Descendants of a famous ship's pilot and freed slave have travelled thousands of miles to visit his homeland — and last night they got a proper Bermudian welcome from their new found relatives.

About 300 descendants of Pilot James (Jemmy) Darrell — 52 of them from abroad — enjoyed a traditional fish fry at the Leopard's Club in Hamilton.

The event marked the start of a weekend-long reunion organised by a committee of Darrell family members on the Island.

Treasurer Valerie Rowling — whose 83-year-old father Calvyn is thought to be the second oldest surviving descendant of Pilot Darrell in Bermuda; the first is former MP Anita Smith, 91 — said everyone was excited about the arrival of their overseas kin.

"It's been a long year trying to pull it together," she told The Royal Gazette. "We have put a lot of work into it and it's come together nicely."

This evening (Friday), the foreign visitors — from New Zealand, the US and the UK — will join the committee for a cocktail reception at Bermuda Archives, where an exhibition about their illustrious ancestor is on show until July 31.

Pilot Darrell, who died 194 years ago, is often cited as the first black to buy a house in Bermuda and it is certain that he was one of the first to own land.

He was a slave until he piloted the British ship HMS Resolution through a difficult passage to Murray's Anchorage in the east end, winning his freedom due to his nautical prowess.

He became one of the Island's first King's Pilots and campaigned for better pay for pilots and for a change in the law to allow blacks to leave their property to their family.

The reunion came about after New Zealander Bill Grant began researching his family tree and discovered that his great-grandfather Edward was a sailor who left Bermuda for the distant shores of Tasmania.

He contacted the Registry General here for more information — and by coincidence ended up being assisted by senior clerk Kim Minors, who quickly realised they were related. Her great-grandmother Kathleen was Edward's sister.

Mr. Grant and Ms Rowling's sister Cherlyann Rowling-Spurway had the idea for the get-together — and organising it has been a big family affair, with Committee Chairman Marcelle Williams' son Keino designing the T-shirts that everyone will wear this weekend.

Pilot Darrell has hundreds of descendants but those at this weekend's reunion, including the Ramirez family, who still live in his former home in Aunt Peggy's Lane, St. George, are all descended from his son Thomas.

Tomorrow they will gather at St. Peter's Church in the old town for a service at 5 p.m. and on Sunday there will be a family day at 4 p.m. at Whitney Institute Middle School.

• For more information about the Pilot Darrell exhibit at Bermuda Archives call 295-2007.

• More on the Darrell family tree can be found at www.gedview.com/darrell/.