undertook the putting it in practice [Weston and others] and it was
accordingly brought to effect," etc. Then, reciting (erroneously) the
difficulties with the SPEEDWELL, etc., he records the MAY-FLOWER'S
arrival at Cape Cod, saying, "The . . . ship with great difficulty
reached the coast of New England." He then gives a glowing, though
absurd, account of the attractions the planters found--in midwinter--
especially naming the hospitable reception of the Indians, despite the
fact of the savage attack made upon them by the Nausets at Cape Cod, and
adds: "After they had well considered the state of their affaiis and
found that the authority they had from the London Company of Virginia,
could not warrant their abode in that place," which "they found so
prosperous and pleasing [sic] they hastened away their ship, with orders
to their Solicitor to deal with me to be a means they might have a grant
from the Council of New England Affairs, to settle in the place, which
was accordingly performed to their particular satisfaction and good
content of them all." One can readily imagine the crafty smile with
which Sir Ferdinando thus guilelessly recorded the complete success of
his plot. It is of interest to note how like a needle to the pole the
grand conspirator's mind flies to the fact which most appeals to him--
that they find "that the authority they had . . . could not warrant
their abode in that place." It is of like interest to observe that in
that place which he called "pleasant and prosperous" one half their own
and of the ship's company had died before they hastened the ship away,
and they had endured trial, hardships, and sorrows untellable,--although
from pluck and principle they would not abandon it. He tells us "they
hastened away their ship," and implies that it was for the chief purpose
of obtaining through him a grant of the land they occupied. While we
know that the ship did not return till the following April,--and then at
her Captain's rather than the Pilgrims' pleasure,--it is evident that
Gorges could think of events only as incident to his designs and from his
point of view. His plot had succeeded. He had the "Holland families"
upon his soil, and his willing imagination converted their sober and
deliberate action into the eager haste with which he had planned that
they should fly to him for the patent, which his cunning had--as he
purposed--rendered necessary. Of course their request "was performed,"
and so readily and delightedly that, recognizing John Pierce as their
mouthpiece and the plantation as "Mr. Pierces Plantation," Sir Ferdinando
and his associates--the "Council for New England," including his joint-
conspirator, the Earl of Warwick--gave Pierce unhesitatingly whatever he
asked. The Hon. William T. Davis, who alone among Pilgrim historians
(except Dr. Neill, whom he follows) seems to have suspected the hand of
Gorges in the treachery of Captain Jones, here demonstrated, has
suggested that: "Whether Gorges might not have influenced Pierce, in
whose name the patent of the Pilgrims had been issued--and whether both
together might not have seduced Capt. Jones, are further considerations
to be weighed, in solving the problem of a deviation from the intended
voyage of the MAYFLOWER." Although not aware of these suggestions,
either of Mr. Davis or of Dr. Neill, till his own labors had satisfied
him of Gorges's guilt, and his conclusions were formed, the author
cheerfully recognizes the priority to his own demonstration, of the
suggestions of both these gentlemen. No thing appears of record,
however, to indicate that John Pierce was in any way a party to Gorges's
plot. On the contrary, as his interest was wholly allied to his patent,
which Gorges's scheme would render of little value to his associate
Adventurers and himself he would naturally have been, unless heavily
bribed to duplicity beyond his expectations from their intended venture,
the last man to whom to disclose such a conspiracy. Neither was he
necessary in any way to the success of the scheme. He did not hire
either the ship or her master; he does not appear to have had any Pilgrim
relations to Captain Jones, and certainly could have had no such
influence with him as Gorges could himself command, through Warwick and
his own ability--from his position at the head of the "New England
Council"--to reward the service he required. That Gorges was able
himself to exert all the influence requisite to secure Jones's
cooperation, without the aid of Pierce, who probably could have given
none, is evident. Mr. Davis's suggestion, while pertinent and potential
as to Gorges, is clearly wide of the mark as to Pierce. He represented
the Adventurers in the matter of patents only, but Weston was in
authority as to the pivotal matter of shipping. An evidently hasty
footnote of Dr. Neill, appended to the "Memorial" offered by him to the
Congress of the United States, in 1868, seems to have been the only
authority of Mr. William T. Davis for the foregoing suggestion as to the
complicity of Pierce in the treachery of Captain Jones, except the bare
suspicion, already alluded to, in the records of the London Company.
Neill says: "Captain Jones, the navigator of the MAY-FLOWER, and John
Pierce, probably had arranged as to destination without the knowledge of
the passengers." While of course this is not impossible, there is, as
stated, absolutely nothing to indicate any knowledge, participation, or
need of Pierce in the matter, and of course the fewer there were in the
secret the better.
