125+ web files in a constantly updated compendium on Bermuda's business, culture, cuisine, customs, districts, economy, education, food, geography, government, history, internet access, laws, parishes, politics, religions, traditions, wildlife etc. For tourists, business visitors, employers, employees, newcomers, researchers, retirees, scholars. Funded by and linked to The Royal Gazette, Bermuda's only daily newspaper.

Bermuda's ties with USA

85% of all tourists and business visitors and more than 75% of all imports come from America

By Keith Archibald Forbes (see About Us) at exclusively for Bermuda Online

To refer to this web file, please use "bermuda-online.org/usa.htm" as your Subject. 

For decades, the US Consul General's official home was "Chelston," 12,000 square feet, on a 14 acre estate off up market Grape Bay Drive in Paget Parish, but was sold for about US$ 15 million as part of a US Government drive to cut costs. A new, more modest house was then rented, Mangrove View, on Mangrove Drive, off the South Road. Since then, a house in Tucker's Town was rented

Bermuda’s US Consul General, appointed in 2005, is Gregory Slayton, a firm Bush supporter. Mr. Slayton once lived on every continent in the world. He studied economics at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and, as a Fulbright Scholar, received a Masters in Asian Studies from the University of the Philippines. His academic focus on economic development led him to spend a number of years in Asia then Africa where he managed micro-credit and economic development programs for the poor and disadvantaged. After acute viral hepatitis,  he couldn’t go back to the third world for at least five years so went to Harvard Business School, where he earned an MBA  and by the early 1990s went to Silicon Valley where he became an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. From December 1997 to December 2002, he led ClickAction, Inc., formerly a publicly traded company that developed email marketing automation solutions before being sold to Info USA. Just before becoming Consul General, he was managing director of Slayton Capital, a private venture capital firm headquartered in Virginia with offices in California. His interest in politics began in college when he was a Democrat and strong supporter of Jimmy Carter and others. Later in life he switched sides and now has many friends in the Bush administration after serving as co-chairman of the Silicon Valley Bush 2000 fundraising committee. Mr. Slayton sees his role as US Consul General as a multi-faceted one with the first priority to take care of the estimated 8,000 American citizens living on the Island. Another is to make sure that there is productive dialogue between Bermuda and the US government. He speaks five languages, his wife Marina  four. He occasionally co-teaches at the Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. His wife has dual masters in Education from Columbia University. Her specialty is adult literacy. They have four children aged 4-14. 

At the Consulate, special security precautions are in place. The Bermuda facility has a nine-foot high perimeter wall/fence; a vehicle barrier and access control center at the entrance gate; hardened interior walls around the building; and installation of blast-proof windows. Additionally, there is now be a secure Controlled Access Center (CAC) building for most routine work, but in the shape of a Bermuda cottage. Non immigrant visa applications and other services are on specified days.  

For the US Presidential election in November 2008 the US Consulate in Hamilton educates American citizens residing in Bermuda on how to cast absentee ballots (a democratic system unfortunately not available in less democratic Bermuda). In late January 2008 US State Department Chief Voting officer Jack Markey was in Bermuda to lay out all options for voting for the estimated 8,000 Americans living here. The Federal Voting Assistance Programme is a US Government scheme that helps the millions of US military and Americans abroad understand the US voting process while encouraging participation in US elections. Since voting in the US is handled on a state-by-state basis, Americans living overseas are eligible to participate in elections by first registering with their home state and requesting an absentee ballot. Then, the appropriate state will mail out a blank ballot to you, at a specific time prior to the US Presidential election, which will be officially held on November 4, 2008. Conveniently, many states now allow voters to use a fax machine instead of mail, with a few allowing e-mail. Elections in the United States are not run by our federal government, but by state and local governments. Each US State has its own rules and deadlines for voting. Voters are urged to check the official US government web site, www.fvap.gov, to learn about their state's voter eligibility requirements, procedures and deadlines, and to request ballots now so they can vote in elections throughout the year. Voting Assistance Officers at US embassies and Consulates and voting volunteers in the American community are available to provide forms and answer questions. American citizens in Bermuda can contact the US Consulate in person or by email at votehamilton@state.gov. In order to receive an absentee ballot in a timely manner, it is imperative for citizens to keep their local election officials informed of any address changes. This is one of the many consular services the Consulate provide to United States citizens, helping them with a basic right, the right to vote in US elections even when not present physically.  

