The Mayflower and Her Log; July 15, 1620-May 6, 1621 — Complete

Among the implements of husbandry, etc., and mechanics’ tools we find evidence of hoes, spades, shovels, scythes, “sikles,” mattocks, bill-hooks, garden-rakes, hay-forks (“pitch-forks”), besides seed-grain and garden seeds. Axes, saws, hammers, “adzs,” augers, chisels, gouges, squares, hatchets, an “iron jack-scrue,” “holdfasts” (vises), blacksmiths’ tools, coopers’ tools, iron and steel in bar, anvils, chains, etc., “staples and locks,” rope, lime (for mortar), nails, etc., are also known to have been in the ship. Francis Eaton, the carpenter, seems to have had a very respectable “kit,” and Fletcher, the smith, was evidently fairly “outfitted.”

The implements of husbandry were of the lighter (?) sort; no ploughs, harrows, carts, harness, stone-drags, or other farming tools requiring the strength of beasts for their use, were included. In nothing could they have experienced so sharp a contrast as in the absence of horses, cattle, and sheep in their husbandry, and especially of milch kine. Bradford and Window both mention hoes, spades, mattocks, and sickles, while shovels, scythes, bill-hooks (brush-scythes, the terrible weapons of the English peasantry in their great “Mon mouth” and earlier uprisings), pitchforks, etc., find very early mention in inventories and colonial records. Josselyn, in his “Two Voyages to New England,” gives, in 1628, the following very pertinent list of “Tools for a Family of six persons, and so after this rate for more,—intending for New England.” This may be taken as fairly approximating the possessions of the average MAY-FLOWER planter, though probably somewhat exceeding individual supplies. Eight years of the Pilgrims’ experience had taught those who came after them very much that was of service.

Unhappily we know little from contemporaneous authority as to what grain and other seeds the Pilgrims brought with them for planting. We may be sure, however, that rye, barley, oats, wheat, pease, and beans were the bulkiest of this part of their freight, though Bradford mentions the planting of “garden seeds” their first spring.

While we know from the earliest Pilgrim chronicles that their mechanics’ implements embraced axes, saws, hammers, “adzs,” augers, hatchets, an “iron jack-scrue,” “staples and locks,” etc., we know there must have been many other tools not mentioned by them, brought over with the settlers. The “great iron-scrue,” as Bradford calls it in his original MS., played, as all know, a most important part on the voyage, in forcing the “cracked and bowed” deck-beam of the ship into place. Governor Bradford tells us that “it was brought on board by one of the Leyden passengers,” and one may hazard the guess that it was by either Moses Fletcher, the smith, or Francis Eaton, the “carpenter.” “Staples” and “locks” found their place and mention, as well as the “chains,” “manacles,” and “leg-irons” named in the list of accoutrements for offence or defence, when it became necessary to chain up the Indian spy of the Neponsets (as narrated by Winslow in his “Good Newes from New England”) and other evil-doers. The planters seem to have made stiff “mortar,” which premises the use of lime and indicates a supply.

Among the fishing and fowling implements of the MAY FLOWER colonists are recorded, nets, “seynes,” twine, fish hooks, muskets (for large game), “fowling pieces,” powder, “goose-shot,” “hail-shot,” etc.

Such early mention is found of the nets, “seynes,” etc., of their fishing equipment, as to leave no room for doubt that store of them was brought in the ship. They seem to have been unfortunate in the size of their fish-hooks, which are spoken of as “too large” even for cod. They must, as Goodwin remarks, “have been very large.” Window also says, “We wanted fit and strong seines and other netting.”

They seem to have relied upon their muskets to some extent for wild fowl (as witness Winslow’s long and successful shot at a duck, on his visit to Massasoit), as they undoubtedly did for deer, etc. They were apparently fairly well supplied with them, of either the “matchlock” or “snaphance” (flintlock) pattern, though the planters complained to the Merchant Adventurers (in their letter of August 3, from Southampton), that they were “wanting many muskets,” etc. That they had some “fowling-pieces” is shown by the fact that young Billington seems (according to Bradford) to have “shot one off in his father’s cabin” aboard ship in Cape Cod harbor, and there are several other coeval mentions of them.

