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D.W.] + + + + + +THE MAY-FLOWER AND HER LOG + +July 15, 1620--May 6, 1621 +Chiefly from Original Sources + +By AZEL AMES, M.D. +Member of Pilgrim Society, etc. + + + +BOOK 3. + + +CHAPTER V + +THE OFFICERS AND CREW OF THE MAYFLOWER + +The officers and crew of the MAY-FLOWER were obviously important factors +in the success of the Pilgrim undertaking, and it is of interest to know +what we may concerning them. We have seen that the "pilot," John Clarke, +was employed by Weston and Cushman, even before the vessel upon which he +was to serve had been found, and he had hence the distinction of being +the first man "shipped" of the MAY-FLOWER'S complement. It is evident +that he was promptly hired on its being known that he had recently +returned from a voyage to Virginia in the cattle-ship FALCON, as certain +to be of value in the colonists' undertakings. + +Knowing that the Adventurers' agents were seeking both a ship and a +master for her, it was the natural thing for the latter, that he should +propose the Captain under whom he had last sailed, on much the same +voyage as that now contemplated. It is an interesting fact that +something of the uncertainty which for a time existed as to the names and +features of the Pilgrim barks attaches the names and identity of their +respective commanders. The "given" name of "Master" Reynolds, "pilott" +and "Master" of the SPEED WELL, does not appear, but the assertion of +Professor Arber, though positive enough, that "the Christian name of the +Captain of the MAY-FLOWER is not known," is not accepted by other +authorities in Pilgrim history, though it is true that it does not find +mention in the contemporaneous accounts of the Pilgrim ship and her +voyage. + +There is no room for doubt that the Captain of the FALCON--whose release +from arrest while under charge of piracy the Earl of Warwick procured, +that he might take command of the above-named cattle-ship on her voyage +to Virginia, as hereinafter shown--was Thomas Jones. The identity of +this man and "Master Jones" who assumed command of the MAY-FLOWER--with +the former mate of the FALCON, John Clarke, as his first officer--is +abundantly certified by circumstantial evidence of the strongest kind, as +is also the fact that he commanded the ship DISCOVERY a little later. + +With the powerful backing of such interested friends as the Earl of +Warwick and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, undoubtedly already in league with +Thomas Weston, who probably made the contract with Jones, +as he had with Clarke, the suggestion of the latter as to the competency +and availability of his late commander would be sure of prompt approval, +and thus, in all probability, Captain Thomas Jones, who finds his chief +place in history--and a most important one--as Master of the MAY-FLOWER, +came to that service. + +In 1619, as appears by Neill, the Virginia Company had one John Clarke in +Ireland, "buying cattle for Virginia." We know that Captain Jones soon +sailed for Virginia with cattle, in the FALCON, of 150 tons, and as this +was the only cattle ship in a long period, we can very certainly identify +Clarke as the newly-hired mate of the MAY-FLOWER, who, Cush man says +(letter of June 11/21, 1620), "went last year to Virginia with a ship of +kine." As 1620 did not begin until March 25, a ship sailing in February +would have gone out in 1619, and Jones and Clarke could easily have made +the voyage in time to engage for the MAY-FLOWER in the following June. +"Six months after Jones's trip in the latter" (i.e. after his return +from the Pilgrim voyage), Neill says, "he took the DISCOVERY (60 tons) to +Virginia, and then northward, trading along the coast. The Council for +New England complained of him to the Virginia Company for robbing the +natives on this voyage. He stopped at Plymouth (1622), and, taking +advantage of the distress for food he found there, was extortionate in +his prices. In July, 1625, he appeared at Jamestown, Virginia, in +possession of a Spanish frigate, which he said had been captured by one +Powell, under a Dutch commission, but it was thought a resumption of his +old buccaneering practices. Before investigation he sickened and died." + +That Jones was a man of large experience, and fully competent in his +profession, is beyond dispute. His disposition, character, and deeds +have been the subject of much discussion. By most writers he is held to +have been a man of coarse, "unsympathetic" nature, "a rough sea-dog," +capable of good feeling and kindly impulses at times, but neither +governed by them nor by principle. That he was a "highwayman of the +seas," a buccaneer and pirate, guilty of blood for gold, there can be no +doubt. Certainly nothing could justify the estimate of him given by +Professor Arber, that "he was both fair-minded and friendly toward the +Pilgrim Fathers," and he certainly stands alone among writers of +reputation in that opinion. Jones's selfishness, + + [Bradford himself--whose authority in the matter will not be + doubted--says (Historie, Mass. ed. p. 112): "As this calamitie, + the general sickness, fell among ye passengers that were to be left + here to plant, and were basted ashore and made to drinke water, that + the sea-men might have ye more bear [beer] and one in his sickness + desiring but a small can of beare it was answered that if he were + their own father he should have none." Bradford also shows (op. + cit. p. 153) the rapacity of Jones, when in command of the + DISCOVERY, in his extortionate demands upon the Plymouth planters, + notwithstanding their necessities.] + +threats, boorishness, and extortion, to say nothing of his exceedingly +bad record as a pirate, both in East and West Indian waters, compel a far +different estimate of him as a man, from that of Arber, however excellent +he was as a mariner. Professor Arber dissents from Goodwin's conclusion +that Captain Jones of the DISCOVERY was the former Master of the MAY- +FLOWER, but the reasons of his dissent are by no means convincing. He +argues that Jones would not have accepted the command of a vessel so much +smaller than his last, the DISCOVERY being only one third the size of the +MAY-FLOWER. Master-mariners, particularly when just returned from long +and unsuccessful voyages, especially if in bad repute,--as was Jones,-- +are obliged to take such employment as offers, and are often glad to get +a ship much smaller than their last, rather than remain idle. Moreover, +in Jones's case, if, as appears, he was inclined to buccaneering, the +smaller ship would serve his purpose--as it seems it did satisfactorily. +Nor is the fact that Bradford speaks of him--although previously so well +acquainted--as "one Captain Jones," to be taken as evidence, as Arber +thinks, that the Master of the DISCOVERY was some other of the name. +Bradford was writing history, and his thought just then was the especial +Providence of God in the timely relief afforded their necessities by the +arrival of the ships with food, without regard to the individuals who +brought it, or the fact that one was an acquaintance of former years. +On the other hand, Winslow--in his "Good Newes from New England"-- +records the arrival of the two ships in August, 1622, and says, "the one +as I take [recollect] it, was called the DISCOVERY, Captain Jones having +command thereof," which on the same line of argument as Arber's might be +read, "our old acquaintance Captain Jones, you know"! If the expression +of Bradford makes against its being Captain Jones, formerly of the MAY- +FLOWER, Winslow's certainly makes quite as much for it, while the fact +which Winslow recites, viz. that the DISCOVERY, under Jones, was sailing +as consort to the SPARROW, a ship of Thomas Weston,--who employed him for +the MAY-FLOWER, was linked with him in the Gorges conspiracy, and had +become nearly as degenerate as he,--is certainly significant. There are +still better grounds, as will appear in the closely connected relations +of Jones, for holding with Goodwin rather than with Arber in the matter. +The standard authority in the case is the late Rev. E. D. Neill, D. D., +for some years United States consul at Dublin, who made very considerable +research into all matters pertaining to the Virginia Companies, +consulting their original records and "transactions," the Dutch related +documents, the "Calendars of the East India Company," etc. Upon him and +his exhaustive work all others have largely drawn,--notably Professor +Arber himself,--and his conclusions seem entitled to the same weight here +which Arber gives them in other relations. Dr. Neill is clearly of +opinion that the Captains of the MAY-FLOWER and the DISCOVERY were +identical, and this belief is shared by such authorities in Pilgrim +literature as Young, Prince, Goodwin, and Davis, and against this +formidable consensus of opinion, Arber, unless better supported, can +hardly hope to prevail. + +The question of Jones's duplicity and fraud, in bringing the Pilgrims to +land at Cape Cod instead of the "neighbor-hood of Hudson's River," has +been much mooted and with much diversity of opinion, but in the light of +the subjoined evidence and considerations it seems well-nigh impossible +to acquit him of the crime--for such it was, in inception, nature, and +results, however overruled for good. + +The specific statements of Bradford and others leave no room for doubt +that the MAY-FLOWER Pilgrims fully intended to make their settlement +somewhere in the region of the mouth of "Hudson's River." Morton states +in terms that Captain Jones's "engagement was to Hudson's River." +Presumably, as heretofore noted, the stipulation of his charter party +required that he should complete his outward voyage in that general +locality. The northern limits of the patents granted in the Pilgrim +interest, whether that of John Wincob (or Wincop) sealed June 9/ 19, +1619, but never used, or the first one to John Pierce, of February 2/12, +1620, were, of course, brought within the limits of the First (London) +Virginia Company's charter, which embraced, as is well-known, the +territory between the parallels of 34 deg. and 41 deg. N. latitude. +The most northerly of these parallels runs but about twenty miles to the +north of the mouth of "Hudson's River." It is certain that the Pilgrims, +after the great expense, labor, and pains of three years, to secure the +protection of these Patents, would not willingly or deliberately, have +planted themselves outside that protection, upon territory where they had +none, and where, as interlopers, they might reasonably expect trouble +with the lawful proprietors. Nor was there any reason why, if they so +desired, they should not have gone to "Hudson's River" or its vicinity, +unless it was that they had once seemed to recognize the States General +of Holland as the rightful owners of that territory, by making petition +to them, through the New Netherland Company, for their authority and +protection in settling there. But even this fact constituted no moral or +legal bar to such action, if desirable First, because it appears certain +that, whatever the cause, they "broke off" themselves their negotiations +with the Dutch,--whether on account of the inducements offered by Thomas +Weston, or a doubt of the ability of the Dutch to maintain their claim to +that region, and to protect there, or both, neither appears nor matters. +Second, because the States