John Alderton (sometimes spelled Allerton), we are told by Bradford,--as elsewhere noted,--"was hired, but was reputed one of the company, but was to go back, being a seaman and so, presumably, unmindful of the voyages, for the help of others." Whether Bradford intended by the latter clause to indicate that he had left his family behind, and came "to spy out the land," and, if satisfied, to return for them, or was to return for the counsel and assistance of Robinson and the rest, who were to follow, is not clear, but the latter view has most to support it. We learn his occupation, but can only infer that he was a young man over twenty-one from the above and the fact that he signed the Compact. It has been suggested that he was a relative of Isaac Allerton, but this is nowhere shown and is improbable. He died before the MAY-FLOWER returned to England. Thomas English (or Enlish), Bradford tells us ("Historie," Mass. ed. p. 533), "was hired to goe Master of a [the] shallop here." He, however, "died here before the ship returned." It is altogether probable that he was the savior of the colony on that stormy night when the shallop made Plymouth harbor the first time, and, narrowly escaping destruction, took shelter under Clarke's Island. The first three governors of the colony, its chief founders,--Carver, Bradford, and Winslow,--with Standish, Warren, Hopkins, Howland, Dotey, and others, were on board, and but for the heroism and prompt action of "the lusty sea man which steered," who was--beyond reasonable doubt--English, as Bradford's narrative ("Morton's Memorial") shows, the lives of the entire party must, apparently, have been lost. That English was, if on board--Bradford shows in the "Memorial" that he was--as Master of the shallop, properly her helmsman in so critical a time, goes without saying, especially as the "rudder was broken" and an oar substituted; that the ship's "mates," Clarke and Coppin, were not in charge (although on board) fully appears by Bradford's account; and as it must have taken all of the other (four) seamen on board to pull the shallop, bereft of her sail, in the heavy breakers into which she had been run by Coppin's blunder, there would be no seaman but English for the steering-oar, which was his by right. Had these leaders been lost at this critical time,--before a settlement had been made, --it is certain that the colony must have been abandoned, and the Pilgrim impress upon America must have been lost. English's name should, by virtue of his great service, be ever held in high honor by all of Pilgrim stock. His early death was a grave loss. Bradford spells the name once Enlish, but presumably by error. He signed the Compact as Thomas English.