The Mayflower and Her Log; July 15, 1620-May 6, 1621 — Volume 1Ames, Azel
History
The Mayflower and Her Log; July 15, 1620-May 6, 1621 — Volume 1
Ames, Azel
Massachusetts -- History -- New Plymouth, 1620-1691; Mayflower (Ship); Pilgrims (New Plymouth Colony)
We know that Reynolds--"pilott" and "Master" went from London to
superintend the "making-ready" for sea. Nothing is known, however, of
his antecedents, and nothing of his history after he left the service of
the Pilgrims in disgrace, except that he appears to have come again to
New England some years later, in command of a vessel, in the service of
the reckless adventurer Weston (a traitor to the Pilgrims), through whom,
it is probable, he was originally selected for their service in Holland.
Bradford and others entitled to judge have given their opinions of this
cowardly scoundrel (Reynolds) in unmistakable terms.
What other officers and crew the pinnace had does not appear, and we know
nothing certainly of them, except the time for which they shipped; that
some of them were fellow-conspirators with the Master (self-confessed),
in the "strategem" to compel the SPEEDWELL'S abandonment of the voyage;
and that a few were transferred to the MAYFLOWER. From the fact that the
sailors Trevore and Ely returned from New Plymouth on the FORTUNE in
1621, "their time having expired," as Bradford notes, it may be fairly
assumed that they were originally of the SPEEDWELL'S crew.
That the fears of the SPEEDWELL'S men had been worked upon, and their
cooperation thus secured by the artful Reynolds, is clearly indicated by
the statement of Bradford: "For they apprehended that the greater ship
being of force and in which most of the provisions were stored, she would
retain enough for herself, whatever became of them or the passengers, and
indeed such speeches had been cast out by some of them."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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