The Mayflower and Her Log Part 2

(a) That a "pilott" had been sent to Holland, with Master Nash, before May 31, 1620;

(b) That unless two had been sent (of which there is no suggestion, and which is entirely improbable, for obvious reasons), Master Reynolds was the "pilott" who was thus sent;

(c) That it is clear, from Cushman's letter of June 11/21, that Reynolds was then in Holland, for Cushman directs that "Master Reynolds tarrie there and bring the ship to Southampton;"

(d) That Master Reynolds was not originally intended to "tarrie there,"

and "bring the ship," etc., as, if he had been, there would have been no need of giving such an order; and

(e) That he had been sent there for some other purpose than to bring the SPEEDWELL to Southampton. Duly considering all the facts together, there can be no doubt that only one "pilott" was sent from England; that he was expected to return when the work was done for which he went (apparently the refitting of the SPEEDWELL); that he was ordered to remain for a new duty, and that the man who performed that duty and brought the ship to Southampton (who, we know was Master Reynolds) must have been the "pilott", sent over.

We are told too, by Bradford,

[Bradford's Historie, as already cited; Arber, The Story of the Pilgrim Fathers, p. 341. John Brown, in his Pilgrim Fathers of New England, p. 198, says: "She [the SPEEDWELL] was to remain with the colony for a year." Evidently a mistake, arising from the length of time for which her crew were shipped. The pinnace herself was intended, as we have seen, for the permanent use of they colonists, and was to remain indefinitely.]

that the crew of the SPEEDWELL "were hired for a year," and we know, in a general way, that most of them went with her to London when she abandoned the voyage. This there is ample evidence Coppin did not do, going as he did to New England as "second mate" or "pilott" of the MAY-FLOWER, which there is no reason to doubt he was when she left London. Neither is there anywhere any suggestion that there was at Southampton any change in the second mate of the larger ship, as there must have been to make good the suggestion of Dr. Dexter.

Where the SPEEDWELL lay while being "refitted" has not been ascertained, though presumably at Delfshaven, whence she sailed, though possibly at one of the neighboring larger ports, where her new masts and cordage could be "set up" to best advantage.

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 ent.i.tled 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 a.s.sumed 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 pa.s.sengers, and indeed such speeches had been cast out by some of them."

Of the list of pa.s.sengers who embarked at Delfshaven, July 22, 1620, "bound for Southampton on the English coast, and thence for the northern parts of Virginia," we fortunately have a pretty accurate knowledge.

All of the Leyden congregation who were to emigrate, with the exception of Robert Cushman and family, and (probably) John Carver, were doubtless pa.s.sengers upon the SPEEDWELL from Delfshaven to Southampton, though the presence of Elder Brewster has been questioned. The evidence that he was there is well-nigh as conclusive as that Robert Cushman sailed on the MAY-FLOWER from London, and that Carver, who had been for some months in England,--chiefly at Southampton, making preparations for the voyage, was there to meet the ships on their arrival. It is possible, of course, that Cushman's wife and son came on the SPEEDWELL from Delfshaven; but is not probable. Among the pa.s.sengers, however, were some who, like Thomas Blossom and his son, William Ring, and others, abandoned the voyage to America at Plymouth, and returned in the pinnace to London and thence went back to Holland. Deducting from the pa.s.senger list of the MAYFLOWER those known to have been of the English contingent, with Robert Cushman and family, and John Carver, we have a very close approximate to the SPEEDWELL'S company on her "departure from Delfshaven." It has not been found possible to determine with absolute certainty the correct relation of a few persons. They may have been of the Leyden contingent and so have come with their brethren on the SPEEDWELL, or they may have been of the English colonists, and first embarked either at London or at Southampton, or even at Plymouth,--though none are supposed to have joined the emigrants there or at Dartmouth.

The list of those embarking at Delfshaven on the SPEEDWELL, and so of the partic.i.p.ants in that historic event,--a list now published for the first time, so far as known,--is undoubtedly accurate, within the limitations stated, as follows, being for convenience' sake arranged by families:

The Family of Deacon John Carver (probably in charge of John Howland), embracing:-- Mrs. Katherine Carver, John Howland (perhaps kinsman of Carver), "servant" or "employee,"

Desire Minter, or Minther (probably companion of Mrs. Carver, perhaps kinswoman), Roger Wilder, "servant,"

"Mrs. Carver's maid" (whose name has never transpired).

Master William Bradford and Mrs. Dorothy (May) Bradford.

