Nathaniel Butler (born c. 1577, living 1639, date of death unknown) was an English privateer who later served as the colonial

governor of Bermuda The Governor of Bermuda (fully the ''Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Somers Isles (alias the Islands of Bermuda)'') is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda. For the purposes of this a ...

during the early 17th century. He had built many structures still seen in Bermuda today including many of the island's coastal fortresses and the

State House State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

, in St. George's, the oldest surviving English settlement in the New World (the State House, completed in 1620, was the first purpose-built building to house the Bermudian parliament). He also has the distinction of introducing the potato, the first seen in North America, to the early English colonists of

Jamestown, Virginia The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James (Powhatan) River about southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg. It was ...

. First serving in the service of the Earl of Warwick during his early sailing career, he was later appointed as governor of Bermuda, then administered by the Somers Isles Company (an offshoot of the Virginia Company), a post which he served from 1619 to 1622. During this time, he salvaged guns from a shipwrecked vessel and used them to arm the island forts then under construction including Southampton Fort and those of Smith's and Paget Island in 1620 (the incident would later be recorded by

John Smith John Smith is a common personal name. It is also commonly used as a placeholder name and pseudonym, and is sometimes used in the United States and the United Kingdom as a term for an average person. It may refer to: People :''In chronological ...

in 1624). While Governor of Bermuda, he played an indirect role in the development of the

Bermuda rig A Bermuda rig, Bermudian rig, or Marconi rig is a configuration of Mast (sailing), mast and rigging for a type of sailboat and is the typical configuration for most modern sailboats. This configuration was developed in Bermuda in the 1600s; the t ...

, when he employed a shipwrecked Dutch boat-builder. He would also be the first to introduce the potato to North America when, in 1621, he had a cargo of potatoes shipped to Governor Francis Wyatt of Jamestown. He was the third governor of Bermuda. After a brief stay in Jamestown the following year, during which he published a report entitled ''"Unmasked Face of Our Colony in Virginia as it was in the winter of the Year 1622"'' later presented to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

upon his return to London,Virginia Records Timeline: 1553-1743
/ref> Butler was made an Admiral of the Providence Island colony, at the age of 61. He later found employ with the Providence Island Company during 1639 and 1640. While on a privateering expedition in mid-1639 along the

Spanish Main During the Spanish colonization of America, the Spanish Main was the collective term for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The term was used to di ...

, he successfully captured a Spanish frigate at the harbour of Trujillo, and was later paid 16,000 pesos in ransom. However, the frigate alone was considered a poor prize by the standards of the time and, suffering from inexperienced officers unfamiliar with the region (including future privateer

James Riskinner James Riskinner or Reiskimmer was a 17th-century English privateer who operated from Providence Island against Spanish shipping during the late 1630s. A lieutenant on the ship ''Warwick'', then part of a fleet under the command of Nathaniel Butler ...

), the expedition followed a very erratic course throughout the Caribbean and failed to capture anything else of value by the time of their return to Providence in September 1639.

Footnotes

External links

Pirates and Privateers
by Rick Vermunt
Boteler's Dialogues
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Nathaniel 1570s births 17th-century deaths 17th-century English people English privateers Governors of Bermuda Governors of Isla de Providencia

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