We Have Seen That The "Pilot," John Clarke,
Was Employed By Weston And Cushman, Even Before The Vessel Upon Which He
Was To Serve Had Been Found, And He Had Hence The Distinction Of Being
The First Man "Shipped" Of The MAY-FLOWER'S Complement.
It is evident
that he was promptly hired on its being known that he had recently
returned from a voyage to Virginia in the cattle-ship FALCON, as certain
to be of value in the colonists' undertakings.
Knowing that the Adventurers' agents were seeking both a ship and a
master for her, it was the natural thing for the latter, that he should
propose the Captain under whom he had last sailed, on much the same
voyage as that now contemplated. It is an interesting fact that
something of the uncertainty which for a time existed as to the names and
features of the Pilgrim barks attaches the names and identity of their
respective commanders. The "given" name of "Master" Reynolds, "pilott"
and "Master" of the SPEED WELL, does not appear, but the assertion of
Professor Arber, though positive enough, that "the Christian name of the
Captain of the MAY-FLOWER is not known," is not accepted by other
authorities in Pilgrim history, though it is true that it does not find
mention in the contemporaneous accounts of the Pilgrim ship and her
voyage.
There is no room for doubt that the Captain of the FALCON - whose release
from arrest while under charge of piracy the Earl of Warwick procured,
that he might take command of the above-named cattle-ship on her voyage
to Virginia, as hereinafter shown - was Thomas Jones. The identity of
this man and "Master Jones" who assumed command of the MAY-FLOWER - with
the former mate of the FALCON, John Clarke, as his first officer - is
abundantly certified by circumstantial evidence of the strongest kind, as
is also the fact that he commanded the ship DISCOVERY a little later.
With the powerful backing of such interested friends as the Earl of
Warwick and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, undoubtedly already in league with
Thomas Weston, who probably made the contract with Jones,
as he had with Clarke, the suggestion of the latter as to the competency
and availability of his late commander would be sure of prompt approval,
and thus, in all probability, Captain Thomas Jones, who finds his chief
place in history - and a most important one - as Master of the MAY-FLOWER,
came to that service.
In 1619, as appears by Neill, the Virginia Company had one John Clarke in
Ireland, "buying cattle for Virginia." We know that Captain Jones soon
sailed for Virginia with cattle, in the FALCON, of 150 tons, and as this
was the only cattle ship in a long period, we can very certainly identify
Clarke as the newly-hired mate of the MAY-FLOWER, who, Cush man says
(letter of June 11/21, 1620), "went last year to Virginia with a ship of
kine." As 1620 did not begin until March 25, a ship sailing in February
would have gone out in 1619, and Jones and Clarke could easily have made
the voyage in time to engage for the MAY-FLOWER in the following June.
"Six months after Jones's trip in the latter" (i.e. after his return
from the Pilgrim voyage), Neill says, "he took the DISCOVERY (60 tons) to
Virginia, and then northward, trading along the coast.
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