The May-flower and Her Log, by Azel Ames

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 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.”

Of the list of passengers 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 passengers 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 passengers, 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 passenger 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 participants 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 Butten, “servant"-assistant.

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.

Thomas Rogers and
Joseph Rogers, a son.

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.

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 Essex 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 passenger
     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 passenger 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.

Roger Wilder, Carver’s “servant;” was apparently in his service at Leyden
     and accompanied the family from thence. Bradford calls him “his
     [Carver’s] man Roger,” as if an old, familiar household servant,
     which (as Wilder died soon after the arrival at Plymouth) Bradford
     would not have been as likely to do—writing in 1650, thirty years
     after—if he had been only a short-time English addition to Carver’s
     household, known to Bradford only during the voyage. The fact that
     he speaks of him as a “man” also indicates something as to his age,
     and renders it certain that he was not an “indentured” lad. It is
     fair to presume he was a passenger on the SPEEDWELL to Southampton.
     (It is probable that Carver’s “servant-boy,” William Latham, and
     Jasper More, his “bound-boy,” were obtained in England, as more
     fully appears.)

Master William Bradford and his wife were certainly of the party in the
SPEEDWELL, as shown by his own recorded account of the embarkation.
(Bradford’s “Historie,” etc.)

Master Edward Winslow’s very full (published) account of the embarkation
(“Hypocrisie Unmasked,” pp. 10-13, etc.) makes it certain that
himself and family were SPEEDWELL passengers.

George Soule, who seems to have been a sort of “upper servant” or
“steward,” it is not certain was with Winslow in Holland, though it
is probable.

Elias Story, his “under-servant,” was probably also with him in Holland,
     though not surely so. Both servants might possibly have been
     procured from London or at Southampton, but probably sailed from
     Delfshaven with Winslow in the SPEEDWELL.

Elder William Brewster and his family, his wife and two boys, were
     passengers on the SPEEDWELL, beyond reasonable doubt. He was, in
     fact, the ranking man of the Leyden brethren till they reached
     Southampton and the respective ships’ “governors” were chosen. The
     Church to that point was dominant. (The Elder’s two “bound-boys,”
      being from London, do not appear as SPEEDWELL passengers.) There is,
     on careful study, no warrant to be found for the remarkable
     statements of Goodwin (“Pilgrim Republic,” p. 33), that, during the
     hunt for Brewster in Holland in 1619, by the emissaries of James I.
     of England (in the endeavor to apprehend and punish him for printing
     and publishing certain religious works alleged to be seditious),
     “William Brewster was in London . . . and there he remained until
     the sailing of the MAYFLOWER, which he helped to fit out;” and that
     during that time “he visited Scrooby.” That he had no hand whatever
     in fitting out the MAYFLOWER is certain, and the Scrooby statement
     equally lacks foundation. Professor Arber, who is certainly a
     better authority upon the “hidden press” of the Separatists in
     Holland, and the official correspondence relating to its proprietors
     and their movements, says (“The Story of the Pilgrim Fathers,”
      p.196): “The Ruling Elder of the Pilgrim Church was, for more than a
     year before he left Delfshaven on the SPEEDWELL, on the 22 July-
     1 August, 1620, a hunted man.” Again (p. 334), he says: “Here let
     us consider the excellent management and strategy of this Exodus.
     If the Pilgrims had gone to London to embark for America, many, if
     not most of them, would have been put in prison [and this is the
     opinion of a British historian, knowing the temper of those times,
     especially William Brewster.] So only those embarked in London
     against whom the Bishops could take no action.” We can understand,
     in light, why Carver—a more objectionable person than Cushman to
     the prelates, because of his office in the Separatist Church—was
     chiefly employed out of their sight, at Southampton, etc., while the
     diplomatic and urbane Cushman did effective work at London, under
     the Bishops’ eyes. It is not improbable that the personal
     friendship of Sir Robert Naunton (Principal Secretary of State to
     King James) for Sir Edward Sandys and the Leyden brethren (though
     officially seemingly active under his masters’ orders in pushing Sir
     Dudley Carleton, the English ambassador at the Hague, to an
     unrelenting search for Brewster) may have been of material aid to
     the Pilgrims in gaining their departure unmolested. The only basis
     known for the positive expression of Goodwin resides in the
     suggestions of several letters’ of Sir Dudley Carleton to Sir Robert
     Naunton, during the quest for Brewster; the later seeming clearly to
     nullify the earlier.

     Under date of July 22, 1619, Carleton says: “One William Brewster,
     a Brownist, who has been for some years an inhabitant and printer at
     Leyden, but is now within these three weeks removed from thence and
     gone back to dwell in London,” etc.

