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Loading... Here Shall I Die Ashore (edition 2007)by Caleb Johnson
Work InformationHere Shall I Die Ashore: STEPHEN HOPKINS: Bermuda Castaway, Jamestown Survivor, and Mayflower Pilgrim. by Caleb Johnson
   No current Talk conversations about this book.  Carolee888 | Nov 12, 2012 |  no reviews | add a review
In the spring of 1621, Plymouth Colony sent Stephen Hopkins to make the first visit to Wampanoag sachem Massasoit to present a red horsemans coat as a gift and sign of friendship. For most ordinary Englishmen, venturing off into the depths of unexplored America would have been a once in a lifetime adventure-but not for Stephen. By the time he turned forty, he had already survived a hurricane, been shipwrecked in the Bermuda Triangle, been written into a Shakespearean play, witnessed the famine and abandonment of Jamestown Colony, and participated in the marriage of Pocahontas. He was once even sentenced to death! He got himself and his family onto the Pilgrims Mayflower, and helped found Plymouth Colony. He signed the Mayflower Compact, lodged the famous Squanto in his house, participated in the legendary Thanksgiving, and helped guide and govern the early colonists. Yet Stephen was just an ordinary man, with a wife, three sons, seven daughters, a small house, some farmland for his corn, and cows named Motley, Sympkins, Curled, and Red. These are the extraordinary adventures of an ordinary man. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)973History and Geography North America United StatesLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (4.1)
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This book clears up some genealogical clutter on the controversy about who was his wife and weaves a tremendous collection of historical details into an organized and riveting story. That story is backed up with well documented research in the footnotes and six Appendixes at the back of the book.
I had done quite a bit of research on Stephen Hopkins prior to reading this book and have my research agrees with everything that is in the book and the book fills in quite a few holes, making the puzzle of Stephen Hopkins much more complete.
I keep wondering why Stephen Hopkins survived to have tens of thousands of descendants. Why didn't he drown when the Sea Venture was being savagely tossed around in a hurricane? The Sea Venture was a new ship therefore the oakum which was a tarred fiber to hold the seams of the ship together like was still fresh and did not bar leaks during the hurricane. There were plenty of leaks but the biggest leak was never found. The food was gone, ruined by the torrential rains, when they sighted land. The ship with its starving crew was in the Bermuda Triangle which was well known even in 1609 to be a black hole of the ocean. The Sea Venture had to be forced to speed ahead and lodge upon some rocks. This was the northern shore of Bermuda.
How did Stephen Hopkins survive when he was found guilty of mutiny on the island? Shakespeare put him in his play The Tempest as Stephan. The penalty was death, of course. Later he lived through a famine in Jamestown. After all those death defying adventures, I have often wondered why did he bring his family on the Mayflower, wasn't he sick of the New World?
The only thing that I found missing was details of his negotiations between the Indians and the residents of the Plymouth Plantation. I think that Caleb Johnson did an excellent job of researching and writing this book.
I highly recommend it for any descendant of Stephen Hopkins or anyone wanting to know the background of the Mayflower passengers. (