The Former Occupations Of Fourteen Of The Adult Colonists, Browne,
Billington, Britteridge, Cooke, Chilton, Clarke, Crackstone, Goodman,
Gardiner, Rogers, Rigdale, Turner, Warren, And Williams Are Not Certainly
Known.
There is evidence suggesting that Browne was a mechanic;
Billington and Cooke had been trained to husbandry; that Chilton
Had been
a small tradesman; that Edward Tilley had been, like his brother, a
silk-worker; that Turner was a tradesman, and Warren a farmer; while it
is certain that Cooke, Rogers, and Warren had been men of some means.
Of the above list of fourteen men whose last occupations before joining
the colonists are unknown, only five, viz. Browne, Billington, Cooke,
Gardiner, and Warren lived beyond the spring of 1621. Of these, Warren
died early, Gardiner left the colony and "became a seaman;" the other
three, Billington, Browne, and Cooke, became "planters." Thomas Morton,
of "Merry Mount," in his "New Eng land's Canaan" (p. 217), gives
Billington the sobriquet "Ould Woodman."
The early deaths of the others make their former handicrafts - except as
so much data pertaining to the composi tion and history of the colony -
matters of only ephemeral interest.
CHAPTER VII
QUARTERS, COOKING, PROVISIONS
Probably no more vexatious problem presented itself for the time being to
the "governors" of the two vessels and their "assistants," upon their
selection, than the assignment of quarters to the passengers allotted to
their respective ships. That these allotments were in a large measure
determined by the requirements of the women and children may be
considered certain. The difficulties attendant on due recognition of
social and official station (far more imperative in that day than this)
were in no small degree lessened by the voluntary assignment of
themselves, already mentioned, of some of the Leyden chief people to the
smaller ship; but in the interests of the general welfare and of harmony,
certain of the leaders, both of the Leyden and London contingents, were
of necessity provided for in the larger vessel. The allotments to the
respective ships made at Southampton, the designation of quarters in the
ships themselves, and the final readjustments upon the MAY-FLOWER at
Plymouth (England), when the remaining passengers of both ships had been
united, were all necessarily determined chiefly with regard to the needs
of the women, girls, and babes. Careful analysis of the list shows that
there were, requiring this especial consideration, nineteen women, ten
young girls, and one infant. Of the other children, none were so young
that they might not readily bunk with or near their fathers in any part
of the ship in which the latter might be located.
We know enough of the absolute unselfishness and devotion of all the
Leyden leaders, whatever their birth or station, - so grandly proven in
those terrible days of general sickness and death at New Plymouth, - to be
certain that with them, under all circumstances, it was noblesse oblige,
and that no self-seeking would actuate them here. It should be
remembered that the MAY-FLOWER was primarily a passenger transport, her
passengers being her principal freight and occupying the most of the
ship, the heavier cargo being chiefly confined to the "hold." As in that
day the passenger traffic was, of course, wholly by sailing vessels, they
were built with cabin accommodations for it, as to numbers, etc.,
proportionately much beyond those of the sailing craft of to-day. The
testimony of Captain John Smith, "the navigator," as to the passengers of
the MAY-FLOWER "lying wet in their cabins," and that of Bradford as to
Billington's "cabin between decks," already quoted, is conclusive as to
the fact that she had small cabins (the "staterooms" of to-day), intended
chiefly, no doubt, for women and children. The advice of Edward Winslow
to his friend George Morton, when the latter was about to come to New
England in the ANNE, "build your cabins as open as possible,"
is suggestive of close cabins and their discomforts endured upon the
MAY-FLOWER. It also suggests that the chartering-party was expected in
those days to control, if not to do, the "fitting up" of the ship for her
voyage. In view of the usual "breadth of beam" of ships of her class and
tonnage, aft, and the fore and aft length of the poop, it is not
unreasonable to suppose that there were not less than four small cabins
on either side of the common (open) cabin or saloon (often depicted as
the signing-place of the Compact), under the high poop deck. Constructed
on the general plan of such rooms or cabins to-day (with four single
berths, in tiers of two on either hand), there would be - if the women and
girls were conveniently distributed among them - space for all except the
Billingtons, who we know had a cabin (as had also doubtless several of
the principal men) built between decks. This would also leave an after
cabin for the Master, who not infrequently made his quarters, and those
of his chief officer, in the "round house," when one existed, especially
in a crowded ship.
Cabins and bunks "between decks" would provide for all of the males of
the company, while the seamen, both of the crew and (some of) those in
the employ of the Pilgrims - like Trevore and Ely - were no doubt housed in
the fore castle. Alderton and English seem to have been counted "of the
company." The few data we have permit us to confidently assume that some
such disposition of the passengers was (necessarily) made, and that but
for the leaky decks, the inseparable discomforts of the sea, and those of
over crowding, the wives of the Pilgrims (three of whom gave birth to
children aboard the ship), and their daughters, were fairly "berthed."
Bradford is authority for the statement that with the "governor" of the
ship's company were chosen "two or three assistants . . . to order
[regulate] the people by the way [on the passage] and see to the
disposition of the provisions," etc.
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