Note Type
1992 Inventory NotesNote
This large egg-shaped object, banded by strips of iron on the top and around the top half, is the mass of magnetic iron employed by the famous Admiral, circa AD1600, for magnetizing the compass needles of his ship(s) during his sea voyages to the New World and elsewhere. It is mounted on an oak plinth with an accompanying plaque saying, "Lodestone, Sir George Summer, obit 1610". It sits on a cedar base, boxed on perspex, and set on the wall with a bracket. Acquired for the Society's collection in 1937. Displayed in the Somers Room next to the portraits of Admiral Sir George and Lady Somers.
This unique historical artifact was added to the Society's collection in 1937, offered for sale by the Bellamy family of Plymouth (England), direct collateral descendants of Sir George Somers. This was after the Society had acquired from Miss Bellamy in 1932 the unique 17th-century paintings of Sir George and Lady Somers, by Dutch artist Paul VanSomer. The existence of the Lodestone had been first made known to Bermudians by Major-General Sir John Jenry Lefroy, one-time two-term Governor of Bermuda, or the Somers Islands and eminent historian, who in the 1882 edition of Slone MS he edited - added an illustration of the Lodestone.