Unobservant that John Pierce was acting upon the old adage, "second thief
best owner," when he asked, a little later, even so extraordinary a thing
as that the "Council for New England" would exchange the patent they had
so promptly granted him (as representing his associates, the Adventurers
and Planters) for a "deed-pole," or title in fee, to himself alone, they
instantly complied, and thus unwittingly enabled him also to steal the
colony, and its demesne beside. It is evident, from the very servile
letter of Robert Cushman to John Pierce (written while the former was at
New Plymouth, in November-December, 1621, on behalf of the MAY-FLOWER
Adventurers), that up to that time at least, the Pilgrims had no
suspicion of the trick which had been played upon them. For, while too
adroit recklessly to open a quarrel with those who could--if they chose--
destroy them, the Pilgrims were far too high-minded to stoop to flattery
and dissimulation (especially with any one known to have been guilty of
treachery toward them), or to permit any one to do so in their stead.
In the letter referred to, Cush man acknowledges in the name of the
colonists the "bounty and grace of the President and Council of the
Affairs of New England [Gorges, Warwick, et als.] for their allowance and
approbation" of the "free possession and enjoyment" of the territory and
rights so promptly granted Pierce by the Council, in the colonists'
interest, upon application. If the degree of promptness with which the
wily Gorges and his associates granted the petition of Pierce, in the
colony's behalf for authority to occupy the domain to which Gorges's
henchman Jones had so treacherously conveyed them, was at all
proportionate to the fulsome and lavish acknowledgments of Cushman,
there must have been such eagerness of compliance as to provoke general
suspicion at the Council table. Gorges and Warwick must have "grinned
horribly behind their hands" upon receipt of the honest thanks of these
honest planters and the pious benedictions of their scribe, knowing
themselves guilty of detestable conspiracy and fraud, which had
frustrated an honest purpose, filched the results of others' labors, and
had "done to death" good men and women not a few. Winslow, in
"Hypocrisie Unmasked," says: "We met with many dangers and the mariners'
put back into the harbor of the Cape." The original intent of the
Pilgrims to go to the neighborhood of the Hudson is unmistakable; that
this intention was still clear on the morning of November 10 (not 9th)--
after they had "made the land"--has been plainly shown; that there was no
need of so "standing in with the land" as to become entangled in the
"rips" and "shoals" off what is now known as Monomoy (in an effort to
pass around the Cape to the southward, when there was plenty of open
water to port), is clear and certain; that the dangers and difficulties
were magnified by Jones, and the abandonment of the effort was urged and
practically made by him, is also evident from Winslow's language above
noted,--"and the mariners put back," etc. No indication of the old-time
consultations with the chief men appears here as to the matter of the
return. Their advice was not desired. "The mariners put back" on their
own responsibility.
Goodwin forcibly remarks, "These waters had been navigated by Gosnold,
Smith, and various English and French explorers, whose descriptions and
charts must have been familiar to a veteran master like Jones. He
doubtless magnified the danger of the passage [of the shoals], and managed
to have only such efforts made as were sure to fail. Of course he knew
that by standing well out, and then southward in the clear sea, he would
be able to bear up for the Hudson. His professed inability to devise any
way for getting south of the Cape is strong proof of guilt."
The sequential acts of the Gorges conspiracy were doubtless practically
as follows:--
(a) The Leyden leaders applied to the States General of Holland, through
the New Netherland Company, for their aid and protection in locating at
the mouth of "Hudson's" River;
(b) Sir Dudley Carleton, the English ambassador at the Hague, doubtless
promptly reported these negotiations to the King, through Sir Robert
Naunton;
(c) The King, naturally enough, probably mentioned the matter to his
intimate and favorite, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the leading man in American
colonization matters in the kingdom;
(d) Sir Ferdinando Gorges, recognizing the value of such colonists as the
Leyden congregation would make, anxious to secure them, instead of
permitting the Dutch to do so, and knowing that he and his Company would
be obnoxious to the Leyden leaders, suggested, as he admits, to Weston,
perhaps to Sandys, as the Leyden brethren's friends, that they ought to
secure them as colonists for their (London) Company;
(e) Weston was dispatched to Holland to urge the Leyden leaders to drop
the Dutch negotiations, come under English auspices, which he guaranteed,
and they, placing faith in him, and possibly in Sandys's assurances of
his (London) Virginia Company's favor, were led to put themselves
completely into the hands of Weston and the Merchant Adventurers; the
Wincob patent was cancelled and Pierces substituted;
(f) Weston, failing to lead them to Gorges's company, was next deputed,
perhaps by Gorges's secret aid, to act with full powers for the
Adventurers, in securing shipping, etc.;
(g) Having made sure of the Leyden party, and being in charge of the
shipping, Weston was practically master of the situation. He and
Cushman, who was clearly entirely innocent of the conspiracy, had the
hiring of the ship and of her officers, and at this point he and his acts
were of vital importance to Gorges's plans. To bring the plot to a
successful issue it remained only to effect the landing of the colony
upon territory north of the 41 st parallel of north lati tude, to take it
out of the London Company's jurisdiction, and to do this it was only
necessary to make Jones Master of the ship and to instruct him
accordingly. This, with so willing a servant of his masters, was a
matter of minutes only, the instructions were evidently given, and the
success of the plot--the theft of the MAY-FLOWER colony--was assured.
