997)Calnan, Patricia, The Masterworks Bermudiana Collection (Bermuda, The Bermudian Publishing Company, 1994)

Cox, John (ed.), Life in Old Bermuda (Bermuda, John Cox, 1998)Crombie, Roger, Conyers Dill & Pearman: A


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History (Bermuda, Walsingham Press, 1998)Darrell, Owen H., Sir George Somers: Links Bermuda With Lyme Regis (Bermuda, Owen H. Darrell, 1997)

Deichmann, Catherine Lynch, Rogues & Runners: Bermuda and the American Civil War(Bermuda, Bermuda National Trust, 2002)

Dorr, Julia C. R., Bermuda: An Idyl of the Summer Islands (New York, Charles Scribner, 1884)Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. (ed.), The Classic Slave Narratives (New York, Mentor, 1987)Grearson, Don, USS Bermuda, The Rise and Fall of an

American Base (Great Dog Publishing, 2009)Godet, Nan and Harris, Edward C., Pillars of the Bridge: The establishment of the United States

bases on Bermuda during the Second World War(Bermuda, Bermuda Maritime MuseumPress, 1991)

Hallett, A. C. Hollis, Bermuda Under the Somers Islands Company, Civil Records 1612–1684(Volume 1, 1612–1669) (Bermuda, BermudaMaritime Museum Press, 2004)

Harris, Edward C., Bermuda Forts, 1612–1957 (Bermuda, Bermuda Maritime MuseumPress, 1997)

Harris, Edward C., Great Guns of Bermuda, A Guide to the Principal Forts of the Bermuda

Islands (Bermuda, Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, second printing, 1992)

Harris, Edward C., Heritage Matters: Essays on thehistory of Bermuda (Volumes 1, 2 and 3) (National Museum of Bermuda Press, 2007,2008, 2010)

Hayward, Stuart J., Gomez, Vicki Holt and Sterrer, Wolfgang, Bermuda’s Delicate Balance(Bermuda, Bermuda National Trust, 1982)

Hayward, Walter B., Bermuda Past and Present (New York, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1910)Heyl, Edith Stowe Godfrey (ed.), Bermuda Through the Camera of James B. Heyl 1868–

1897 (Glasgow, Robert MacLehose andCompany, 1951)

Hodgson, Eva N., Second Class Citizens, First Class Men (Bermuda, The Writers’ Machine,third edition, 1997)

Hunter, Barbara Harries, The People of Bermuda: Beyond the Crossroads (Bermuda, BarbaraHarries Hunter, 1993)

Ingham, Jennifer M., Defence Not Defiance: A History of the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps(Bermuda, Jennifer M. Ingham, 1992)

Ives, Vernon (ed.), The Rich Papers, Letters From Bermuda, 1615–1646 (Bermuda, BermudaNational Trust, 1984)

Jarvis, Michael, In the Eye of All Trade: Bermuda, Bermudians, and the Maritime Atlantic World,1680-1783 (University of North CarolinaPress, 2010)

Jones, John Matthew, The Naturalist in Bermuda.

A Sketch of the Geology, Zoology and Botany(London, Reeves & Turner, 1859)

Jones, Rosemary, Bermuda: Five Centuries for Young People (Panatel, 2009)

Jourdan, Silvanus, The Discovery of the Barmudas (London, 1610) (facsimile edition)Kennedy, Jean, Isle of Devils, Bermuda Under the Somers Island Company 1609–1685 (Glasgow,William Collins Sons & Co., 1971)

Kerr, Wilfred Brenton, Bermuda and the American Revolution: 1760–1783 (Bermuda, BermudaMaritime Museum Press, 1995) (facsimileedition)

Klein, Herbert S., The Atlantic Slave Trade (New York, Cambridge University Press, 1999)Lefroy, Major General Sir John Henry, Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of the

Bermudas or Somers Islands (1511–1687)(Volumes I and II) (Bermuda, reprinted bythe Bermuda Historical Society and theBermuda National Trust, 1981)

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McCallan, E. A., Life on Old St. David’s, Bermuda (Bermuda, Bermuda Historical Society, second edition, 1986)

McDowall, Duncan, Another World: Bermuda and the Rise of Modern Tourism (London,MacMillan Education Ltd., 1999)

Mudd, Patricia Marirea, Portuguese Bermudians, Early History and Reference Guide 1849–1949(Louisville, Kentucky, Historical ResearchPublishers, 1991)

Packwood, Cyril Outerbridge, Chained on the Rock (Bermuda, The Island Press, 1975)Philip, Ira, Freedom Fighters: From Monk to Mazumbo (London, Akira Press, 1987)Plowman, Piers and Card, Stephen J., Queen of Bermuda and the Furness Bermuda Line(Bermuda, Bermuda Maritime MuseumPress, 2002)