American Naval Base in Bermuda in Great War 1914-1918

On April 6, 1917, three years after the Great War for Britain and her European allies, the United States finally declared war on Germany. American naval vessels sailed from US East Coast ports bound for Bermuda, to use Bermuda as a base. And just over two weeks later, on April 24, one-time Bermuda visitor President Woodrow Wilson signed into American law the Liberty Loan Act, a war finance measure which authorized the issue of bonds to be sold by public subscription and provided loans to Allied Powers to enable them to purchase food and war supplies from the USA.

American Army, Navy, Air Force bases in Bermuda 1941-1995

American Military Personnel in Bermuda 1941 to 1995

Bermuda is not part of the USA but a foreign country with its own laws and requires valid passports from:

• All Americans (who number about 85% of all visitors, See Bermuda's Links with USA) traveling to Bermuda from USA.  

• Before they arrive, American visitors should note that the US Government has implemented new regulations that require all those traveling to Bermuda and from here to the USA by air - meaning  on commercial flights, charter flights, private planes and corporate planes, or by sea - to travel on a valid passport, required to be inspected and approved by US authorities before or when they reach the USA. The USA's Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 requires this. Further details can be obtained from the US Consulate in Bermuda. Machine-readable passports are preferred; however, Americans, Bermudians, and Canadians with valid passports that are not machine-readable may continue to use those passports until they expire. 

•  

  • Non-citizens of the USA must also carry a US Green Card showing them to be legal registered aliens there, if entering Bermuda from USA 

  • Britons (5% of all visitors, see Bermuda's Links with the UK):

  • Canadians (5% of all visitors). See Bermuda's Links with Canada file.

  • Non-citizens of Canada or the United Kingdom must have an appropriate travel visa from Canada or the United Kingdom if entering Bermuda and not a citizen of that country.

  • Nationals of other countries (5% of all visitors).

  • All adults and children - irrespective of nationality - should have individual official passports from their country of birth or domicile to enter Bermuda. It is the only way of confirming and proving both your nationality and your identity. Birth certificates and drivers' licenses, not issued by countries but merely by sub divisions of them, don't show such confirmation or proof. Travel documents for all must be shown to Bermuda Immigration on arrival.

  All adults and children - irrespective of nationality - should have individual official passports from their country of birth or domicile to enter Bermuda. It is the only way of confirming and proving both your nationality and your identity. Birth certificates and drivers' licenses, not issued by countries but merely by States or places that don't have official representation outside their jurisdictions, don't show such confirmation or proof and can be easily faked, but passports cannot. Only these are regarded as proper travel documents for all  and must be shown to Bermuda Immigration on arrival. Non-citizens of the USA, Britain and Canada must also carry a Green Card or equivalent, showing them to be legal registered aliens there and have a valid US or UK or Canadian re-entry permit if entering Bermuda from the USA or UK or Canada and not a citizen of that country.

Traveling from Bermuda to USA

• From January 8, 2007, all travelers of all nationalities, including American citizens, going to and from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Panama, Mexico and Canada must have a valid official passport to enter or re-enter the United States. Other regulations will require that visa applications to Bermuda via the USA or from Bermuda to the USA for those thinking of going from Bermuda to live and/or work in the USA be completed online. Bermudians and others who did not previously require U.S. visas (e.g. Canadians, UK citizens) will NOT be required to obtain visas. British citizens traveling on British passports do not require a visa for most short trips, but must have a machine-readable passport. Further details, including if any traveler is in doubt as to whether a visa is required, can be obtained from the US Consulate in Bermuda. Travelers who do need visas and wish to apply at the latter are required to complete an application on-line. On October 15, 2006, the Consulate stopped accepting handwritten or  typed application forms. Visa applicants may also access the forms at http://evisaforms.state.gov from their personal internet accounts or from public terminals, such as libraries or internet cafes.  A link to this site will be available on the Consulate's website as well.  Forms should be completed on-line, then printed out and brought to the Consulate.  Applicants will still be required to appear in person to pay the necessary fees and have fingerscans taken. 