General--whether with knowledge that they of +Leyden had so "broken off" or from their own doubts of their ability to +maintain their claim on the Hudson region, does not appear--rejected the +petition made to them in the Pilgrims' behalf. It is probable that the +latter was the real reason, from the fact that the petition was twice +rejected. + +In view of the high opinion of the Leyden brethren, entertained, as we +know, by the Dutch, it is clear that the latter would have been pleased +to secure them as colonists; while if at all confident of their rights to +the territory, they must have been anxious to colonize it and thus +confirm their hold, increase their revenues as speedily as possible, +and + +Third, because it appears upon the showing of the petition itself, made +by the New Netherland Company (to which the Leyden leaders had looked, +doubtless on account of its pretensions, for the authority and protection +of the States General, as they afterward did to the English Virginia +Company for British protection), that this Company had lost its own +charter by expiration, and hence had absolutely nothing to offer the +Leyden people beyond the personal and associate influence of its members, +and the prestige of a name that had once been potential. In fact, the +New Netherland Company was using the Leyden congregation as a leverage to +pry for itself from the States General new advantages, larger than it had +previously enjoyed. + +Moreover it appears by the evidence of both the petition of the Directors +of the New Netherland Company to the Prince of Orange (February 2/12, +1619/20), and the letters of Sir Dudley Carleton, the British ambassador +at the Hague, to the English Privy Council, dated February 5/15, 1621/22, +that, up to this latter date the Dutch had established no colony + + [British State Papers, Holland, Bundle 165. Sir Dudley Carleton's + Letters. "They have certain Factors there, continually resident, + trading with savages . . . but I cannot learn of any colony, + either I already planted there by these people, or so much as + intended." Sir Dudley Carleton's Letters.] + +on the territory claimed by them at the Hudson, and had no other +representation there than the trading-post of a commercial company whose +charter had expired. There can be no doubt that the Leyden leaders knew, +from their dealings with the New Netherland Company, and the study of the +whole problem which they evidently made, that this region was open to +them or any other parties for habitation and trade, so far as any prior +grants or charters under the Dutch were concerned, but they required more +than this. + +To Englishmen, the English claim to the territory at "Hudson's River" +was valid, by virtue of the discovery of the Cabots, under the law of +nations as then recognized, not withstanding Hudson's more particular +explorations of those parts in 1609, in the service of Holland, +especially as no colony or permanent occupancy of the region by the +Dutch had been made. + +Professor John Fiske shows that "it was not until the Protestant England +of Elizabeth had come to a life-and-death grapple with Spain, and not +until the discovery of America had advanced much nearer completion, so +that its value began to be more correctly understood, that political and +commercial motives combined in determining England to attack Spain +through America, and to deprive her of supremacy in the colonial and +maritime world. Then the voyages of the Cabots assumed an importance +entirely new, and could be quoted as the basis of a prior claim on the +part of the English Crown, to lands which it [through the Cabots] had +discovered." + +Having in mind the terrible history of slaughter and reprisal between the +Spanish and French (Huguenot) settlers in Florida in 1565-67, + + [Bancroft, History of the United States, vol. i. p. 68; Fiske, + Discovery of America, vol. ii. p. 511 et seq. With the terrible + experience of the Florida plantations in memory, the far-sighted + leaders of the Leyden church proposed to plant under the shelter of + an arm strong enough to protect them, and we find the Directors of + the New Netherland Company stating that the Leyden party (the + Pilgrims) can be induced to settle under Dutch auspices, "provided, + they would be guarded and preserved from all violence on the part of + other potentates, by the authority, and under the protection of your + Princely Excellency and the High and Mighty States General." + Petition of the Directors of the New Netherland Company to the + Prince of Orange.] + +the Pilgrims recognized the need of a strong power behind them, under +whose aegis they might safely plant, and by virtue of whose might and +right they could hope to keep their lives and possessions. The King of +England had, in 1606, granted charters to the two Virginia Companies, +covering all the territory in dispute, and, there could be no doubt, +would protect these grants and British proprietorship therein, against +all comers. Indeed, the King (James I.) by letter to Sir Dudley +Carleton, his ambassador at the Hague, under date of December 15, 1621, +expressly claimed his rights in the New Netherland territory and +instructed him to impress upon the government of the States General his +Majesty's claim,--"who, 'jure prime occupation' hath good and sufficient +title to these parts." There can be no question that the overtures of +Sandys, Weston, and others to make interest for them with one of these +English Companies, agreed as well with both the preferences and +convictions of the Leyden Pilgrims, as they did with the hopes and +designs of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. In the light of these facts, there +appears to have been neither legal nor moral bar to the evident intention +of the Pilgrims to settle in the vicinity of "Hudson's River," if they so +elected. In their light, also, despite the positive allegations of the +truthful but not always reliable Morton, his charges of intrigue between +the Dutch and Master Jones of the MAY-FLOWER, to prevent the settlement +of his ship's company at "Hudson's River," may well be doubted. Writing +in "New England's Memorial" in 1669, Morton says: "But some of the Dutch, +having notice of their intentions, and having thoughts about the same +time of erecting a plantation there likewise, they fraudulently hired the +said Jones, by delays while they were in England, and now under pretence +of the shoals the dangers of the Monomoy Shoals off Cape Cod to +disappoint them in going thither." He adds: "Of this plot between the +Dutch and Mr. Jones, I have had late and certain intelligence." If this +intelligence was more reliable than his assertion concerning the +responsibility of Jones for the "delays while they were in England," it +may well be discredited, as not the faintest evidence appears to make him +responsible for those delays, and they are amply accounted for without +him. Without questioning the veracity of Morton (while suggesting his +many known errors, and that the lapse of time made it easy to +misinterpret even apparently certain facts), it must be remembered that +he is the original sponsor for the charge of Dutch intrigue with Jones, +and was its sole support for many years. All other writers who have +accepted and indorsed his views are of later date, and but follow him, +while Bradford and Winslow, who were victims of this Dutch conspiracy +against them, if it ever existed, were entirely silent in their writings +upon the matter, which we may be sure they would not have been, had they +suspected the Dutch as prime movers in the treachery. That there was a +conspiracy to accomplish the landing of the MAY-FLOWER planters at a +point north of "the Hudson" (in fact, north of the bounds defined by the +(first) Pierce patent, upon which they relied), i.e. north of 41 deg. N. +latitude,--is very certain; but that it was of Dutch origin, or based +upon motives which are attributed to the Dutch, is clearly erroneous. +While the historical facts indicate an utter lack of motive for such an +intrigue on the part of the Dutch, either as a government or as +individuals, there was no lack of motive on the part of certain others, +who, we can but believe, were responsible for the conspiracy. Moreover, +the chief conspirators were such, that, even if the plot was ultimately +suspected by the Pilgrims, a wise policy--indeed, self-preservation-- +would have dictated their silence. That the Dutch were without +sufficient motive or interest has been declared. That the States General +could have had no wish to reject so exceptionally excellent a body of +colonists as subjects, and as tenants to hold and develop their disputed +territory--if in position to receive them and guarantee them protection-- +is clear. The sole objection that could be urged against them was their +English birth, and with English regiments garrisoning the Dutch home +cities, and foreigners of every nation in the States General's employ, by +land and by sea, such an objection could have had no weight. Indeed, the +Leyden party proposed, if they effected satisfactory arrangements with +the States General (as stated by the Directors of the New Netherland +Company), "to plant there [at "Hudson's River"] a new commonwealth, all +under the order and command of your Princely Excellency and their High +Mightinesses the States General: The Leyden Pilgrims were men who kept +their agreements. + +The Dutch trading-companies, who were the only parties in the Low +Countries who could possibly have had any motive for such a conspiracy, +were at this time themselves without charters, and the overtures of the +principal company, made to the government in behalf of themselves and the +Leyden brethren, had recently, as we have seen, been twice rejected. +They had apparently, therefore, little to hope for in the near future; +certainly not enough to warrant expenditure and the risk of disgraceful +exposure, in negotiations with a stranger--an obscure ship-master--to +change his course and land his passengers in violation of the terms of +his charter-party;--negotiations, moreover, in which neither of the +parties could well have had any guaranty of the other's good faith. + +But, as previously asserted, there was a party--to whom such knavery was +an ordinary affair--who had ample motive, and of whom Master Thomas Jones +was already the very willing and subservient ally and tool, and had been +such for years. Singularly enough, the motive governing this party was +exactly the reverse of that attributed--though illogically and without +reason--to the Dutch. In the case of the latter, the alleged animus was +a desire to keep the Pilgrim planters away from their "Hudson's River" +domain. In the case of the real conspirators, the purpose was to secure +these planters as colonists for, and bring them to, the more northern +territory owned by them. It is well known that Sir Ferdinando Gorges was +the leading spirit of the "Second Virginia Company," as he also became +(with the Earl of Warwick a close second) of "The Council for the Affairs +of New England," of which both men were made "Governors," in November of +1620, when the Council practically superseded the "Second Virginia +Company." The Great Charter for "The Council of Affairs of New England," +commonly known as "The Council for New England," issued Tuesday, November +3/13, 1620, and it held in force till Sunday, June 7/17, 1635. + +Although not its