If you’ve ever wanted to travel back in time, a special St. George’s Foundation event may be the closest you’ll ever come without a DeLorean.

A Somers Evening to be held in St. George’s on June 29 will give history lovers the chance to tour the Old Town, interrogate Admiral Sir George Somers, hear the words of slave Mary Prince and even sit in on the normally secret rituals of the Freemasons.

Former director of the Bermuda National Trust and historian William S. Zuill, Sr. will be reading a short play he wrote about the life of Sir George Somers.

“Last year, I was asked if I would dress up as Sir George Somers, so that people could ask me questions about his life,” said Mr. Zuill. “I found that no one knew enough to ask questions. That is why I thought the play reading would give people the salient points about Sir George.”

The play has three characters including Sir George Somers and Christopher Carter, a sailor from the Sea Venture.

“Once Christopher Carter arrived here, he made Bermuda his home for the rest of his life,” said Mr. Zuill. “He never left the Island. He has many descendants here.”

Sir George Somers was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England in 1554. He made a lucrative career at sea, and due to heroic exploits was knighted in 1603. In 1609 he was made Admiral of a fleet of nine vessels sailing to Virginia.

As the well-known story goes, along the way the fleet was separated by a hurricane, and Sir George Somers and other people onboard the Sea Venture were shipwrecked on Bermuda’s shores.

The castaways eventually built two more ships, The Deliverance and thePatience and continued on to the fledgling Jamestown colony in Virginia with much needed supplies.

“The play is set when Sir George Somers returns to Bermuda on the Patience,” said Mr. Zuill. “He is working on salting down various supplies to help the Jamestown settlers.”

Many historians credit the Sea Venturepassengers with saving the Jamestown settlement from a ruin that might have completely altered the course of history.

“Captain John Smith, who wrote the early history of Virginia — and who has been somewhat inaccurately linked with Pocahontas, thought Bermuda was vital to the survival of the colony,” said Mr. Zuill. “He said if it had not been for the fact that food arrived from Bermuda in the nick of time, Indians would have taken over the Jamestown fort.

The new people who arrived would have been so discouraged that they would not have stayed, but would have gone back to England.”

After the Patience and Deliverance arrived in Jamestown the first time, it was two more weeks before another vessel arrived from England.

“During that period, if the Bermuda vessels hadn’t come, the settlers probably would have succumbed to starvation,” said Mr. Zuill. “I like to say that Bermuda saved the infant United States from strangulation at birth. People usually laugh at that.

“The fact remains that English people made a number of attempts to settle in the new world and each time they failed to stick with it. From that time on there was never a time when there wasn’t a British settlement in the new world.”

Mr. Zuill said he started writing and reading plays to illustrate Bermuda’s history, while director of the Bermuda National Trust (BNT). He has performed at the BNT’s annual Christmas walkabout on a number of occasions.

Another highlight of A Somers Evening should be the performance of the ritual of the first degree of the Lodge of St. George’s No. 200 on the Roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.

The Very Worshipful Brother Tim Taylor said this will be the second time ever that a portion of the ritual was opened to the public. The first time was last year, at the first Somers Evening.

“We have selected two parts that don’t really reveal any secrets, sorry,” said Mr. Taylor. “In order to do this we contacted the Grand Lodge in Edinburgh, Scotland — the ruling body worldwide, to get their permission.”

He said The State House in St. George’s has been the home of the St. George’s Freemasons lodge for over 200 years.

“Because it is so old, the ritual hasn’t changed much,” said Mr. Taylor. “It predates rituals used in all other Scottish lodges. We are the oldest Scottish lodge outside of Scotland itself. We were warranted in 1797. In those days, because Bermuda was so isolated, we took rituals from Scotland, England and even the United States. We got bits and pieces from all over.”

He said when freemasonry started in the 15th century, secrecy was more necessary than it is now.

“The original body of Freemasons came out of a group called the Knights Templar who were suppressed by the French king,” said Mr. Taylor. “They fled to Scotland. A huge treasure that belonged to the Templars went missing. The secrecy became necessary because many of the early freemasons were guys on the run.”

He said it has long been proven that the name ‘Freemasons’ was just a cover, and has no basis in truth.

“Freemasonry at the time was about education, training and gentlemen’s morals in society,” he said. “It was a university-type environment for people who had no hope of accessing that stuff. All of the modern social ideas were pioneered by the freemasons, democracy, liberty, separation of church and state. That all started in the lodges. These ideas spread around the world.”

A Somers Evening is from 7 to 9.30 p.m. There will be a raffle and refreshments. Parking is available at Tiger Bay. For more information telephone 297-3686 or go to the St. George’s Foundation website, www.stgeorgesfoundation.com.