Silvester Jourdain

Silvester Jourdain (fl. 1600 - d. c. 1650), was an English traveler who became a colonist at the Jamestown, Virginia settlement. During the journey in 1609, a tropical storm caused the ship, the Sea Venture to be run aground on the uninhabited St. George's Island, Bermuda, with Jourdain, George Somers, Thomas Gates, William Strachey, and other settlers marooned for nine months.

Not to be confused with German politician Sylvester Jordan.
Silvester Jourdain
Bornfl. 1600
Diedspring 1650
St Sepulchre, London, England
Other namesSylvester Jordain, Sylvester Jourdan
Occupation(s)Explorer, writer
Notable workA Discovery of the Barmudas, otherwise called the Ile of Divels (1610), A Plaine Description of the Barmudas, now called Sommer Ilands, etc. (1613)

Silvester authored a pamphlet in 1610, A Discovery of the Barmudas, otherwise called the Ile of Divels [sic] (later part of the 1613 publication, A Plaine Description of the Barmudas, now called Sommer Ilands, etc.[1][2]), which scholars have attributed as inspiration for William Shakespeare's The Tempest.[3][4][5]

Silvester died unmarried in the parish of St Sepulchre, in the spring of 1650. He was the son of William Jourdain of Lyme Regis, and a cousin of John Jourdain.

See also

Notes
  1. Verrill, Addison Emery (1902). The Bermuda Islands: An Account of Their Scenery, Climate, Productions, Physiography, Natural History and Geology, with Sketches of Their Discovery and Early History, and the Changes in Their Flora and Fauna Due to Man. p. 441. ISBN 9781021850355.
  2. Brown, Alexander (1898). The First Republic in America: An Account of the Origin of this Nation, Written from the Records Then (1624) Concealed by the Council, Rather Than from the Histories Then Licensed by the Crown. Houghton. p. 142. ISBN 9780722265451.
  3. Malone, Edmond (1808). An Account of the Incidents, from which the Title and Part of the Story of Shakespeare's Tempest were derived, and its true date ascertained. London: C. and R. Baldwin, New Bridge-Street.
  4. "Appendix A" . Tempest (1918) Yale – via Wikisource.
  5. "A plaine description of the Barmudas, now called Sommer Ilands : with all manner of their discouerie anno 1609 by the shipwrack and admirable deliuerance of Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Sommers : wherein are truly set forth the commodities and a profit of that rich, pleasant, and healthful countrie : with an addition or more ample relation of diuers other remarkeable matters concerning those ilands since then experienced, lately sent from thence by one of the colonie now there resident". London : Printed by W. Stansby for W. Welby. March 19, 1613 – via Internet Archive.

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