     On August 16, 1619 (N.S.), he writes: “I am told William Brewster is
     come again for Leyden,” but on the 30th adds: “I have made good
     enquiry after William Brewster and am well assured he is not
     returned thither, neither is it likely he will; having removed from
     thence both his family and goods,” etc.

     On September 7, 1619 (N.S.), he writes: “Touching Brewster, I am now
     informed that he is on this side the seas [not in London, as before
     alleged]; and that he was seen yesterday, at Leyden, but, as yet, is
     not there settled,” etc.

     On September 13, 1619 (N.S.), he says: “I have used all diligence to
     enquire after Brewster; and find he keeps most at Amsterdam; but
     being ‘incerti laris’, he is not yet to be lighted upon. I
     understand he prepares to settle himself at a village called
     Leerdorp, not far from Leyden, thinking there to be able to print
     prohibited books without discovery, but I shall lay wait for him,
     both there and in other places, so as I doubt but either he must
     leave this country; or I shall, sooner or later, find him out.”

     On September 20, 1619 (N.S.), he says: “I have at length found out
     Brewster at Leyden,” etc. It was a mistake, and Brewster’s partner
     (Thomas Brewer), one of the Merchant Adventurers, was arrested
     instead.

     On September 28, 1619 (N.S.), he states, writing from Amsterdam:
     “If he lurk here for fear of apprehension, it will be hard to find
     him,” etc.

     As late as February 8, 1619/20, there was still a desire and hope
     for his arrest, but by June the matter had become to the King—and
     all others—something of an old story. While, as appears by a
     letter of Robert Cushman, written in London, in May, 1619, Brewster
     was then undoubtedly there, one cannot agree, in the light of the
     official correspondence just quoted, with the conclusion of Dr.
     Alexander Young (“Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers,” vol. i.
     p. 462), that “it is probable he [Brewster] did not return to
     Leyden, but kept close till the MAYFLOWER sailed.”

     Everything indicates that he was at Leyden long after this; that he
     did not again return to London, as supposed; and that he was in
     hiding with his family (after their escape from the pursuit at
     Leyden), somewhere among friends in the Low Countries. Although by
     July, 1620, the King had, as usual, considerably “cooled off,” we
     may be sure that with full knowledge of the harsh treatment meted
     out to his partner (Brewer) when caught, though unusually mild (by
     agreement with the authorities of the University and Province of
     Holland), Brewster did not deliberately put himself “under the
     lion’s paw” at London, or take any chances of arrest there, even in
     disguise. Dr. Griffis has lent his assent (“The Pilgrims in their
     Homes,” p, 167), though probably without careful analysis of all the
     facts, to the untenable opinion expressed by Goodwin, that Brewster
     was “hiding in England” when the SPEEDWELL sailed from Delfshaven.
     There can be no doubt that, with his ever ready welcome of sound
     amendment, he will, on examination, revise his opinion, as would the
     clear-sighted Goodwin, if living and cognizant of the facts as
     marshalled against his evident error. As the leader and guide of
     the outgoing part of the Leyden church we may, with good warrant,
     believe—as all would wish—that Elder Brewster was the chief figure
     the departing Pilgrims gathered on the SPEEDWELL deck, as she took
     her departure from Delfshaven.

Master Isaac Allerton and his family, his wife and three children, two
     sons and a daughter, were of the Leyden company and passengers in
     the SPEEDWELL. We know he was active there as a leader, and was
     undoubtedly one of those who bought the SPEEDWELL. He was one of
     the signers of the joint-letter from Leyden, to Carver and Cushman,
     May 31 (O.S.) 1620.

John Hooke, Allerton’s “servant-lad,” may have been detained at London or
     Southampton, but it is hardly probable, as Allerton was a man of
     means, consulted his comfort, and would have hardly started so large
     a family on such a journey without a servant.

Dr. Samuel Fuller was, as is well known, one of the Leyden chiefs,
     connected by blood and marriage with many of the leading families of
     Robinson’s congregation. He was active in the preparations for the
     voyage the first signer of the joint-letter of May 31, and doubtless
     one of the negotiators for the SPEEDWELL. His wife and child were
     left behind, to follow later as they did.