To a careful and candid student of all the facts, the proofs are
seemingly unmistakable, and the conclusion is unavoid able, that the MAY-
FLOWER Pilgrims were designedly brought to Cape Cod by Captain Jones, and
their landing in that latitude was effected, in pursuance of a conspiracy
entered into by him, not with the Dutch, but with certain of the nobility
of England; not with the purpose of keeping the planters out of Dutch
territory, but with the deliberate intent of stealing the colony from the
London Virginia Company, under whose auspices it had organized and set
sail, in the interest, and to the advantage, of its rival Company of the
"Northern Plantations."
It is noteworthy that Jones did not command the MAY-FLOWER for another
voyage, and never sailed afterward in the employ of Thomas Goffe, Esq.,
or (so far as appears) of any reputable shipowner. Weston was not such,
nor were the chiefs of the "Council for New England," in whose employ he
remained till his death.
The records of the Court of the "Council" show, that "as soon as it would
do," and when his absence would tend to lull suspicion as to the parts
played, Captain Jones's noble patrons took steps to secure for him due
recognition and compensation for his services, from the parties who were
to benefit directly, with themselves, by his knavery. The records read:
"July 17, 1622. A motion was made in the behaffe of Captaine Thomas
Jones, Captaine of the DISCOVERY, nowe employed in Virginia for trade and
fishinge [it proved, apparently, rather to be piracy], that he may be
admitted a freeman in this Companie in reward of the good service he hath
there [Virginia in general] performed. The Court liked well of the
motion and condiscended thereunto." The DISCOVERY left London at the
close of November, 1621. She arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, in April,
1622. She reached Plymouth, New England, in August, 1622. Her outward
voyage was not, so far as can be learned, eventful, or entitled to
especial consideration or recognition, and the good store of English
trading-goods she still had on hand--as Governor Bradford notices--on
her arrival at Plymouth indicates no notable success up to that time, in
the way of a trading-voyage, while "fishing" is not mentioned. For
piracy, in which she was later more successful, she had then had neither
time nor opportunity. The conclusion is irresistible, that "the good
service" recognized by the vote recorded was of the past (he had sailed
only the MAY-FLOWER voyage for the "Council" before), and that this
recognition was a part of the compensation previously agreed upon, if,
in the matter of the MAY-FLOWER voyage, Captain Jones did as he was
bidden. Thus much of the crafty Master of the MAY-FLOWER, Captain Thomas
Jones,--his Christian name and identity both apparently beyond dispute,--
whom we first know in the full tide of his piratical career, in the
corsair LION in Eastern seas; whom we next find as a prisoner in London
for his misconduct in the East, but soon Master of the cattle-ship FALCON
on her Virginia voyage; whom we greet next--and best--as Admiral of the
Pilgrim fleet, commander of the destiny freighted MAY-FLOWER, and though
a conspirator with nobles against the devoted band he steered, under the
overruling hand of their Lord God, their unwitting pilot to "imperial
labors" and mighty honors, to the founding of empire, and to eternal
Peace; whom we next meet--fallen, "like Lucifer, never to hope again"--
as Captain of the little buccaneer,--the DISCOVERY, disguised as a
trading-ship, on the Virginian and New England coasts; and lastly, in
charge of his leaking prize, a Spanish frigate in West Indian waters,
making his way--death-stricken--into the Virginia port of Jamestown,
where (July, 1625), he "cast anchor" for the last time, dying, as we
first found him, a pirate, to whom it had meantime been given to
"minister unto saints."
