MONDAY Nov. 6/16William Butten; a youth, servant to DoctorSamuel Fuller, died. The first of thepassengers to die on this voyage.
MONDAY Nov. 7/17The body of William Butten committed to thedeep. The first burial at sea of apassenger, on this voyage.
MONDAY Nov. 8/18Signs of land.
MONDAY Nov. 9/19Closing in with the land at nightfall.Sighted land at daybreak. The landfallmade out to be Cape Cod the bluffs [in whatis now the town of Truro, Mass.]. After aconference between the Master of the shipand the chief colonists, tacked about andstood for the southward. Wind and weatherfair. Made our course S.S.W., continuedproposing to go to a river ten leaguessouth of the Cape Hudson’s River. Afterhad sailed that course about half the dayfell amongst dangerous shoals and foamingbreakers [the shoals off Monomoy] got out ofthem before night and the wind beingcontrary put round again for the Bay ofCape Cod. Abandoned efforts to go furthersouth and so announced to passengers.[Bradford (Historie, Mass. ed. p. 93) says: “They resolved to bearup again for the Cape.” No one will question that Jones’s assertionof inability to proceed, and his announced determination to returnto Cape Cod harbor, fell upon many acquiescent ears, for, as Winslowsays: “Winter was come; the seas were dangerous; the season wascold; the winds were high, and the region being well furnished for aplantation, we entered upon discovery.” Tossed for sixty-seven dayson the north Atlantic at that season of the year, their food andfiring well spent, cold, homesick, and ill, the bare thought of onceagain setting foot on any land, wherever it might be, must have beenan allurement that lent Jones potential aid in his high-handedcourse.]
SATURDAY Nov. 11/21Comes in with light, fair wind. On coursefor Cape Cod harbor, along the coast. Somehints of disaffection among colonists, onaccount of abandonment of location[Bradford (in Mourt’s Relation) says: “This day before we come toharbor Italics the author’s, observing some not well affected tounity and concord, but gave some appearance of faction, it wasthought good there should be an Association and Agreement that weshould combine together in one body; and to submit to suchGovernment and Governors as we should, by common consent, agree tomake and choose, and set our hands to this that follows word forword.” Then follows the Compact. Bradford is even more explicit inhis Historie (Mass. ed. p. 109), where he says: “I shall a littlereturne backe and begin with a combination made by them before theycame ashore, being ye first foundation of their governments in thisplace; occasioned partly by ye discontent & mutinous speeches thatsome of the strangers amongst them [i.e. not any of the Leydencontingent had let fall from them in ye ship—That when they cameashore they would use their owne libertie: for none had power tocommand them, the patents they had being for Virginia, and not forNew-England which belonged to another Government, with which yeLondon [or First Virginia Company had nothing to doe, and partlythat such an acte by them done . . . might be as firm as anypatent, and in some respects more sure.” Dr. Griffis is hardlywarranted in making Bradford to say, as he does (The Pilgrims intheir Three Homes, p. 182), that “there were a few people I‘shuffled’ in upon them the company who were probably unmitigatedscoundrels.” Bradford speaks only of Billington and his family asthose “shuffled into their company,” and while he was not improbablyone of the agitators (with Hopkins) who were the proximate causes ofthe drawing up of the Compact, he was not, in this case, theresponsible leader. It is evident from the foregoing that the“appearance of faction” did not show itself until the vessel’s prowwas turned back toward Cape Cod Harbor, and it became apparent thatthe effort to locate “near Hudson’s River” was to be abandoned, anda location found north of 41 degrees north latitude, which wouldleave them without charter rights or authority of any kind. It isundoubtedly history that Master Stephen Hopkins,—then “alay-reader” for Chaplain Buck,—on Sir Thomas Gates’s expedition toVirginia, had, when some of them were cast away on the Bermudas,advocated just such sentiments—on the same basis—as were nowbruited upon the MAY-FLOWER, and it could hardly have beencoincidence only that the same were repeated here. That Hopkinsfomented the discord is well-nigh certain. It caused him, aselsewhere noted, to receive sentence of death for insubordination,at the hands of Sir Thomas Gates, in the first instance, from whichhis pardon was with much difficulty procured by his friends. In thepresent case, it led to the drafting and execution of the PilgrimCompact, a framework of civil self-government whose fame will neverdie; though the author is in full accord with Dr. Young (Chronicles,p. 120) in thinking that “a great deal more has been discovered inthis document than the signers contemplated,”—wonderfullycomprehensive as it is. Professor Herbert B. Adams, of JohnsHopkins University, says in his admirable article in the Magazine ofAmerican History, November, 1882 (pp—798 799): “The fundamentalidea of this famous document was that of a contract based upon thecommon law of England,”—certainly a stable and ancient basis ofprocedure. Their Dutch training (as Griffis points out) had alsoled naturally to such ideas of government as the Pilgrims adopted.It is to be feared that Griffis’s inference (The Pilgrims in theirThree Homes, p. 184), that all who signed the Compact could write,is unwarranted. It is more than probable that if the veneratedpaper should ever be found, it would show that several of thosewhose names are believed to have been affixed to it “made their‘mark.’” There is good reason, also, to believe that neither“sickness” (except unto death) nor “indifference” would haveprevented the ultimate obtaining of the signatures (by “mark,” ifneed