He Was, As Previously Stated, A Wealthy "Merchant And Ship
Owner Of London," And Not Only An Adventurer With The Leyden Pilgrims,
But - Nearly Ten Years Later - A Patentee Of The Massachusetts Company And
One Of Its Charter Officers.
We are told in the journal of Governor Winthrop of that Company - then on
board the LADY ARBELLA, the,
"Admiral" or flagship of his fleet, riding
at Cowes, ready to set sail for New England - that on "Easter Monday
(March 29), 1630, the CHARLES, the MAY-FLOWER, the WILLIAM AND FRANCIS,
the HOPEWELL, the WHALE, the SUCCESS, and the TRIAL," of his fleet, were
"still at Hampton [Southampton] and are not ready." Of these seven ships
it is certain that Mr. Goffe owned at least two, as Governor Winthrop - in
writing, some days later, of the detention of his son Henry and his
friend Mr. Pelham, who, going ashore, failed to return to the governor's
ship before she sailed from Cowes, and so went to the fleet at
Southampton for passage - says: "So we have left them behind and suppose
they will come after in one of Mr. Goffe's ships." It is clear,
therefore, that Mr. Goffe, who was an intimate friend and business
associate of Governor Winthrop, as the latter's correspondence amply
attests, and was a charter deputy-governor of the Massachusetts Company,
and at this time "an assistant," was the owner of at least two (probably
not more) of these seven belated ships of the governor's fleet, riding at
Southampton. Bearing in mind that the MAY-FLOWER and the WHALE were two
of those ships, it becomes of much importance to find that these two
ships, evidently sailing in company (as if of one owner), arrived
together in the harbor of Charlestown, New England, on Thursday, July 1,
having on board one of them the governor's missing son, Henry Winthrop.
If he came - as his father expected and as appears certain - "in one of Mr.
Goffe's ships," then evidently, either the MAY-FLOWER or the WHALE, or
both, belonged to Mr. Goffe. That both were Goffe's is rendered probable
by the fact that Governor Winthrop - writing of the vessels as if
associated and a single interest - states that "most of their cattle [on
these ships] were dead, whereof a mare and horse of mine." This
probability is increased, too, by the facts that the ships evidently kept
close company across the Atlantic (as if under orders of a common owner,
and as was the custom, for mutual defence and assistance, if occasion
required), and that Winthrop who, as we above noted, had large dealings
with Goffe, seems to have practically freighted both these ships for
himself and friends, as his freight bills attest. They would hence, so
far as possible, naturally keep together and would discharge their
cargoes and have their accountings to a single consignee, taken as nearly
together as practicable. Both these ships came to Charlestown, - as only
one other did, - and both were freighted, as noted, by one party.
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