Sir George Somers (before 24 April 1554 – 9 November 1610) was an English privateer and naval hero, knighted for his achievements and the Admiral of the Virginia Company of London.
He achieved renown as part of an expedition led by Sir Amyas Preston that plundered Caracas and Santa Ana de Coro in 1595, during the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War.
Somers' first venture in command of the Flibcote, in company of three other vessels during the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War, on a raid to Spain; he brought home Spanish prizes worth more than £8,000.
Both agreed to take part in Walter Raleigh's El Dorado expedition to Trinidad and Guiana in 1595 in search of the mythical city of gold, as well as to commit to amphibious descents throughout the Spanish Main with them.
However, after failing to meet, the Somers Expedition went on their own venture along the coast of the Spanish Province of Venezuela and captured the fort at La Guaira before they headed South inland.
[2][3] After the failure of a ransom they plundered and torched the city and then went to capture Santa Ana de Coro before they made a brief excursion to the Spanish West Indies.
When the piloting Somers spied land on the morning of 28 July, the water in the ship's hold had risen to 9 feet (2.7 m), and crew and passengers had been driven past the point of exhaustion.
Only the food and help offered by those on the two small ships from Bermuda, followed by a relief fleet in July 1610, commanded by Lord Delaware, enabled the colony to survive and avoided the abandonment of Jamestown.