William Butten, the first of the Pilgrim party to die, was, in all
     probability, a student-“servant” of Doctor Fuller at Leyden, and
     doubtless embarked with him at Delfshaven. Bradford calls him
     (writing of his death) “Wm. Butten, a youth, servant to Samuel
     Fuller.” Captain Myles Standish and his wife Rose, we know from
     Bradford, were with the Pilgrims in Leyden and doubtless shipped
     with them. Arber calls him (“The Story of the Pilgrim Fathers,”
      p. 378) a “chief of the Pilgrim Fathers” in the sense of a father
     and leader in their Israel; but there is no warrant for this
     assumption, though he became their “sword-hand” in the New World.
     By some writers, though apparently with insufficient warrant,
     Standish has been declared a Roman Catholic. It does not appear
     that he was ever a communicant of the Pilgrim Church. His family,
     moreover, was not of the Roman Catholic faith, and all his conduct
     in the colony is inconsistent with the idea that he was of that
     belief. Master William White, his wife and son, were of the Leyden
     congregation, both husband and wife being among its principal
     people, and nearly related to several of the Pilgrim band. The
     marriage of Mr. and Mrs. White is duly recorded in Leyden. William
     Holbeck and Edward Thompson, Master White’s two servants, he
     probably took with him from Leyden, as his was a family of means and
     position, though they might possibly have been procured at
     Southampton. They were apparently passengers in the SPEEDWELL.
     Deacon Thomas Blossom and his son were well known as of Pastor
     Robinson’s flock at Leyden. They returned, moreover, to Holland
     from Plymouth, England (where they gave up the voyage), via London.
     The father went to New Plymouth ten years later, the son dying
     before that time. (See Blossom’s letter to Governor Bradford.
     Bradford’s Letter Book, “Plymouth Church Records,” i. 42.) In his
     letter dated at Leyden, December 15, 1625, he says: “God hath taken
     away my son that was with me in the ship MAYFLOWER when I went back
     again.”

Edward Tilley (sometimes given the prefix of Master) his wife Ann are
     known to have been of the Leyden company. (Bradford’s “Historie,”
      p. 83.) It is doubtful if their “cousins,” Henry Sampson and
     Humility Cooper, were of Leyden. They apparently were English
     kinsfolk, taken to New England with the Tilleys, very likely joined
     them at Southampton and hence were not of the SPEEDWELL’S
     passengers. Humility Cooper returned to England after the death of
     Tilley and his wife. That Mrs. Tilley’s “given name” was Ann is not
     positively established, but rests on Bradford’s evidence.

John Tilley (who is also sometimes called Master) is reputed a brother of
     Edward, and is known to have been—as also his wife—of the Leyden
     church (Bradford, Deane’s ed. p. 83.) His second wife Bridget Van
     der Velde, was evidently of Holland blood, and their marriage is
     recorded in Leyden. Elizabeth Tilley was clearly a daughter by an
     earlier wife. He is said by Goodwin (“Pilgrim Republic,” p. 32) to
     have been a “silk worker” Leyden, but earlier authority for this
     occupation is not found.

John Crackstone is of record as of the Leyden congregation. His daughter
remained there, and came later to America.

John Crackstone, Jr., son of above. Both were SPEEDWELL passengers.

Francis Cooke has been supposed a very early member of Robinson’s flock
     in England, who escaped with them to Holland, in 1608. He and his
     son perhaps embarked at Delfshaven, leaving his wife and three other
     children to follow later. (See Robinson’s letter to Governor
     Bradford, “Mass. Hist. Coll.,” vol. iii. p. 45, also Appendix for
     account of Cooke’s marriage.)

John Cooke, the son, was supposed to have lived to be the last male
     survivor of the MAY-FLOWER, but Richard More proves to have survived
     him. He was a prominent man in the colony, like his father, and the
     founder of Dartmouth (Mass.).

John Turner and his sons are also known to have been of the Leyden party,
     as he was undoubtedly the messenger sent to London with the letter
     (of May 31) of the leaders to Carver and Cushman, arriving there
     June 10, 1620. They were beyond doubt of the SPEEDWELL’S list.

Degory Priest—or “Digerie,” as Bradford calls him—was a prominent
     member of the Leyden body. His marriage is recorded there, and he
     left his family in the care of his pastor and friends, to follow him
     later. He died early.

Thomas Rogers and his son are reputed of the Leyden company. He left
     (according to Bradford) some of his family there—as did Cooke and
     Priest—to follow later. It has been suggested that Rogers might
     have been of the Essex (England) lineage, but no evidence of this
     appears. The Rogers family of Essex were distinctively Puritans,
     both in England and in the Massachusetts colony.

Moses Fletcher was a “smith” at Leyden, and of Robinson’s church. He was
     married there, in 1613, to his second wife. He was perhaps of the
     English Amsterdam family of Separatists, of that name. As the only
     blacksmith of the colonists, his early death was a great loss.

Thomas Williams, there seems no good reason to doubt, was the Thomas
     Williams known to have been of Leyden congregation. Hon. H. C.
     Murphy and Arber include him—apparently through oversight alone
     —in the list of those of Leyden who did not go, unless there were
     two of the name, one of whom remained in Holland.

