Nathaniel Butler (b. c. 1577)[1] was an English privateer who later served as the colonial governor of Bermuda during the early 17th-century. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland A privateer was a private Warship authorized by a country's Government by Letters of marque to attack foreign shipping Ba (officially The Bermuda Islands or The Somers Isles) is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. He had built many structures still seen in Bermuda today including many of the island's coastal fortresses and the State House, in St. George's, the oldest surviving English settlement in the New World (the State House, completed in 1620, was the first purpose-built building to house the Bermudian parliament [1]). St George's (formally the Town of St George, or St George's Town) located on the island and within the parish of the same names was the first permanent settlement The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth specifically the Americas and Australia. The House of Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Bermuda. He also has the distinction of introducing the potato, the first seen in North America, to the early English colonists of Jamestown, Virginia. The potato is a Starchy Tuberous crop Vegetable from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae Jamestown, located on Jamestown Island in the Virginia Colony, was founded on May 14 1607
First serving in the service of the Earl of Warwick during his early sailing career, he was later appointed as governor of Bermuda, then administered by the Somers Isles Company (an offshoot of the Virginia Company), a post which he served from 1619 to 1622. Earl of Warwick (pronounced "Worrick" is a title that has been created four times in British history and is one of the most prestigious titles in the Peerages of the Ba (officially The Bermuda Islands or The Somers Isles) is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Somers Isles Company was formed in 1615 to operate the English colony of the Somers Isles also known as Bermuda, as a commercial venture The London Company (also called the Charter of the Virginia Company of London) was an English Joint stock company established by royal charter by During this time, he salvaged guns from a shipwrecked vessel and used them to arm the island forts then under construction including Southampton Fort [2] and those of Smith's and Paget Island in 1620 (the incident would later be recorded by John Smith in 1624 [3]). Captain Sir John Smith (c January 1580– June 21 1631) Admiral of New England was an English Soldier, Sailor While Governor of Bermuda, he played an indirect role in the development of the Bermuda rig, when he employed a shipwrecked Dutch boat-builder. The term Bermuda rig refers to a configuration of mast and Rigging for a type of Sailboat and is also known as a Marconi rig; this is the typical He would also be the first to introduce the potato to North America when, in 1621, he had a cargo of potatoes shipped to Governor Francis Wyatt of Jamestown [4]. The potato is a Starchy Tuberous crop Vegetable from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae Sir Francis Wyatt, ( 1588 – 1644) the first English colonial governor of Virginia. He was the first governor in Bermuda.
After a brief stay in Jamestown the following year, during which he published a report entitled "Unmasked Face of Our Colony in Virginia as it was in the winter of the Year 1622" later presented to the Privy Council upon his return to London [5], Butler was made an Admiral of the island of Providence, at the age of 61. A privy council is a body that advises the Head of state of a nation on how to exercise their executive authority, typically but not always in the context of a London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. He later found employ with the Providence Island Company during 1639 and 1640. The Providence Company or Providence Island Company was an English Chartered company founded in 1629 by a group of Puritans including Robert Rich 2nd
While on a privateering expedition in mid-1639 along the Spanish Main, he successfully captured a Spanish frigate at the harbor of Trujillo, and was later paid 16,000 pesos in ransom. The Spanish Main was the mainland coast of the Spanish Empire around the Caribbean. However, the frigate alone was considered a poor prize by the standards of the time and, suffering from inexperienced officers unfamiliar with the region (including future privateer James Riskinner), the expedition followed a very erratic course throughout the Caribbean and failed to capture anything else of value by the time of their return to Providence in September 1639.
Footnotes
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,"Butler, Nathaniel"
Further reading
- Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. Providence Island, 1630-1641: The Other Puritan Colony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-521-55835-8
- Rogozinski, Jan Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0-306-80722-0