Coat of arms of Bermuda

{{Infobox coat of arms

|name = Coat of arms of Bermuda

|image = Coat of arms of Bermuda.svg

|image_width = 250

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|lesser =

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|armiger = Bermuda

|year_adopted = {{start date and age|1910}}

|crest =

|torse =

|shield = An antique shield azure thereon a representation of the wreck of the ship Sea Venture proper.

|supporters = Argent, a lion sejant affronté Gules.

|compartment = A mount vert

|motto = Quo Fata Ferunt "Whither the Fates carry (us)"

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|earlier_versions = 100px ({{circa|1622}})
100px (1817 seal)

|use =

}}

The coat of arms of Bermuda depicts a red lion with a shield that has a depiction of a wrecked ship upon it. The red lion is a symbol of Great Britain and alludes to Bermuda's relationship with that country. The Latin motto under the coat of arms, Quo Fata Ferunt, means "Whither the Fates Carry [Us]".{{Cite news|url=http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20151216/COMMENT03/151219776|title=Lot more to our Island's motto {{!}} The Royal Gazette:Bermuda Letters to the Editor|work=The Royal Gazette|access-date=2018-09-10|language=en-US}} The wrecked ship is the Sea Venture. The arms were formally granted by Royal Warrant on 4 October 1910, but had been in use since at least 1624. The coat of arms first appears on the cover of the 1624 edition of The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles. The "Somers Isles" is another name for Bermuda, named after Sir George Somers, the colony's founder. {{cite web |last1=de Vries |first1=Hubert |title=Bermuda |url=http://www.hubert-herald.nl/Bermuda.htm |website=National Arms and Emblems |access-date=20 July 2020}}

Blazon

The heraldic blazon is: Argent, on a mount vert a lion sejant affronté gules supporting between the fore-paws an antique shield azure thereon a representation of the wreck of the ship Sea Venture proper.{{cn|date=July 2020}}

''Sea Venture'' shipwreck

On 2 June 1609, Sea Venture set sail from Plymouth, England as the flagship of a seven-ship fleet (towing two additional pinnaces) destined for Jamestown, Virginia. On 24 July, the fleet ran into a tropical storm, likely a hurricane, and the ships were separated. Sea Venture fought the storm for three days. Admiral Sir George Somers, piloting the leaking ship, wedged the Sea Venture onto the reefs of eastern Bermuda. This allowed 150 people, and one dog, to be landed safely ashore.

The survivors, including several company officials (Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Gates,{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VThWAAAAMAAJ|title=The Thomas and Bridges Story, 1540-1840|last1=Thomas|first1=Edison H.|year=1972}} Captain Christopher Newport, George Yeardley, Silvester Jourdain, Stephen Hopkins, and William Strachey, among others), were stranded on Bermuda for approximately nine months. The castaways would build two ships and arrive in Jamestown, Virginia, in May, 1610. Newport and Gates sailed back to England, and arrived in September to report the events to the Virginia Company of London and the public.{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40961085 | jstor=40961085 | title=Dating William Strachey's 'A True Reportory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates': A Comparative Textual Study | last1=Reedy | first1=TOM | journal=The Review of English Studies | date=2010 | volume=61 | issue=251 | pages=529–552 | doi=10.1093/res/hgp107 }}

;Previous shipwreck design

File:Bermuda Company ancient seal 335 of the American journal of science (1900).jpg's 1622 map. Notice the tall rocks and broken ship masts.]]

In 2009, a paper and documentary were published with evidence that the shipwreck on the original crest (as seen on the 1622 Richard Norwood map{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/americanjournal491900newh/page/335/mode/1up|title=The American journal of science|date=20 January 1880|publisher=New Haven : J.D. & E.S. Dana|via=Internet Archive}}) was actually a Dutch vessel.{{cite magazine |last=Rouja |first=Philippe Max |date=2009 |title=The Riddle of the Crest|url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/501134e9c4aa430673203999/t/595109912e69cf68c7570c20/1498483096043/Riddel+of+The+Crest+-+Rouja.pdf |magazine=RG Magazine |location= |publisher= |access-date=January 20, 2025}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bnl.bm/colmgt/colmgt-faqs/|title=FAQs – Bermuda National Library|first=Bermuda National|last=Library}}{{Cite web|url=https://environment.bm/news-hot-topics/2011/2/4/the-riddle-of-the-crest.html|title=The Riddle of the Crest|date=4 February 2011|website=The Department of Environment and Natural Resources}} In 1593, an unnamed Dutch ship, with a French crew, wrecked on North Rock, some distance north of the main archipelago. That shipwreck marooned the first Englishman on Bermuda: Henry May. This would help explain the high "cliffs" visible on the crest, as the sea level was much lower in the 1500s. Henry May and the survivors would leave Bermuda in May, 1594, making the archipelago infamous to English culture, more than 15 years before the tale of the Sea Venture was known in Europe.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61736/61736-h/61736-h.htm|title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bermuda Houses, by John S. Humphreys, A. I. A.|website=www.gutenberg.org}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/461|title=MAY, HENRY|website=Dictionary of Canadian Biography}}

Flag of Bermuda

On 4 October 1910, the coat of arms (without the banner holding the motto) was added to the Red ensign to create the current Flag of Bermuda. The coat of arms replaced a badge which had been in use on the Bermuda red ensign before October 1910. The badge was based on a sketch, made in 1869, of the 1817 seal, which depicted a wet dock of the time showing with some boats in the background. It is assumed that the scene alludes to the fact that the islands were a stopover base for the sailing ships{{cite web|url=http://www.rbvex.it/ameripag/bermuda.html |title=Bermuda |publisher=Rbvex.it |access-date=2017-10-13}} when the badge was approved by the Admiralty.

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20110815150213/http://www.national-symbol.com/B/Bermuda/Bermuda-national-symbol.htm Coat of arms of Bermuda] – national-symbol.com (archived 15 August 2011)

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Bermuda

Category:Culture of Bermuda