The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World* (4 page)

With Brewster in hiding, the Pilgrims looked to their deacon, John Carver, probably in his midthirties, and fellow pilgrim Robert Cushman, forty-one, to carry on negotiations with the officials in London. By June 1619, Carver and Cushman had succeeded in securing a patent from what had become the Virginia Company. But the Pilgrims' plans were still far from complete. They had a patent but had not, as of yet, figured out how they were going to pay for their journey. still, William Bradford's faith in the mission was so strong that he sold his house in the spring of 1619.

The members of Robinson's congregation knew each other wonderfully well, but when it came to the outside world, they could sometimes run into trouble. They were so focused on their own inner lives, they failed to notice the true motives of people who did not share in their beliefs. Time and time again during their preparations to sail for America, the Pilgrims demonstrated an extraordinary talent for getting duped.

To pay for the voyage, the Pilgrims threw in their lot with a smooth-talking merchant from London named Thomas Weston. Weston represented a group of investors known as the Adventurers—about seventy London merchants who viewed the colonization of America as both a way “to plant religion” and a way to make money. And even though the Pilgrims had secured a patent the year before, the Adventurers obtained a patent of their own for a settlement at the mouth of the Hudson River.

In the beginning, Weston seemed perfect—a man sympathetic to their religious goals who also claimed to have the means to make their dreams come true. The Adventurers would put up most of the money with the expectation that, once they were settled in America, the Pilgrims would quickly begin to make a profit, primarily through codfishing and the fur trade. The Pilgrims would each be given a small share in the company. For the next seven years, they would work four days a week for the company and two days a week for themselves, with the sabbath reserved for worship. At the end of the seven years, the profits would be divided among all of them, with the Pilgrims owning their houses free and clear.

As the spring of 1620 approached, about 125 people (a third of their total congregation) were ready to depart for the New World, with the rest to follow soon after. Pastor Robinson, it was decided, would stay for now in Leiden with the majority of his flock, with Elder Brewster attending to the religious needs of those in America.

But as the Pilgrims prepared to depart in the spring of 1620, Weston's true nature began to reveal itself. He now claimed that circumstances had changed so that instead of having two days a week for themselves, they would have to spend every minute laboring for the Adventurers. Robinson and the Pilgrims in Leiden objected, claiming that the new terms were “fitter for thieves and bondslaves than honest men.”

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Title page of Pastor John Robinson's book,
Observations Divine and Moral.

In June they discovered that, incredibly, Weston had not yet arranged any transportation to America. If they had any hope of reaching the mouth of the Hudson River before winter, they needed to depart as soon as possible. While Weston hunted up a ship in London, the Pilgrims decided to purchase a small sailing vessel of their own in Holland. Not only would it be used to transport some of them across the Atlantic, it would be useful for both fishing and exploring the coast once they were in America. And if the worst should happen, it would provide a means for the survivors to return to England.

Adding to the Pilgrims' growing sense of alarm was the fact that the Adventurers had insisted on bringing along some non-separatists from London. some had strong ties to the group in Leiden, but others were completely unknown to them. How they would get along with these “strangers” was of deep concern, especially since one of them, a man named Christopher Martin, was already proving to be a most difficult personality.

The Adventurers named Martin as a purchasing agent, which meant that he, along with Cushman and Carver, was to secure supplies and provisions: beer, wine, hardtack, salted beef and pork, dried peas, fishing supplies, muskets, armor, clothing, tools, and trade goods for the Indians. But Martin refused to work with Carver and Cushman. While the Pilgrim agents collected provisions in London and Canterbury, Martin did as he pleased in southampton, a major port in the south of England. soon, no one really knew where matters stood when it came to provisions. “[W]e are readier to dispute than to set forward a voyage,” Cushman complained on June 10.

Despite the chaotic nature of the preparations in England, the Pilgrims in Leiden moved ahead, purchasing a sixty-ton vessel named the
Speedwell.
Less than fifty feet in length, she was considered large enough for a voyage across the Atlantic; earlier expeditions had successfully completed the crossing in vessels that were less than half the
Speedwell
's size. The Pilgrims hired a master to captain the ship and a crew who agreed to stay on for at least a year in America and who undoubtedly oversaw the fitting out of the vessel with two new and larger masts. The refitting of the
Speedwell
may have seemed like an insignificant matter at the time. As it turned out, however, this misnamed vessel and her master, known to us only as “Mr. Reynolds,” would have a disastrous impact on the voyage ahead.

