Minerva's Voyage (22 page)

In June 1609, a fleet of ships known as the Third Supply departed England for Jamestown, Virginia. On the way they encountered a terrible hurricane. One ship, the
Sea Venture
, was cast away on the Bermuda Islands, long known to be a place of fearful storms and shipwrecks. Amazingly, there was no loss of life and several months later, after building two pinnaces (small boats), the crew and passengers managed to reach Virginia. From there many returned to England to tell their miraculous tale. Various witnesses wrote about the experience, and their stories were published in 1610 and later. In 1625,
A True Reportory of the Wreck and
Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight, upon and from the
Islands of the Bermudas
, by William Strachey, who had been “a sufferer and an eye witness” in Bermuda, was published in a large volume with many other narratives.

It has been theorized, but certainly not proven, that Shakespeare saw
True Reportory
in manuscript, whereupon it became a source for
The Tempest
. Unfortunately
True Reportory
, although purporting to be entirely factual, borrows much of its detail from other earlier travellers' tales and works of fic
tion that were also available to Shakespeare. It is, however, a wonderful yarn.

Minerva's Voyage
is very loosely based on Strachey's narrative, although it veers away from it as the novel pro
gresses. Many names, including the name of the ship, have been changed, and most characters, including Robin Starveling himself — his name comes from Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream
— are fictional. Since Strachey seems to have borrowed much and changed truth to fiction in his work, I felt it no shame to do likewise.

In 1587, many years before the wreck of the
Sea Ven
ture
, a young Englishman travelling abroad told Sir Francis Englefield, who had the ear of King Philip II of Spain, that his name was Arthur Dudley. He further said that he was the son of Queen Elizabeth I of England, by Sir Robert Dudley, a favourite of the Queen's. Arthur disappeared shortly after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and was never heard from again. I have invented the rest of his story to suit my novel and its sequel, which I'm beginning to work on now.

There is, by the way, an unsolved cipher in Chapter 23 and another in Chapter 29. There is one other secret mes
sage in the book, but if you're interested in decoding it, you'll have to find it for yourself. Happy hunting!

Lynne Kositsky

A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks to my husband Michael and son Adam, who helped out, were exceedingly patient, and brought me numerous cups of tea,

To the rest of my supportive family,

To my super agent, Margaret Hart, who works tirelessly on my behalf, and to her staff,

To Michael Carroll and all his staff at Dundurn, for accepting and publishing
Minerva's Voyage
,

To my kind and generous copy editor, Cheryl Hawley,

To Professor Roger Stritmatter of Coppin State University, Maryland, who worked with me to produce a series of academic articles on the Bermuda narratives and
The Tempest
, and came up with the title of the novel based on them,

To Professor Timothy Billings of Middlebury College, Vermont, who has a phenomenal website and kindly gave me permission to use images from
Minerva Britanna
in my book,

To Tom Reedy, an expert on William Strachey,

To Martin Hyatt, who supplied research papers from EEBO and elsewhere that I needed,

To Sean Phillips, who showed me the backstreet (but legal) way to access JSTOR and the OED,

To Ted Alexander, who patiently gave me advice and fixed my computer every time it crashed,

To Barbara Berson, who took the trouble to review the text,

To my dear friend Charis Wahl, who discussed the book with me on numerous occasions while plying me with dim sum,

To the late and much missed K.C. Ligon of New York, who was my sounding board on too many occasions to count,

To all my other friends, writerly, neighbourly, and Shakespearean,

To my docs at PMH, especially Doctor Rob Buckman, who made me laugh through good times and bad and told me not to sell the furniture,  

To the Toronto Arts Council, whose very generous grant gave me the time I needed to finish the book,  

And to William Strachey, who, although he may not have been a source for Shakespeare, was certainly a source for me.

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