Azel Ames

“ There is just the shadow of a doubt thrown upon the accuracy of Smith's statement as to the non-corporate status of the Adventurers, by the loose and unwieldy features which must thereby attach to their business transactions, to which it seems probable that merchants like Weston, Andrews, Beauchamp, Shirley, Pickering, Goffe, and others would object, unless the law at that time expressly limited and defined the rights and liabilities of members in such voluntary associations. ”

“ The LADY ARBELLA, Winthrop's ship, a vessel of 350 tons, carried "twenty- eight pieces of ordnance;" but as "Admiral" of the fleet, at a time when there was a state of war with others, and much piracy, she would presumably mount more than a proportionate weight of metal, especially as she convoyed smaller and lightly armed vessels, and carried much value. There is no reason to suppose that the MAY-FLOWER, in her excessively crowded condition, mounted more than eight or ten guns, and these chiefly of small calibre. ”

“ The capacity of the "long-boat" we know to have been about twenty persons, as nearly that number is shown by Bradford and Winslow to have gone in her on the early expeditions from the ship, at Cape Cod. She would therefore accommodate only about one sixth of the ship's company. As the "gig" would carry only five or six persons,—while the shallop was stowed between decks and could be of no service in case of need upon the voyage,—the inference is warranted that other boats were carried, which fail of specific mention, or that she was wofully lacking. ”

“ The actual builder's plans, reproduced by Admiral Paris, from drawings still preserved, of ships of the MAYFLOWER'S time, seem to me to offer more correct and conclusive data for accurately determining what the famous ship of the Pilgrim Fathers was like."
Decidedly one of the larger and better vessels of the merchant class of her day, she presumably followed the prevalent lines of that class, no doubt correctly represented, in the main, by the few coeval pictures of such craft which have come down to us. No one can state with absolute authority, her exact rig, model, or dimensions ”

“ The sum was doubtless considerably in excess of that paid for the MAY- FLOWER, both because she was a much larger, heavier-armed, and better- manned ship, of finer accommodations, and because ships were, in 1630, in far greater demand for the New England trade than in 1620, Winthrop's own fleet including no less than ten. The adjustments of freight and passage moneys between the Adventurers and colonists are matter of much doubt and perplexity, and are not likely to be fully ascertained. ”

“ There was a MAY-FLOWER which, in 1648, gained an unenviable notoriety as a slaver. But this was not the MAY-FLOWER which had carried over the first settlers, it being a vessel Of 350 tons, while the genuine MAY-FLOWER was of only 180 tons." Of the first of her two known visits, after her voyage with the Pilgrim company from Leyden, Goodwin says: "In August, 1629, the renowned MAY-FLOWER came from England to Salem under Plymouth's old friend [William] Peirce, and in her came thirty-five Leyden people, on their way to Plymouth." ”

“ As given traditionally, it was on the 15th, or eleven days before the SPEEDWELL'S arrival at Southampton.
By whom the charter-party of the MAY-FLOWER was signed will probably remain matter of conjecture, though we are not without intimations of some value regarding it. Captain John Smith tells us that the Merchant Adventurers (presumably one of the contracting parties) "were about seventy, . . . not a Corporation, but knit together by a voluntary combination in a Society without constraint or penalty. ”

“ The great majority of the men and boys were doubtless provided with bunks only, "between decks," but it seems that John Billington had a cabin there. Bradford narrates of the gunpowder escapade of young Francis Billington, that, "there being a fowling-piece, charged in his father's cabin [though why so inferior a person as Billington should have a cabin when there could not have been enough for better men, is a query] , shot her off in the cabin, there being a little barrel of powder half- full scattered in and about the cabin, the fire being within four feet of the bed, between the decks, . ”

“ Answering, as the MAY-FLOWER doubtless did, to her type, she was certainly of rather "blocky," though not unshapely, build, with high poop and forecastle, broad of beam, short in the waist, low "between decks," and modelled far more upon the lines of the great nautical prototype, the water-fowl, than the requirements of speed have permitted in the carrying trade of more recent years. That she was of the "square rig" of her time—when apparently no use was made of the "fore-and-aft" sails which have so wholly banished the former from all vessels of her size—goes without saying. ”

