John Brereton

John Brereton (b. c. 1571/1572 – d. c. 1632) was an English gentleman adventurer, clergyman, and chronicler of the 1602 voyage to the New World led by Bartholomew Gosnold.

Twentieth century historians such as David Beers Quinn have identified Brereton as a clergyman who was born in East Anglia around 1571–72.

Reverend John was educated at Norwich School, before being admitted to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge aged seventeen on 17 January 1589.

They were also in contact with the notable Elizabethan geographer and author, Richard Hakluyt, who had published numerous accounts of travels and voyages of discovery, especially in America.

Some of the people on that voyage never intended to settle in North America and it appears that Brereton was on the expedition after being asked by Gosnold to assist in navigating as well as to chronicle the undertaking.

Instead of making the circuitous route by the Canary Islands, Gosnold steered, as the winds permitted, due west, only southing towards the Azores, and was the first to accomplish a direct course to America, saving the better part of a thousand leagues.

In addition to the grapes, Brereton records the number and types of berries particularly blueberries, as well as mentioning the abundance of flora and fauna.

His well-written and concise account, published in 1602, helped promote the possibilities of English colonisation in what was then known as “the North part of Virginia” and would later become known as New England.

William Shakespeare is said to have based his play "The Tempest" on Gosnold's 1602 voyage, with Prospero's island drawn from his descriptions of Martha's Vineyard.