official head, and ranked at its board by dukes and +earls, Sir Ferdinando Gorges was--as he had been in the old Plymouth (or +Second) Virginia Company--the leading man. This was largely from his +superior acquaintance with, and long and varied experience in, New +England affairs. The "Council" was composed of forty patentees, and +Baxter truly states, that "Sir Ferdinando Gorges, at this time [1621] +stood at the head of the Council for New England, so far as influence +went; in fact, his hand shaped its affairs." This company, holding--by +the division of territory made under the original charter-grants--a strip +of territory one hundred miles wide, on the North American coast, between +the parallels of 41 deg. and 45 deg. N. latitude, had not prospered, and +its efforts at colonization (on what is now the Maine coast), in 1607 and +later, had proved abortive, largely through the character of its +"settlers," who had been, in good degree, a somewhat notable mixture of +two of the worst elements of society,--convicts and broken-down +"gentlemen." + +"In 1607," says Goodwin, "Gorges and the cruel Judge Popham planted a +colony at Phillipsburg (or Sagadahoc, as is supposed), by the mouth of +the Kennebec. Two ships came, 'THE GIFT OF GOD' and the 'MARY AND JOHN,' +bringing a hundred persons. Through August they found all delightful, +but when the ships went back in December, fifty five of the number +returned to England, weary of their experience and fearful of the cold +.... With spring the ships returned from England; "but by this time the +remainder were ready to leave," so every soul returned with Gilbert [the +Admiral] . . . . For thirty years Gorges continued to push +exploration and emigration to that region, but his ambition and +liberality ever resulted in disappointment and loss." The annals of the +time show that not a few of the Sagadahoc colonists were convicts, +released from the English jails to people this colony. + +Hakluyt says: "In 1607 [this should read 1608], disheartened by the death +of Popham, they all embarked in a ship from Exeter and in the new +pynnace, the 'VIRGINIA,' built in the colony, and sett sail for England, +and this was the end of that northern colony upon the river Sachadehoc +[Kennebec]." + +No one knew better than the shrewd Gorges the value of such a colony as +that of the Leyden brethren would be, to plant, populate, and develop his +Company's great demesne. None were more facile than himself and the +buccaneering Earl of Warwick, to plan and execute the bold, but--as it +proved--easy coup, by which the Pilgrim colony was to be stolen bodily; +for the benefit of the "Second Virginia Company" and its successor, +"the Council for New England," from the "First (or London) Company," +under whose patent (to John Pierce) and patronage they sailed. They +apparently did not take their patent with them,--it would have been +worthless if they had,--and they were destined to have no small trouble +with Pierce, before they were established in their rights under the new +patent granted him (in the interest of the Adventurers and themselves), +by the "Council for New England." Master John Wincob's early and silent +withdrawal from his apparently active connection with the Pilgrim +movement, and the evident cancellation of the first patent issued to him +in its interest, by the (London) Virginia Company, have never been +satisfactorily explained. Wincob (or Wincop), we are told, "was a +religious Gentleman, then belonging to the household of the Countess of +Lincoln, who intended to go with them [the Pilgrims] but God so disposed +as he never went, nor they ever made use of this Patent, which had cost +them so much labor and charge." Wincob, it appears by the minutes of the +(London) Virginia Company of Wednesday, May 26/June 5, 1619, was +commended to the Company, for the patent he sought, by the fourth Earl of +Lincoln, and it was doubtless through his influence that it was granted +and sealed, June 9/19, 1619. But while Wincob was a member of the +household of the Dowager Countess of Lincoln, mother of the fourth Earl +of Lincoln; John, the eldest son of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, had married +the Earl's daughter (sister ?), and hence Gorges stood in a much nearer +relation to the Earl than did his mother's friend and dependant (as +Wincob evidently was), as well as on a much more equal social footing. +By the minutes of the (London) Virginia Company of Wednesday, February 2/ +12, 1619/20, it appears that a patent was "allowed and sealed to John +Pierce and his associates, heirs and assigns," for practically the same +territory for which the patent to Wincob had been given but eight months +before. No explanation was offered, and none appears of record, but the +logical conclusion is, that the first patent had been cancelled, that +Master Wincob's personal interest in the Pilgrim exodus had ceased, and +that the Lincoln patronage had been withdrawn. It is a rational +conjecture that Sir Ferdinando Gorges, through the relationship he +sustained to the Earl, procured the withdrawal of Wincob and his patent, +knowing that the success of his (Gorges's) plot would render the Wincob +patent worthless, and that the theft of the colony, in his own interest, +would be likely to breed "unpleasantness" between himself and Wincob's +sponsors and friends among the Adventurers, many of whom were friends of +the Earl of Lincoln. + +The Earl of Warwick, the man of highest social and political rank in the +First (or London) Virginia Company, was, at about the same time, induced +by Gorges to abandon his (the London) Company and unite with himself in +securing from the Crown the charter of the "Council of Affairs for New +England." The only inducements he could offer for the change must +apparently have resided in the promised large results of plottings +disclosed by him (Gorges), but he needed the influential and unscrupulous +Earl for the promotion of his schemes, and won him, by some means, to an +active partnership, which was doubtless congenial to both. The "fine +Italian hand" of Sir Ferdinando hence appears at every stage, and in +every phase, of the Leyden movement, from the mission of Weston to +Holland, to the landing at Cape Cod, and every movement clearly indicates +the crafty cunning, the skilful and brilliant manipulation, and the +dogged determination of the man. + +That Weston was a most pliant and efficient tool in the hands of Gorges, +"from start to finish" of this undertaking, is certainly apparent. +Whether he was, from the outset, made fully aware of the sinister designs +of the chief conspirator, and a party to them, admits of some doubt, +though the conviction strengthens with study, that he was, from the +beginning, 'particeps criminis'. If he was ever single-minded for the +welfare of the Leyden brethren and the Adventurers, it must have been for +a very brief time at the inception of the enterprise; and circumstances +seem to forbid crediting him with honesty of purpose, even then. The +weight of evidence indicates that he both knew, and was fully enlisted +in, the entire plot of Gorges from the outset. In all its early stages +he was its most efficient promoter, and seems to have given ample proof +of his compliant zeal in its execution. His visit to the Leyden brethren +in Holland was, apparently, wholly instigated by Gorges, as the latter +complacently claims and collateral evidence proves. In his endeavor to +induce the leaders to "break off with the Dutch," their pending +negotiations for settlement at "Hudson's River," he evidently made +capital of, and traded upon, his former kindness to some of them when +they were in straits,--a most contemptible thing in itself, yet +characteristic of the man. He led the Pilgrims to "break off" their +dealings with the Dutch by the largest and most positive promises of +greater advantages through him, few of which he ever voluntarily kept (as +we see by John Robinson's sharp arraignment of him), his whole object +being apparently to get the Leyden party into his control and that of his +friends,--the most subtle and able of whom was Gorges. Bradford recites +that Weston not only urged the Leyden leaders "not to meddle with ye +Dutch," but also,--"not too much to depend on ye Virginia [London] +Company," but to rely on himself and his friends. This strongly suggests +active cooperation with Gorges, on Weston's part, at the outset, with the +intent (if he could win them by any means, from allegiance to the First +(London) Virginia Company), to lead the Leyden party, if possible, into +Gorges's hands and under the control and patronage of the Second (or +Plymouth) Virginia Company. Whatever the date may have been, at which +(as Bradford states) the Leyden people "heard, both by Mr. Weston and +others, yt sundrie Honble: Lords had obtained a large grante from ye king +for ye more northerly parts of that countrie, derived out of ye Virginia +patents, and wholly secluded from theire Governmente, and to be called by +another name, viz. New England, unto which Mr. Weston and the chiefe of +them begane to incline;" Bradford leaves us in no doubt as to Weston's +attitude toward the matter itself. It is certain that the governor, +writing from memory, long afterward, fixed the time at which the Honble: +Lords had obtained "their large grante" much earlier than it could +possibly have occurred, as we know the exact date of the patent for the, +"Council for New England," and that the order for its issue was not given +till just as the Pilgrims left Leyden; so that they could not have known +of the actual "grante" till they reached Southampton. The essential +fact, stated on this best of authority, is, that "Mr. Weston and the +chiefe of them [their sponsors, i.e. Weston and Lord Warwick, both in +league with Gorges "begane to incline" to Gorges's new "Council for New +England." Such an attitude (evidently taken insidiously) meant, on +Weston's part, of necessity, no less than treachery to his associates of +the Adventurers; to the (London) Virginia Company, and to the Leyden +company and their allied English colonists, in the interest of Sir +Ferdinando Gorges and his schemes and of the new "Council" that Gorges +was organizing. Weston's refusal to advance "a penny" to clear the +departing Pilgrims from their port charges at Southampton; his almost +immediate severance of connection with both the colonists and the +Adventurers; and his early association with Gorges,--in open and +disgraceful violation of all the formers' rights in New England,--to say +nothing of his exhibition of a malevolence rarely exercised except toward +those one has deeply wronged, all point to a complete and positive +surrender of himself and his energies to the plot of Gorges, as a full +participant, from its inception. In his review of the Anniversary Address +of Hon. Charles Francis Adams (of July 4, 1892, at Quincy), Daniel W. +Baker, Esq., of Boston, says: "The Pilgrim Fathers were influenced in +their decision to come to New England by Weston, who, if not the agent of +Gorges in this particular matter, was such in other matters and held +intimate relations with him." + +The known facts favor the belief that Gorges's cogitations on colonial +matters--especially as stimulated by his plottings in relation to the +Leyden people--led to his project of the grant--and charter for the new +"Council for New England," designed and constituted to supplant, or +override, all others. It is highly probable that this grand scheme-- +duly embellished by the crafty Gorges,--being unfolded to Weston, with +suggestions of great opportunities for Weston himself therein, warmed and +drew him, and brought him to full and zealous cooperation in all Gorges's +plans, and that from this time, as Bradford states, he "begane to +incline" toward, and to suggest to the Pilgrims, association with Gorges +and the new "Council." Not daring openly to declare his change of +allegiance and his perfidy, he undertook, apparently, at first, by +suggestions, e.g. "not to place too much dependence on the London +Company, but to rely on himself and friends;" that "the fishing of New +England was good," etc.; and making thus no headway, then, by a policy of +delay, fault finding, etc., to breed dissatisfaction, on the Pilgrims' +part, with the Adventurers, the patent of Wincob, etc., with the hope of +bringing about "a new deal" in the Gorges interest. The same "delays" in +sailing, that have been adduced as proof of Jones's complicity with the +Dutch, would have been of equal advantage to these noble schemers, and if +he had any hand in them-which does not appear--it would have been far +more likely in the interest of his long-time patron, the Earl of Warwick, +and of his friends, than of any Dutch conspirators. + +Once the colonists were landed upon the American soil, especially if late +in the season, they would not be likely, it doubtless was argued, to +remove; while by a liberal policy on the part of the "Council for New +England" toward them--when they discovered that they were upon its +territory--they could probably be retained. That just such a policy was, +at once and eagerly, adopted toward them, as soon as occasion permitted, +is good proof that the scheme was thoroughly matured from the start. The +record of the action of the "Council for New England"--which had become +the successor of the Second Virginia Company before intelligence was +received that the Pilgrims had landed on its domain--is not at hand, +but it appears by the record of the London Company, under date of Monday, +July 16/26, 1621, that the "Council for New England" had promptly made +itself agreeable to the colonists. The record reads: "It was moved, +seeing that Master John Pierce had taken a Patent of Sir Ferdinando +Gorges, and thereupon seated his Company [the Pilgrims] within the limits +of the Northern Plantations, as by some was supposed,"' etc. From this +it is plain that, on receipt by Pierce of the news that the colony was +landed within the limits of the "Council for New England," he had, as +instructed, applied for, and been given (June 1, 1621), the (first) +"Council" patent for the colony. For confirmation hereof one should see +also the minutes of the "Council for New England" of March 25/April 4., +1623, and the fulsome letter of Robert Cushman returning thanks in behalf +of the Planters (through John Pierce), to Gorges, for his prompt response +to their request for a patent and for his general complacency toward them +Hon. James Phinney Baxter, Gorges's able and faithful biographer, says: +"We can imagine with what alacrity he [Sir Ferdinando] hastened to give +to Pierce a patent in their behalf." The same biographer, clearly +unconscious of the well-laid plot of Gorges and Warwick (as all other +writers but Neill and Davis have been), bears testimony (all the stronger +because the witness is unwitting of the intrigue), to the ardent interest +Gorges had in its success. He says: "The warm desire of Sir Ferdinando +Gorges to see a permanent colony founded within the domain of the +Plymouth [or Second] Virginia Company was to be realized in a manner of +which he had never dreamed [sic!] and by a people with whom he had but +little sympathized, although we know that he favored their settlement +within the territorial limits of the Plymouth [Second] Company." He had +indeed "favored their settlement," by all the craft of which he was +master, and greeted their expected and duly arranged advent with all the +jubilant open-handedness with which the hunter treats the wild horse he +has entrapped, and hopes to domesticate and turn to account. Everything +favored the conspirators. The deflection north-ward from the normal +course of the ship as she approached the coast, bound for the latitude of +the Hudson, required only to be so trifling that the best sailor of the +Pilgrim leaders would not be likely to note or criticise it, and it was +by no means uncommon to make Cape Cod as the first landfall on Virginia +voyages. The lateness of the arrival on the coast, and the difficulties +ever attendant on doubling Cape Cod, properly turned to account, would +increase the anxiety for almost any landing-place, and render it easy to +retain the sea-worn colonists when once on shore. The grand advantage, +however, over and above all else, was the entire ease and certainty with +which the cooperation of the one man essential to the success of the +undertaking could be secured, without need of the privity of any other, +viz. the Master of the MAY-FLOWER, Captain Thomas Jones. + +Let us see upon what the assumption of this ready and certain accord on +the part of Captain Jones rests. Rev. Dr. Neill, whose thorough study of +the records of the Virginia Companies, and of the East India Company +Calendars and collateral data, entitles him to speak with authority, +recites that, "In 1617, Capt. Thomas Jones (sometimes spelled Joanes) had +been sent to the East Indies in command of the ship LION by the Earl of +Warwick (then Sir Robt. Rich), under a letter of protection from the Duke +of Savoy, a foreign prince, ostensibly 'to take pirates,' which [pretext] +had grown, as Sir Thomas Roe (the English ambassador with the Great +Mogul) states, 'to be a common pretence for becoming pirate.'" Caught by +the famous Captain Martin Pring, in full pursuit of the junk of the Queen +Mother of the Great Mogul, Jones was attacked, his ship fired in the +fight, and burned,--with some of his crew,--and he was sent a prisoner to +England in the ship BULL, arriving in the Thames, January 1, 1618/19. No +action seems to have been taken against him for his offences, and +presumably his employer, Sir Robert, the coming Earl, obtained his +liberty on one pretext or another. On January 19, however, complaint was +made against Captain Jones, "late of the LION," by the East India +Company, "for hiring divers men to serve the King of Denmark in the East +Indies." A few days after his arrest for "hiring away the Company's men, +Lord Warwick got him off" on the claim that he had employed him +"to go to Virginia with cattle." From the "Transactions" of the Second +Virginia Company, of which--as we have seen--Sir Ferdinando Gorges was +the leading spirit, it appears that on "February 2, 1619/20, a commission +was allowed Captain Thomas Jones of the FALCON, a ship of 150 tons" [he +having been lately released from arrest by the Earl of Warwick's +intercession], and that "before the close of the month, he sailed with +cattle for Virginia," as previously noted. Dr. Neill, than whom there +can be no better authority, was himself satisfied, and unequivocally +states, that "Thomas Jones, Captain of the MAY-FLOWER, was without doubt +the old servant of Lord Warwick in the East Indies." Having done Sir +Robert Rich's (the Earl of Warwick's) "dirty work" for years, and having +on all occasions been saved from harm by his noble patron (even when +piracy and similar practices had involved him in the meshes of the law), +it would be but a trifling matter, at the request of such powerful +friends as the Earl and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, to steal the Pilgrim +Colony from the London Virginia Company, and hand it over bodily to the +"Council for New England,"--the successor of the Second (Plymouth) +Virginia Company,--in which their interests were vested, Warwick having, +significantly, transferred his membership from the London Company to the +new "Council for New England," as it was commonly called. Neill states, +and there is abundant proof, that "the Earl of Warwick and Gorges were in +sympathy," and were active coadjutors, while it is self-evident that both +would be anxious to accomplish the permanent settlement of the "Northern +Plantations" held by their Company. That they would hesitate to utilize +so excellent an opportunity to secure so very desirable a colony, by any +means available, our knowledge of the men and their records makes it +impossible to believe,--while nothing could apparently have been easier +of accomplishment. It will readily be understood that if the +conspirators were these men,--upon whose grace the Pilgrims must depend +for permission to remain upon the territory to which they had been +inveigled, or even for permission to depart from it, without spoliation, +--men whose influence with the King (no friend to the Pilgrims) was +sufficient to make both of them, in the very month of the Pilgrims' +landing, "governors" of "The Council for New England," under whose +authority the Planters must remain,--the latter were not likely to voice +their suspicions of the trick played upon them, if they discovered it, +or openly to resent it, when known. Dr. Dexter, in commenting on the +remark of Bradford, "We made Master Jones our leader, for we thought it +best herein to gratifie his kindness & forwardness," sensibly says, +"This proves nothing either way, in regard to the charge which Secretary +Morton makes of treachery against Jones, in landing the company so far +north, because, if that were true, it was not known to any of the company +for years afterward, and of course could not now [at that time] impair +their feelings of confidence in, or kindness towards, him. "Moreover, +the phraseology, "we thought it best to gratifie," suggests rather +considerations of policy than cordial desire, and their acquaintance, +too, with the man was still young. There is, however, no evidence that +Jones's duplicity was suspected till long afterward, though his +character was fully recognized. Gorges himself furnishes, in his +writings, the strongest confirmation we have of the already apparent +fact, that he was himself the prime conspirator. He says, in his own +"Narration," "It was referred [evidently by himself] to their [the London +Virginia Company's] consideration, how necessary it was that means might +be used to draw unto those their enterprises, some of those families that +had retired themselves into Holland for scruple of conscience, giving +them such freedom and liberty as might stand with their liking." When +have we ever found Sir Ferdinando Gorges thus solicitous for the success +of the rival Virginia Company? Why, if he so esteemed the Leyden people +as excellent colonists, did he not endeavor to secure them himself +directly, for his own languishing company? Certainly the "scruple of +conscience" of the Leyden brethren did not hinder him, for he found it no +bar, though of the Established Church himself, to giving them instantly +all and more than was asked in their behalf, as soon as he had them upon +his territory and they had applied for a patent. He well knew that it +would be matter of some expense and difficulty to bring the Leyden +congregation into agreement to go to either of the Virginia grants, and +he doubtless, and with good reason, feared that his repute and the +character and reputation of his own Company, with its