Ergo, The
"Overmasting" Of The SPEEDWELL Was A "Pivotal Point In Modern History."
With The Idea Apparently Of Giving Eclat
To this announcement and of
attracting attention to it, he surprisingly charges the responsibility
for the "overmasting" and its alleged
Dire results upon the leaders of
the Leyden church, "who were," he repeatedly asserts, "alone
responsible." As a matter of fact, however, Bradford expressly states
(in the same paragraph as that upon which Professor Arber must wholly
base his sweeping assertions) that the "overmasting" was but "partly"
responsible for the SPEEDWELL'S leakiness, and directly shows that the
"stratagem" of her master and crew, "afterwards," he adds, "known, and by
some confessed," was the chief cause of her leakiness.
Cushman also shows, by his letter, - written after the ships had put back
into Dartmouth, - a part of which Professor Arber uses, but the most
important part suppresses, that what he evidently considers the principal
leak was caused by a very "loose board" (plank), which was clearly not
the result of the straining due to "crowding sail," or of "overmasting."
(See Appendix.)
Moreover, as the Leyden chiefs were careful to employ a presumably
competent man ("pilott," afterwards "Master" Reynolds) to take charge of
refitting the consort, they were hence clearly, both legally and morally,
exempt from responsibility as to any alterations made. Even though the
"overmasting" had been the sole cause of the SPEEDWELL'S leakiness, and
the delays and vicissitudes which resulted to the MAY-FLOWER and her
company, the leaders of the Leyden church - whom Professor Arber arraigns
- (themselves chiefly the sufferers) were in no wise at fault!
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