New US visa rules for visiting passengers not American, British, Canadian or designated other nationalities when entering Bermuda from USA or leaving via USA.

A part list of countries whose citizens were not previously required to have a visa or passport for travel to the USA from Bermuda or via the USA to any other country, but who are now required to hold both valid modern machine-readable passports after October 26, 2004 and visa for travel to/from the USA  and Bermuda. Please note that while they may go to the USA for 90 days or less once they have both a passport and US Visa, they may go to Bermuda for only 21 days or less, if not an approved resident. Citizens of countries not mentioned below should consult their local US Embassy or Consulate.

Countries participating in the Visa Waiver program

Their citizens need only a modern machine-readable passport after October 26, 2004, not a visa, to go via USA to Bermuda or Bermuda via USA back home or wherever. Please note that while they may go to the USA for 90 days or less, they may go to Bermuda for only 21 days or less.

Announced in December 2007 as a new educational and cultural partnership between Bermuda and the USA. It was approved by the US State Department following talks between Premier Ewart Brown and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier in 2007. It will bring together leaders from both countries to discuss ideas relating to areas such as public safety and education. Also, Members of Congress and other Congressional staff will come to Bermuda and participate in speeches, round table discussions and other brainstorming activities. The program will be administered by the Cabinet Office of the Bermuda Government and will include exchanges between Bermuda's Government Ministries and members of the United States Senate, the House of Representatives and their Congressional staffs.

Bermuda has unique connections with the USA in history, commerce, culture, education, tourism and trade 

Bermuda's role in early American colonial chronology was significant. They began in 1609 when the islands were colonized by English Admiral Sir George Somers. Bermuda was part of Britain's American empire, referred to in London as "His Majesty's Islands of the Bermudas or Somer's Isles in America" - thus Bermuda is NOT part of the Caribbean (as far to the south as Dallas, Texas is from New York). 

Many resident Americans are married to Bermudians and many American businesses deal directly with Bermudians. It also serves American businesses which incorporate in Bermuda to avoid US taxes but still have their principal offices in the USA. 

Many locals have family members, friends or colleagues, or send their children to schools and universities in the USA. Virtually all do most of their shopping there, to escape vastly higher prices in Bermuda at retail level even though they cannot escape Bermuda Government import duties of about 25 percent of the value of their purchases when they return home as Bermuda allows its residents only $100 worth of duty free goods acquired abroad per person. More than 90 percent of all Bermuda's 450,000 annual visitors and 70 percent of all Bermuda's imports come from the USA. And more than 75 percent of all Bermuda's international business operations are owned by Americans.

Bermuda's principal and most principled news agencies, beyond The Royal Gazette and other local media, are the American Television and radio stations ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC. 

Basics

General Election 18 December 2007

Between The Progressive Labour Party (PLP) - in Government since 1998 - and United Bermuda Party (UBP) - in Opposition. The PLP remained as the Government by winning 22 seats to the UBP's 14. The UBP lost several key seats.

American visitors to Bermuda like going from a millions more square miles country (3.535 million square miles in total, with a population of 278.059 million, or an average of 79 persons per square mile) and hundreds or thousands of times bigger states but with a hugely smaller population density per square mile (as shown below by state) to the tiny (21 square miles) island of Bermuda.

USA statistics

1. States in alphabetical order by name and motto

2. States in alphabetical order, by name and motto

Other US areas over 68 square miles each

Employment in Bermuda

Quite a few Americans live and work in Bermuda. They are very welcome but do not have the same freedoms in residing and working without restrictions as they have elsewhere. Americans visiting Bermuda on business or vacation or as professional newcomers cannot get Bermuda citizenship or vote or buy real estate at the same price as Bermudians - unless they marry Bermudians. Any children born here are not legally Bermudians unless one parent is Bermudian.