past history of +failure, convict settlers, and loose living, would be repellent to these +people of "conscience." If they could be brought to the "going-point," +by men more of their ilk, like Sir Edwin Sandys, Weston, and others, it +would then be time to see if he could not pluck the ripe fruit for +himself,--as he seems to have done. + +"This advice," he says, "being hearkened unto, there were [those] that +undertook the putting it in practice [Weston and others] and it was +accordingly brought to effect," etc. Then, reciting (erroneously) the +difficulties with the SPEEDWELL, etc., he records the MAY-FLOWER'S +arrival at Cape Cod, saying, "The . . . ship with great difficulty +reached the coast of New England." He then gives a glowing, though +absurd, account of the attractions the planters found--in midwinter-- +especially naming the hospitable reception of the Indians, despite the +fact of the savage attack made upon them by the Nausets at Cape Cod, and +adds: "After they had well considered the state of their affaiis and +found that the authority they had from the London Company of Virginia, +could not warrant their abode in that place," which "they found so +prosperous and pleasing [sic] they hastened away their ship, with orders +to their Solicitor to deal with me to be a means they might have a grant +from the Council of New England Affairs, to settle in the place, which +was accordingly performed to their particular satisfaction and good +content of them all." One can readily imagine the crafty smile with +which Sir Ferdinando thus guilelessly recorded the complete success of +his plot. It is of interest to note how like a needle to the pole the +grand conspirator's mind flies to the fact which most appeals to him-- +that they find "that the authority they had . . . could not warrant +their abode in that place." It is of like interest to observe that in +that place which he called "pleasant and prosperous" one half their own +and of the ship's company had died before they hastened the ship away, +and they had endured trial, hardships, and sorrows untellable,--although +from pluck and principle they would not abandon it. He tells us "they +hastened away their ship," and implies that it was for the chief purpose +of obtaining through him a grant of the land they occupied. While we +know that the ship did not return till the following April,--and then at +her Captain's rather than the Pilgrims' pleasure,--it is evident that +Gorges could think of events only as incident to his designs and from his +point of view. His plot had succeeded. He had the "Holland families" +upon his soil, and his willing imagination converted their sober and +deliberate action into the eager haste with which he had planned that +they should fly to him for the patent, which his cunning had--as he +purposed--rendered necessary. Of course their request "was performed," +and so readily and delightedly that, recognizing John Pierce as their +mouthpiece and the plantation as "Mr. Pierces Plantation," Sir Ferdinando +and his associates--the "Council for New England," including his joint- +conspirator, the Earl of Warwick--gave Pierce unhesitatingly whatever he +asked. The Hon. William T. Davis, who alone among Pilgrim historians +(except Dr. Neill, whom he follows) seems to have suspected the hand of +Gorges in the treachery of Captain Jones, here demonstrated, has +suggested that: "Whether Gorges might not have influenced Pierce, in +whose name the patent of the Pilgrims had been issued--and whether both +together might not have seduced Capt. Jones, are further considerations +to be weighed, in solving the problem of a deviation from the intended +voyage of the MAYFLOWER." Although not aware of these suggestions, +either of Mr. Davis or of Dr. Neill, till his own labors had satisfied +him of Gorges's guilt, and his conclusions were formed, the author +cheerfully recognizes the priority to his own demonstration, of the +suggestions of both these gentlemen. No thing appears of record, +however, to indicate that John Pierce was in any way a party to Gorges's +plot. On the contrary, as his interest was wholly allied to his patent, +which Gorges's scheme would render of little value to his associate +Adventurers and himself he would naturally have been, unless heavily +bribed to duplicity beyond his expectations from their intended venture, +the last man to whom to disclose such a conspiracy. Neither was he +necessary in any way to the success of the scheme. He did not hire +either the ship or her master; he does not appear to have had any Pilgrim +relations to Captain Jones, and certainly could have had no such +influence with him as Gorges could himself command, through Warwick and +his own ability--from his position at the head of the "New England +Council"--to reward the service he required. That Gorges was able +himself to exert all the influence requisite to secure Jones's +cooperation, without the aid of Pierce, who probably could have given +none, is evident. Mr. Davis's suggestion, while pertinent and potential +as to Gorges, is clearly wide of the mark as to Pierce. He represented +the Adventurers in the matter of patents only, but Weston was in +authority as to the pivotal matter of shipping. An evidently hasty +footnote of Dr. Neill, appended to the "Memorial" offered by him to the +Congress of the United States, in 1868, seems to have been the only +authority of Mr. William T. Davis for the foregoing suggestion as to the +complicity of Pierce in the treachery of Captain Jones, except the bare +suspicion, already alluded to, in the records of the London Company. +Neill says: "Captain Jones, the navigator of the MAY-FLOWER, and John +Pierce, probably had arranged as to destination without the knowledge of +the passengers." While of course this is not impossible, there is, as +stated, absolutely nothing to indicate any knowledge, participation, or +need of Pierce in the matter, and of course the fewer there were in the +secret the better. + +Unobservant that John Pierce was acting upon the old adage, "second thief +best owner," when he asked, a little later, even so extraordinary a thing +as that the "Council for New England" would exchange the patent they had +so promptly granted him (as representing his associates, the Adventurers +and Planters) for a "deed-pole," or title in fee, to himself alone, they +instantly complied, and thus unwittingly enabled him also to steal the +colony, and its demesne beside. It is evident, from the very servile +letter of Robert Cushman to John Pierce (written while the former was at +New Plymouth, in November-December, 1621, on behalf of the MAY-FLOWER +Adventurers), that up to that time at least, the Pilgrims had no +suspicion of the trick which had been played upon them. For, while too +adroit recklessly to open a quarrel with those who could--if they chose-- +destroy them, the Pilgrims were far too high-minded to stoop to flattery +and dissimulation (especially with any one known to have been guilty of +treachery toward them), or to permit any one to do so in their stead. +In the letter referred to, Cush man acknowledges in the name of the +colonists the "bounty and grace of the President and Council of the +Affairs of New England [Gorges, Warwick, et als.] for their allowance and +approbation" of the "free possession and enjoyment" of the territory and +rights so promptly granted Pierce by the Council, in the colonists' +interest, upon application. If the degree of promptness with which the +wily Gorges and his associates granted the petition of Pierce, in the +colony's behalf for authority to occupy the domain to which Gorges's +henchman Jones had so treacherously conveyed them, was at all +proportionate to the fulsome and lavish acknowledgments of Cushman, +there must have been such eagerness of compliance as to provoke general +suspicion at the Council table. Gorges and Warwick must have "grinned +horribly behind their hands" upon receipt of the honest thanks of these +honest planters and the pious benedictions of their scribe, knowing +themselves guilty of detestable conspiracy and fraud, which had +frustrated an honest purpose, filched the results of others' labors, and +had "done to death" good men and women not a few. Winslow, in +"Hypocrisie Unmasked," says: "We met with many dangers and the mariners' +put back into the harbor of the Cape." The original intent of the +Pilgrims to go to the neighborhood of the Hudson is unmistakable; that +this intention was still clear on the morning of November 10 (not 9th)-- +after they had "made the land"--has been plainly shown; that there was no +need of so "standing in with the land" as to become entangled in the +"rips" and "shoals" off what is now known as Monomoy (in an effort to +pass around the Cape to the southward, when there was plenty of open +water to port), is clear and certain; that the dangers and difficulties +were magnified by Jones, and the abandonment of the effort was urged and +practically made by him, is also evident from Winslow's language above +noted,--"and the mariners put back," etc. No indication of the old-time +consultations with the chief men appears here as to the matter of the +return. Their advice was not desired. "The mariners put back" on their +own responsibility. + +Goodwin forcibly remarks, "These waters had been navigated by Gosnold, +Smith, and various English and French explorers, whose descriptions and +charts must have been familiar to a veteran master like Jones. He +doubtless magnified the danger of the passage [of the shoals], and managed +to have only such efforts made as were sure to fail. Of course he knew +that by standing well out, and then southward in the clear sea, he would +be able to bear up for the Hudson. His professed inability to devise any +way for getting south of the Cape is strong proof of guilt." + +The sequential acts of the Gorges conspiracy were doubtless practically +as follows:-- + +(a) The Leyden leaders applied to the States General of Holland, through +the New Netherland Company, for their aid and protection in locating at +the mouth of "Hudson's" River; + +(b) Sir Dudley Carleton, the English ambassador at the Hague, doubtless +promptly reported these negotiations to the King, through Sir Robert +Naunton; + +(c) The King, naturally enough, probably mentioned the matter to his +intimate and favorite, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the leading man in American +colonization matters in the kingdom; + +(d) Sir Ferdinando Gorges, recognizing the value of such colonists as the +Leyden congregation would make, anxious to secure them, instead of +permitting the Dutch to do so, and knowing that he and his Company would +be obnoxious to the Leyden leaders, suggested, as he admits, to Weston, +perhaps to Sandys, as the Leyden brethren's friends, that they ought to +secure them as colonists for their (London) Company; + +(e) Weston was dispatched to Holland to urge the Leyden leaders to drop +the Dutch negotiations, come under English auspices, which he guaranteed, +and they, placing faith in him, and possibly in Sandys's assurances of +his (London) Virginia Company's favor, were led to put themselves +completely into the hands of Weston and the Merchant Adventurers; the +Wincob patent was cancelled and Pierces substituted; + +(f) Weston, failing to lead them to Gorges's company, was next deputed, +perhaps by Gorges's secret aid, to act with full powers for the +Adventurers, in