The Pilgrim Chronicles

by Rod Gragg

  Thomas Rogers, and Joseph his son. His other children came afterwards.

  Thomas Tinker, and his wife and a son.

  John Rigsdale, and Alice his wife.

  James Chilton, and his wife, and Mary their daughter. They had another daughter that was married, came afterward.

  Edward Fuller, and his wife, and Samuel their son.

  John Turner, and 2 sons. He had a daughter came some years after to Salem, where she is now living.

  Francis Eato, and Sarah his wife, and Samuel their son, a young child.

  Moses Fletcher, John Goodman, Thomas Williams, Digory Priest, Edmund Margesson, Peter Browne, Richard Britteridge, Richard Clarke, Richard Gardiner, Gilbert Winslow.

  John Alden was hired for a cooper at South-Hampton where the ship victualed; and being a hopeful young man was much desired but left to his own liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed and married here.

  John Allerton and Thomas English were both hired, the latter to go master of a shallop here, and the other was reputed as one of the company, but was to go back (being a seaman) for the help of others behind. But they both died here, before the ship returned.

  There were also other 2 seamen hired to stay a year here in the country, William Trevor, and one Ely. But when their time was out, they both returned.

  These, being about a hundred souls, came over in this first ship and began this work; which God of His goodness hath hitherto blessed; let His holy name have the praise.2

  “These, being about a hundred souls, came over in this first ship and began this work”

  “Who Shall Be Meat First for the Fishes”

  The Voyage to America Stalls Offshore England

  Robert Cushman was ready to quit and go back home. It was August 17, 1620—almost two weeks since the Speedwell and the Mayflower had left Southampton—and both ships and their passengers were still in England. Negotiating with Weston and the Merchant Adventurers had been exasperating for Cushman, who had been unable to please either the colony’s backers or his fellow Separatists in Leiden. Purchasing supplies for the voyage had been equally frustrating, thanks to the arrogant and belligerent Christopher Martin, who—happily for Cushman—was sailing with his family aboard the Mayflower, while Cushman was berthed aboard the Speedwell. Cushman’s days aboard the Speedwell, however, proved even more frustrating than dealing with Martin and Weston: the Speedwell was in danger of sinking.

  Soon after passing the chalky white cliffs of the Isle of Wight—off England’s southern coast—the Speedwell sprang serious leaks in her hull. The vessel was as “open and leaky as a sieve,” Cushman observed, and the amount of water spewing into the ship reminded him of a leaking dike in Holland. If the ship “had stayed at sea but three or four hours more,” Cushman believed, “she would have sunk right down.” The Speedwell and the Mayflower had turned into the mouth of the Dart River and sailed upstream to the port of Dartmouth, just over a hundred nautical miles from Southampton, and there they put in to make repairs to the Speedwell. The contention and delays left Cushman distraught.

  On August 5, 1620, the Mayflower and the Speedwell set sail from Southampton, bound for America.

  AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

  As a deacon and the church’s business agent in London, he took his responsibilities seriously. He too planned to make the voyage to America, accompanied by his second wife and his son. However, he now believed that the stress of organizing the expedition—compounded by delay due to the Speedwell’s leaks—had ruined his health. “What to call it I know not,” he confided to a friend, “but it is a bundle of lead, as it were, crushing my heart more and more. . . . I am as but dead, but the will of God be done.”

  Shipwrights at Dartmouth repaired the Speedwell, but unfavorable winds kept both ships in port day after day. Aboard the Mayflower, some of the passengers wanted to abandon the voyage, but Christopher Martin—the “governor”—would not let anyone leave the ship. Finally, the wind shifted and the ships were able to leave port. They sailed downriver from Dartmouth between the high ridges that flanked the Dart River estuary, and, on their starboard side, passed beneath the looming towers and protruding cannon of Dartmouth Castle, which had protected the entrance to Dartmouth for more than two hundred years. Finally, the two ships cleared the estuary, and entered open sea. They passed Lizard Point, a peninsula in Cornwall that was the southernmost point of the English mainland, and turned westward for America.