Thomas Tinker, wife, and son are not certainly known to have been of the
     Leyden company, or to have embarked at Delfshaven, but their
     constant association in close relation with others who were and who
     so embarked warrants the inference that they were of the SPEEDWELL’S
     passengers. It is, however, remotely possible, that they were of
     the English contingent.

Edward Fuller and his wife and little son were of the Leyden company, and
     on the SPEEDWELL. He is reputed to have been a brother of Dr.
     Fuller, and is occasionally so claimed by early writers, but by what
     warrant is not clear.

John Rigdale and his wife have always been placed by tradition and
     association with the Leyden emigrants but there is a possibility
     that they were of the English party. Probability assigns them to
     the SPEEDWELL, and they are needed to make her accredited number.

Francis Eaton, wife, and babe were doubtless of the Leyden list. He is
said to have been a carpenter there (Goodwin, “Pilgrim Republic,” p.
32), and was married there, as the record attests.

Peter Browne has always been classed with the Leyden party. There is no
     established authority for this except tradition, and he might
     possibly have been of the English emigrants, though probably a
     SPEEDWELL passenger; he is needed to make good her putative number.

William Ring is in the same category as are Eaton and Browne. Cushman
     speaks of him, in his Dartmouth letter to Edward Southworth (of
     August 17), in terms of intimacy, though this, while suggestive, of
     course proves nothing, and he gave up the voyage and returned from
     Plymouth to London with Cushman. He was certainly from Leyden.

Richard Clarke is on the doubtful list, as are also John Goodman, Edward
     Margeson, and Richard Britteridge. They have always been
     traditionally classed with the Leyden colonists, yet some of them
     were possibly among the English emigrants. They are all needed,
     however, to make up the number usually assigned to Leyden, as are
     all the above “doubtfuls,” which is of itself somewhat confirmatory
     of the substantial correctness of the list.

Thomas English, Bradford records, “was hired to goe master of a [the]
shallopp” of the colonists, in New England waters. He was probably
hired in Holland and was almost certainly of the SPEEDWELL.

John Alderton (sometimes written Allerton) was, Bradford states, “a hired
     man, reputed [reckoned] one of the company, but was to go back
     (being a seaman) and so making no account of the voyages for the
     help of others behind” [probably at Leyden]. It is probable that he
     was hired in Holland, and came to Southampton on the SPEEDWELL.
     Both English and Alderton seem to have stood on a different footing
     from Trevore and Ely, the other two seamen in the employ of the
     colonists.

William Trevore was, we are told by Bradford, “a seaman hired to stay a
     year in the countrie,” but whether or not as part of the SPEEDWELL’S
     Crew (who, he tells us, were all hired for a year) does not appear.
     As the Master (Reynolds) and others of her crew undoubtedly returned
     to London in her from Plymouth, and her voyage was cancelled, the
     presumption is that Trevore and Ely were either hired anew or—more
     probably—retained under their former agreement, to proceed by the
     MAY-FLOWER to America, apparently (practically) as passengers.
     Whether of the consort’s crew or not, there can be little doubt that
     he left Delfshaven on the SPEEDWELL.

—- Ely, the other seaman in the Planters’ employ, also hired to “remain
     a year in the countrie,” appears to have been drafted, like Trevore,
     from the SPEEDWELL before she returned to London, having, no doubt,
     made passage from Holland in her. Both Trevore and Ely survived
     “the general sickness” at New Plimoth, and at the expiration of the
     time for which they were employed returned on the FORTUNE to England

Of course the initial embarkation, on Friday, July 21/31 1620, was at Leyden, doubtless upon the Dutch canal-boats which undoubtedly brought them from a point closely adjacent to Pastor Robinson’s house in the Klock-Steeg (Bell, Belfry, Alley), in the garden of which were the houses of many, to Delfshaven.