securing shipping, etc.; + +(g) Having made sure of the Leyden party, and being in charge of the +shipping, Weston was practically master of the situation. He and +Cushman, who was clearly entirely innocent of the conspiracy, had the +hiring of the ship and of her officers, and at this point he and his acts +were of vital importance to Gorges's plans. To bring the plot to a +successful issue it remained only to effect the landing of the colony +upon territory north of the 41 st parallel of north lati tude, to take it +out of the London Company's jurisdiction, and to do this it was only +necessary to make Jones Master of the ship and to instruct him +accordingly. This, with so willing a servant of his masters, was a +matter of minutes only, the instructions were evidently given, and the +success of the plot--the theft of the MAY-FLOWER colony--was assured. + +To a careful and candid student of all the facts, the proofs are +seemingly unmistakable, and the conclusion is unavoid able, that the MAY- +FLOWER Pilgrims were designedly brought to Cape Cod by Captain Jones, and +their landing in that latitude was effected, in pursuance of a conspiracy +entered into by him, not with the Dutch, but with certain of the nobility +of England; not with the purpose of keeping the planters out of Dutch +territory, but with the deliberate intent of stealing the colony from the +London Virginia Company, under whose auspices it had organized and set +sail, in the interest, and to the advantage, of its rival Company of the +"Northern Plantations." + +It is noteworthy that Jones did not command the MAY-FLOWER for another +voyage, and never sailed afterward in the employ of Thomas Goffe, Esq., +or (so far as appears) of any reputable shipowner. Weston was not such, +nor were the chiefs of the "Council for New England," in whose employ he +remained till his death. + +The records of the Court of the "Council" show, that "as soon as it would +do," and when his absence would tend to lull suspicion as to the parts +played, Captain Jones's noble patrons took steps to secure for him due +recognition and compensation for his services, from the parties who were +to benefit directly, with themselves, by his knavery. The records read: + +"July 17, 1622. A motion was made in the behaffe of Captaine Thomas +Jones, Captaine of the DISCOVERY, nowe employed in Virginia for trade and +fishinge [it proved, apparently, rather to be piracy], that he may be +admitted a freeman in this Companie in reward of the good service he hath +there [Virginia in general] performed. The Court liked well of the +motion and condiscended thereunto." The DISCOVERY left London at the +close of November, 1621. She arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, in April, +1622. She reached Plymouth, New England, in August, 1622. Her outward +voyage was not, so far as can be learned, eventful, or entitled to +especial consideration or recognition, and the good store of English +trading-goods she still had on hand--as Governor Bradford notices--on +her arrival at Plymouth indicates no notable success up to that time, in +the way of a trading-voyage, while "fishing" is not mentioned. For +piracy, in which she was later more successful, she had then had neither +time nor opportunity. The conclusion is irresistible, that "the good +service" recognized by the vote recorded was of the past (he had sailed +only the MAY-FLOWER voyage for the "Council" before), and that this +recognition was a part of the compensation previously agreed upon, if, +in the matter of the MAY-FLOWER voyage, Captain Jones did as he was +bidden. Thus much of the crafty Master of the MAY-FLOWER, Captain Thomas +Jones,--his Christian name and identity both apparently beyond dispute,-- +whom we first know in the full tide of his piratical career, in the +corsair LION in Eastern seas; whom we next find as a prisoner in London +for his misconduct in the East, but soon Master of the cattle-ship FALCON +on her Virginia voyage; whom we greet next--and best--as Admiral of the +Pilgrim fleet, commander of the destiny freighted MAY-FLOWER, and though +a conspirator with nobles against the devoted band he steered, under the +overruling hand of their Lord God, their unwitting pilot to "imperial +labors" and mighty honors, to the founding of empire, and to eternal +Peace; whom we next meet--fallen, "like Lucifer, never to hope again"-- +as Captain of the little buccaneer,--the DISCOVERY, disguised as a +trading-ship, on the Virginian and New England coasts; and lastly, in +charge of his leaking prize, a Spanish frigate in West Indian waters, +making his way--death-stricken--into the Virginia port of Jamestown, +where (July, 1625), he "cast anchor" for the last time, dying, as we +first found him, a pirate, to whom it had meantime been given to +"minister unto saints." + +Of JOHN CLARKE, the first mate of the MAY-FLOWER, we have already learned +that he had been in the employ of the First (or London) Virginia Company, +and had but just returned (in June, 1620) from a voyage to Virginia with +Captain Jones in the FALCON, when found and employed by Weston and +Cushman for the Pilgrim ship. Dr. Neill quotes from the "Minutes of the +London Virginia Company," of Wednesday, February 13/23, 1621/2, the +following; which embodies considerable information concerning him:-- + +"February 13th, 1621. Master Deputy acquainted the Court, that one Master +John Clarke being taken from Virginia long since [Arber interpolates, +"in 1612"] by a Spanish ship that came to discover the Plantation, that +forasmuch as he hath since that time done the Company presumably the +First (or London) Virginia Company good service in many voyages to +Virginia; and, of late [1619] went into Ireland, for the transportation of +cattle to Virginia; he was a humble suitor to this Court that he might be +a Free brother of the Company, and have some shares of land bestowed upon +him." + +From the foregoing he seems to have begun his American experiences as +early as 1612, and to have frequently repeated them. That he was at once +hired by Weston and Cushman as a valuable man, as soon as found, was not +strange. + +He seems to have had the ability to impress men favorably and secure +their confidence, and to have been a modest and reliable man. Although +of both experience and capacity, he continued an under-officer for some +years after the Pilgrim voyage, when, it is fair to suppose, he might +have had command of a ship. He seems to have lacked confidence in +himself, or else the breadth of education necessary to make him trust his +ability as a navigator. + +He is not mentioned, in connection with the affairs of the Pilgrims, +after he was hired as "pilot,"--on Saturday afternoon the 10th of June, +1620, at London,--until after the arrival at Cape Cod, and evidently was +steadily occupied during all the experience of "getting away" and of the +voyage, in the faithful performance of his duty as first mate (or +"pilot") of the MAY-FLOWER. It was not until the "third party" of +exploration from Cape Cod harbor was organized and set out, on Wednesday, +December 6, that he appeared as one of the company who put out in the +shallop, to seek the harbor which had been commended by Coppin, "the +second mate." On this eventful voyage--when the party narrowly escaped +shipwreck at the mouth of Plymouth harbor--they found shelter under the +lee of an island, which (it being claimed traditionally that he was first +to land there on) was called, in his honor, "Clarke's Island," which name +it retains to this day. No other mention of him is made by name, in the +affairs of ship or shore, though it is known inferentially that he +survived the general illness which attacked and carried off half of the +ship's company. In November, 1621,--the autumn following his return from +the Pilgrim voyage,--he seems to have gone to Virginia as "pilot" (or +"mate") of the FLYING HART, with cattle of Daniel Gookin, and in 1623 to +have attained command of a ship, the PROVIDENCE, belonging to Mr. Gookin, +on a voyage to Virginia where he arrived April 10, 1623, but died in that +colony soon after his arrival. He seems to have been a competent and +faithful man, who filled well his part in life. He will always have +honorable mention as the first officer of the historic MAY-FLOWER, and as +sponsor at the English christening of the smiling islet in Plymouth +harbor which bears his name. + +Of ROBERT COPPIN, the "second mate" (or "pilot") of the MAY-FLOWER, +nothing is known before his voyage in the Pilgrim ship, except that he +seems to have made a former to the coast of New England and the vicinity +of Cape Cod, though under what auspices, or in what ship, does not +transpire. Bradford says: "Their Pilotte, one Mr. Coppin, who had been +in the countrie before." Dr. Young a suggests that Coppin was perhaps on +the coast with Smith or Hunt. Mrs. Austin imaginatively makes him, of +"the whaling bark SCOTSMAN of Glasgow," but no warrant whatever for such +a conception appears. + +Dr. Dexter, as elsewhere noted, has said: "My impression is that Coppin +was originally hired to go in the SPEEDWELL, . . that he sailed with +them [the Pilgrims] in the SPEED WELL, but on her final putting back was +transferred to the MAY-FLOWER." As we have seen in another relation, +Dr. Dexter also believed Coppin to have been the "pilot" sent over by +Cushman to Leyden, in May, 1620, and we have found both views to be +untenable. It was doubtless because of this mistaken view that Dr. +Dexter believed that Coppin was "hired to go in the SPEEDWELL," and, the +premise being wrong, the conclusion is sequentially incorrect. But there +are abundant reasons for thinking that Dexter's "impression" is wholly +mistaken. It would be unreasonable to suppose (as both vessels were +expected to cross the ocean), that each had not--certainly on leaving +Southampton her full complement of officers. If so, each undoubtedly had +her second mate. The MAY-FLOWER'S officers and crew were, as we know, +hired for the voyage, and there is no good reason to suppose that the +second mate of the MAY-FLOWER was dismissed at Plymouth and Coppin put in +his place which would not be equally potent for such an exchange between +the first mate of the SPEEDWELL and Clarke of the MAY-FLOWER. The +assumption presumes too much. In fact, there can be no doubt that +Dexter's misconception was enbased upon, and arose from, the unwarranted +impression that Coppin was the "pilot" sent over to Leyden. It is not +likely that, when the SPEEDWELL'S officers were so evidently anxious to +escape the voyage, they would seek transfer to the MAY-FLOWER. + +Charles Deane, the editor of Bradford's "Historie" (ed.1865), makes, in +indexing, the clerical error of referring to Coppin as the "master- +gunner," an error doubtless occasioned by the fact that in the text +referred to, the words, "two of the masters-mates, Master Clarke and +Master Coppin, the master-gunner," etc., were run so near together that +the mistake was readily made. + +In "Mourt's Relation" it appears that in the conferences that were held +aboard the ship in Cape Cod harbor, as to the most desirable place for +the colonists to locate, "Robert Coppin our pilot, made relation of a +great navigable river and great harbor in the headland of the Bay, almost +right over against Cape Cod, being a right line not much above eight +leagues distant," etc. Mrs. Jane G. Austin asserts, though absolutely +without warrant