be) of every one of the nine male servants who did notsubscribe, if they were considered eligible. Severe illness was, weknow, answerable for the absence of a few, some of whom died a fewdays later.The fact seems rather to be, as noted, that age—not social statuswas the determining factor as to all otherwise eligible. It isevident too, that the fact was recognized by all parties (by none soclearly as by Master Jones) that they were about to plant themselveson territory not within the jurisdiction of their steadfast friends,the London Virginia Company, but under control of those formerly ofthe Second (Plymouth) Virginia Company, who (by the intelligencethey received while at Southampton) they knew would be erected intothe “Council for the Affairs of New England.” Goodwin is in errorin saying (Pilgrim Republic, p. 62), “Neither did any other bodyexercise authority there;” for the Second Virginia Company under SirFerdinando Gorges, as noted, had been since 1606 in control of thisregion, and only a week before the Pilgrims landed at Cape Cod (i.e.on November 3) King James had signed the patent of the Council forNew England, giving them full authority over all territory north ofthe forty-first parallel of north latitude, as successors to theSecond Virginia Company. If the intention to land south of theforty-first parallel had been persisted in, there would, of course,have been no occasion for the Compact, as the patent to John Pierce(in their interest) from the London Virginia Company would have beenin force. The Compact became a necessity, therefore, only when theyturned northward to make settlement above 41 deg. north latitude.Hence it is plain that as no opportunity for “faction”—and so nooccasion for any “Association and Agreement”—existed till theMAY-FLOWER turned northward, late in the afternoon of Friday,November to, the Compact was not drawn and presented for signatureuntil the morning of Saturday, November 11. Bradford’s language,“This day, before we came into harbour,” leaves no room for doubtthat it was rather hurriedly drafted—and also signed—before noonof the 11th. That they had time on this winter Saturday—hardlythree weeks from the shortest day in the year—to reach andencircle the harbor; secure anchorage; get out boats; arm, equip,and land two companies of men; make a considerable march into theland; cut firewood; and get all aboard again before dark, indicatesthat they must have made the harbor not far from noon. These factsserve also to correct another error of traditional Pilgrim history,which has been commonly current, and into which Davis falls(Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth, p. 60), viz. that the Compact wassigned “in the harbor of Cape Cod.” It is noticeable that theinstrument itself simply says, “Cape Cod,” not “Cape Cod harbour,”as later they were wont to say. The leaders clearly did not meanto get to port till there was a form of law and authority.]for settlement on territory under theprotection of the patent granted in theirinterest to John Pierce, by the LondonVirginia Company.[The patent granted John Pierce, one of the Merchant Adventurers,by the London Virginia Company in the interest of the Pilgrims,was signed February 2/12, 1619, and of course could convey no rightsto, or upon, territory not conveyed to the Company by its charterfrom the King issued in 1606, and the division of territory madethereunder to the Second Virginia Company. By this division theLondon Company was restricted northward by the 41st parallel, asnoted, while the Second Company could not claim the 38th as itssouthern bound, as the charter stipulated that the nearestsettlements under the respective companies should not be within onehundred miles of each other.]Meeting in main cabin of all adult malepassengers except their two hired seamen,Trevore and Ely, and those too ill—to makeand sign a mutual ‘Compact”[The Compact is too well known to require reprinting here (seeAppendix); but a single clause of it calls for comment in thisconnection. In it the framers recite that, “Having undertaken toplant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia,” etc.From this phraseology it would appear that they here used the words“northern parts of Virginia” understandingly, and with a newrelation and significance, from their connection with the words “thefirst colony in,” for such declaration could have no force or truthexcept as to the region north of 41 deg. north latitude. They knew,of course, of the colonies in Virginia under Gates, Wingfield,Smith, Raleigh, and others (Hopkins having been with Gates), andthat, though there had been brief attempts at settlements in the“northern plantations,” there were none there then, and that hencetheirs would be in a sense “the first,” especially if consideredwith reference to the new Council for New England. The region ofthe Hudson had heretofore been included in the term “northern partsof Virginia,” although in the southern Company’s limit; but a newmeaning was now designedly given to the words as used in theCompact, and New England was contemplated. ]to regulate their civil government. Thisdone, they confirmed Master Carver their“governour” in the ship on the voyage,their “governour” for the year. Bore upfor the Cape, and by short tacks made theCape [Paomet, now Provincetown] Harbor,coming to an anchorage a furlong within thepoint. The bay so circular that beforecoming to anchor the ship boxed the compass[i.e. went clear around all points of it].Let go anchors three quarters of an Englishmile off shore, because of shallow water,sixty-seven days from Plymouth (Eng.),eighty-one days from Dartmouth, ninety-ninedays from Southampton, and one hundred andtwenty from London. Got out the long-boatand set ashore an armed party of fifteen orsixteen in armor, and some to fetch wood,having none left, landing them on the longpoint or neck, toward the sea.
