This essay argues that William Shakespeare drew directly from William Strachey's firsthand account of the 1609 Sea Venture shipwreck when composing The Tempest. Through close textual comparison, the paper identifies four key parallels: the shared lament over dying at sea, the inversion of Strachey's image of cooperative seamanship into comic class critique, the adaptation of St. Elmo's fire as a measure of the storm's supernatural power, and the ominous island of Bermuda as a likely model for Prospero's enchanted isle. Together, these parallels suggest that Strachey's letter served as a significant source text, with the island and its stranded visitors reflecting both Bermuda and the experience of early British colonists to the New World.
William Strachey's letter describing the storm encountered by colonists aboard the Sea Venture, bound for Jamestown, bears striking resemblance to the opening tempest of Shakespeare's The Tempest. A close reading of both texts reveals four significant parallels: a shared lament over dying at sea, an image of shipboard cooperation that Shakespeare inverts for comic effect, the appearance of St. Elmo's fire as a marker of the storm's intensity, and the ominous island on which survivors eventually land. Taken together, these parallels strongly suggest that Shakespeare read Strachey's account and incorporated its details into his play.
In his account of the storm, Strachey writes that "surely (Noble Lady) as death comes not so sudden nor apparent, so he comes not so elvish and painful (to men especially even then in health and perfect habitudes of body) as at Sea." Shakespeare echoes this sentiment when Gonzalo cries, "Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an / acre of barren ground, long heath, brown furze, any / thing. The wills above be done! But I would fain / die a dry death" (1.1.65–68). In both instances, the speaker laments the particular misery of dying at sea, especially when one is otherwise fit and healthy. Gonzalo addresses the audience, but he plainly echoes Strachey's feeling about the prospect of a death on the water.
Strachey observes that in the crisis, "joining (only for his own sake, not yet worth the saving) in the public safety; there might be seen Masters, Masters Mates, Boatswains, Quarter Masters, Coopers, Carpenters, and who not, with candles in their hands, creeping along the ribs viewing the sides, searching every corner, and listening in every place, if they could hear the water run." Strachey's image is one of class equality in the face of impending death, with men of every rank working side by side. Shakespeare inverts this image by having the nobles get in the way, prompting the boatswain to tell them "you mar our labor: keep your / cabins: you do assist the storm" (1.1.13–14). The cooperative scene from Strachey is thus adapted to demonstrate the uselessness of the noble characters during the crisis, allowing the boatswain to mock them openly — a preview of the comic humbling these characters will undergo throughout the rest of the play.
"Supernatural fire imagery adapted from Strachey"
"Bermuda's dread island inspires Prospero's isle"
Reading Strachey's account of the storm experienced by the passengers of the Sea Venture alongside William Shakespeare's The Tempest leads one to conclude that the author of the latter likely read Strachey's letter and incorporated details from it into the description of the storm and its effects on the story. The shared lament over dying at sea represents a direct adaptation, while the image of everyone cooperating to save the ship is inverted in Shakespeare so that the noble characters may be mocked as comic relief. Strachey's mention of St. Elmo's fire is used as a way of demonstrating the storm's supernatural power in The Tempest, and Strachey's ominous conclusion upon reaching land likely inspired the very idea of the play's island setting.
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