Master Edward Winslow and Mrs. Elizabeth (Barker) Winslow, George Soule a "servant" (or employee), Elias Story, "servant."

Elder William Brewster and Mrs. Mary Brewster, Love Brewster, a son, Wrestling Brewster, a son.

Master Isaac Allerton and Mrs. Mary (Morris) Allerton, Bartholomew Allerton, a son, Remember Allerton, a daughter, Mary Allerton, a daughter, John Hooke, "servant-boy."

Dr. Samuel Fuller and William b.u.t.ten, "servant"-a.s.sistant.

Captain Myles Standish and Mrs. Rose Standish.

Master William White and Mrs. Susanna (Fuller) White, Resolved White, a son, William Holbeck, "servant,"

Edward Thompson, "servant."

Deacon Thomas Blossom and ----- Blossom, a son.

Master Edward Tilley and Mrs. Ann Tilley.

Master John Tilley and Mrs. Bridget (Van der Velde?) Tilley (2d wife), Elizabeth Tilley, a daughter of Mr. Tilley by a former wife(?)

John Crackstone and John Crackstone (Jr.), a son.

Francis Cooke and John Cooke, a son.

John Turner and ---- Turner, a son, ---- Turner, a son.

Degory Priest.

Thomas Rogers and Joseph Rogers, a son.

Moses Fletcher.

Thomas Williams.

Thomas Tinker and Mrs. ---- Tinker, ---- Tinker, a son.

Edward Fuller and Mrs. ---- Fuller, Samuel Fuller, a son.

John Rigdale and Mrs. Alice Rigdale.

Francis Eaton and Mrs. ---- Eaton, Samuel Eaton, an infant son.

Peter Browne.

William Ring.

Richard Clarke.

John Goodman.

Edward Margeson.

Richard Britteridge.

Mrs. Katherine Carver and her family, it is altogether probable, came over in charge of Howland, who was probably a kinsman, both he and Deacon Carver coming from Ess.e.x in England,--as they could hardly have been in England with Carver during the time of his exacting work of preparation. He, it is quite certain, was not a pa.s.senger on the Speedwell, for Pastor Robinson would hardly have sent him such a letter as that received by him at Southampton, previously mentioned (Bradford's "Historie," Deane's ed. p. 63), if he had been with him at Delfshaven at the "departure," a few days before. Nor if he had handed it to him at Delfshaven, would he have told him in it, "I have written a large letter to the whole company."

John Howland was clearly a "secretary" or "steward," rather than a "servant," and a man of standing and influence from the outset.

That he was in Leyden and hence a SPEEDWELL pa.s.senger appears altogether probable, but is not absolutely certain.

Desire Minter (or Minther) was undoubtedly the daughter of Sarah, who, the "Troth Book" (or "marriage-in-tention" records) for 1616, at the Stadtbuis of Leyden, shows, was probably wife or widow of one William Minther--evidently of Pastor Robinson's congregation--when she appeared on May 13 as a "voucher" for Elizabeth Claes, who then pledged herself to Heraut Wilson, a pump-maker, John Carver being one of Wilson's "vouchers." In 1618 Sarah Minther (then recorded as the widow of William) reappeared, to plight her troth to Roger Simons, brick-maker, from Amsterdam. These two records and the rarity of the name warrant an inference that Desire Minter (or Minther) was the daughter of William and Sarah (Willet) Minter (or Minther), of Robinson's flock; that her father had died prior to 1618 (perhaps before 1616); that the Carvers were near friends, perhaps kinsfolk; that her father being dead, her mother, a poor widow (there were clearly no rich ones in the Leyden congregation), placed this daughter with the Carvers, and, marrying herself, and removing to Amsterdam the year before the exodus, was glad to leave her daughter in so good a home and such hands as Deacon and Mistress Carver's. The record shows that the father and mother of Mrs. Sarah Minther, Thomas and Alice Willet, the probable grandparents of Desire Minter, appear as "vouchers" for their daughter at her Leyden betrothal. Of them we know nothing further, but it is a reasonable conjecture that they may have returned to England after the remarriage of their daughter and her removal to Amsterdam, and the removal of the Carvers and their granddaughter to America, and that it was to them that Desire went, when, as Bradford records, "she returned to her friends in England, and proved not very well and died there."

"Mrs. Carver's maid" we know but little about, but the presumption is naturally strong that she came from; Leyden with her mistress. Her early marriage and; death are duly recorded.