 

◆◆◆ By the end of July, the Pilgrims, accompanied by a large number of family and friends, had made their way to Delfshaven, the small Dutch port where the
Speedwell
was waiting. The plan was to sail for southampton in England, where they would meet whatever ship Weston had secured in London. “[T]hey went aboard and their friends with them,” Bradford wrote, “where truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to see what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound amongst them, what tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each heart.”

For William Bradford and his wife, Dorothy, the parting in Delfshaven was particularly painful. They had decided to leave their three-year-old son, John, behind in Holland, perhaps with Dorothy's parents in Amsterdam. It was certainly safer for the child, but the emotional cost, especially for the boy's mother, would become difficult to bear.

When the tide turned in their favor, it was time to depart. Pastor Robinson fell down to his knees on the
Speedwell
's deck, as did everyone present, and “with watery cheeks commended them with most fervent prayers to the Lord and His blessing.” It was a remarkable display of “such love as indeed is seldom found on earth.” Years later, the residents of Delfshaven were still talking about the departure of the Pilgrims in July 1620.

 

◆◆◆ By the time the Leideners left Delfshaven, Weston had hired an old and reliable ship named the
Mayflower,
which after taking aboard passengers in London, sailed to southampton to meet up with the
Speedwell.
The
Mayflower
was a typical merchant vessel of her day. Rated at 180 tons (meaning that her hold was capable of accommodating 180 casks, or “tuns,” of wine), she was approximately three times the size of the
Speedwell
and about one hundred feet in length.

The
Mayflower
's master was Christopher Jones. About fifty years old, he was also a part owner of the ship. Records indicate that Jones had been master of the
Mayflower
for the last eleven years, sailing back and forth across the Channel with English wool cloth to France and returning to London with French wine. Wine ships such as the
Mayflower
were known as “sweet ships,” since the inevitable spillage of the acidic wine helped to temper the stench of the bilge. In addition to wine and wool, Jones had transported hats, hemp, spanish salt, hops, and vinegar to Norway and may even have taken the
Mayflower
on a whaling voyage to Greenland. He and his wife, Josian, had had five children.

Serving as Jones's first mate and pilot was Robert Coppin, who, unlike Jones, had been to America before. Also serving as pilot was John Clark, forty-five, who'd delivered some cattle to Jamestown the previous year. Giles Heale was the ship's surgeon. In the days ahead, as sickness spread through the passengers and crew, he would become one of the most sought-after officers of the
Mayflower.

Another important position was that of the cooper, who was in charge of maintaining all barreled supplies and provisions. In southampton, Jones secured the twenty-one-year-old cooper John Alden, who because of his youth and skills was already being encouraged by the Pilgrims to remain in America at the completion of the crossing. In addition, there were somewhere between twenty and thirty sailors, whose names have not survived.

In southampton, the Leideners met up with the family and friends who had first boarded the
Mayflower
in London and would be continuing on with them to America. The most notable of the group was Elder William Brewster, who had been hiding out in Holland and perhaps even England for the last year. Also joining them in southampton were Robert Cushman and John Carver, who was traveling with his wife, Katherine, and five servants.

Along for the journey as well was Captain Miles standish. Although not a member of the congregation, standish was well known to the Leideners. standish had served as an English mercenary in Holland and would be handling the colony's military matters in America.

It was in southampton that they met the so-called strangers—passengers recruited by the Adventurers to take the places of those who had chosen to remain in Holland. Besides Christopher Martin, who had been designated the “governor” of the
Mayflower
by the Adventurers and was traveling with his wife and two servants, there were four additional families. stephen Hopkins was making his second trip to America. Eleven years earlier, in 1609, he had sailed on the
Sea Venture
for Virginia, only to become shipwrecked in Bermuda—an incident that became the basis for shakespeare's play
The Tempest.
While on Bermuda, Hopkins had been part of an attempted mutiny and been sentenced to hang, but pleading tearfully for his life, he was spared at the last minute. Hopkins spent two years in Jamestown before returning to England and was now accompanied by his pregnant wife, Elizabeth; his son, Giles; and daughters Constance and Damaris, along with two servants, Edward Doty and Edward Leister.

In addition to the Mullinses, Eatons, and Billingtons (whom Bradford later called “one of the profanest families amongst them”), there were four unaccompanied English children: Ellen, Jasper, Richard, and Mary More. They had been sent to London by their father, who had paid for their passage to America. Ellen, eight years old, had been assigned to Edward and Elizabeth Winslow; Jasper, seven, to the Carvers; and both Richard, five, and Mary, four, to William and Mary Brewster, who were accompanied by their evocatively named sons Love and Wrestling.