See these files:

• Newcomer's Guide to Bermuda
• Associations & groups
• Bermuda Islands
• Bermuda as a British Overseas territory in the British Commonwealth
• Bermuda banking
• Bermuda Basics
• Bermuda Cost of Living
• Bermuda a Leading Domicile in Insurance
• Bermuda Captive Insurance Brokers and Managers
• Bermuda Government
• Bermuda Employers
• Bermuda International Business
• Education in Bermuda
• Electricity costs
• Gasoline (petrol) costs
• Home costs
• Hospitals and Health Support Groups in Bermuda
• Insurance Advantages of a Bermuda-based Insurer
• LP Gas costs
• Portfolio of International Businesses in Bermuda
• Senior citizens. How they compare in benefits with those elsewhere.
• Work Permits for non-Bermudians

Why Bermuda is nominally British

See American, British, Bermudian, Canadian  & European History from 1500.

Bermuda's first links with the USA in 1609

See the web file on Admiral Sir George Somers. Earliest Bermuda colonists  were mourned as perished by those in Virginia.

An account of the tempest, its effect on the Relief fleet, colonists and supplies and appalling conditions of all colonists in Virginia was conveyed to England by Captain John Smith (top right). He was the leader of the original 1607 Virginia settlement, repatriated after a serious injury.  He arrived in England in early March, 1610. His news was regarded as a major catastrophe and it soon spread like wildfire all over England.  But the colonists were safe. Aboard two small vessels, "Deliverance and Patience", both built on Bermuda from timbers and rigging from the wrecked "Sea Venture" and native red cedar, the Admiral, Captain, Governor and almost all the colonists reached Jamestown on May 24, 1610.

They - and the prime foodstuffs they brought from Bermuda - received a rapturous welcome from the sixty starving, miserable Virginians who survived the original settlement of 1607 or had not perished in the 1609 tempest en route to Virginia. Letters describing the adventures and safe arrival of "The Lost Flocke Triumphant" were sent and arrived in London in late 1610. They created a major sensation. Captain John Smith became a hero. Sir Thomas Gates became Virginia's Governor. Had it not been for Bermuda, Pocahontas would never have wed Rolfe. He would have died at sea in 1609, instead of surviving on Bermuda until he left for Jamestown in 1610. Admiral Sir George Somers recommended to London that Bermuda be colonized permanently as the role model for all new American mainland British colonies. But the contributions Somers, Bermuda and Rolfe made to American history as early Bermudians have not been mentioned in American history books except in Captain Smith's famous 1624 history.

Bermuda's Early History portrayed in its cultural postage stamps helps compensate for this.

Bermuda's and Virginia's roles in Shakespeare's "The Tempest"

On November 1, 1611, in London, England, at Whitehall, for King James VI of Scotland and I of England and his courtiers, the very first performance was held of the original version of the subsequently world famous work THE TEMPEST, one of his last unassisted major dramatic works, by the illustrious 16th to 17th century British dramatist and playwright William Shakespeare, with the music for this first presentation by the British composer Robert Johnson. This work is very important in classical music history for several reasons, chiefly for its exceptional durability on the world musical stage - albeit in different ways over the years; its value as an inspiration to composers in its 380 years of history; because Shakespeare was exceptionally conscious of the value of music to give his works even more of a dramatic, stirring and lasting presentation; and because whole sections of the original text were lifted virtually word for word from the dramatic accounts of contemporary English writers who survived a shipwreck and then described their first-hand experiences of a particularly interesting and true drama at sea. Given these facts, the real but sadly obscured history of this work is noteworthy indeed, as it shows from precisely where and how Shakespeare received his inspiration.

Shakespeare was among those who read the most detailed and dramatic of "The Lost Flocke Triumphant" letters. They may have been shown to him by his patron Henry Wriothesly, Earl of Southampton (after whom a Bermuda parish is named), an investor in the organization that financed the Third Supply fleet, The Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London for the First Colony of Virginia.