Raymond, Jocelyn Motyer, Saturday’s Children: A Journey from Darkness into Light, Bermuda,

1850 (Bermuda, Arrowroot Press, 1994)Robinson, Kenneth E., Heritage, Including an Account of Bermudian Builders, Pilots and

Petitioners of the Early Post-Abolition Period1834–1849 (London, MacMillan EducationLtd., The Berkeley Educational Society, 1979)

Rushe, George, Bermuda: As a Matter of Fact (Bermuda, George Rushe, fifth edition, 1988)Simons, Tamell (photog.), Date With Destiny, A Photographic History (Bermuda, BaobabPublishing, 1999)

Smith, James E., Slavery in Bermuda (New York, Vantage Press, 1976)Stark, James H., Stark’s Illustrated Bermuda Guide (Boston, James H. Stark, 1902)Stranack, Ian, The Andrew and the Onions, The

Story of the Royal Navy in Bermuda 1795–1975(Bermuda, Bermuda Maritime MuseumPress, 1990)

Strode, Hudson, The Story of Bermuda (New York, Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, 1932)Thomas, Martin J., The Natural History of Bermuda (Bermuda, Bermuda ZoologicalSociety, 2004)

Thomas, Martin J., A Naturalist’s Field Guide to Bermuda (Bermuda Zoological Society, 2010)

Trimingham, R.W., Under the Calabash Tree: 150 Years of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club(Bermuda, The Bermudian PublishingCompany, 1996)

Tucker, Terry, Bermuda’s Story (Bermuda, Bermuda Bookstores, 1959)Tucker, Terry, Bermuda: Unintended Destination 1609–1610 (Bermuda, The Island Press, second printing, 1982)

Verrill, Addison E., The Bermuda Islands (New York, Addison Verrill, 1902)Wells, Carveth, Bermuda in Three Colours (New York, Robert M. McBride & Company, 1935)Wilkinson, Henry C., The Adventurers of Bermuda (London, Oxford University Press,1933)

Wilkinson, Henry C., Bermuda in the Old Empire (London, Oxford University Press, 1950)Wilkinson, Henry C., Bermuda From Sail to Steam, A History of the Island From 1784 to

1901 (Volumes I & II) (London, OxfordUniversity Press, 1973)

Williams, Malcolm E., Sousa, Peter T. and Harris, Edward C., Coins of Bermuda (Bermuda,Bermuda Monetary Authority, 1997)

Williams, Ronald John, Bermudiana (New York/Toronto, Rinehart & Company, 1946)Winchester, Simon, Outposts: Journeys to the surviving relics of the British Empire (GreatBritain, Sceptre, 1988)

Woodward, Hobson, A Brave Vessel: The True Taleof the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown andInspired Shakespeare’s The Tempest (Viking, 2009)

Woolcock, Peter, Woppened 14, The Year in Review: 2001–2002, Cartoons for The Royal Gazette(Bermuda, The Royal Gazette, 2002)

Writers’ Machine, The, Mazumbo, 1994Zuill, William, Bermuda Sampler, 1815–1850 (Suffolk, England, Richard Clay & Sons,1937)

Zuill, William, Horsewhips in High Places: The Turbulent Decade 1819–29 (Bermuda, TheHamilton Press, 1976)

Zuill, W. S., The Story of Bermuda and Her People (London, MacMillan Caribbean, MacMillanPublishers, second edition, 1983)

Websites

www.bermudabiographies.bm


TIMELINE 1505–1684

1505 Spaniard

Juan de Bermúdez

discovers island on

a homeward journey

from New World

1511 Bermuda

makes its world

debut on woodcut

map in Peter Martyr’s

Legatio Babylonica

1525 Spain sends

Estevão Gomez to

survey island; no

map survives

1603 Spaniard Diego

Ramirez lands on

Bermuda, detailing

a land of plenty

1609 England claims

Bermuda after Sea

Venture wrecks en

route to Jamestown

1612 The first

English settlers, with

Governor Richard

Moore, arrive aboard

the Plough

1505 Spanish

carrying slaves

from Africa to

the West Indies

1515 Ottoman

Turks build Empire,

to include Egypt,

North Africa and

most of Middle East

1520 Coffee and

chocolate become key

New-World exports to

Europe

1607 Captain John

Smith founds the first

colony at James Fort,

Virginia

1610 Astronomer

Galileo publishes his

telescope discoveries

about Venus

1611 King James

Bible is published

in England

BERM

UDA

WOR

LD


1690 The island’s

population numbers

5,889, of whom

4,152 are white

and 1,737 black

1700 The Bermuda

‘fleet’ counts 60

sloops, six brigantines

and at least 400

two-masted boats

1712 Bermudians

use more limestone

to build houses after

heavy hurricanes

strike island

1755 Bermuda sells

130,000 bushels of

salt a year to North

America at height of

salt trade

1761 The island is

struck by serious

slave revolt and

smallpox epidemic

1775 Thieves steal

gunpowder from St.

