To A Careful And Candid Student Of All The Facts, The Proofs Are
Seemingly Unmistakable, And The Conclusion Is Unavoidable,
That the
MAY-FLOWER Pilgrims were designedly brought to Cape Cod by Captain
Jones, and their landing in that latitude
Was effected, in pursuance of
a conspiracy entered into by him, not with the Dutch, but with certain
of the nobility of England; not with the purpose of keeping the planters
out of Dutch territory, but with the deliberate intent of stealing the
colony from the London Virginia Company, under whose auspices it had
organized and set sail, in the interest, and to the advantage, of its
rival Company of the "Northern Plantations."
It is noteworthy that Jones did not command the MAY-FLOWER for another
voyage, and never sailed afterward in the employ of Thomas Goffe, Esq.,
or (so far as appears) of any reputable shipowner. Weston was not such,
nor were the chiefs of the "Council for New England," in whose employ he
remained till his death.
The records of the Court of the "Council" show, that "as soon as it would
do," and when his absence would tend to lull suspicion as to the parts
played, Captain Jones's noble patrons took steps to secure for him due
recognition and compensation for his services, from the parties who were
to benefit directly, with themselves, by his knavery. The records read:
"July 17, 1622. A motion was made in the behaffe of Captaine Thomas
Jones, Captaine of the DISCOVERY, nowe employed in Virginia for trade and
fishinge [it proved, apparently, rather to be piracy], that he may be
admitted a freeman in this Companie in reward of the good service he hath
there [Virginia in general] performed. The Court liked well of the
motion and condiscended thereunto." The DISCOVERY left London at the
close of November, 1621. She arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, in April,
1622. She reached Plymouth, New England, in August, 1622. Her outward
voyage was not, so far as can be learned, eventful, or entitled to
especial consideration or recognition, and the good store of English
trading-goods she still had on hand - as Governor Bradford notices - on
her arrival at Plymouth indicates no notable success up to that time, in
the way of a trading-voyage, while "fishing" is not mentioned. For
piracy, in which she was later more successful, she had then had neither
time nor opportunity. The conclusion is irresistible, that "the good
service" recognized by the vote recorded was of the past (he had sailed
only the MAY-FLOWER voyage for the "Council" before), and that this
recognition was a part of the compensation previously agreed upon, if,
in the matter of the MAY-FLOWER voyage, Captain Jones did as he was
bidden. Thus much of the crafty Master of the MAY-FLOWER, Captain Thomas
Jones, - his Christian name and identity both apparently beyond dispute,
- whom we first know in the full tide of his piratical career, in the
corsair LION in Eastern seas; whom we next find as a prisoner in London
for his misconduct in the East, but soon Master of the cattle-ship FALCON
on her Virginia voyage; whom we greet next - and best - as Admiral of the
Pilgrim fleet, commander of the destiny freighted MAY-FLOWER, and though
a conspirator with nobles against the devoted band he steered, under the
overruling hand of their Lord God, their unwitting pilot to "imperial
labors" and mighty honors, to the founding of empire, and to eternal
Peace; whom we next meet - fallen, "like Lucifer, never to hope again"
- as Captain of the little buccaneer, - the DISCOVERY, disguised as a
trading-ship, on the Virginian and New England coasts; and lastly, in
charge of his leaking prize, a Spanish frigate in West Indian waters,
making his way - death-stricken - into the Virginia port of Jamestown,
where (July, 1625), he "cast anchor" for the last time, dying, as we
first found him, a pirate, to whom it had meantime been given to
"minister unto saints."
Of JOHN CLARKE, the first mate of the MAY-FLOWER, we have already learned
that he had been in the employ of the First (or London) Virginia Company,
and had but just returned (in June, 1620) from a voyage to Virginia with
Captain Jones in the FALCON, when found and employed by Weston and
Cushman for the Pilgrim ship.
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