"As the Canaries off the African coast slipped astern of Columbus' ships on 9th September 1492, few could have foretold the consequences of his epic voyage. A month later, the 'night of October 11¿12 was one big with destiny for the human race, the most momentous ever experienced aboard any ship in any sea'. That destiny spelled disaster for the indigenous American cultures as the new technology, represented foremost by the ships and artillery cannon, of late Renaissance Europe descended on the New World with the landfall of the Santa Maria in the Bahamas chain of the West Indies, a thousand miles south of Bermuda. The cannon, with its attendant ships and fortsboth but platforms for its authoritylaid the foundation for the European domination of the Americas."E.C. Harris, Bermuda Forts 1612¿1957, 1997.

WELLl, time is slipping by and I see you now have a Committee to organize next year's celebrations for your 400th anniversary ("quadricentennial", for a tongue twister) of the settlement of Bermuda. This is probably three years premature, as the permanent settlement really began in 1612, but any excuse for an early party is much the fashion in Bermuda these days, even for teenagers.

To give you an example, a mate of mine has designed a letterhead logo, which states "Sandys Parish, 400 years, 1609¿2009", but since no parishes existed until 1612, that is pushing the letter, or envelope, as you moderns might say. But never mind, I am not one to interfere with parties for you lot, even if the economy is perhaps going down the tubes. Today I want to tell you a little bit about the forts built by the English in the Americas, before they began making such structures on Bermuda, starting in 1612. The idea is to put your historic forts in a chronological context, but also to emphasize the very considerable importance of what is left of those buildings in what is now the World Heritage Site on your island. (Editor's Note: this article is from the pen of the late Governor Butler, no relation, apparently, of the government heritage Minister Dale Butler.)

In the colonisation of the New World, the English were relative latecomers and it was not until the 1580s that sustained efforts at settlement took place with the backing of Sir Walter Raleigh in the expeditions known as the 'Roanoke Voyages', between 1584 and 1590. These ill-fated journeys have passed into legend, with the unsolved mysteries surrounding 'The Lost Colony' on Roanoke Island, but they resulted in the erection of the first English fortifications in the New Word, a little over a quarter of a century before Bermuda was settled and fortified.

The first expedition of settlement, comprising seven ships and 600 men, set out from Plymouth in the late spring of 1585. Separated by adverse weather, the Tiger, with Sir Richard Grenville, spent several weeks in Puerto Rico in May. It was fortunate that one of the passengers was the artist, John White, who recorded the two forts hastily erected there. Thus the first English New World forts were to be found at Guayanilla Bay and Cape Rojo on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. After capturing a Spanish ship (shown in Cape Rojo illustration) and stealing some salt from that Catholic enemy, the Grenville gang made way for Roanoke Island on the coast of North Carolina.

By the middle of August 1585, a colony was established on Roanoke Island and a fort had been constructed, later called 'Fort Raleigh'. Very little was known of the nature of this fort (for which unfortunately no John White drawings exist) until J. C. Harrington undertook scientific excavations in the late 1940s. Fort Raleigh appeared to be similar to the bastioned work at Cape Rojo, but had vanished into the mists of the Carolina coast after the settlement at Roanoke was abandoned or destroyed by Native Americans in the late 1580s.

The fourth English work in the Americas was started at Jamestown, Virginia, in May 1607 and was called James Fort, in honour of the King. It differed from the first three and the fifth in being a triangular stockade, with rounded bastions at each of its angles. The "town" was contained within for some years. Archaeologist William Kelso has carried out superb excavations of the site of the fort in the last decade, proving that its remains had not been lost to the James River adjacent.

The "Northern Colony of Virginia" erected the fifth fort in August 1607 on the banks of what is now the Kennebec River in Maine. A wonderful illustration of that bastioned work survives from 1608 in the Archives of the Indies in Seville, Spain and shows it to be a typical bastioned work of the period. Not very Churchillian, the settlement was abandoned after but one winter in the north. Excavations by Jeffrey Brain since 1994 have revealed that much of the detail in the archival chart of the fort is correct.

Three other forts were built at Virginia before 1612, but neither they nor any of the first five English forts in the Americas survive above ground, being built in timber.

Then came Bermuda, where the next eleven English New World Forts were built between 1612 and 1622, only one being of timber (it burnt to the ground on 21 October 1619). The other Bermuda forts, starting with Paget Fort on Paget Island, were built of masonry in the local stone. Amazingly, considering the small nature of those works, three still exist, though greatly in need of conservation.

In other words, the only forts from the first decades of English settlement in the Americas that are still standing are to be found at Bermuda.

These forts are truly world heritage and have been so recognized by UNESCO. Perhaps during your celebrations next year you will not only begin to appreciate the true value of that legacy in stone and mortar, but begin to make the necessary levels of investment for the preservation of these extraordinary monuments, which you have largely neglected for nigh on 400 years. This is really annoying as yours truly built two of the three forts still above ground and rather splendid they were and are.

As always across the years, Your Affectionate Friend, Captain Nathaniel Butler, late Governor of Bermuda (1619¿1622).

Dr. Edward Harris, MBE, JP, FSA, Bermudian, is the Executive Director of the Bermuda Maritime Museum. This article represents his opinions and not necessarily those of persons associated with the Museum. Comments can be sent to drharrislogic.bm or by telephone to 332-5480.