Chart
[The strip of land now known as Long Point, Provincetown (Mass.)harbor.]Those going ashore were forced to wade abow-shot or two in going aland. The partysent ashore returned at night having seenno person or habitation, having laded theboat with juniper wood.
SUNDAY, Nov. 12/22At anchor in Cape Cod harbor. All handspiped to service. Weather mild.
MONDAY, Nov. 13/23At anchor in Cape Cod harbor, unshipped theshallop and drew her on land to mend andrepair her.[Bradford (Historie, Mass. ed. p. 97) says: “Having brought a largeshallop with them out of England, stowed in quarters in ye ship theynow gott her out and sett their carpenters to worke to trime her up:but being much brused and shatered in ye ship with foule weather,they saw she sould be longe in mending.” In ‘Mourt’s Relation’ hesays: “Monday, the 13th of November, we unshipped our shallop anddrew her on land to mend and repair her, having been forced to cuther down, in bestowing her betwixt the decks, and she was muchopened, with the peoples lying in her, which kept us long there: forit was sixteen or seventeen days before the Carpenter had finishedher.” Goodwin says she was “a sloop-rigged craft of twelve orfifteen tons.” There is an intimation of Bradford that she was“about thirty feet long.” It is evident from Bradford’s account(Historie, Mass. ed. p. 105) of her stormy entrance to Plymouthharbor that the shallop had but one mast, as he says “But herewiththey broake their mast in 3 pieces and their saill fell overboard ina very grown sea.”]
Many went ashore to refresh themselves, andthe women to wash.
TUESDAY, Nov. 14/24Lying at anchor. Carpenter at work onshallop. Arms and accoutrements being gotready for an exploring party inland.
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 15/25Lying at anchor in harbor. Master andboat’s crew went ashore, followed in theafternoon by an armed party of sixteen menunder command of Captain Myles Standish.Masters William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins,and Edward Tilley being joined to him forcouncil. The party to be gone from theship a day or two. Weather mild and groundnot frozen.
THURSDAY, Nov. 16/26Lying at anchor in harbor. Exploring partystill absent from ship. Weather continuesopen.
FRIDAY, Nov. 17/27At anchor, Cape Cod harbor. Weather open.Saw signal-fire on the other side of baythis morning, built by exploring party asarranged. The Master, Governor Carver, andmany of the company ashore in afternoon,and met exploring party there on theirreturn to ship. Hearing their signal-gunsbefore they arrived at the shore, sentlong-boat to fetch them aboard. Theyreported seeing Indians and following themten miles without coming up to them thefirst afternoon out, and the next day foundstore of corn buried, and a big ship’skettle, which they brought to the ship withmuch corn. Also saw deer and foundexcellent water.
SATURDAY, Nov. 18/28At anchor, Cape Cod harbor. Plantershelving tools, etc. Carpenter at work onshallop, which takes more labor than atfirst supposed. Weather still moderate.Fetched wood and water.
SUNDAY, Nov. 19/29At anchor, Gape Cod harbor. Second Sundayin harbor. Services aboard ship. Seamenashore. Change in weather. Colder.
MONDAY, Nov. 20/30At anchor, Cape Cod harbor. Carpenter andothers at work on shallop, getting outstock for a new shallop, helving tools,making articles needed, etc.