Rev. John Brown, D.D., says: “The barges needed for the journey were most likely moored near the Nuns’ Bridge which spans the Rapenburg immediately opposite the Klok-Steeg, where Robinsons house was. This, being their usual meeting-place, would naturally be the place of rendezvous on the morning of departure. From thence it was but a stone’s throw to the boats, and quickly after starting they would enter the Vliet, as the section of the canal between Leyden and Delft is named, and which for a little distance runs within the city bounds, its quays forming the streets. In those days the point where the canal leaves the city was guarded by a water-gate, which has long since been removed, as have also the town walls, the only remaining portions of which are the Morsch-gate and the Zylgate. So, gliding along the quiet waters of the Vliet, past the Water-gate, and looking up at the frowning turrets of the Cow-gate, ‘they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting-place near twelve years.’ . . . Nine miles from Leyden a branch canal connects the Vliet with the Hague, and immediately beyond their junction a sharp turn is made to the left, as the canal passes beneath the Hoom-bridge; from this point, for the remaining five miles, the high road from the Hague to Delft, lined with noble trees, runs side by side with the canal. In our time the canal-boats make a circuit of the town to the right, but in those days the traffic went by canal through the heart of the city . . . . Passing out of the gates of Delft and leaving the town behind, they had still a good ten miles of canal journey before them ere they reached their vessel and came to the final parting, for, as Mr. Van Pelt has clearly shown, it is a mistake to confound Delft with Delfshaven, as the point of embarkation in the SPEEDWELL. Below Delft the canal, which from Leyden thither is the Vliet, then becomes the Schie, and at the village of Overschie the travellers entered the Delfshaven Canal, which between perfectly straight dykes flows at a considerable height above the surrounding pastures. Then finally passing through one set of sluice gates after another, the Pilgrims were lifted from the canal into a broad receptacle for vessels, then into the outer haven, and so to the side of the SPEEDWELL as she lay at the quay awaiting their arrival.”

Dr. Holmes has prettily pictured the “Departure” in his “Robinson of Leyden,” even if not altogether correctly, geographically.

              “He spake; with lingering, long embrace,
               With tears of love and partings fond,
               They floated down the creeping Maas,
               Along the isle of Ysselmond.

              “They passed the frowning towers of Briel,
               The ‘Hook of Holland’s’ shelf of sand,
               And grated soon with lifting keel
               The sullen shores of Fatherland.

              “No home for these! too well they knew
               The mitred king behind the throne;
               The sails were set, the pennons flew,
               And westward ho! for worlds unknown.”

Winslow informs us that they of the Leyden congregation who volunteered for the American enterprise were rather the smaller fraction of the whole body, though he adds, as noted “that the difference was not great.” A careful analysis of the approximate list of the Leyden colonists, —including, of course, Carver, and Cushman and his family,—whose total number seems to have been seventy-two, indicates that of this number, forty-two, or considerably more than half (the rest being children, seamen, or servants), were probably members of the Leyden church. Of these, thirty, probably, were males and twelve females. The exact proportion this number bore to the numerical strength of Robinson’s church at that time cannot be determined, because while something less than half as we know, gave their votes for the American undertaking, it cannot be known whether or not the women of church had a vote in the matter. Presumably they did not, the primitive church gave good heed to the words of Paul (i Corinthians xiv. 34), “Let your women keep silence in the churches.” Neither can it be known—if they had a voice—whether the wives and daughters of some of the embarking Pilgrims, who did not go themselves at this time, voted with their husbands and fathers for the removal. The total number, seventy-two, coincides very nearly with the estimate made by Goodwin, who says: “Only eighty or ninety could go in this party from Leyden,” and again: “Not more than eighty of the MAY-FLOWER company were from Leyden. Allowing for [i.e. leaving out] the younger children and servants, it is evident that not half the company can have been from Robinson’s congregation.” As the total number of passengers on the MAYFLOWER was one hundred and two when she took her final departure from England, it is clear that Goodwin’s estimate is substantially correct, and that the number representing the Leyden church as given above, viz., forty-two, is very close to the fact.

“When they came to the place” [Delfshaven], says Bradford, “they found the ship and all things ready; and such of their friends as could not come with them [from Leyden] followed after them; and sundry also came from Amsterdam (about fifty miles) to see them shipped, and to take their leave of them.”

Saturday, July 22/Aug. 1, 1620, the Pilgrim company took their farewells, and Winslow records: “We only going aboard, the ship lying to the key [quay] and ready to sail; the wind being fair, we gave them [their friends] a volley of small shot [musketry] and three pieces of ordnance and so lifting up our hands to each other and our hearts for each other to the Lord our God, we departed.”

Goodwin says of the parting: “The hull was wrapped in smoke, through which was seen at the stern the white flag of England doubly bisected by the great red cross of St. George, a token that the emigrants had at last resumed their dearly-loved nationality. Far above them at the main was seen the Union Jack of new device.”

And so after more than eleven years of banishment for conscience’ sake from their native shores, this little band of English exiles, as true to their mother-land—despite persecutions—as to their God, raised the flag of England, above their own little vessel, and under its folds set sail to plant themselves for a larger life in a New World.

And thus opens the “Log” of the SPEEDWELL, and the “Westward-Ho” of the Pilgrim Fathers.

THE SPEEDWELL’S LOG