of any reliable authority, known tradition, or +probability, that "Coppin's harbor . . . afterward proved to be Cut +River and the site of Marshfield," but in another place she contradicts +this by stating that it was "Jones River, Duxbury." As Coppin described +his putative harbor, called "Thievish Harbor," a "great navigable river +and good harbor" were in close relation, which was never true of either +the Jones River or "Cut River" localities, while any one familiar with +the region knows that what Mrs. Austin knew as "Cut River" had no +existence in the Pilgrims' early days, but was the work of man, +superseding a small river-mouth (Green Harbor River), which was so +shallow as to have its exit closed by the sand-shift of a single storm. + +Young, with almost equal recklessness, says: "The other headland of the +bay, alluded to by Coppin, was Manomet Point, and the river was probably +the North River in Scituate; "but there are no "great navigable river and +good harbor" in conjunction in the neighborhood of Manomet, or of the +North River,--the former having no river and the latter no harbor. If +Coppin had not declared that he had never seen the mouth of Plymouth +harbor before ("mine eyes never saw this place before"), it might readily +have been believed that Plymouth harbor was the "Thievish Harbor" of his +description, so well do they correspond. + +Goodwin, the brother of Mrs. Austin, quite at variance with his sister's +conclusions, states, with every probability confirming him, that the +harbor Coppin sought "may have been Boston, Ipswich, Newburyport, or +Portsmouth." + +As a result of his "relation" as to a desirable harbor, Coppin was made +the "pilot" of the "third expedition," which left the ship in the +shallop, Wednesday, December 6, and, after varying disasters and a narrow +escape from shipwreck--through Coppin's mistake--landed Friday night +after dark, in the storm, on the island previously mentioned, ever since +called "Clarke's Island," at the mouth of Plymouth harbor. + +Nothing further is known of Coppin except that he returned to England +with the ship. He has passed into history only as Robert Coppin, "the +second mate" (or "pilot") of the MAY-FLOWER. + + +But one other officer in merchant ships of the MAY-FLOWER class in her +day was dignified by the address of "Master" (or Mister), or had rank +with the Captain and Mates as a quarter-deck officer,--except in those +instances where a surgeon or a chaplain was carried. That the MAY-FLOWER +carried no special ship's-surgeon has been supposed from the fact of Dr. +Fuller's attendance alike on her passengers and crew, and the increased +mortality of the seamen--after his removal on shore. + + [The author is greatly indebted to his esteemed friend, Mr. George + Ernest Bowman, Secretary-General of the Society of MAY-FLOWER + Descendants, for information of much value upon this point. He + believes that he has discovered trustworthy evidence of the + existence of a small volume bearing upon its title-page an + inscription that would certainly indicate that the MAY-FLOWER had + her own surgeon. A copy of the inscription, which Mr. Bowman + declares well attested (the book not being within reach), reads as + follows:-- + "To Giles Heale Chirurgeon, + from Isaac Allerton + in Virginia. + Feb. 10, 1620." + + Giles Heale's name will be recognized as that of one of the + witnesses to John Carver's copy of William Mullens's nuncupative + will, and, if he was the ship's-surgeon, might very naturally appear + in that relation. If book and inscription exist and the latter is + genuine, it would be indubitable proof that Heale (who was surely + not a MAY-FLOWER passenger) was one of the ship's company, and if a + "chirurgeon," the surgeon of the ship, for no other Englishmen, + except those of the colonists and the ship's company, could have + been at New Plymouth, at the date given, and New England was then + included in the term "Virginia." It is much to be hoped that Mr. + Bowman's belief may be established, and that in Giles Heale we shall + have another known officer, the surgeon, of the MAY-FLOWER.] + +That she had no chaplain goes without saying. The Pilgrims had their +spiritual adviser with them in the person of Elder Brewster, and were not +likely to tolerate a priest of either the English or the Romish church on +a vessel carrying them. The officer referred to was the representative +of the business interests of the owner or chartering-party, on whose +account the ship made the voyage; and in that day was known as the +"ship's-merchant," later as the "purser," and in some relations as the +"supercargo." No mention of an officer thus designated, belonging to the +MAY-FLOWER, has ever been made by any writer, so far as known, and it +devolves upon the author to indicate his existence and to establish, so +far as possible, both this and his identity. + +A certain "Master Williamson," whose name and presence, though but once +mentioned by Governor Bradford, have greatly puzzled Pilgrim historians, +seems to have filled this berth on board the MAY-FLOWER. Bradford tells +us that on Thursday, March 22, 1620/21, "Master Williamson" was +designated to accompany Captain Standish--practically as an officer +of the guard--to receive and escort the Pokanoket chief, Massasoit, +to Governor Carver, on the occasion of the former's first visit of state. +Prior to the recent discovery in London, by an American genealogist, of a +copy of the nuncupative will of Master William Mullens, one of the MAY- +FLOWER Pilgrims, clearly dictated to Governor John Carver on board the +ship, in the harbor of New Plymouth (probably) Wednesday, February 21, +1620 (though not written out by Carver till April 2, 1620), on which day +(as we learn from Bradford), Master Mullens died, no other mention of +"Master Williamson" than that above quoted was known, and his very +existence was seriously questioned. In this will, as elsewhere noted, +"Master Williamson" is named as one of the "Overseers." By most early +writers it was held that Bradford had unwittingly substituted the name +"Williamson" for that of Allerton, and this view--apparently for no +better reasons than that both names had two terminal letters in common, +and that Allerton was associated next day with Standish on some military +duty--came to be generally accepted, and Allerton's name to be even +frequently substituted without question.---Miss Marcia A. Thomas, in her +"Memorials of Marshfield" (p. 75), says: "In 1621, Master Williamson, +Captain Standish, and Edward Winslow made a journey to make a treaty with +Massasoit. He is called 'Master George,' meaning probably Master George +Williamson," etc. + +This is certainly most absurd, and by one not familiar with the +exceptional fidelity and the conscientious work of Miss Thomas would +rightly be denounced as reckless and reprehensible fabrication. Of +course Williamson, Standish, and Winslow made no such journey, and made +no treaty with Massasoit, but aided simply in conducting, with due +ceremonial, the first meeting between Governor John Carver and the Indian +sachem at Plymouth, at which a treaty was concluded. There is no +historical warrant whatever for the name of "George," as appertaining to +"Master William son." The fact, however,--made known by the fortunate +discovery mentioned,--that "Master Williamson" was named in his will by +Master Mullens as one of its "Overseers," and undoubtedly probated the +will in England, puts the existence of such a person beyond reasonable +doubt. That he was a person of some dignity, and of very respectable +position, is shown by the facts that he was chosen as Standish's +associate, as lieutenant of the guard, on an occasion of so much +importance, and was thought fit by Master Mullens, a careful and clear- +headed man as his will proves,--to be named an "Overseer" of that will, +charged with responsible duties to Mullens's children and property. +It is practically certain that on either of the above-mentioned dates +(February 21, or March 22) there were no human beings in the Colony of +New Plymouth beside the passengers of the MAY-FLOWER, her officers and +crew, and the native savages. Visitors, by way of the fishing vessels on +the Maine coast, had not yet begun to come, as they did a little later. +It is certain that no one of the name of "Williamson" was among the +colonist passengers, or indeed for several years in the colony, and we +may at once dismiss both the passengers and the savages from our +consideration. This elimination renders it inevitable that "Master +Williamson" must have been of the ship's company. It remains to +determine, if possible, what position upon the MAY-FLOWER'S roster he +presumably held. His selection by "Master" Mullens as one of the "Over +seers" of his will suggests the probability that, having named Governor +Carver as the one upon whom he would rely for the care of his family and +affairs in New England, Mr. Mullens sought as the other a proper person, +soon to return to England, and hence able to exercise like personal +interest in his two children and his considerable property left there? +Such a suggestion points to a returning and competent officer of the +ship. That "Master Williamson" was above the grade of "petty officer," +and ranked at least with the mates or "pilots," is clear from the fact +that he is invariably styled "Master" (equivalent to Mister), and we know +with certainty that he was neither captain nor mate. That he was a man of +address and courage follows the fact that he was chosen by Standish as +his lieutenant, while the choice in and of itself is a strong bit of +presumptive proof that he held the position on the MAY-FLOWER to which he +is here assigned. + +The only officer commonly carried by a ship of the MAY-FLOWER class, +whose rank, capacities, and functions would comport with every fact and +feature of the case, was "the ship's-merchant," her accountant, factor, +and usually--when such was requisite--her "interpreter," on every +considerable (trading) voyage. + +It is altogether probable that it was in his capacity of "interpreter" +(as Samoset and Tisquantum knew but little English), and on account of +what knowledge of the Indian tongue he very probably possessed, that +Standish chose Williamson as his associate for the formal reception of +Massasoit. It is indeed altogether probable that it was this familiarity +with the "trade lingo" of the American coast tribes which influenced-- +perhaps determined--his employ ment as "ship's-merchant" of the MAY- +FLOWER for her Pilgrim voyage, especially as she was expected to "load +back" for England with the products of the country, only to be had by +barter with the Indians. It is evident that there must naturally have +been some provision made for communication with the natives, for the +purposes of that trade, etc., which the Planters hoped to establish. +Trading along the northern coast of Virginia (as the whole coast strip +was then called), principally for furs, had been carried on pretty +actively, since 1584, by such navigators as Raleigh's captains, Gosnold, +Pring, Champlain, Smith, Dermer, Hunt, and the French and Dutch, and much +of the "trade lingo" of the native tribes had doubtless been "picked up" +by their different "ship's-merchants." It appears by Bradford' that +Dermer, when coasting the shores of New England, in Sir Ferdinando +Gorges's employ, brought the Indian Tisquantum with him, from