Shakespeare was also acquainted with Admiral Sir George Somers and the author of one of the letters, William Strachey, Secretary (and scribe) of the Virginia Company, one of the original "Island of Devils" castaways, who had been a part time playwright in London. However he got the letter, Shakespeare was so inspired by the story and the tempest account that he employed them in his THE TEMPEST. But with Italian style theater and music then the fashion, he set the work on a vague Italian island with a cast of characters entirely unconnected with the stirring Sea Venture drama.

After the first run of THE TEMPEST, a particularly memorable performance was held early in 1613 for Lady Elizabeth, sister of King James I and the Elector Prince Palatine, Prince Charles. For that performance Shakespeare added a unique epilogue entitled An Episode, or Funeral Song on the most disastrous Death of the high born Prince of Men, Henry, Prince of Wales. It contained a direct allusion to the tempest scene, Bermuda and Virginia in "this kingdom's plight applied in the Prince's death." Since then, there have been countless dramatic and musical productions of THE TEMPEST, all based on Shakespeare's fanciful locale. The text of the work was revised in the 1660s by Sir William Davenant, Shakespeare's reputed godson and produced posthumously in 1674. Later versions were composed by John Bannister, G. B. Draghi, Pelham Humfrey, Pietro Reggio and Matthew Locke for the 1674 revival. A new version, probably by John Weldon (once attributed erroneously to Purcell) was composed about 1710 and published in the 18th century. Then came even more British versions by Dr. Thomas Augustine Arne (as an English opera on November 28, 1740; as first revived on January 31,1746, and then on December 27, 1776); John Christopher Smith (also as an opera, on February 11,1756); and Sir Henry Bishop (as incidental music for the play on May 15, 1821). These were followed by an array of European and more British versions, first by the French composer Hector Berlioz (of 1831, which he later absorbed into his LELIO); Jacques-Francois Fromental Halevy (as the Italian style opera LA TEMPESTA, Paris, on June 8, 1850); then the British composer Sir Arthur Sullivan (as incidental music in Leipzig, Germany, on April 6, 1861 - and revived in London on April 5, 1862).

These were followed by the Russian composer Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (as the symphonic fantasia BURYA, Moscow, December 19, 1873); the American composer John Knowles Paine (with his symphonic poem of circa 1876); the German composer Engelbert Humperdinck (as the incidental music DER STURM, Berlin, on October 26, 1906); the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (as PRELUDE TO THE TEMPEST, New York, 1927); the French-born Swiss composer Arthur Honeggar (with his PRELUDE POUR LA TEMPETE); the Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg (as an opera in Stockholm on September 19, 1949); and the Swiss composer Frank Martin (as the opera DER STURM, Vienna, on June 18, 1956).

But none of these or other older versions of THE TEMPEST have portrayed the real story. Indeed, the saga of the Sea Venture and destinies of those who sailed on her, whose names should be engraved so indelibly in the histories of Great Britain, Bermuda and the United States of America, have been buried in the dusty pages of obscure books, available only to those with a passion for painstaking research. Even entries in various authoritative encyclopedia for Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST and much respected chronologies of early American colonial history, pay scant attention to the historical and geographical facts of such importance.

The saga of the Sea Venture did much more than merely inspire Shakespeare. It impacted dramatically on Britain's New World colonization policies. Virginia was revitalized as a colony. The Somer's Isles, alias Bermuda, were settled in 1612 and this paved the way for Britain to send British emigrants in the USA. Thus Britain began her great American empire, which lasted until 1776.

Bermuda's advantages led to focused British settlement of the USA

In 1612 the Bermuda islands, then known as the Somers Islands as well, were included in the Third Charter of the Virginia Company. A second group of English colonists arrived, this time destined specifically for Bermuda. The Virginia Company charter was revoked in 1684 as far as Bermuda was concerned, which meant that Bermuda became completely independent of Virginia. Until then, Bermuda was also referred to as Virgineola.

