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 of the early colonial period. Following the life of this ordinary man, Hobson Woodward, associate editor of the Adams papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society, tells one of the neglected but defining stories of America’s founding.
Later, this tale gets in the hands of another William–Shakespeare, that is–as he was inspired to write his play The Tempest. A Brave Vessel is a fascinating account of a near-miss in the settling of Virginia; the true story of one of Shakespeare’s great plays; and the tragedy of the man who failed as an author but contributed to the creation of a masterpiece.
Honson Woodward will speak, author of A Brave Vessel will speak at the the 1699 Isaac Winslow House in Marshfield, MA on August 14th at 7:00 PM.
“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