The English Virginia Company, responsible for the establishment of Jamestown in Virginia in 1607, set up the first permanent settlement on Bermuda in 1609 when their ship, the Sea Venture was brought to shore by Admiral Sir George Somers in the wake of a hurricane -– allegedly inspiring Shakespeare’s The Tempest. All 150 passengers -– and one dog -– survived. For the next five years, the islands were administered as part of Virginia, before a spin-off company, the Somers Isles Company, took over between 1615 and 1684. St George’s was founded and established as the Bermudian capital in 1612 (replaced by Hamilton in 1815).