Happy birthday, William Strachey

It is the birthday of English writer William Strachey (1572), who is remembered for his harrowing account of the shipwreck of the Sea Venture on uninhabited Bermuda in 1609 while on a voyage to the English colony in Virginia. Scholars think Shakespeare based his play The Tempest on Strachey’s published report of the incident. During 10 months on the island, Strachey’s party rebuilt two ships from the wreckage and completed the trip to Virginia. Strachey also compiled a written record of the laws of the Virginia colony, a travel history of the colony, and a dictionary of the native Powhatan people. Here is an audio animatronic depiction of Strachey in a museum exhibit in Bermuda.