Unlike in Jamestown, with a potentially hostile native people, bitter winter weather, chronic shortage of available foodstuffs and other hardships for the colonists to endure, the Bermuda islands offered no such problems. Because they had been previously uninhabited, there were no native people with any resentments or hostilities towards newcomers to deal with and add complications. They were rich in wildlife including herds of wild pigs and edible birds. Their waters were stuffed with fish that could be caught with simple hand lines. Crustaceans and sea turtles nested on the shores in abundance. There was so much food that was easy to harvest with very little effort. Each island was densely forested with a native wood - cedar - that proved easy to cut yet perfect for everything from cooking to home and ship building.

Compared to the shortcomings of Jamestown, these were assets indeed, to lure those who wanted to finance colonial ventures and others to volunteer as colonists. Bermuda's advantages - not those of then unexplored and uncharted mainland places - were what finally persuaded English financiers to invest more funding in colonial American adventures in and beyond Jamestown, despite substantial earlier losses in colonial adventures - and the colonists to participate. It was a flagrantly inaccurate portrayal of what colonial life was like on the vast American mainland 600 miles west of Bermuda, although accurate as far as Bermuda was concerned. But it worked from 1612 to 1620 to spread the word and fire the colonial drive, as the result of which colonization of the east coast of the American continent began in earnest. They led directly to establishment of the Plymouth Colony; Massachusetts Bay Colony; Maryland; Rhode Island; Connecticut; Portsmouth, RI; New Haven, CT; Delaware; Maine; North Carolina; South Carolina; New York; New Jersey; Pennsylvania; and Georgia. Thus the successful colonization of the islands of Bermuda, known as the Bermuda Experience became the example and catalyst that provided the impetus for the funding of the Plymouth Colony expedition (in actuality, originally bound for Virginia) by the Mayflower Pilgrim Separatists in 1620 (until Plymouth's amalgamation with Massachusetts in 1692).

The Bermuda Experience also led to the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the Puritans in 1629; Maryland by Lord Baltimore as a proprietary colony in 1634; Rhode Island by Roger Williams as a self governing colony in 1636; Connecticut, by Thomas Hooker in 1636; Portsmouth, RI, by Mrs. Anne Hutchinson in 1638 (until its merger with Rhode Island proper in 1644); New Haven, CT, by emigrants from Massachusetts in 1638 (until its merger with Connecticut in 1662); and Delaware, by Swedes under British rule in 1638.

Finally, the Bermuda Experience was cited in the creation of Maine, by Sir Ferdinando Gorges in 1639 (until its merger with Massachusetts in 1791, before it again became a separate state later); North Carolina by eight noblemen in 1663; South Carolina, again by eight noblemen, also in 1663; New York, by the Duke of York in 1664; New Jersey, by Berkeley and Cartaret in 1664; Pennsylvania, by William Penn in 1681; and Georgia, by James Oglethorpe in 1732.

Bermuda was important to the American colonies

For an appreciable period, Bermuda sent settlers to the mainland American colonies. It was employed for many years as a transit station in colonial traffic. This was a deliberate policy, for several reasons. One was to treat the colonists gently in terms of continuation of British customs, culture and placidity of environment, before they were sent to the mainland. Another was to weed them out somewhat, to see how they developed as colonists in terms of individual strengths and weaknesses before they were dispatched to places that might suit them best as rewards for good conduct or as further hardships if they were disobedient or troublesome to authorities. Also, because Bermuda was a Royalist colony, not a religious one, it was less strict in religious discipline than the Pilgrim, Puritan and Catholic colonies, as they went through their growing pains and internal political or religious strife on the road to maturity.

Additionally, Bermuda was a place where young men and women fresh out from England could be taught a trade that would be useful to them in the vaster wilderness of the mainland colonies. It was where, because of its untroubled development as a colony since 1612 and relative isolation, some heathen native women of the mainland colonies were exiled, to be converted then married off to single local immigrants, to produce Christian children who would be shipped back to the mainland to help the conversion process among the native peoples.