  Then, well into the Atlantic, some three hundred miles past Lizard Point, the Speedwell again sprung leaks, and these were even worse. Furious pumping by the crew did no good, and the Speedwell’s master signaled to the Mayflower that his ship again needed to return to port—that she “must bear up or sink.” Reducing speed appeared to slow the leaks, so the Speedwell was able to limp back to England, accompanied by the Mayflower. This time they put into the port of Plymouth, which lay about thirty-five nautical miles west of Dartmouth. There, it was decided that the Speedwell was too unreliable for the trans-Atlantic voyage. Later, William Bradford would hear rumors that on the eve of the voyage the Speedwell’s master had purposely over-masted the ship—intentionally mounting new masts that were so large that they forced the ship to leak at cruising speed, causing the voyage to be abandoned. If true, the ploy was a manageable risk: the ship could safely return to port at reduced speed, and the leaking allowed the master to abandon the voyage and his obligation to remain in America for a year. There was no conclusive evidence of such a plot, but Bradford believed the leaks were intentionally caused “by the cunning and deceit of the master and company.”

  Soon after passing the high cliffs of the Isle of Wight, the Speedwell sprang several leaks in her hull, causing the ship and the Mayflower to turn back.

  WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

  At Plymouth, the Pilgrims decided to cram as many passengers as possible onto the Mayflower and go on to America with the single ship. The Mayflower could not hold all the passengers, but some no longer wished to continue: the contention, leaks, and delays had discouraged them. Seeing their numbers reduced even more, William Bradford was reminded of the biblical story of Gideon, who was granted great success after God thinned the ranks of his followers. “And thus,” Bradford concluded, “like Gideon’s army, this small number was divided, as if the Lord by this work of His providence thought these few too many for the great work He had to do.”

  The Speedwell and the Mayflower put into the port of Dartmouth, which was located at the mouth of the Dart River. There, the Speedwell underwent repairs.

  BRITISH LIBRARY

  One who chose to remain behind was Robert Cushman. By now, the expedition should have been halfway across the Atlantic, he believed, and he considered it nothing short of arrogant to continue in the face of such setbacks. It was a voyage “full of crosses,” in his words, and he was certain that if he remained with the expedition, he would become “meat first for the fishes.” In the future, Cushman would again assist the Pilgrims in mighty ways—but not this way: he and his wife and son would stay in England. In a letter to a friend while the expedition was docked in Dartmouth, he had shared his frustrations:

  “Our pinnace will not cease leaking. . . . she is as open and leaky as a sieve”

  Dartmouth, August 17

  LOVING FRIEND, my most kind remembrance to you and your wife, with loving E.M. etc., whom in this world I never look to see again. For besides the eminent dangers of this voyage, which are no less than deadly, an infirmity of body hath seized me, which will not in all likelihood leave me till death. What to call it I know not, but it is a bundle of lead, as it were, crushing my heart more and more these fourteen days; as that although I do the actions of a living man, yet I am but as dead, but the will of God be done. Our pinnace will not cease leaking, else I think we had been half-way to Virginia. Our voyage hither hath been as full of crosses as ourselves have been of crookedness. We put in here to trim her; and I think, as others also, if we had stayed at sea but three or four
hours more, she would have sunk right down. And though she was twice trimmed at Hampton, yet now she is as open and leaky as a sieve; and there was a board a man might have pulled off with his fingers, two foot long, where the water came in as at a mole hole.

  “Our victuals will be half eaten up, I think, before we go from the coast of England”

  We lay at Hampton seven days in fair weather, waiting for her, and now we lie here waiting for her in as fair a wind as can blow, and so have done these four days, and are like to lie four more, and by that time the wind will happily turn as it did at Hampton. Our victuals will be half eaten up, I think, before we go from the coast of England, and if our voyage last long, we shall not have a month’s victuals when we come in the country. Near £700 hath been bestowed at Hampton, upon what I know not; Mr. Martin said he neither can nor will give any account of it, and if he be called upon for accounts, he cried out of unthankfulness for his pains and care, that we are suspicious of him, and flings away, and will end nothing. Also he so insulteth over our poor people, with such scorn and contempt, as if they were not good enough to wipe his shoes. It would break your heart to see his dealings, and the mourning of our people; they complain to me, and alas! I can do nothing for them. If I speak to him, he flies in my face as mutinous, and says no complaints shall be heard or received but by himself, and says they are forward and waspish, discontented people, and I do ill to hear them.