George’s for George

Washington’s armies

1692 Witch trials

captivate the

community of Salem,

Massachusetts

1695 The Ashanti

kingdom expands and

prospers on West

Africa’s Gold Coast

1700 Bach, Händel

and Vivaldi bring

Baroque music to its

height in Europe

1759 Britain defeats

French forces in

Quebec, Canada

1770 Captain

James Cook gets

to Australia after

exploring the

South Pacific

1783 Britain and

America sign peace

accord, making official

the United States of

America

BERM

UDA

WOR

LD


1849 Fifty-eight men,

women and children

from Madeira are

first Portuguese

immigrants

1851 Record crop

shipment to New

York includes

onions, tomatoes

and arrowroot

1871 Causeway

links St. George’s

to the main island,

replacing ferry

1879 First police

force is created: nine

full-time officers and

21 part-time parish

constables

1883 The visit of

Princess Louise

marks celebrity launch

of Bermuda tourism

1887 Telephone

service is installed

between Hamilton

and St. George’s

1840 Britain issues

first postage stamp,

the Penny Black,

a prelude to postal

service

1860 David

Livingstone

explores Africa’s

Zambezi River

1861 Breakaway

of southern states

launches four-year

American Civil War

1865 North wins US

Civil War; slavery is

abolished; Abraham

Lincoln assassinated

1877 European

powers race to

colonise inner Africa,

seeking new markets

and resources

1878 British scientist

Joseph Swan invents

the lightbulb

BERM

UDA

WOR

LD


1919 Island’s first

union, Bermuda

Union of Teachers,

established

1923 Last objector

evicted from Tucker’s

Town as construction

of mega-homes and

golf-course begins

1930 Bermuda’s first

radio station opens,

broadcast from Front

Street store

1931 Inaugural

Hamilton-to-Somerset

journey of the

Bermuda Railway

1934 Severn Bridge

finally links St. David’s

to St. George’s parish

1937 Imperial

Airways offers first

commercial flights,

to Port Washington,

New York

1918 British women

over the age of 30

win right to vote;

world flu epidemic

kills 20 million

1920 Manufacture

and sale of alcohol

banned in US under

Prohibition

1927 US releases

first “talkie” (movie

with soundtrack),

The Jazz Singer

1929 Mahatma

Gandhi leads

campaign of non-

violent resistance for

Indian independence

1930 USSR dictator

Josef Stalin crushes

peasant farmers

under harsh regime

1934 Chinese

Communists led by

Mao Zedong plot to

take over their country

BERM

UDA

WOR

LD


1946 Law is changed

to allow motor cars for

public use in Bermuda

1951 The Royal

Naval Dockyard

closes

1955 Islanders tune

in to first TV station

broadcasting from

US base

1959 Cinema boycott

spurs desegregation

in churches, hotels,

restaurants

1968 UBP wins

first general election

contested by

political parties

1970 Currency goes

decimal, replacing

pounds and shillings

with dollars and cents

1946 Nazi leaders on

trial for war crimes in

Nuremburg, Germany

1947 UN agrees to

split Palestine into

Arab and Jewish

states, a move

fought by Arabs

1953 Edmund Hillary

and Sherpa Tensing

conquer the top of the

world, Mount Everest

1955 Europe’s

Communist states

sign military treaty,

the Warsaw Pact

1962 Jamaica,

Trinidad and Tobago

become independent;

Barbados follows

four years later

1969 US astronaut

Neil Armstrong takes

first steps on moon;

600 million watch

via live TV

BERM

UDA

WOR

LD

09 timelines_Layout 1 3/24/11 12:58 PM

BERM

UDA

WOR

LD

1616 Bermudian

expedition to West

Indies collects slaves

to replace English

labourers

1617 Mathematician

Richard Norwood

surveys the island

for shareholders

1620 House of

Assembly holds

first session, a

step towards

self-government

1650 Scores of

English immigrants

cross the Atlantic

to Bermuda and

America

1668 Bermuda

captain discovers

Turks Islands;

colonists to make

fortunes from salt

1684 Rigid trading

laws end as Bermuda

becomes an English

Crown Colony

1616 European

powers open trading

posts along West

Africa’s Gold Coast

1618 The Thirty

Years’ War, between

Catholics and

Protestants,

embroils Europe

1620 Pilgrims set

sail from Plymouth,

England for

Massachusetts on

the Mayflower

1625 The Dutch

establish New

Amsterdam (site of

New York today)