“ The want of boats for unlading, mentioned by Bradford, suggests the possibility that some of the ship's quota may have been lost or destroyed on her boisterous voyage, though no such event appears of record, or is suggested by any one. In the event of wreck, the Pilgrims must have trusted, like the Apostle Paul and his associates when cast away on the island of Melita, to get to shore, "some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship." ”

“ The remaining twenty or thereabouts whose names are not surely known—though a few of them are pretty safely conjectured, some being presumably of the Holland Pilgrims and their friends—were probably chiefly small contributors, whose rights were acquired from time to time by others of larger faith in the enterprise, or greater sympathy or means. Not all, however, who had ceased to hold their interests when the "Composition" was made with Allerton in behalf of the colonists, in 1626, were of these small holders. Weston was forced out by stress of circumstances; Thomas moved to New England ”

“ He was the fifth of the Adventurers to come to New England to remain, and cast in his lot with the Pilgrims at New Plimoth—Martin, Mullens, Collier, and Hatherly preceding him. A wealthy and well-informed man, he became a power in the government. Probably Welsh by birth, he was a London merchant when the Adventurers were organized. ”

“ It appears from the foregoing that the Pilgrims at New Plymouth were in debt to Mr. Goffe in 1629, presumably for advances and passage money on account of the contingent of the Leyden congregation, brought over with Higginson's company to Salem, on the second trip of the MAY-FLOWER. Mr. Goffe's intimate connection with the Pilgrims was certainly unbroken from the organization of their Merchant Adventurers in 1619/20, through the entire period of ten years, to 1630. ”

“ By far the greater portion of the sums invested by the Adventurers in behalf of the Colony is represented by those whose names are known, those still unknown representing, doubtless, numbers rather than amounts. ”

“ They then went to look for a ship and found one, which, from Cushman's remark, "but a fine ship it is," they must (at least superficially) have examined. While hunting for the ship they seem to have come across, and to have hired, John Clarke the "pilot," with whom they necessarily, as with the ship's people, spent some time. It is not improbable that the approach of dusk cut short their examination of the ship, which they hence "took liking of [refusal of] till Monday." ”

“ Whatever other deductions may be drawn from this very badly constructed and ambiguous paragraph of Bradford, two things appear certain,—one, that Billington had a "cabin" of his own "between decks;" and the other, that there was a "fire between decks," which "many people" were gathered "about." We can quite forgive the young scamp for the jeopardy in which he placed the ship and her company, since it resulted in giving us so much data concerning the MAY-FLOWER'S "interior." ”

“ Her steering-gear, rigging, and the mechanism for "getting her anchors," "slinging," "squaring," and "cockbilling" her yards; for "making" and "shortening" sail; "heaving out" her boats and "handling" her cargo, were of course all of the crude and simple patterns and construction of the time, usually so well illustrating the ancient axiom in physics, that "what is lost [spent] in power is gained in time." ”

“ It is plain that, in addition to the larger cabin space and the smaller cabins,—"staterooms," nowadays,—common to ships of the MAY-FLOWER'S size and class, the large number of her passengers, and especially of women and children, made it necessary to construct other cabins between decks. Whether these were put up at London, or Southampton, or after the SPEEDWELL'S additional passengers were taken aboard at Plymouth, does not appear. ”

“ They have a President and Treasurer every year newly chosen by the most voices, who ordereth the affairs of their Courts and meetings; and with the assent of most of them, undertaketh all the ordinary business, but in more weighty affairs, the assent of the whole Company is required. ”

“ That they were not signing-parties to this contract, in particular, is made very certain by the suggestion of Cushman's letter of Sunday, June 11, to the effect that he hoped that "our friends there [at Leyden] if they be quitted of the ship-hire [as then seemed certain, as the Adventurers would hire on general account] will be induced to venture [invest] the more." There had evidently been a grave fear on the part of the Leyden people that if they were ever to get away, they would have to hire the necessary ship themselves. ”

