If it wasn’t for Bermuda, I wouldn’t be here. I am (said by those who claim to know) a descendent of Steve Hopkins, a crew member and official of the Virginia Company, on the Sea Venture, which wrecked on Bermuda in 1609, when it was uninhabited. If it hadn’t been for Bermuda the Sea Venture’s crew would have been lost. As far as anyone knows, the crew of the Sea Venture were the first humans to set foot on a Bermuda.
Deliverance almost cost him his life, as he was sentenced to be hanged for mutiny on Bermuda, but he was spared, at least in part because he was liked by most of the ship’s complement.
When he arrived in Jamestown, he may have met Pocahantas, and certainly knew John Smith.
A character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest is said to be based on Hopkins, and he later sailed on the Mayflower, and was an assistant to John Alden in the Plymouth Colony. He is the only person know to have been in Jamestown and aboard the Mayflower.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hopkins_(settler)
I vaguely recall reading about that (about the shipwreck) most interesting story I have is that some of my ancestors took part in the monmouth rebellion and ended up being hanged via the bloody assizes.