Of JOHN CLARKE, the first mate of the MAY-FLOWER, we have already learned
that he had been in the employ of the First (or London) Virginia Company,
and had but just returned (in June, 1620) from a voyage to Virginia with
Captain Jones in the FALCON, when found and employed by Weston and
Cushman for the Pilgrim ship. Dr. Neill quotes from the "Minutes of the
London Virginia Company," of Wednesday, February 13/23, 1621/2, the
following; which embodies considerable information concerning him:--
"February 13th, 1621. Master Deputy acquainted the Court, that one Master
John Clarke being taken from Virginia long since [Arber interpolates,
"in 1612"] by a Spanish ship that came to discover the Plantation, that
forasmuch as he hath since that time done the Company presumably the
First (or London) Virginia Company good service in many voyages to
Virginia; and, of late [1619] went into Ireland, for the transportation of
cattle to Virginia; he was a humble suitor to this Court that he might be
a Free brother of the Company, and have some shares of land bestowed upon
him."
From the foregoing he seems to have begun his American experiences as
early as 1612, and to have frequently repeated them. That he was at once
hired by Weston and Cushman as a valuable man, as soon as found, was not
strange.
He seems to have had the ability to impress men favorably and secure
their confidence, and to have been a modest and reliable man. Although
of both experience and capacity, he continued an under-officer for some
years after the Pilgrim voyage, when, it is fair to suppose, he might
have had command of a ship. He seems to have lacked confidence in
himself, or else the breadth of education necessary to make him trust his
ability as a navigator.
He is not mentioned, in connection with the affairs of the Pilgrims,
after he was hired as "pilot,"--on Saturday afternoon the 10th of June,
1620, at London,--until after the arrival at Cape Cod, and evidently was
steadily occupied during all the experience of "getting away" and of the
voyage, in the faithful performance of his duty as first mate (or
"pilot") of the MAY-FLOWER. It was not until the "third party" of
exploration from Cape Cod harbor was organized and set out, on Wednesday,
December 6, that he appeared as one of the company who put out in the
shallop, to seek the harbor which had been commended by Coppin, "the
second mate." On this eventful voyage--when the party narrowly escaped
shipwreck at the mouth of Plymouth harbor--they found shelter under the
lee of an island, which (it being claimed traditionally that he was first
to land there on) was called, in his honor, "Clarke's Island," which name
it retains to this day. No other mention of him is made by name, in the
affairs of ship or shore, though it is known inferentially that he
survived the general illness which attacked and carried off half of the
ship's company. In November, 1621,--the autumn following his return from
the Pilgrim voyage,--he seems to have gone to Virginia as "pilot" (or
"mate") of the FLYING HART, with cattle of Daniel Gookin, and in 1623 to
have attained command of a ship, the PROVIDENCE, belonging to Mr. Gookin,
on a voyage to Virginia where he arrived April 10, 1623, but died in that
colony soon after his arrival. He seems to have been a competent and
faithful man, who filled well his part in life. He will always have
honorable mention as the first officer of the historic MAY-FLOWER, and as
sponsor at the English christening of the smiling islet in Plymouth
harbor which bears his name.
Of ROBERT COPPIN, the "second mate" (or "pilot") of the MAY-FLOWER,
nothing is known before his voyage in the Pilgrim ship, except that he
seems to have made a former to the coast of New England and the vicinity
of Cape Cod, though under what auspices, or in what ship, does not
transpire. Bradford says: "Their Pilotte, one Mr. Coppin, who had been
in the countrie before." Dr. Young a suggests that Coppin was perhaps on
the coast with Smith or Hunt. Mrs. Austin imaginatively makes him, of
"the whaling bark SCOTSMAN of Glasgow," but no warrant whatever for such
a conception appears.
Dr. Dexter, as elsewhere noted, has said: "My impression is that Coppin
was originally hired to go in the SPEEDWELL, . . that he sailed with
them [the Pilgrims] in the SPEED WELL, but on her final putting back was
transferred to the MAY-FLOWER." As we have seen in another relation,
Dr. Dexter also believed Coppin to have been the "pilot" sent over by
Cushman to Leyden, in May, 1620, and we have found both views to be
untenable. It was doubtless because of this mistaken view that Dr.
