The Devil’s Isle: Bermuda’s Hidden Graveyard

The Devil’s Isle: Bermuda’s Hidden Graveyard

Long before Bermuda became known for pink sand beaches and turquoise waters, sailors knew the islands for something very different: danger.

As European shipping increased across the western Atlantic, mariners had good reason to steer clear of Bermuda. Navigation was imprecise, particularly when determining longitude, and hurricanes could drive ships far from their intended course.

Bermuda’s extensive coral reefs made an accidental approach especially dangerous. Stretching far beyond the shoreline and often hidden beneath the surface, they could trap a vessel before its crew fully realized how close they were to land.

Combined with violent storms and the eerie nighttime cries of cahows — sounds early sailors associated with evil spirits — the treacherous waters helped Bermuda acquire its ominous reputation as the “Isle of Devils.”

Today, hundreds of shipwrecks lie around Bermuda. Among them, the Sea Venture, Mary Celestia and Cristóbal Colón tell three remarkable stories spanning more than three centuries of the island’s maritime history.

The Sea Venture — 1609

Perhaps no Bermuda shipwreck changed history more dramatically than the Sea Venture.

In 1609, the vessel was flagship of a fleet carrying settlers and supplies to the struggling English colony at Jamestown, Virginia. While crossing the Atlantic, the fleet encountered a powerful hurricane.

After battling the storm for days and taking on water, Admiral Sir George Somers deliberately drove the Sea Venture onto Bermuda’s eastern reefs rather than allow her to sink at sea.

Remarkably, everyone aboard survived.

The castaways spent approximately nine months in Bermuda, where they found plentiful food and constructed two new vessels, Deliverance and Patience, using Bermuda cedar and salvaged material from the wreck.

Most eventually continued to Virginia, while several remained behind. The episode began a chain of events that ultimately led to Bermuda’s permanent English settlement.

The Mary Celestia — 1864

More than 250 years later, Bermuda’s reefs claimed a vessel caught up in another dramatic chapter of history: the American Civil War.

The Mary Celestia was a fast side-wheel paddle steamer used as a Confederate blockade runner, carrying valuable cargo between Bermuda and the Confederate States while attempting to evade Union warships.

On September 6, 1864, while travelling along Bermuda’s South Shore, the vessel struck an underwater obstruction and sank rapidly near Gibbs Hill.

Most of those aboard escaped, but several lives were lost.

The wreck has since become one of Bermuda’s best-known dive sites and has yielded some remarkable discoveries. In 2011, marine archaeologists recovered several bottles of wine and an unopened bottle of perfume from the wreck — nearly 150 years after the Mary Celestia sank.

The Cristóbal Colón — 1936

By the twentieth century, navigation had improved enormously, but Bermuda’s reefs remained unforgiving.

The Spanish luxury liner Cristóbal Colón was one of the largest vessels wrecked in Bermuda waters.

In October 1936, while sailing without passengers aboard, the liner struck Bermuda’s northern reefs. All aboard survived, but efforts to free the enormous vessel were unsuccessful.

For months, the Cristóbal Colón remained dramatically upright on the reef, looking from a distance as though she were still afloat. She quickly became a source of fascination — and salvage — for Bermudians.

Eventually storms and the relentless Atlantic broke the liner apart.

Today, her huge boilers, propellers and sections of wreckage are scattered across a vast area of seabed, making the Cristóbal Colón one of Bermuda’s most impressive wreck-diving sites.

• View Hurricane Damage to Bermuda:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U8QpdXa_94&t=63s
• Learn More About Touring Bermuda: https://bermudaheritagetours.com/best-bermuda-shore-excursions/
• More Bermuda Stories: https://bermudianhistory.com/exploring-the-gibraltar-of-the-west/