[2] The heraldic blazon is: Argent, on a mount vert a lion sejant affronté gules supporting between the fore-paws an antique shield azure thereon a representation of the wreck of the ship Sea Venture proper.

[citation needed] On 2 June 1609, Sea Venture set sail from Plymouth, England as the flagship of a seven-ship fleet (towing two additional pinnaces) destined for Jamestown, Virginia.

The survivors, including several company officials (Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Gates,[3] Captain Christopher Newport, George Yeardley, Silvester Jourdain, Stephen Hopkins, and William Strachey, among others), were stranded on Bermuda for approximately nine months.

[8] Henry May and the survivors would leave Bermuda in May, 1594, making the archipelago infamous to English culture, more than 15 years before the tale of the Sea Venture was known in Europe.

On 4 October 1910, the coat of arms (without the banner holding the motto) was added to the Red ensign to create the current Flag of Bermuda.