TUESDAY, Nov. 21/Dec. 1At anchor in harbor. Much inconveniencedin going ashore. Can only go and come athigh water except by wading, from whichmany have taken coughs and colds.
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 22/Dec. 2At anchor in harbor. Weather cold andstormy, having changed suddenly.
THURSDAY, Nov. 23/Dec. 3At anchor in harbor. Cold and stormy.Work progressing on shallop.
FRIDAY, Nov. 24/Dec. 4At anchor in harbor. Continues cold andstormy.
SATURDAY, Nov. 25/Dec. 5At anchor in harbor. Weather same. Workon shallop pretty well finished and she canbe used, though more remains to be done.Another exploration getting ready forMonday. Master and crew anxious to unladeand return for England. Fetched wood andwater.
SUNDAY, Nov. 26/Dec. 6At anchor, Cape Cod harbor. Third Sundayhere. Master notified Planters that theymust find permanent location and that hemust and would keep sufficient supplies forship’s company and their return.[Bradford, Historie, Mass. ed. p. 96. The doubt as to how theship’s and the colonists’ provisions were divided and held is againsuggested here. It is difficult, however, to understand how theMaster “must and would” retain provisions with his small forceagainst the larger, if it came to an issue of strength between Jonesand Standish.]
MONDAY, Nov. 27/Dec. 7At anchor, Cape Cod harbor. Rough weatherand cross winds. The Planters determinedto send out a strong exploring party, andinvited the Master of the ship to join themand go as leader, which he agreed continuedto, and offered nine of the crew and thelong-boat, which were accepted. Of thecolonists there were four-and-twenty,making the party in all four-and-thirty.Wind so strong that setting out from theship the shallop and long-boat were obligedto row to the nearest shore and the men towade above the knees to land. The windproved so strong that the shallop wasobliged to harbor where she landed. Matein charge of ship. Blowed and snowed allday and at night, and froze withal.Mistress White delivered of a son which iscalled “Peregrine.” The second child bornon the voyage, the first in this harbor.
TUESDAY, Nov. 28/Dec. 8At anchor, Cape Cod harbor. Cold. MasterJones and exploring party absent on shorewith long-boat and colonists’ shallop. Thelatter, which beached near ship yesterdayin a strong wind and harbored there lastnight, got under way this morning andsailed up the harbor, following the coursetaken by the long-boat yesterday, the windfavoring. Six inches of snow fellyesterday and last night. Crew at workclearing snow from ship.
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 29/Dec. 9At anchor, Cape Cod harbor. Cold. Foulweather threatening. Master Jones withsixteen men in the long-boat and shallopcame aboard towards night (eighteen menremaining ashore), bringing also about tenbushels of Indian corn which had been foundburied. The Master reports a long march,the exploration of two creeks, greatnumbers of wild fowl, the finding of muchcorn and beans,’ etc.[This seems to be the first mention of beans (in early Pilgrimliterature) as indigenous (presumably) to New England. They haveheld an important place in her dietary ever since.]
THURSDAY, Nov. 30/Dec. 10At anchor in harbor. Sent shallop to headof harbor with mattocks and spades, asdesired by those ashore, the seamen takingtheir muskets also. The shallop camealongside at nightfall with the rest of theexplorers—the tide being out—bringing alot of Indian things, baskets, pottery,wicker-ware, etc., discovered in two gravesand sundry Indian houses they found afterthe Master left them. They report groundfrozen a foot deep.
FRIDAY, Dec. 1/11At anchor, Cape Cod harbor. Carpenterfinishing work on shallop. Colonistsdiscussing locations visited, as places forsettlement.
SATURDAY, Dec. 2/12At anchor in harbor. Much discussion amongcolonists as to settlement, the Masterinsisting on a speedy determination.Whales playing about the ship inconsiderable numbers. One lying withinhalf a musket-shot of the ship, two of thePlanters shot at her, but the musket of theone who gave fire first blew in pieces bothstock and barrel, yet no one was hurt.Fetched wood and water.
SUNDAY, Dec. 3/13At anchor in Cape Cod harbor. The fourthSunday here. Scarce any of those aboardfree from vehement coughs, some very ill.Weather very variable.
MONDAY, Dec. 4/14At anchor in Cape Cod harbor. Carpentercompleting repairs on shallop. Muchdiscussion of plans for settlement. TheMaster urging that the Planters shouldexplore with their shallop at somedistance, declining in such season to stirfrom the present anchorage till a safeharbor is discovered by them where theywould be and he might go without danger.This day died Edward Thompson, a servant ofMaster William White, the first to dieaboard the ship since she anchored in theharbor. Burying-party sent ashore afterservices to bury him.