Dexter believed that Coppin was "hired to go in the SPEEDWELL," and, the
premise being wrong, the conclusion is sequentially incorrect. But there
are abundant reasons for thinking that Dexter's "impression" is wholly
mistaken. It would be unreasonable to suppose (as both vessels were
expected to cross the ocean), that each had not--certainly on leaving
Southampton her full complement of officers. If so, each undoubtedly had
her second mate. The MAY-FLOWER'S officers and crew were, as we know,
hired for the voyage, and there is no good reason to suppose that the
second mate of the MAY-FLOWER was dismissed at Plymouth and Coppin put in
his place which would not be equally potent for such an exchange between
the first mate of the SPEEDWELL and Clarke of the MAY-FLOWER. The
assumption presumes too much. In fact, there can be no doubt that
Dexter's misconception was enbased upon, and arose from, the unwarranted
impression that Coppin was the "pilot" sent over to Leyden. It is not
likely that, when the SPEEDWELL'S officers were so evidently anxious to
escape the voyage, they would seek transfer to the MAY-FLOWER.
Charles Deane, the editor of Bradford's "Historie" (ed.1865), makes, in
indexing, the clerical error of referring to Coppin as the "master-
gunner," an error doubtless occasioned by the fact that in the text
referred to, the words, "two of the masters-mates, Master Clarke and
Master Coppin, the master-gunner," etc., were run so near together that
the mistake was readily made.
In "Mourt's Relation" it appears that in the conferences that were held
aboard the ship in Cape Cod harbor, as to the most desirable place for
the colonists to locate, "Robert Coppin our pilot, made relation of a
great navigable river and great harbor in the headland of the Bay, almost
right over against Cape Cod, being a right line not much above eight
leagues distant," etc. Mrs. Jane G. Austin asserts, though absolutely
without warrant of any reliable authority, known tradition, or
probability, that "Coppin's harbor . . . afterward proved to be Cut
River and the site of Marshfield," but in another place she contradicts
this by stating that it was "Jones River, Duxbury." As Coppin described
his putative harbor, called "Thievish Harbor," a "great navigable river
and good harbor" were in close relation, which was never true of either
the Jones River or "Cut River" localities, while any one familiar with
the region knows that what Mrs. Austin knew as "Cut River" had no
existence in the Pilgrims' early days, but was the work of man,
superseding a small river-mouth (Green Harbor River), which was so
shallow as to have its exit closed by the sand-shift of a single storm.
Young, with almost equal recklessness, says: "The other headland of the
bay, alluded to by Coppin, was Manomet Point, and the river was probably
the North River in Scituate; "but there are no "great navigable river and
good harbor" in conjunction in the neighborhood of Manomet, or of the
North River,--the former having no river and the latter no harbor. If
Coppin had not declared that he had never seen the mouth of Plymouth
harbor before ("mine eyes never saw this place before"), it might readily
have been believed that Plymouth harbor was the "Thievish Harbor" of his
description, so well do they correspond.
Goodwin, the brother of Mrs. Austin, quite at variance with his sister's
conclusions, states, with every probability confirming him, that the
harbor Coppin sought "may have been Boston, Ipswich, Newburyport, or
Portsmouth."
As a result of his "relation" as to a desirable harbor, Coppin was made
the "pilot" of the "third expedition," which left the ship in the
shallop, Wednesday, December 6, and, after varying disasters and a narrow
escape from shipwreck--through Coppin's mistake--landed Friday night
after dark, in the storm, on the island previously mentioned, ever since
called "Clarke's Island," at the mouth of Plymouth harbor.
Nothing further is known of Coppin except that he returned to England
with the ship. He has passed into history only as Robert Coppin, "the
second mate" (or "pilot") of the MAY-FLOWER.
But one other officer in merchant ships of the MAY-FLOWER class in her
day was dignified by the address of "Master" (or Mister), or had rank
with the Captain and Mates as a quarter-deck officer,--except in those
instances where a surgeon or a chaplain was carried. That the MAY-FLOWER
carried no special ship's-surgeon has been supposed from the fact of Dr.
Fuller's attendance alike on her passengers and crew, and the increased
mortality of the seamen--after his removal on shore.
[The author is greatly indebted to his esteemed friend, Mr. George
Ernest Bowman, Secretary-General of the Society of MAY-FLOWER
Descendants, for information of much value upon this point. He
believes that he has discovered trustworthy evidence of the
existence of a small volume bearing upon its title-page an
inscription that would certainly indicate that the MAY-FLOWER had
her own surgeon. A copy of the inscription, which Mr. Bowman
declares well attested (the book not being within reach), reads as
follows:--
"To Giles Heale Chirurgeon,
from Isaac Allerton
in Virginia.
Feb. 10, 1620."