Religion was exported from them to Bermuda on Cromwell's orders

In Massachusetts, people who were earlier in Bermuda contributed to the gradual demise of the Pilgrim religious influence. But there were some counter prevailing influences as well. For example, during the period of office of Oliver Cromwell and his ilk, the Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay and other New England colonies were not interfered with much from London. But Bermuda was. As a still Royalist leaning colony, it was put under rigid religious discipline by Cromwellian ministers from the two principal New England colonies, on specific orders from London. Thus began an appreciable period for Bermuda first in active religious links, then, more serenely, in commerce and education, with the New England colonies.

Bermuda's Gunpowder Plot provided ammunition for Bunker Hill

Nowhere in America is this mentioned as a local contribution to the American Revolution. Hundreds of barrels of gunpowder, stolen by sympathetic Bermudians from a local British fort, were used by Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill. 

They lost the battle but won the will to keep fighting. 

The Continental Congress was so grateful that it lifted the embargo on food and grain shipments to Bermuda it had applied to all other British held possessions.

Today, in Bermuda, American visitors can see the original letter from George Washington asking Bermudians to steal the gunpowder. British soldiers were brought in to stop Bermudian treachery. 

The Royal Navy used Bermuda as an American and French prisoner of war detention center. The United States and France plotted to capture Bermuda but - except for what happened below - never followed through.

Bermuda and The War of Independence

More details are forthcoming. In the meantime, see Bermuda's History 1700-1799.

Bermuda was invaded briefly by the USA in 1777

In 1777, during the American Revolution, British militia soldiers manned the isolated 17th century battery of Gun Point at what is now near Wreck Hill on Somerset Island of the Colony of Bermuda.  The old fort had a strategic position protecting the West End Channel. It was one of the few passages through the dangerous ring of reefs for sailing ships. The soldiers at the fort had the presence of mind to exchange gunfire with two armed brigs that advanced in a threatening manner although they then flew British colors.

The brigs answered with broadsides from their cannon, lowered their Union Jack flags, hoisted the red, white and blue striped ensign of the United States of America and proceeded to invade Bermuda with landing parties. To avoid meeting this much bigger force, the Bermuda based militia men retreated from the battery. The Americans spiked their guns and destroyed the walls of the fort but were forced to retreat themselves when more local soldiers and a Royal Navy detachment responded to the alarm. The Americans escaped on their ships in what became only the second time in the history of Bermuda that it was invaded. 

Bermuda and The 1812-14 War

More details are forthcoming. In the meantime, see Bermuda's History 1800-1899.htm. 

Bermuda and its role in the "Star Spangled Banner"

In July 1814, during the second British American war, a British Royal Navy fleet assembled in and sailed from Bermuda to successfully attack and burn Washington DC, in retaliation for the American attack on and burning of Yorktown, now Toronto, in Canada. Then it attempted the same thing on Fort McHenry in Baltimore. During that engagement, Francis Scott Key wrote the words of what became the Star Spangled Banner, as a temporary detainee on one of the British warships. The melody is from a bawdy British drinking song by a London based composer. The fleet's voyage ended in Halifax, where hundreds of slaves who had lined the shores of the Pawtuxent River and elsewhere nearby to implore British troops to help them escape from bondage had been rescued and were also on the British warships cheering on and actively assisting the sailors who had set them free, were promptly and officially given their freedom.

Bermuda supplied materials to the South during American Civil War

Much has been written and televised about Bermuda's prominent role during the American Civil War. But to date, very little attention has been directed to the fact that much depended on Canadian shipping support and supplies, principally from Nova Scotia, as the result of which Bermuda prospered mightily during this tragic conflict. Actually, Bermuda was more dependent on Nova Scotia than anywhere else during the Civil War for supplies. Bluenose windjammers sailed under the British flag from Halifax and were never subjected to blockade by the Union Navy en route to Bermuda. One reason for this was the fact that Nova Scotians were very active in participating on the Northern side during the war - and very helpful, both in supplying goods for the Northerners and volunteers for Northern armies, in complete contrast to the strongly pro South attitudes manifested in Bermuda by mercantile Bermudians. A great deal of what those Nova Scotia ships brought to Bermuda was supercargo, trans-shipped in Bermuda by the blockade runners for the run to Southern ports. Thus were Halifax and the province of Nova Scotia linked closely with the convoluted economic and related developments in Bermuda during the American Civil War.