TUESDAY, Dec. 5/15At anchor in harbor. Francis Billington, ayoung son of one of the passengers, put theship and all in great jeopardy, by shootingoff a fowling-piece in his father’s cabinbetween decks where there was a smallbarrel of powder open, and many peopleabout the fire close by. None hurt.Weather cold and foul.
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 6/16At anchor in harbor. Very cold, badweather. This day died Jasper More, a ladbound to Governor Carver. The second deathin the harbor. The third exploring partygot away from the ship in the afternoon inthe shallop, intent on finding a harborrecommended by the second mate, RobertCoppin, who had visited it. CaptainStandish in command, with whom wereGovernor Carver, Masters Bradford, Winslow,John Tilley and Edward Tilley, Warren andHopkins, John Howland, Edward Dotey, andtwo of the colonists’ seamen, Alderton andEnglish, and of the ship’s company, themates Clarke and Coppin, the master-gunnerand three sailors, eighteen in all. Theshallop was a long time getting clear ofthe point, having to row, but at last gotup her sails and out of the harbor. Sentburying-party ashore with body of littleMore boy, after services aboard.
THURSDAY, Dec. 7/17At anchor in Cape Cod harbor. This dayMistress Dorothy Bradford, wife of MasterBradford, who is away with the exploringparty to the westward, fell over board andwas drowned.
FRIDAY, Dec. 8/18At anchor in harbor. A strong south-eastgale with heavy rain, turning to snow andgrowing cold toward night, as it cleared.This day Master James Chilton died aboardthe ship. The third passenger, and firsthead of a family; to die in this harbor.
SATURDAY, Dec. 9/19At anchor in harbor. Burying-party sentashore after services aboard, to buryChilton. Fetched wood and water.
[The death of Chilton was the first of the head of a family, and itmay readily be imagined that the burial was an especially affectingscene, especially as following so closely upon the tragic death ofMrs. Bradford (for whom no funeral or burial arrangements arementioned?? D.W.)]
SUNDAY, Dec. 10/20At anchor in Cape Cod harbor. The fifthSunday in this harbor. The exploring partystill absent. Four deaths one by drowning;very severe weather; the ship’s narrowescape from being blown up; and the absenceof so many of the principal men, have madeit a hard, gloomy week.
MONDAY, Dec. 11/21At anchor in harbor. Clear weather.
TUESDAY, Dec. 12/22At anchor in harbor. Exploration partystill absent.
Chart
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 13/23At anchor in harbor. Exploration partyreturned to ship, where much sadintelligence met them (especially MasterBradford), as to his wife’s drowning. Theexploring party report finding aconsiderable Indian burying-place; severalIndian houses; a fierce attack on them byIndians on Friday morning, but withoutharm; a severe gale on the same afternoon,in which their rudder-hinges broke, theirmast was split in three pieces, their sailfell over board in a heavy sea, and theywere like to have been cast away in makinga harbor which Master Coppin thought heknew, but was deceived about. They landedon an island at the mouth of the harbor,which they named for Master Clarke, thefirst mate, and spent Saturday and Sundaythere, and on Monday examined the harborthey found, and are agreed that it is theplace for settlement. Much satisfactionwith the report among the colonists.
THURSDAY, Dec. 14/24At anchor, Cape Cod harbor. The colonistshave determined to make settlement at theharbor they visited, and which isapparently, by Captain John Smith’s chartof 1616, no other than the place he calls“Plimoth” thereon. Fetched wood and water.
FRIDAY, Dec. 15/25Weighed anchor to go to the place theexploring party discovered. Course west,after leaving harbor. Shallop in company.Coming within two leagues, the wind comingnorthwest, could not fetch the harbor, andwas faine to put round again towards CapeCod. Made old anchorage at night. Thethirty-fifth night have lain at anchorhere. Shallop returned with ship.
SATURDAY, Dec. 16/26Comes in with fair wind for Plymouth.Weighed anchor and put to sea again and madeharbor safely. Shallop in company. Withinhalf an hour of anchoring the wind changed,so if letted [hindered] but a little hadgone back to Cape Cod. A fine harbor.Let go anchors just within a long spur ofbeach a mile or more from shore. The end ofthe outward voyage; one hundred and two daysfrom Plymouth (England to Plymouth NewEngland). One hundred and fifty-five daysfrom London.