The Mayflower and Her Log; July 15, 1620-May 6, 1621 — Volume 4Ames, Azel
History
The Mayflower and Her Log; July 15, 1620-May 6, 1621 — Volume 4
Ames, Azel
Massachusetts -- History -- New Plymouth, 1620-1691; Mayflower (Ship); Pilgrims (New Plymouth Colony)
It is just possible, too, that the seamen, Alderton (or Allerton),
English, Trevore, and Ely, were hired in London and were on board the
MAY-FLOWER when she left that port, though they might have been employed
and joined the ship at either Southampton, Dartmouth, or Plymouth.
It is strongly probable, however, that they were part, if not all, hired
in Holland, and came over to Southampton in the pinnace.
Robert Cushman--the London agent (for more than three years) of the
Leyden congregation, and, in spite of the wickedly unjust criticism
of Robinson and others, incompetent to judge his acts, their brave,
sagacious, and faithful servant--properly heads the list.
Bradford says: "Where they find the bigger ship come from London,
Mr. Jones, Master, with the rest of the company who had been waiting
there with Mr. Cushman seven days." Deacon Carver, probably from
being on shore, was not here named. In a note appended to the
memoir of Robert Cushman (prefatory to his Discourse delivered at
Plymouth, New England, on "The Sin and Danger of Self-Love") it is
stated in terms as follows: "The fact is, that Mr. Cushman procured
the larger vessel, the MAY-FLOWER, and its pilot, at London, and
left in that vessel." The statement--though published long after the
events of which it treats and by other than Mr. Cushman--we know to
be substantially correct, and the presumption is that the writer,
whoever he may have been, knew also.
Sailing with his wife and son (it is not probable that he had any
other living child at the time), in full expectation that it was for
Virginia, he encountered so much of ungrateful and abusive
treatment, after the brethren met at Southampton,--especially at the
hands of the insufferable Martin, who, without merit and with a most
reprehensible record (as it proved), was chosen over him as
"governor" of the ship,--that he was doubtless glad to return from
Plymouth when the SPEEDWELL broke down. He and his family appear,
therefore, as "MAY-FLOWER passengers," only between London and
Plymouth during the vexatious attendance upon the scoundrelly Master
of the SPEEDWELL, in his "doublings" in the English Channel. His
Dartmouth letter to Edward Southworth, one of the most valuable
contributions to the early literature of the Pilgrims extant,
clearly demonstrates that he was suffering severely from dyspepsia
and deeply wounded feelings. The course of events was his complete
vindication, and impartial history to-day pronounces him second to
none in his service to the Pilgrims and their undertaking. His
first wife is shown by Leyden records to have been Sarah Reder, and
his second marriage to have occurred May 19/June 3, 1617, [sic]
about the time he first went to England in behalf of the Leyden
congregation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account