Nathaniel Butler
Nathaniel Butler | |
---|---|
Robert Hunt | |
Succeeded by | Andrew Carter (acting) |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1577 |
Nationality | English |
Profession | Privateer |
Nathaniel Butler (born c. 1577, living 1639, date of death unknown)[1] was an English privateer who later served as the colonial governor of Bermuda during the early 17th century. He had built many structures still seen in Bermuda today including many of the island's coastal fortresses and the State House, in St. George's, the oldest surviving English settlement in the New World (the State House, completed in 1620, was the first purpose-built building to house the Bermudian parliament[2]). He also has the distinction of introducing the potato, the first seen in North America, to the early English colonists of Jamestown, Virginia.
First serving in the service of the
After a brief stay in Jamestown the following year, during which he published a report entitled "Unmasked Face of Our Colony in Virginia as it was in the winter of the Year 1622" later presented to the privy council upon his return to London,[6] Butler was made an Admiral of the Providence Island colony, at the age of 61. He later found employ with the Providence Island Company during 1639 and 1640.
While on a privateering expedition in mid-1639 along the
Footnotes
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,"Butler, Nathaniel"
- ^ Delta Vacations
- ^ Bermuda's British Army forts from 1609
- ^ "Bermuda's History from 1500 to 1699". Archived from the original on 11 October 2006. Retrieved 26 November 2006.
- ^ Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Centre
- ^ Virginia Records Timeline: 1553-1743
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-521-55835-8
- Rogozinski, Jan Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0-306-80722-0