Upcoming: James Darrell Commemorative Service
The Annual Commemorative Service For King’s Pilot James ‘Jemmy’ Darrell will be held tomorrow, Saturday April 14 at 5.00pm in St. George’s.
The Vestry And The Friends Of St. Peter’s Church, The Pilot Warden And The Branch Pilots Of Bermuda have extended an invitation to the Annual Commemorative Service for King’s Pilot James ‘Jemmy’ Darrell at his grave in St. Peter’s Graveyard, St. George’s.
Wreaths will be placed over board at Murray’s Anchorage. Donations will be received for the care of the graveyard.
Pilot James Darrell was a man of many firsts — one of the island’s first King’s Pilots, charged with guiding some of the Royal Navy’s largest and most formidable ships of the line through Bermuda’s treacherous maze of reefs; the first black man to own a house in Bermuda; and one the first to petition against the laws and prohibitions which circumscribed the liberties of Bermuda’s free people of colour prior to Emancipation.
Thank you BERNEWS for letting me know about this Annual Commemorative Service. I’ll be there!
And I hope that everyone who reads about this will also go and see the EXCELLENT exhibit about Pilot James Darrell at the General Post Office in Hamilton. The exhibit about his life is beautifully displays in a sunny yellow room and is well put together and a fascinating bit of Bermuda’s history. Well worth taking the time to read the plaques in the exhibit the next time you stop by the GPO. Pilot Darrel was a pioneer and should never be forgotten.