  A wrecked ship is pounded by waves on the shore of the English Channel. The Pilgrims and the crews of their two ships understood the dangers of the open seas—and took the Speedwell back into port when she continued leaking.

  WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

  There are others that would lose all they have put in, or make satisfaction for what they have had, that they might depart; but he will not hear them, nor suffer them to go ashore, lest they should run away. The sailors are so offended at his ignorant boldness in meddling and controlling in things he knows not what belongs to, as that some threaten to mischief him; others say they will leave the ship and go their way. But at the best this cometh of it, that he makes himself a scorn and laughing stock unto them. As for Mr. Weston, except grace do greatly sway him, he will hate us ten times more than ever he loved us, for not confirming the conditions. But now, since some pinches have taken them, they begin to revile the truth and say Mr. Robinson was in the fault who charged them never to consent to those conditions, nor choose me into office; but indeed appointed them to choose them they did choose. But he and they will rue too late, they may now see, and all be ashamed when it is too late, that they were so ignorant; yea and so inordinate in their courses. I am sure as they were resolved not to seal those conditions, I was not so resolute at Hampton to have left the whole business, except they would seal them, and better the voyage to have been broken off then than to have brought such misery to ourselves, dishonor to God and detriment to our living friends, as now it is like to do. Four or five of the chief of them which came from Leyden, came resolved never to go on those conditions.

  And Mr. Martin, he said he never received no money on those conditions; he was not beholden to the merchants for a pin, they were bloodsuckers, and I know not what. Simple man, he indeed never made any conditions with the merchants, nor ever spoke with them. But did all that money fly at Hampton, or was it his own? Who will go and lay out money so rashly and lavishly as he did, and never know how he comes by it or on what conditions? Secondly, I told him of the alteration long ago and he was content, but now he domineers and said I had betrayed them into the hands of slaves; he is not beholden to them, he can set out two ships himself to a voyage. When, good man? He hath but £50 in and if he should give up his accounts he would not have a penny left him, as I am persuaded, etc.

  At Plymouth, it was decided that the Speedwell was not seaworthy, and that the Mayflower would continue the voyage with as many passengers as possible. Some families, however, gave up the quest and chose to remain in England.

  STORIES OF THE PILGRIMS

  Friend, if ever we make a plantation, God works a miracle, especially considering how scant we shall be of victuals, and most of all ununited amongst ourselves and devoid of good tutors and regiment. Violence will break all. Where is the meek and humble spirit of Moses? And of Nehemiah, who re-edified the walls of Jerusalem, and the state of Israel? Is not the sound of Rehoboam’s brags daily here amongst us? Have not the philosophers and all the wise men observed that, even in settled commonwealths, violent governors bring either themselves or people or both to ruin? How much more in the raising of commonwealths, when the mortar is yet scarce tempered that should bind the walls!

  “Like Gideon’s army, this small number was divided”

  If I should write to you of all things which promiscuously forerun our ruin, I should over-charge my weak head and grieve your tender heart. Only this, I pray you prepare for evil tidings of us every day. But pray for us instantly, it may be the Lord will be yet entreated one way or other to make for us. I see not in reason how we shall escape even the gaspings of hunger-starved persons; but God can do much, and His will be done. It is better for me to die than now for me to bear it, which I do daily and expect it hourly, having received the sentence of death both within me and without me. Poor William Ring and myself do strive who shall be meat first for the fishes; but we look for a glorious resurrection, knowing Christ Jesus after the flesh no more, but looking unto the joy that is before us, we will endure all these things and account them light in comparison of that joy we hope for. Remember me in all love to our friends as if I named them, whose prayers I desire earnestly and wish again to see, but not till I can with more comfort look them in the face. The Lord give us that true comfort which none can take from us.

