There Is No Reason To Suppose That The MAY-FLOWER,
In Her Excessively Crowded Condition, Mounted More Than Eight Or Ten
Guns, And These Chiefly Of Small Calibre.
Her boats included her
"long-boat," with which the experience of her company in "Cape Cod harbor"
have made us familiar, and perhaps other smaller boats, - besides the
Master's "skiff" or "gig," of whose existence and necessity there are
numerous proofs.
"Monday the 27," Bradford and Winslow state, "it
proved rough weather and cross winds, so as we were constrained, some in
the shallop and others in the long-boat," etc. Bradford states, in
regard to the repeated springings-a-leak of the SPEEDWELL: "So the
Master of the bigger ship, called Master Jones, being consulted with;"
and again, "The Master of the small ship complained his ship was so
leaky . . . so they [Masters Jones and Reynolds] came to
consultation, again," etc. It is evident that Jones was obliged to
visit the SPEEDWELL to inspect her and to consult with the leaders, who
were aboard her. For this purpose, as for others, a smaller boat than
the "long-boat" would often serve, while the number of passengers and
crew aboard would seem to demand still other boats. Winthrop notices
that their Captain (Melborne) frequently "had his skiff heaved out," in
the course of their voyage. The Master's small boat, called the "skiff"
or "gig," was, no doubt, stowed (lashed) in the waist of the ship, while
the "long-boat" was probably lashed on deck forward, being hoisted out
and in, as the practice of those days was, by "whips," from the
yardarms.
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