Not surprisingly, exiled white prisoners suffered casualties comparable
to those that took place on the ships transporting black slaves. Even among
free passengers, one death among each ten passengers was not considered
unusual. The rates of survival among the Spanish and French were appar-
ently far higher, but of the “first wave” of English reaching Virginia around
1609, less than half survived.
Powerful forces must have driven or lured Europeans out into the
stormy Atlantic to suffer great danger and constant misery. We must now
ask what those forces were.
The Fearsome Atlantic 39