  I had a desire to make a brief relation of our estate to some friend. I doubt not but your wisdom will teach you seasonably to utter things as hereafter you shall be called to it. That which I have written is true, and many things more which I have forborn. I write it as upon my life, and last confession in England. What is of use to be spoken presently, you may speak of it; and what is fit to conceal, conceal. Pass by my weak manner, for my head is weak, and my body feeble. The Lord make me strong in Him, and keep both you and yours.

  Your loving friend,

  Robert Cushman

  August 17, 16203

  “They Put to Sea again with a Prosperous Wind”

  Despite False Starts, the Pilgrims Go to Sea

  On Wednesday, September 6, 1620, the Mayflower weighed anchor at dockside in Plymouth, and sailed into sprawling Plymouth Sound with a blustery wind filling her sails. The Speedwell and twenty would-be Pilgrims were heading back to London, and the Mayflower was heading on to America. The port of Plymouth was located on the edge of Plymouth Sound, at the junction of the Tamar and Plym Rivers. The Mayflower sailed across the wide-open sound, passing the fortifications on St. Nicholas’s Island, the towering bluffs of Staddon Point, and the high, craggy bluffs of the Rame Peninsula. A generation before the Mayflower’s passage, the famous English privateers Francis Drake and John Hawkins had gone forth on the same waters to raid the riches of Spain. So had the ships of Sir Walter Raleigh, bound for his ill-fated attempt to colonize Virginia. Over these waters too, in 1588, had come the news of England’s nation-changing defeat of the fearsome Spanish Armada—an event celebrated annually in the Pilgrims’ day by the ringing of Plymouth’s church bells. Here too, in 1403, a deadly flotilla of French ships from Bretagne brought a horde of raiders who had ransacked Plymouth and afterwards burned it to the ground.

  On September 6, 1620, the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England, bound for faraway America with more than one hundred passengers aboard.

  HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

  Now, propelled by “a fine small gale,” the Mayflower cut a sharp white wake through the deep waters of Plymouth Sound, again reentered the open sea, and headed westward. Two weeks had been lost in Plymouth, but the Pilgrim leaders may have salvaged something of value fr
om the delay. Plymouth had long been England’s principal departure point for the New World, and offered a rare opportunity for the Pilgrims to gain important insights. Among the sailors and officers striding about Plymouth’s docks were numerous seafarers who had been to America, harvesting great hauls of codfish from its offshore waters, exploring its bays and inlets, or transporting colonists to Virginia. It was probably there in Plymouth that the Pilgrim leaders met the famous Captain John Smith, who had saved the mismanaged Jamestown colonists from disaster and death, and who had mapped and named portions of the American coast. Smith would later write of an encounter with the Pilgrim leaders, and Plymouth was a likely place for the meeting.

  Captain John Smith was by then one of England’s foremost celebrities. He had produced a well-circulated map of the New World, and had recently fascinated English readers with a published memoir of his adventures in the New World. Entitled A Description of New England: Observations and Discoveries in the North of America, it was a dramatic, rambling, and self-promotional work, but was replete with detailed insights about the American wilderness. Their meeting with Smith afforded the Pilgrim leaders an invaluable opportunity to gain advice from England’s foremost expert on the New World—and it also resulted in a surprising offer. Apparently eager for another odyssey, the forty-year-old adventurer volunteered to join the Pilgrims on their voyage to America—at least that was the story Smith later reported. To his surprise, the Pilgrim leaders turned him down—no doubt for reasons that seemed prudent to them. They already had a military commander aboard—Captain Myles Standish—and after selling their butter and other wares to clear Southampton, they surely had no money to hire the famous explorer—although they did buy a copy of his book. They also may have been wary of Smith’s forceful, commanding personality, and mindful that in his book’s dedication he had declared himself to be a “true and faithful servant” of the English monarchy, and thus was no friend to Separatists and other dissenters from the Church of England.