Yet, in complete contrast, Joseph Rainey and his wife, both black Americans, found freedom from slavery and happiness in Bermuda at this time. After the war, it was safe for them to return to the USA, where Rainey became in the South's Reconstruction the first appointed black American legislator.

Colonel (later Brigadier General) James Robertson Arnold

He was one of the sons of Revolutionary War American traitor and British patriot Benedict Arnold, by his second marriage to the Philadelphia-based Loyalist. American born, he was exiled to Canada with his father and family when very young and educated at King's College School. As a naturalized British Canadian, he wanted to avenge his father's humiliation in America. As a British Army officer, he participated in the War of 1812-1814 in Canada and Maine. He sailed from Halifax for Bermuda in 1816 and was the first Royal Engineer to fortify, from 1816-1818, the new Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda against any invasion threat from USA. Colonel Arnold devised the early massive building and engineering program for HM Dockyard, that led to Bermuda being referred to later as the "Gibraltar of the West." His success was such that he was posted back to Halifax in 1818 to do the same thing for the Citadel. Later, he was appointed a British Army Brigadier General.

Frances Hodgson Burnett loved Bermuda

The English born, American naturalized author won international renown in 1886 for her book "Little Lord Fauntleroy" before she emigrated to the USA. In 1911, her "The Secret Garden" was published and also became an instant global best seller. It has often been claimed, wrongly, that she wrote this book based on a garden she kept in Bailey's Bay, Hamilton Parish, Bermuda. In fact, it wasn't until after it was published that she visited Bermuda for the first time - and stayed. After a brief sojourn at the Princess Hotel, she rented a house called "Clifton," then owned by the Outerbridge family, in Bailey's Bay, on the North Shore Road. Like other famous writers before her, Burnett settled in Bermuda to get away from the chronic claustrophobia of an adoring public in the USA and the winter weather of her Long Island New York home. At Clifton she was able to indulge in her passion for growing roses. She once wrote to her friends about her 762 roses: "They will bloom when New York is 70 degrees below zero and London is black with fog and slopped with mud and rain." She loved Bermuda so much she continued to reside here until her death in 1924 at the age of 75.

Mark Twain's Bermuda

This world-famous American novelist and essayist enjoyed, lived in and loved Bermuda.

Samuel Cunard's New York, St. Thomas, Bermuda service

In November, 1850, Samuel Cunard of Halifax introduced his steam packet service from New York to St. Thomas, with a call at Bermuda in both directions. But the New York portion of the service was not a commercial success compared to his earlier Halifax-Bermuda direct service and was canceled in May of 1854.

Washington Irving and his "The Three Kings of Bermuda"

This famous American novelist, who died at the age of 76 at his home in Tarrytown, New York, on November 28, 1859, was best known in Bermuda for his "Rip Van Winkle" and the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" tales. He also delved into Bermuda's early history and came up with his "The Three Kings of Bermuda," based on the three colonists who arrived on the Sea Venture with Sir George Somers in 1609 and remained behind to hold the Bermuda islands for Britain when the rest of their colleagues sailed off to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1610 in their two smaller craft built from the flagship's salvaged parts.

Today, visit Carter House, on the former United States Naval Air Station on St. David's Island in St. George's Parish, to see There, see the site of the early kingdom of 'King' Carter, who declined to accept the whole of St. David's Island as his reward for good stewardship and honesty; and instead asked for - and got - the much smaller Cooper's Island, which he dug over extensively, but in vain, in the belief that Spanish treasure was buried there.

William Browne, American Loyalist Governor of Bermuda

In 1781, on December 16 he was so appointed. He was born in Massachusetts 27th Feb 1737 but had fallen foul of rebel bigotry and fled to England, where he was called on by Lord North from his (he said) 'profoundest retreat.'  He had been a friend of John Adams who thought him a solid judicious character, which turned out to be correct as on arriving in Bermuda to take up office, a lesser man would have thought his task insurmountable.