A Brave Vessel: The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown and Inspired Shakespeare'sThe Tempest [Hardcover]

Hobson Woodward (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 9, 2009

A gripping tale of shipwreck and survival that changed the fate of the colonies and enriched our literary legacy

In 1609, aspiring writer William Strachey set sail aboard the Sea Venture, bound for the New World. Caught in a hurricane, the ship separated from its fleet and wrecked on uninhabited Bermuda, a bountiful island paradise its passengers would inhabit for nearly a year before reaching their intended destination, the famine-stricken colony of Jamestown. Strachey's meticulous account of the wreck, the castaways' time on Bermuda, and their arrival in a devastated Jamestown was read by his contemporaries and remains among the most vivid writings of the early colonial period. Following the life of this ordinary man, Hobson Woodward tells one of the neglected but defining stories of America's founding.

Strachey had literary aspirations and sought to capitalize on his epic experience, but his writings did not bring him the acclaim he sought. Only in the hands of another William would his tale of the wreck and its aftermath make history as The Tempest. A Brave Vessel is the fascinating account of a near-miss in the settling of Virginia, the true story behind one of Shakespeare's great plays, and the tragedy of the man who failed as an author but who contributed to the creation of a masterpiece.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this well-written and expertly paced work of popular scholarship, Woodward, an associate editor of the Adams papers, tells the story of William Strachey, an aspiring poet whose chronicle of a disastrous sea voyage and its aftermath had a profound influence on Shakespeare's The Tempest. Strachey is a fine figure for historical resurrection—he was good friends with John Donne and a passenger on pioneering journeys to the New World, which eventually brought him, aboard the Sea Venture, to Bermuda and the infant Jamestown colony in Virginia. Woodward draws heavily on Strachey's written narrative, often to marvelous effect. This is particularly true of the dramatic storm scenes, in which the entire crew of the Sea Venture nearly perished. Through Strachey, Woodward tells of the conflicts that divided the crew after making landfall in Bermuda and the hardships of replenishing a starving Jamestown's supplies. The heart of the book is Woodward's recreation of Strachey's viewing of The Tempest, which affords the author the opportunity to catalogue the narrative and linguistic parallels between the Sea Venture's travails and the play—fascinating fodder for the committed Shakespearean source hunter. Maps. (July 13)
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Review

" At once a penetrating work of literary analysis and a riveting historical narrative."
-Nathaniel Philbrick

"At once a penetrating work of literary analysis and a riveting historical narrative, Hobson Woodward's A Brave Vessel reveals the salty survival tale at the heart of Shakespeare's New World masterpiece, The Tempest."
-Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower

"On the 400th anniversary of the Sea Venture's wreck on Bermuda, Hobson Woodward recounts the events and personalities of the voyage, the island refuge, and the early Jamestown Colony. He tells the story with accuracy and verve, and makes a compelling case for Shakespeare's indebtedness to William Strachey when writing The Tempest. Woodward's Brave Vessel is learned, lucid, and engrossing."
-Alden Vaughan, Professor emeritus of History at Columbia University and coeditor of the Arden edition of The Tempest

A Brave Vessel is a real-life story of heroism and human ambition as thrilling as any Hollywood fiction. Injecting popular history with a wealth of little-known detail, it traces a fascinating story of unlikely survival-and the impact a single, freak event in the mid-Atlantic had on the fortunes of America's birthplace and the world's greatest playwright. Woodward immerses us in the mindset of 17-century colonists and the immense challenges and tragedies of their endeavor. He entwines true events with their literary spin-offs, and in doing so, brings both to life.
-Rosemary Jones, author, Bermuda: Five Centuries --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (July 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670020966
• ISBN-13: 978-0670020966
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #553,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars William Strachey and William Shakespeare January 29, 2011

By Michael Gunther

Format:Hardcover

In 1609 the English ship "Sea Venture," flagship of a relief fleet for the Jamestown colony in Virginia, was caught in a violent hurricane and wrecked on the Bermuda coast, miraculously with no loss of life. Much to the voyagers' surprise, the ill-reputed island provided them a comfortable existence, with abundant wood, water, fish, and food for almost a year; eventually they built two new ships and completed the voyage to Jamestown.

This true story, widely thought to form the basis for Shakespeare's play "The Tempest," was retold by several authors in 2009, the 400th anniversary of the voyage, including well-received books by Glover & Smith, and Caleb Johnson. The book reviewed here, Hobson Woodward's "A Brave Vessel," focuses attention on William Strachey, the expedition's secretary, whose account of the voyage eventually made its way back to England, and probably came to Shakespeare's notice at that time. The majority of Woodward's book, though, is about the expedition itself, and related events in Jamestown; it is only the final chapter or two that compare Strachey's factual account to Shakespeare's imaginative play. These chapters are inspired by the research of other scholars, that Woodward has summarized into a popular and readable account. The book includes substantial endnotes and bibliography.

Woodward's straightforward writing, and the interest of the voyage both in real-life adventure and the literary gold that Shakespeare mined from it, make this book a pleasant addition to the story of Jamestown.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on many fronts August 13, 2012

By Margaret Catherine

Format:Hardcover

I had expected to mostly skim this book, but I ended up devouring every word. (Okay, I did skim the chapters where Strackey was in Virginia because by then I was anxious to read about his return to England and about The Tempest.) I wish I had this book when I was a college freshman because there are so many starting places for papers for history, literature, sociology. The bibliography and Woodward's notes are extensive and specific. I can also see its value for Speech 101; I always found selecting a topic for the speech was the hardest part of each assignment.

A truly fascinating story behind the play as well as a detailed description of travel conditions in the 17th century.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A gripping tale, well-told July 3, 2012

By Douglas Vanderweide

Format:Hardcover

An incredibly gripping retelling of the wreck of the Sea Venture.

As the subtitle notes, the Sea Venture, part of a 1609 relief convoy for the Jamestown colony, was intentionally wrecked on Bermuda after barely surviving a hurricane.

Hobson Woodward devotes the first pages of his book to detailing the life circumstances of William Strachey, a formerly well-to-do aspiring writer who saw the Jamestown colony as a chance to become famous as a New World chronicler.

The majority of the book mostly rephrases Strachey's account of the storm, the time spent on Bermuda, and the year or so Strachey spent in Jamestown, following the self-redemption of the castaways.

Woodward's ability to paint a vivid picture of these events -- calling upon Strachey's words sparingly and appropriately, bringing in supporting facts and arguments ably and intelligently -- is truly impressive.

It's as much good journalism as good prose, and it makes it close to impossible to put down the roughly 200 pages of actual narrative.

The only disappointment I found in this work -- and the only reason I can't give it five stars -- is near the end of the book, when William Shakespeare's The Tempest is introduced to us.

Woodward chooses to take flights of fancy here, placing Strachey in the Blackfriars Theater of London, and narrating his possible thoughts as he watched the play unfold. That's a radical departure from the tone of the previous narrative, and the most charitable term I can find for some of the parallels Woodward draws between The Tempest and Strachey's diaries is "equivocal."

That aside, taken as a history, A Brave Vessel is an exceptional work, one that can easily be devoured in an afternoon; or, broken up into short chapters, consumed in a week's worth of bedtime reading.