The arms and accoutrements (besides ordnance) of the MAY-FLOWER Pilgrims, known on the authority of Bradford and Winslow to have been brought by them, included muskets (“matchlocks”), “snaphances” (flintlocks), armor (“corslets,” “cuirasses,” “helmets,” “bandoliers,” etc.), swords, “curtlaxes” (cutlasses), “daggers,” powder, “mould-shot,” “match” (slow-match for guns), “flints,” belts, “knapsacks,” “drum,” “trumpet,” “manacles,” “leg-irons,” etc., etc. “Pistols” (brass) appear in early inventories, but their absence in the early hand-to-hand encounter at Wessagussett indicates that none were then available, or that they were not trusted. It is evident from the statement of Bradford that every one of the sixteen men who went out (under command of Standish) on the “first exploration” at Cape Cod had his “musket, sword, and corslet;” that they relied much on their armor, and hence, doubtless, took all possible with them on the ship. They probably did not long retain its use. In the letter written to the Adventurers from Southampton, the leaders complain of “wanting many muskets, much armour, &c.”

Josselyn gives’ the equipment he considers necessary for each man going to New England to settle:—

Bradford states that they used their “curtlaxes” (cutlasses) to dig the frozen ground to get at the Indians’ corn, “having forgotten to bring spade or mattock.” “Daggers” are mentioned as used in their celebrated duel by Dotey and Leister, servants of Stephen Hopkins. Bradford narrates that on one of their exploring tours on the Cape the length of guard duty performed at night by each “relief” was determined by the inches of slow-match burned (“every one standing when his turn came while five or six inches of match was burning”), clearly indicating that they had no watches with them. The “drum” and “trumpet” are both mentioned in “Mourt’s Relation” in the account given of Massasoit’s reception, the latter as eliciting the especial attention of his men, and their efforts at blowing it.

The Ordnance (cannon) brought in the ship consisted (probably) of ten guns, certainly of six. Of these, two (2) were “sakers,”—guns ten feet long of 3 to 4 inches bore, weighing from fifteen to eighteen hundred pounds each; two (2) were “minions” (or “falcons”),—guns of 3 1/2 inch bore, weighing twelve hundred pounds (1200 lbs.) each; and two (2) were “bases,”—small guns of 1 1/4 inch bore, weighing some three hundred pounds (300 lbs.) each. These were mounted on “the Hill” fort or platform. It is probable that besides these were the four smallest cannon, called “patereros” (or “murderers”), which, at the time of De Rasiere’s visit to Plymouth in 1627, were mounted on a platform (in front of the Governor’s house), at the intersection of the two streets of the town, and commanded its several approaches. It is not likely that they were sent for after 1621, because the Adventurers were never in mood to send if asked, while Bradford, in speaking of the first alarm by the Indians, says, “This caused us to plant our great ordnance in places most convenient,” leaving a possible inference that they had smaller ordnance in reserve. With this ordnance was of course a proper supply of ammunition adapted to its use. The “sakers” are said to have carried a four-pound ball, the “minions” a three-pound ball, and the “bases” a ball of a pound weight. There is not entire agreement between authorities, in regard to the size, weight, and calibre of these different classes of early ordnance, or the weight of metal thrown by them, but the above are approximate data, gathered from careful comparison of the figures given by several. There is no doubt that with this heavy ordnance and ammunition they stowed among their ballast and dunnage (as was the case in Higginson’s ships), their “spare chains and anchors, chalk, bricks, sea-coal (for blacksmithing), iron, steel, lead, copper, red-lead, salt,” etc.; all of which they also necessarily had, and from their bulk, character, and weight, would stow as low in the ship as might be.

That a considerable “stock of trading goods” was included in the MAY-FLOWER’S lading is mentioned by at least one writer, and that this was a fact is confirmed by the records of the colonists’ dealings with the Indians, and the enumeration of not a few of the goods which could have had, for the most part, no other use or value. They consisted largely of knives, bracelets (bead and metal), rings, scissors, copper-chains, beads, “blue and red trading cloth,” cheap (glass) jewels (“for the ears,” etc.), small mirrors, clothing (e. g. “red-cotton horseman’s coats—laced,” jerkins, blankets, etc.), shoes, “strong waters,” pipes, tobacco, tools and hard ware (hatchets, nails, hoes, fish-hooks, etc.), rugs, twine, nets, etc., etc. A fragment of one of the heavy hoes of the ancient pattern—“found on the site of the Pilgrim trading house at Manomet”—is owned by the Pilgrim Society, and speaks volumes of the labor performed by the Pilgrims, before they had ploughs and draught-cattle, in the raising of their wonderful crops of corn. Such was the MAY-FLOWER’S burden, animate and inanimate, whe —the last passenger and the last piece of freight transferred from the SPEEDWELL—her anchor “hove short,” she swung with the tide in Plymouth roadstead, ready to depart at last for “the Virginia plantations.”

CHAPTER IX

THE JOURNAL OF THE SHIP MAY-FLOWER

Thomas Jones, Master, from London, England, towards “Hudson’s River” in Virginia