1620.] ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT. 333 53 from other of them of any debt or detriment concerning the adventure. 6. Whosoever cometh to the Colony hereafter, or putteth any into the stock, shall at the end of the seven years be allowed proportionably to the time of his so doing. 7. He that shall carry his wife and children, or servants, shall be allowed for every person now aged sixteen years and upward, a single share in the division; or if they be between ten years old and sixteen, then two of them to be reckoned for a person, both in transportation and division. 8. That such children as now go and are under the age of ten years, have no other share in the division but fifty acres of unmanured land. 9. That such persons as die before the seven years be expired, their executors to have their part or share at the division, proportionably to their life in the colony. 10. That all such persons as are of this Colony are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock and goods of said company. An°: 1620, July 1. By the changes two provisions had been stricken out, — Ist, that at the end of the seven years each planter should own the house and garden land occupied by him; and 2d, that he should during the seven years work four days in each week for the Colony, and have two for himself and family. To the first provision, originally proposed by Weston himself, the Pilgrims attached much importance. Robinson urged that the house and lot could prove but a trifling benefit to the Adventurers, while the prospective ownership would be a great encouragement to the planter, who, he said, "would with singular care make it comfortable with borrowed hours from his sleep." He also claimed it to be unfit for such men as Deacon Carver to "serve a new apprenticeship of seven years, and not a day's freedom." Others protested that some time in each week for domestic affairs was a privilege not denied to "Wallachian serfs." Cushman declared that but for agreement to these changes he could not have drawn a penny from the Adventurers, and that the necessities were so pressing that he could not wait to hear from Leyden. On the other side it was alleged that not one quarter of the Adventurers desired the alterations. Weston was told that the original agreement, fairly and deliberately made, must stand, as those at Leyden had so decided. Upon this he left the Pilgrims in anger, telling them to "look to stand on their own legs." He refused to disburse £100 required for port charges and some deficiencies of equipment, and never gave any further aid. Still, the Pilgrims long remembered him with kindness for the assistance rendered at first. The poor emigrants were forced to sell some eighty firkins of butter to raise £60 to “clear the port," and to dispense with things still lacking. They had little butter left, no oil, not a piece of leather to mend a shoe-sole, nor a sword for each man, nor nearly enough muskets and other means of defence. But for these lackings they cared far less than that an old though mercenary friend should have left them in wrath, charging them, however falsely, with injustice. In their troubles they could expect no further help from man, but set sail in perfect confidence of receiving it from a higher source. CHAPTER VI. Leaving England. - The "Speedwell's" alleged Defects. - The Captain's Knavery. The Voyage. -Jones, and his Duplicity. - Land. — The "Compact." A UGUST 15 (N. S.), 1620, the two transports dropping down Southampton Water, passed by the rocky Isle of Wight into the English Channel. A long-continued favorable wind had been lost by the delay, and now their way was slow. When four days out, Captain Reynolds reported the "Speedwell" as leaking very dangerously. After a consultation between him and Captain Jones it was decided to bear up for Dartmouth. That port was reached about August 23d. Ten days were spent in discharging and re-stowing the "Speedwell" and repairing her from stem to stern, although no serious defects were found. Then, with assurance of her seaworthiness, the voyage was resumed. When three hundred miles beyond Land's End, Reynolds again reported his craft leaking, and alleged that he could scarcely keep her afloat with constant pumping. After another consultation they put back as far as Plymouth. There another survey was had, but no special leak found, though Reynolds and his crew continued positive that the vessel was not seaworthy. Time being of vital importance, it was decided to return the "Speedwell" to the Adventurers at London. Eighteen of her passengers went back in her, the other twelve crowding into the "Mayflower." Most of the eighteen who were left behind consented through fear or discontent. To these a few were added who were in failing health or had large families of small children. The returning ones were probably of those who joined in England, and had not yet acquired the Pilgrim spirit. As the emigrants from Leyden were selected from volunteers, we can hardly suppose any of them to have been among the faint-hearted. The reader will learn with pain that among those who withdrew through fear and discouragement was Cushman with his family. While at Dartmouth he had written to his friend Edward Southworth, of London, speaking most despairingly of his own health, expressing discontent and even ill-feeling about the voyage, and indulging in dismal forebodings. He even declared that its success would be a miracle, and that Mr. Southworth must be prepared for disastrous tidings any day, although Cushman counted upon his own early death in any event. Bradford deals tenderly with Cushman's weaknesses, and says of this letter: “Though it discover some infirmities in him (as who under temptation is free?), yet after this he continued to be a special instrument for their good, and to do the offices of a loving friend and faithful brother unto them, and partaker of much comfort with them." It should here be noticed that when the "Speedwell” reached London no serious trouble was found. Her masts were too long and heavy; but these changed, she was thoroughly seaworthy, and afterwards made several Atlantic voyages. The fact was that Reynolds, like his men, repented of his bargain to stay a year in the Colony, and by collusion and knavery made it appear impossible to make the voyage. His lesson was probably taught him by those Dutch merchants who were anxious that no emigrants should go to the Hudson except under their control, and enforced by them with a bribe. Bradford charges him with dealing "falsely," and Jones of the "Mayflower" will also be seen to be guilty of fraudulent dealings with those merchants for the same purpose. Perhaps the two captains acted together, their 1 Deacon Thomas Blossom was sent back in the "Speedwell" with a son who died before his father finally came to Plymouth, - some ten years later. ? A vessel of this name was sailing between England and Boston in 1656. 1620.] FINAL DEPARTURE. 57 consultations as to the "Speedwell's" condition being a part of their joint knavery. It is not known when the flotilla reached Plymouth. The tarry there was certainly short. There was time enough, however, for some of the residents to entertain the harassed Pilgrims, who gratefully referred to the hospitality long afterward. It was fortunate for the overloaded "Mayflower" that she had fine weather while lying at anchor there and while beginning her new voyage; for the port of Plymouth was then only a shallow, open bay, with no protection.1 In southwesterly gales its waters rose into enormous waves, with such depressions between that ships while anchored sometimes struck the bottom of the harbor and were dashed in picces. Ordinarily the beach was strewn with the timbers and the dead mariners of at least ten vessels a year. More than two centuries after the visit of the Pilgrims a fine breakwater, a mile long, was built across the mouth of the harbor, making it safe in all weathers; while off its entrance Smeaton's wonderful tower beaconed the once terrible Eddystone. The completion of the breakwater was celebrated as a matter of national importance, and in connection with the event this visit of the Pilgrim Fathers was noticed by the people of that ancient port as among their pleasant and honorable associations.2 September 16th, after another parting, the "Mayflower" made her third and final departure. A fine wind from E. N. E. bore them rapidly out of sight of the land they so loved, and continued until they were near the middle of the Atlantic. The crowded passengers were in excellent health, excepting temporary but severe sea-sickness, though from this many were exempt. Jones seems to have been an unsympathizing man, and his sailors exceptionally coarse and brutal. As the poor passengers lay prostrated, a stout young seaman was in the habit of adding to their sufferings by 1 This estuary was called "The Catwater." 2 May 18, 1882, the Eddystone lighthouse was opened; and at the dedication tributes were again paid to the Pilgrims and their Rock. |