England, +as his interpreter, and doubtless from him Dermer and other ship's +officers "picked up" more or less Indian phrases, as Tisquantum (Squanto) +evidently did of English. Winslow, in his "Good Newes from New England," +written in 1622, says of the Indian tongue, as spoken by the tribes about +them at Plymouth, "it is very copious, large, and difficult. As yet we +cannot attain to any great measure thereof, but can understand them, and +explain ourselves to their understanding, by the help of those that daily +converse with us." This being the case, after two years of constant +communication, and noting how trivial knowledge of English speech Samoset +and Tisquantum had, it is easy to understand that, if Williamson had any +knowledge of the native tongue, Standish would be most anxious to have +the benefit of it, in this prime and all-important effort at securing a +permanent alliance with the ruling sachem of the region. Bradford, in +"Mourt's Relation," speaking of the speech of Governor Carver to +Massasoit, says: "He [Massasoit] liked well of the speech and heard it +attentively, though the interpreters did not well express it." Probably +all three, Tisquantum, Samoset, and Williamson, had a voice in it. + +That "Master Williamson" was a veritable person at New Plymouth, in +February and March, 1620/21, is now beyond dispute; that he must have +been of the ship's company of the MAY-FLOWER is logically certain; that +he was one of her officers, and a man of character, is proven by his +title of "Master" and his choice by Standish and Mullens for exceptional +and honorable service; that the position of "ship's-merchant" alone +answers to the conditions precedent, is evident; and that such an officer +was commonly carried by ships of the MAY-FLOWER class on such voyages as +hers is indicated by the necessity, and proven by the facts known as to +other ships on similar New England voyages, both earlier and later. The +fact that he was called simply "Master Williamson," in both cases where +he is mentioned, with out other designation or identification, is highly +significant, and clearly indicates that he was some one so familiarly +known to all concerned that no occasion for any further designation +apparently occurred to the minds of Mullens, Carver, or Bradford, when +referring to him. In the case of Master John Hampden, the only other +notable incognito of early Pilgrim literature, the description is full, +and the only question concerning him has been of his identity with John +Hampden, the English patriot of the Cromwellian era. It is, therefore, +not too much to assert that the MAY-FLOWER carried a "ship's-merchant" +(or purser), and that "Master Williamson" was that officer. If close- +linked circumstantial evidence is ever to be relied upon, it clearly +establishes in this case the identity of the "Master Williamson" who was +Governor Bradford's incognito, and the person of the same name mentioned +a month earlier in "Master" Mullens's will; as also the fact that in him +we have a new officer of the MAY FLOWER, hitherto unknown as such to +Pilgrim literature. If Mr. Bowman's belief as to Giles Heale (see note) +proves correct, we have yet another, the Surgeon. + +The Carpenter, Gunner, Boatswain, Quartermaster, and "Masters-mates" are +the only "petty officers" of the Pilgrim ship of whom any record makes +mention. The carpenter is named several times, and was evidently, as +might be expected, one of the most useful men of the ship's crew. Called +into requisition, doubtless, in the conferences as to the condition of +the SPEEDWELL, on both of her returns to port, at the inception of the +voyage, he was especially in evidence when, in mid-ocean, "the cracking +and bending of a great deck-beam," and the "shaken" condition of "the +upper works" of the MAY-FLOWER, gave rise to much alarm, and it was by +his labors and devices, and the use of the now famous "jack-screw," that +the bending beam and leaking deck were made secure. The repairs upon the +shallop in Cape Cod harbor also devolved upon him, and mention is made of +his illness and the dependence placed upon him. No doubt, in the +construction of the first dwellings and of the ordnance platform on the +hill, etc., he was the devising and principal workman. He undoubtedly +returned to England with the ship, and is known in history only by his +"billet," as "the carpenter" of the MAY-FLOWER. + +The Master Gunner seems to have been a man with a proclivity for Indian +barter, that led him to seek a place with the "third expedition" at Cape +Cod, thereby nearly accomplishing his death, which indeed occurred later, +in Plymouth harbor, not long before the return of the ship. + +The Boatswain is known, by Bradford's records, to have died in the +general sickness which attacked the crew while lying in Plymouth harbor. +The brief narrative of his sickness and death is all that we know of his +personality. The writer says: "He was a proud young man, and would often +curse and scoff at the passengers," but being nursed when dying, by those +of them who remained aboard, after his shipmates had deserted him in +their craven fear of infection, "he bewailed his former conduct," saying, +"Oh! you, I now see, show your love like Christians indeed, one to +another, but we let one another lie and die like dogs." + +Four Quartermasters are mentioned (probably helmsmen simply), of whom +three are known to have died in Plymouth harbor. + +"Masters-mates" are several times mentioned, but it is pretty certain +that the "pilots" (or mates) are intended. Bradford and Winslow, in +"Mourt's Relation," say of the reappearance of the Indians: "So Captain +Standish, with another [Hopkins], with their muskets, went over to them, +with two of the masters-mates that follow them without [side?] arms, +having two muskets with them: Who these "masters-mates" were does not +appear." The language, "two of the masters-mates," would possibly suggest +that there were more of them. It hardly seems probable that both the +mates of the MAY-FLOWER would thus volunteer, or thrust themselves +forward in such a matter, and it seems doubtful if they would have been +permitted (even if both ashore at one time, which, though unusual, did +occur), to assume such duty. Whoever they were, they did not lack +courage. + +The names of the petty officers and seamen of the MAY-FLOWER do not +appear as such, but the discovery of the (evidently) nuncupative will of +William Mullens--herein referred to--has perhaps given us two of them. +Attached to John Carver's certificate of the particulars of this will, +filed at Somerset House, London, are the names, "Giles Heale" and +"Christopher Joanes." As Mr Mullens died Wednesday, February 21, 1620, +on board the MAY-FLOWER in Plymouth harbor, on which day we know from +Bradford' that "the Master [Jones, whose name was Thomas] came on shore +with many of his sailors," to land and mount the cannon on the fort, and +as they had a full day's work to draw up the hill and mount five guns, +and moreover brought the materials for, and stayed to eat, a considerable +dinner with the Pilgrims, they were doubtless ashore all day. It is +rational to interpret the known facts to indicate that in this absence of +the Captain and most of his crew ashore, Mr. Mullens, finding himself +failing fast, sent for Governor Carver and--unable to do more than speak +--dictated to him the disposition of his property which he desired to +make. Carver, noting this down from his dictation, undoubtedly called in +two of the ship's company (Heale very likely being the ship's-surgeon), +who were left aboard to "keep ship," to hear his notes read to Mullens +and assented to by him, they thus becoming the witnesses to his will, to +the full copy of which, as made by Carver (April 2), they affixed their +names as such. As there were then at Plymouth (besides savages) only the +passengers and crew of the MAY-FLOWER, and these men were certainly not +among the passengers, it seems inevitable that they were of the crew. +That "Christopher Joanes" was not the Master of the ship is clear, +because Heale's is the first signature, and no man of the crew would have +dared to sign before the Captain; because the Captain's name was (as +demonstrated) Thomas; and because we know that he was ashore all that +day, with most of his men. It is by no means improbable that Captain +Jones had shipped one of his kinsmen in his crew, possibly as one of the +"masters mates" or quartermasters referred to (and it is by no means +certain that there were not more than two), though these witnesses may +have been quartermasters or other petty officers left on board as "ship- +keepers." Certain it is that these two witnesses must have been of the +crew, and that "Christopher Joanes" was not the Captain, while it is +equally sure, from the collateral evidence, that Master Mullens died on +shipboard. Had he died on shore it is very certain that some of the +leaders, Brewster, Bradford, or others, would have been witnesses, with +such of the ship's officers as could aid in proving the will in England. +It is equally evident that the officers of the ship were absent when +Master Mullens dictated his will, except perhaps the surgeon. + +The number of seamen belonging to the ship is nowhere definitely stated. +At least four in the employ of the Pilgrims were among the passengers +and not enrolled upon the ships' lists. From the size of the ship, +the amount of sail she probably carried, the weight of her anchors, +and certain other data which appear,--such as the number allowed to +leave the ship at a time, etc.,--it is probably not a wild estimate to +place their number at from twenty to twenty-five. This is perhaps a +somewhat larger number than would be essential to work the ship, and than +would have been shipped if the voyage had been to any port of a civilized +country; but on a voyage to a wild coast, the possibilities of long +absence and of the weakening of the crew by death, illness, etc., +demanded consideration and a larger number. The wisdom and necessity +of carrying, on a voyage to an uninhabited country, some spare men, +is proven by the record of Bradford, who says: "The disease begane to +fall amongst them the seamen also, so as allmost halfe of their company +dyed before they went away and many of their officers and lustyest men; +as ye boatson, gunner, 3 quarter maisters, the cooke, and others." + +The LADY ARBELLA, the "Admiral" of Governor Winthrop's fleet, a ship of +350 tons, carried 52 men, and it is a fair inference that the MAY-FLOWER, +of a little more than half her tonnage, would require at least half as +many. It is, therefore, not unlikely that the officers and crew of the +MAY-FLOWER, all told, mustered thirty men, irrespective of the sailors, +four in number (Alderton, English, Trevore, and Ely), in the Pilgrims' +employ. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +As 1620 did not begin until March 25 +Crime--for such it was, in inception, nature, and results +Malevolence rarely exercised except toward those one has wronged +The old adage, "second thief best owner" +Theft of the MAY-FLOWER colony + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Mayflower and Her Log, v3 +by Azel Ames + diff --git a/4103.zip b/4103.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b8fe76 --- /dev/null +++ b/4103.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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