A Story of the Tempest

Causey's Mill as seen from Lake Maury

It was 1609 and the third in a series of resupply ships started out from Falmouth England headed to the new colony in Jamestown.  "Thirty two people from two ships were thrown overboard with yellow fever. The London plague broke out on the Diamond, and the ships were all separated in a tempest (hurricane) on Saint James Day, July 25th. After the storm, The Blessing, the Lion, the Falcon and the Unitie (all on board were sick) came together and headed for Virginia, "falling into the James River." The Diamond appeared a few days later, and the Swallow a few days after that. 

The Catch was lost at sea, the Seaventure purposely wrecked in Bermuda. Four days after the hurricane, the Seaventure began taking on water. Land was sited and she wrecked between two reefs off the shores at Discovery Bay of Bermuda on 28 July 1609. All of approximately 150 passengers safely made land, "not a hair perished." Two pinnaces were built during the following nine months, the "Deliverance" and the "Patience", from the timber of the ruined Seaventure. The Deliverance was started September 7, 1609 built by Robert Frobisher, eighty tons, the Patience was only thirty tons, built by George Somers. These vessels sailed on to Virginia 20 May 1610, landing May 31 at Point Comfort, Virginia."

The wreck of the Sea Venture was one of the sources of inspiration for Shakespeare's play, The Tempest.

In 1624, Governor Sir Francis Wyatt granted Edward Waters a patent for 100 acres of land between Waters Creek and Blunt Point, were we live today.  A gristmill was built on the waters edge of the lake that fed into the James River in the 17th century and the one that currently stands was built in 1866 and operated until the late nineteenth century.

I have been driving past the mill for many years and I like the simple flat faces of the building and the proportions.  The Mariners Museum now owns the land and the adjacent medical center and the city pitched in to move it back from the lake and completed a nice restoration a couple years ago.

My oldest daughter, Devon, is now attending Peninsula Catholic High School and an auction fundraiser is planned for the 22nd of this month and we have been told that each family is to submit an auction item to help raise funds for the school.  I have some old boards that were in the master bedroom closet, once used as shelves that I had sitting around the garage and I also was asked by Lowes home center to participate in a survey, which netted another $25 toward the effort.  I used leftover paint that I used on the exterior of the Pointed Playhouse and I estimate that our contribution to the auction cost me about $11 in the end.  Not as resourceful as rebuilding the Seaventure in Bermuda though.

Basic box with the rough dimensions of Causey's Mill.  I'm now sketching out the doors and windows.

I added hardwood oak trim for the doors and windows and primer.

1 1/4th inch holes, which are sized to attract bluebirds.

Getting ready to prime and then apply the finish coat of exterior paint.

Painted the letters on the sign and blacked out the windows.

Adding the clapboard siding by painting a series of horizontal lines.

The birdhouse has a small birdhouse over the door.

This is tedious and is taking a while 

I built a stand to display the house during the auction.

Looking okay. 

Up on the stand. 

Painted in the mutton bars on the windows.  Looks like folk art.

Ready for the auction.

I placed two long screws in the box so that the new owner can attach the house to a 4x4 stand of their own.  I then put the house and stand in the car and Elizabeth delivered it to the school where many auction items are starting to pile up.

Here at home I replaced an older small birdhouse with a bird feeder that is designed to allow the seed inside to fall below to create sand on the beach.  It is a lifeguard station but difficult to imagine in the snow.

Well, that is about it for now.