Some of life’s greatest blessings come to us disguised as horrific challenges. In 1609, George Somers, Admiral of the Virginia Company’s Third Supply Relief Fleet, set sail from Plymouth, England, aboard his newly-built flagship, the Sea Venture. He commanded a fleet of seven ships which carried supplies and 500 to 600 new colonists, and his mission was to provide relief support to the colony which had been settled two years earlier in North America. On July 25, 1609, the fleet ran into a vicious storm–most probably a hurricane–and the fleet was separated, with each ship having to fight for its life.  The Sea Venture battled the storm for three days and nights.  She would have survived but for one fatal flaw: she was so new that her timbers had not “set.”  The caulking was forced out of the seams and she began to take on water–lots of it.  The crew and
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