By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
1. Shakespeare is thought to have based his play The Tempest on a real-life shipwreck.
William Strachey’s A True Reportory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight, an account of his experience during the wreck of the ship Sea Venture on the island of Bermuda, was written in 1609, and many scholars believe that the Bard read this account and used it as inspiration for The Tempest.