Francis Bacon assisted the Earls of Southampton, Pembroke and Montgomery in financing an expediton to colonise the Virginias, and a ship named The Admiral, under the command of Sir George Somers, was chartered to go out with supplies. This ship was wrecked on the island of Bermuda, then known as "the Isle of Devils."
Is it a coincidence that in the play of "The
Tempest," written shortly afterwards, a ship is wrecked on the
Bermoothes (Bermudas) and that on "this isle of Devils" is Caliban, a
man monster or devil?
"Shakespeare" gives to the name of the Bermudas the Spanish pronunciation "Bermoothes," which shows that he was familiar with the Spanish language.
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