“ That she was low "between decks" is demonstrated by the fact that it was necessary to "cut down" the Pilgrims' shallop—an open sloop, of certainly not over 30 feet in length, some 10 tons burden, and not very high "freeboard"—"to stow" her under the MAY-FLOWER'S spar deck. That she was "square-rigged" follows, as noted, from the fact that it was the only rig in use for ships of her class and size, and that she had "topsails" is shown by the fact that the "top-saile halliards" were pitched over board with John Howland, and saved his life. ”

“ The contract probably named an "upset" or total sum for the "round voyage," as was the of the case with the LADY ARBELLA, though it is to be hoped there was no "demurrage" clause, exacting damage, as is usual, for each day of detention beyond the "lay days" allowed, for the long and unexpected tarries in Cape Cod and Plymouth harbors must have rolled up an appalling "demurrage" claim. Winthrop enters among his memoranda, "The agreement for the ARBELLA L750, whereof is to be paid in hand [i e. cash down] the rest upon certificate of our safe arrival." ”

“ Like all vessels having high stems and sterns, she was unquestionably "a wet ship,"—upon this voyage especially so, as Bradford shows, from being overloaded, and hence lower than usual in the water. Captain John Smith says: "But being pestered [vexed] nine weeks in this leaking, unwholesome ship, lying wet in their cabins; most of them grew very weak and weary of the sea." Bradford says, quoting the master of the MAY- FLOWER and others: "As for the decks and upper works they would caulk them as well as they could, . . . though with the working of the ship, they would not long keep staunch." ”

“ The only light thrown upon them is by the tariffs for such service on Winthrop's fleet, and for passage, etc., on different ships, at a little later day. It is altogether probable that transportation of all those accepted as colonists, by the agents of the Adventurers and "Planters," was without direct charge to any individual, but was debited against the whole. ”

“ The bark in which Sir Humphrey Gilbert perished was of ten tons only." The LITTLE JAMES, which the Company sent to Plymouth in July, 1623, was "a pinnace of only forty-four tons," and in a vessel of fifty tons (the SPEEDWELL) , Martin Pring, in 1603, coasted along the shores of New England. Goodwin says: "In 1587 there were not in all England's fleet more than five merchant vessels exceeding two hundred tons." The SPARROW-HAWK wrecked on Cape Cod in 1626 was only 40 feet "over all." The Dutch seem to have built larger vessels. ”

“ Yarmouth was hence undoubtedly the place of register, and the hailing port of the MAY-FLOWER,—she was very likely built there,—and this would remain the same, except by legal change of register, wherever she was owned, or from what ever port she might sail. Weston and Cushman, according to Bradford, found and hired her at London, and her probable owner, Thomas Goffe, Esq., was a merchant of that city. Dr. Young remarks: "The MAYFLOWER Of Higginson's fleet is the renowned vessel that brought the Pilgrim Fathers to Plymouth in 1620." Hon. ”

“ Of their number, Collier, Hatherly, Martin, Mullens, Thomas, and (possibly) Wright were Plymouth colonists Martin and Mullens, as noted, being MAY-FLOWER Pilgrims. Nathaniel Tilden, a brother of Joseph Tilden of the Adventurers, came, as previously mentioned, to the Colony from Kent, settling at Scituate. Joseph, being apparently unmarried, made his nephew, Joseph of Scituate, his residuary legatee, and his property mostly came over to the Colony. ”

“ This model, which is upon a scale of 1/2 inch to 1 foot, bears a label designating it as "The 'MAYFLOWER' of the Puritans" [sic] , and giving the following description (written by Captain Collins) of such a vessel as the Pilgrim ship, if of 120 tons burthen, as figured from such data as that given by Admiral Paris, must, approximately, have been. (See photographs of the model presented herewith.) "A wooden, carvel-built, keel vessel, with full bluff bow, strongly raking below water line; raking curved stem; large open head; long round (nearly log-shaped) bottom; tumble in top side; short run ”