1654 First sugarcane

plantations develop

in the Caribbean,

to be worked by

slave labour

1690 The Mogul

Empire reaches its

zenith, controlling

Afghanistan and

parts of India

BERM

UDA

WOR

LD

1784 The premier

issue of The Bermuda

Gazette, the island’s

first newspaper, is

published

1809 Navy begins

work to construct

‘Fortress Bermuda’

at the Royal Naval

Dockyard

1815 General

Assembly meets in

new capital, Hamilton,

for the first time

1823 English and Irish

convicts are shipped

as cheap labour to

Dockyard

1825 Church of

England establishes

school system for

black Bermudians

1834 Two abolition

acts take effect on

August 1, ending 200

years of slavery

1796 Smallpox

vaccine is introduced

to England

1805 Britain regains

supremacy at sea,

defeating Napoleon in

the Battle of Trafalgar

1807 British abolish

the slave trade, but

slavery stays legal for

nearly 30 years

1825 England’s first

passenger railroad

opens; steam-driven

locomotives become

common

1832 American

Samuel Morse

invents the electric

telegraph, used to

send Morse code

1837 Queen

Victoria’s reign

begins, launching

an era of progress

and innovation

BERM

UDA

WOR

LD

1894 West Indians

begin migrating to

Bermuda, after sugar

economy collapses

1897 Berkeley

Institute opens on

Court Street as first

multi-racial school

1901 Island’s

population now

numbers 17,535;

of whom 3,000

are West Indians

1902 Two-day

Somerset vs.

St. George’s cricket

matches starts

Cup Match tradition

1904 Bermuda

Electric Light Power

Company supplies

first street lamps

1915 BVRC soldiers

leave for war-torn

France, followed

by BMA troops

1890 Battle of

Wounded Knee

marks the final

massacre of Native

Americans in US

1899 The Boer War

(to 1902); prisoners

sent for internment

in Bermuda the

following year

1906 Coca-Cola

goes international;

within 20 years

Coke is world’s

best-known brand

1909 Plastic is

invented in the US;

first used for billiard

balls and buttons

1917 Czar Nicholas

overthrown by

Lenin-led Communists

in Russian Revolution

1918 Allied forces

win First World

War after bloody

four-year conflict

BERM

UDA

WOR

LD

1939 Bermuda

troops prepare to

join Allies in war

against Germany

1940 Britain

announces deal

to lease Bermuda

land to America for

military bases

1941 Bermuda

Workers Association,

later Bermuda

Industrial Union,

is founded

1942 US pilots and

Royal Navy fleets

make Bermuda HQ

for attacking German

U-boats

1944 Bermuda’s

land-owning women

win 20-year campaign

for right to vote

1945 Islanders

celebrate Victory in

Europe (VE) Day

on May 8 with

public holiday

1939 Hitler’s troops

invade Poland on

September 1,

triggering Second

World War

1940 Penicillin is

discovered and the

Xerox photocopier

invented

1941 Japan captures

Singapore, Malaya,

the Philippines, Hong

Kong, Burma and

Indonesia

1941 US enters war

after Japanese attack

on fleet at Pearl

Harbour, Hawaii

1945 US drops

atomic bomb on

Hiroshima, killing

80,000; war ends

1945 United Nations

founded to avoid

future wars through

mediation

BERM

UDA

WOR

LD

1973 Governor Sir

Richard Sharples and

aide Hugh Sayers are

assassinated at

Government House

1977 Street riots

protest the hangings

of killers Larry Tacklyn

and Erskine Burrows

1987 Tourism reaches

an all-time record

of almost 630,000

visitors a year

1998 First PLP

government wins

landslide election

victory

2001 Bermudians

killed in New York’s

9/11 attack; security

tightened around

island

2011 Gang shootings,

overdevelopment,

costly healthcare and

education standards

top island concerns

1970 First “jumbo”

jet flies from New

York to London

1982 Scientists

identify the AIDS

virus, and discover

a hole in the ozone

layer over Antarctica

1990 Apartheid ends

in South Africa and

jailed black leader

Nelson Mandela

goes free

1991 The World Wide

Web, created by

British scientist Tim

Berners-Lee, makes

its public debut

2003 US captures

Iraq dictator Saddam

Hussein, who denies

building ‘weapons of

mass destruction’

2008 African-

American Barack

Obama becomes

the 44th President

of the United States

09 timelines_Layout 1 3/24/11 12:58 PM

BermudaFIVE CENTURIES

Teachers Guide

efive centuries resource lo

Documents

lesson plan materialsprogress

lesson plan materialscall

lesson plan materialsfrom

lesson plan materialsthe

paththis teachers guide

special teachers guide

social studies lesson

madebermuda history