Pre-settlement
Bermuda was discovered in 1505 by Spanish explorer Juan de Bermudez. It is mentioned in Legatio Babylonica, published in 1511 by historian Pedro Mártir de Anglería, and was also included on Spanish charts of that year. Both Spanish and Portuguese ships used the islands as a replenishment spot for fresh meat and water. Legends of spirits and devils, now thought to have stemmed from the callings of raucous birds (most likely the Bermuda Petrel, or Cahow) and the loud noise heard at night from wild hogs, combined with perpetual storm-wracked conditions and a surrounding ring of treacherous reefs, led to the archipelago being called the Isle of Devils, and may have contributed to the lack of any attempt at permanent settlement.
Settlement by the English
For the next century, the island is believed to have been visited frequently but not settled. After the failure of the first two English colonies in Virginia, a more determined effort was initiated by King James I of England (James VI of Scotland), who granted a Royal Charter to the Virginia Company. In 1609, a flotilla of ships left England under the Company's Admiral, Sir George Somers, and the new Governor of Jamestown, Sir Thomas Gates, to relieve the colony of Jamestown, settled two years before. Somers had previous experience sailing with both Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh. The flotilla was broken up by a storm, and the flagship, the Sea Venture, was wrecked off Bermuda (as depicted on the territory's coat of arms), leaving the survivors in possession of a new territory. (William Shakespeare's play The Tempest is thought to have been inspired by William Strachey's account of this shipwreck.) The island was claimed for the English Crown, and the charter of the Virginia Company was extended to include it.
Most of the survivors of the Sea Venture carried on to Jamestown in 1610 aboard two Bermuda-built ships. Among them was John Rolfe, who left a
