Who's up on their British Historians?

[elbowgeek]

Hi all,

I'm perusing a my list of known wrecks around Bermuda and there is a wreck which it says was referenced by a certain British historian. The text says his name was Defroy, but an exhaustive Google search reveals not historians by that name.

Has anyone any clue about that name, or has better Google ninja skills which might dig up something relevant? I'd much appreciate it if so

Thanks!

D

[Smithbrown]

Try Lefroy
Smithbrown

[allan]

http://books.google.com/books?id=i0W...page&q&f=false search words defroy bermuda shipwreck

[elbowgeek]

Try Lefroy
Smithbrown

Yes, I'd thought it might be our own Governor Lefroy. I'll dig into his books again and see what I can dig up.

Thanks

[elbowgeek]

http://books.google.com/books?id=i0W...page&q&f=false search words defroy bermuda shipwreck

Ah yes, I really *have* to pick up that book, and others of his. Not in print any more as far as I can tell, but available off Amazon.

Cheers

[Galleon Hunter]

It is a typographical error in Marx. There is no Defroy. Marx is referring to John Henry Lefroy (1817-1890) was a 19th century colonial administrator. He was a governor of Bermuda interested in Natural History.

According to Lefroy's "Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of the Bermudas or Somers Islands, 1515-1685." Bermuda is named after the Spanish ship La Bermuda, that wrecked there not long after Columbus discovered the New World.

Memorials of the Early Settlement of the Bermudas or Somers Islands, 1515-1685. Compiled from the Colonial Records and other original sources. London, Longman's, Green & Company, vol I, 1877, vol II, 1879.

The work contains reliable reprints of the early writings related to bermuda including those of Oviedo, Sir George Somers, Silvanus Jouran, Henry May, Governor Richard Moore, Governor Nathaniel Butter, Captain John Smith and others.

The Spanish cartographer Peter Martyr first recorded "La Bermuda" on a map in his "Legatio Babylonica" published in 1511. Other historians claim that the island was named after Juan de bermudez, the Portuguese captain of the Spanish caravel La Garza, who first discovered them in 1505. Bermudez made eleven voyages to the New World between 1495 and 1519, and some historican shave suggested that he discovered the islands on his 1505 voyage. Spanish historian Gonzales Ferdinado d'Oviedo y Valdez, who offered the first written account of the islands, writes of the "Island of Bermuda otherwise called Garza." Oviedo's account of the second voyage (published in 1526) records that the Spaniards made no attmept to land becasue of inclimate weather conditions.

Although Oviedo and others attribute the discovery to Juan de Bermudez, an entry in the 1717 "Carte de la Novelle France suggest a date of 1503, as the earliest sightings of the island. IF the 1503 date is to be accepted, it may have been Francisco Bermudez, captain of the santiago de Palos, who first discovered the islands and gave them his name during Columbus' 1502 voyage of exploration and discovery.

Regardless of who discovered the islands Bermuda has some fantastic historic shipwreck and you can literally dive shipwreck sites that span 500 years of maritime history.


Sorry for the long winded reply, hope this answered you Defroy question.