. . And indeed had you not sente him [the
'pilott,' presumably] many would have been ready to fainte and goe
backe." Neither here nor in any other relation is there the faintest
suggestion of Coppin, except as what he was, "the second mate," or
"pilott," of the MAY-FLOWER. It is not reasonable to suppose that, for
so small a craft but just purchased, and with the expedition yet
uncertain, the Leyden leaders or their London agents had by June 11,
employed both a "Master" and a "pilott" for the SPEEDWELL, as must have
been the case if this "pilott" was, as Goodwin so confidently assumes,
"doubtless Robert Coppin." For in Robert Cushman's letter of Sunday,
June 11, as if proposing (now that the larger vessel would be at once
obtained, and would, as he thought, be "ready in fourteen days") that the
"pilott" sent over to "refit" the SPEEDWELL should be further utilized,
he says: "Let Master Reynolds tarrie there [inferentially, not return
here when his work is done, as we originally arranged] and bring the ship
[the SPEEDWELL], to Southampton." The latter service we know he
performed.
The side lights upon the matter show, beyond doubt: -
(a) That a "pilott" had been sent to Holland, with Master Nash, before
May 31, 1620;
(b) That unless two had been sent (of which there is no suggestion, and
which is entirely improbable, for obvious reasons), Master Reynolds was
the "pilott" who was thus sent;
(c) That it is clear, from Cushman's letter of June 11/21, that Reynolds
was then in Holland, for Cushman directs that "Master Reynolds tarrie
there and bring the ship to Southampton;"
(d) That Master Reynolds was not originally intended to "tarrie there,"
and "bring the ship," etc., as, if he had been, there would have been no
need of giving such an order; and
(e) That he had been sent there for some other purpose than to bring the
SPEEDWELL to Southampton. Duly considering all the facts together, there
can be no doubt that only one "pilott" was sent from England; that he was
expected to return when the work was done for which he went (apparently
the refitting of the SPEEDWELL); that he was ordered to remain for a new
duty, and that the man who performed that duty and brought the ship to
Southampton (who, we know was Master Reynolds) must have been the
"pilott", sent over.
We are told too, by Bradford,
[Bradford's Historie, as already cited; Arber, The Story of the
Pilgrim Fathers, p. 341. John Brown, in his Pilgrim Fathers of New
England, p. 198, says: "She [the SPEEDWELL] was to remain with the
colony for a year." Evidently a mistake, arising from the length of
time for which her crew were shipped. The pinnace herself was
intended, as we have seen, for the permanent use of they colonists,
and was to remain indefinitely.]
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.