Seaworthy.com

 The chart and following text are from The Northern Bahamas Guide by Stephen J. Pavlidis

Eleuthera is an island of firsts.  It was the first republic in the New World with the first constitution and the first Parliament.  Eleuthera was originally shown on charts as Cigateo although it had many variations such as Ziguateo, Ciguateo, Guateo, Sygateo, Segatoo, and Sigatoo.  Early maps and charts show the island as Ilathera and Islathera, thought to be corruption’s of the Spanish Isla de Tierra, and in one instance it is called Alabaster Island.  The 70 settlers of William Sayle’s Eleutheran Adventurers, who you shall learn of in the next paragraph, named her Eleutheria for the Greek word for freedom, eleuthros.  Today the name has dropped the “i” and is simply known as Eleuthera. 

The first inhabitants of Eleuthera of which there is proof were the peaceful Lucayan Indians who were enslaved by the marauding Spaniards in the early 1500’s.  The Spaniards put the Lucayans to work in their mines in Cuba and Hispaniola and sold them as divers for the rich pearl beds off Venezuela.  But the first attempt at actual colonization of the island was in 1649, when former governor of Bermuda, William Sayles, along with several merchants in London formed a company called the Company of Eleutherian Adventures with the object of settling this and adjacent islands.  An Act of Parliament was passed in response to their petition and they were granted the whole area to be known as Eleuthera and off they sailed.  Each Adventurer was required to pay into the public fund £100 and in return was guaranteed 300 acres to begin with and later 2,000 acres.  The waters of The Bahamas at that time were teeming with seals and Sayles was enthusiastic about the commercial possibilities, he was intent on establishing a seal oil trade with Barbados.  Whether he did this or not is unknown although he and the seals are both now long gone. 

Sayles and his Adventurers wrecked their two vessels somewhere along the northern shore of Eleuthera and took shelter in a huge cave known today as Preacher’s Cave along the northern shore between Spanish Wells and Harbour Island.  Although they only lost one crewman, the group lost all their provisions.  They had a hard struggle to survive even with a relief ship sent from Boston.  The colonists spread out throughout Eleuthera with some building homes at Governor’s Harbour.  Many early settlers returned to Bermuda while others were driven from Eleuthera by the Spanish in 1680 and emigrated to Boston and in particular North Yarmouth near Portland. 

This island has a little bit of everything that The Bahamas has to offer.  Sunny beaches, deep water, shallow banks, grassy rolling hills, rocky cliffs, and a healthy agricultural, fisheries, and tourism oriented economical base.

Tides along the eastern and northern shores of Eleuthera including Harbour Island, Spanish Wells, Royal Island, and the waters north of Current Cut are the same time as Nassau.  Tides in the Bight of Eleuthera along the western shore of the island and including Davis Channel, Powell Point, Rock Sound, Governor’s Harbour, and Hatchet Bay are approximately 2:17 later than Nassau tides and are generally .2’ less.