The Sea Venture, the galleon in which Sir George Somers sailed to colonise America in 1609 was probably the most illustrious Stewart period galleon that ever sailed into the Western Ocean. As the vessel has been depicted, incorrectly as it now appears, on many Bermuda stamps, the following details will be welcomed by all ship stamp collectors. They are as near authentic as any official documentary evidence. Length on the keel 75 ft.; beam 26'/2 ft.; depth 15 ft.; length on deck 100 ft.; bulk or wine tonnes 397; fallaway 99 tons; tons burden 298; official rating of Sir Thos. Gates in 1610, 300 tons. Her official figurehead was the mythical Sea Dog. She was a 6th rater, a galleon and a full-rigger, with topgallants on her fore and main and a topsail on her mizzen. The stamp issued by Bermuda in 1953 is the nearest representation to the Sea Venture on any of the Bermuda stamps, although it is actually an unknown European ship of the period, taken from the book "Mercator Navalis" by Furstenbach, about 1625.
SG142, 143b
Sea Breezes 1/70