''Seaflower'' (or ''Sea Flower'') was the name of several

sailing ship A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on Mast (sailing), masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing Square rig, square-rigged or Fore-an ...

s operating in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea in the 1600s and 1700s. The first ''Seaflower'', regarded as

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

to the ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...

'', also transported settlers to the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

, specifically to

Jamestown, Virginia The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent British colonization of the Americas, English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about southwest of present-day Willia ...

, colony in 1621. It was most notable for helping settle

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

s on the Caribbean

Providence Island colony The Providence Island colony was established in 1630 by English Puritans on Providence Island (now the Colombian Department of San Andrés and Providencia), about east of the coast of Nicaragua. It was founded and controlle ...

in 1631. The Colombian Marine Protected Area and Biosphere Reserve surrounding the islands is named after the ship.

First ship

''Seaflower'' (or ''Seaflour'') was 140 tons, likely a

fluyt A fluyt (archaic Dutch language, Dutch: ''fluijt'' "flute"; ) is a Dutch type of sailing ship, sailing vessel originally designed by the shipwrights of Hoorn as a dedicated ship transport, cargo vessel. Originating in the Dutch Republic in the 16 ...

, operating out of London in 1620, and frequented

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

(then known as the Somers Isles) and

Virginia Colony The Colony of Virginia was a British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colony lasted for t ...

. A ''Sea Flower'' is documented to have been captained by

Ralph Hamor Ralph Hamor, Jr. ( - ) was one of the original colonists to settle in Virginia, and author of ''A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia'', which he wrote upon returning to London in 1615. Spellings of his first and last name vary; alter ...

with 120 settlers who arrived in Virginia colony, February, 1621/22 (O.S./N.S). This ship also sailed back to England (arriving in June, 1622) with news of the Indian attacks on Englishmen that began in March. Some time before March 20, 1622/23 ( O.S./N.S.), the ship was accidentally sunk in Bermuda by a gunpowder explosion. Apparently the explosion was caused by the captain's son mishandling lighted tobacco in the

gunroom A gunroom is the junior officers' mess on a naval vessel. It was occupied by the officers below the rank of lieutenant. In wooden sailing ships it was on a lower deck, and was originally the quarters of the gunner, but in its form as a mess, gun ...

. It was carrying supplies for a relief mission to Virginia.

Second ship

Records indicate that the a second ship was named ''Sea Flower'' (or ''Seafloure'') operating in 1624/25. It is unknown whether the first or second ship were distinctly different in design or construction. In 1629,

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

and Captain Daniel Elfrith (aboard the ''Robert'') scouted the archipelago of " Santa Calatina" for riches and as a staging point for Spanish ship plundering. The

Earl of Warwick Earl of Warwick is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which has been created four times in English history. The name refers to Warwick Castle and the town of Warwick. Overview The first creation came in 1088, and the title was held b ...

was looking for a new location to build a colony, yielding the setup of

Providence Island Company The Providence Company or Providence Island Company was an English chartered company founded in 1629 by a group of Puritan investors including Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick in order to establish the Providence Island colony on Providence Islan ...

. In February 1631, 100 men and boys (mostly Puritans recruited from

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England) boarded the ''Seaflower'', sailing from

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century ...

to Providence Island. Ninety passengers settled the island in May 1631, intending to load the ship with exotic plants and produce for profit in London. ''Seaflower'' returned to London, England, in March, 1632. It was attacked-at-sea by Spanish during the return voyage, with Captain John Tanner and crew narrowly escaping. The ship's cargo was only a small batch of poor quality

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

. Later, the ''Seaflower'' returned to Providence Island and was loaded again, this time with of "mechoacan potatoes" (''

Ipomoea purga ''Ipomoea purga'' is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Ipomoea''. It is commonly referred to as jalap and is probably also the source of the John the Conqueror amulet legend. Description ''Ipomoea purga'' is described as a vine that ca ...

''), used as a medicine. Between 1671 and 1675, a ship classified as a

ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch f ...

, called the ''Sea-flower'', operated in Barbados, Jamaica, and Boston, Massachusetts. The ''Sea-flower'' was ordered (by owner, John Hull) from Boston to

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

to collect

whale oil Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. Oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train-oil, which comes from the Dutch word ''traan'' ("tear drop"). Sperm oil, a special kind of oil used in the cavities of sperm whales, ...

for trade in England, captained by a John Harris. In autumn 1676, the ''Seaflower'' was in use as a transport for slaves from Africa to the Caribbean. During and after

King Phillip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands ...

, the ''Seaflower'' was used to transport Native Americans as slaves to Bermuda and other Caribbean colonies. In 1696, notorious pirates

Henry Every Henry Every, also known as Henry Avery (20 August 1659Disappeared: June 1696), sometimes erroneously given as Jack Avery or John Avery, was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian oceans in the mid-1690s. He probably used s ...

and Joseph Faro used a " sloop" named ''Sea Flower'' during their time in and around

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

Other ships

In 1699, a 35-ton

named ''Sea Flower'' was captained by a Samuel Lambert.Perley, Sidney. 1671-1716. United States, Higginson Book Company, 1928.
/ref> A possible other ship operating with the name ''Seaflower'', described as a

Bermuda sloop The Bermuda sloop is a historical type of fore-and-aft rigged single-masted sailing vessel developed on the islands of Bermuda in the 17th century. Such vessels originally had gaff rigs with quadrilateral sails, but evolved to use the Bermuda ri ...

that supported

sea salt Sea salt is salt that is produced by the evaporation of seawater. It is used as a seasoning in foods, cooking, cosmetics and for preserving food. It is also called bay salt, solar salt, or simply salt. Like mined rock salt, production of sea sal ...

raking, was seized in 1701 in the

Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and no ...

and impounded. During

Queen Anne's War Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) or the Third Indian War was one in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Gr ...

, a "new sloop" (probably a

sloop-of-war During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all u ...

) by the name of ''Seaflower'' captained by Cyprian Southack from 1702 to 1703. The ship was crewed by 50 men and had six guns, and operated around Boston. In , a ''Seaflower'' was partially owned and commanded by a

Captain named Stevens. Accompanied by another sea captain, Regnier Tongrelow, the ''Seaflower'' raided villages in

Tabasco Tabasco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tabasco, 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It i ...

, Mexico, using a

letter of marque A letter of marque and reprisal () was a Sovereign state, government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or French corsairs, corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a foreign state at war with t ...

from the Governor of Rhode Island ( John Cranston). An uprising occurred, and Stevens was captured. Tongerlou took command of ''Seaflower'' and privateered around

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

. This same sloop was sunk on November 25, 1704, in a

gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface wind moving at a speed between .

near

Cape Henry Cape Henry is a cape on the Atlantic shore of Virginia located in the northeast corner of Virginia Beach. It is the southern boundary of the entrance to the long estuary of the Chesapeake Bay. Across the mouth of the bay to the north is Cape Ch ...

. In 1706–1707, a sloop was built in Salem Harbor for shipping items to Surinam. This vessel was called ''Johanna'' but also named ''Sea Flower'', was 18-feet wide and had a deck designed in "Rhode Island fashion" (rounded house). In 1709, a 20-Ton "

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

or barke" named ''Sea Flower'' was built in

Newburyport, Massachusetts Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes p ...

.Robinson, John, and Dow, George Francis. The Sailing Ships of New England, 1607-1907. United States, Marine Research Society, 1922.

Notes

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References