Read Ebook: The Mayflower and Her Log; July 15 1620-May 6 1621 — Volume 5 by Ames Azel

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 84 lines and 13452 words, and 2 pages

Please do not remove this.

Edition: 10

THE MAY-FLOWER AND HER LOG

July 15, 1620--May 6, 1621 Chiefly from Original Sources

BOOK 5.

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 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 , 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 , 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 cabin or saloon , under the high poop deck. Constructed on the general plan of such rooms or cabins to-day , 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 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 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 made, and that but for the leaky decks, the inseparable discomforts of the sea, and those of over crowding, the wives of the Pilgrims , 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 the people by the way and see to the disposition of the provisions," etc. The last-named duty must have been a most difficult and wearisome one. From what has been shown of the poverty of the ship's cooking facilities , one must infer that it would be hopeless to expect to cook food in any quantity, except when all conditions favored, and then but slowly and with much difficulty. From the fact that so many would require food at practically the same hours of the day, it is clear that there must have been distribution of food to groups or families, who, with the aid of servants , must each have prepared their own meals, cooking as occasion and opportu nity indicated; much after the manner of the steerage passengers in later days, but before those of the great ocean liners. There appears to have been but one cook for the officers and crew of the ship, and his hands were doubtless full with their demands. It is certain that his service to the passengers must have been very slight. That "the cook" is named as one of the ship's crew who died in Plymouth harbor is all the knowledge we have concerning him.

The use of and dependence upon tea and coffee, now so universal, and at sea so seemingly indispensable, was then unknown, beer supplying their places, and this happily did not have to be prepared with fire. "Strong waters"--Holland gin and to some extent "aqua vitae" --were relied upon for the maintenance of warmth. Our Pilgrim Fathers were by no means "total abstainers," and sadly bewailed being deprived of their beer when the supply failed. They also made general and habitual use of wine and spirits, though they sharply interdicted and promptly punished their abuse.

In the absence of cooking facilities, it became necessary in that day to rely chiefly upon such articles of food as did not require to be prepared by heat, such as biscuit , butter, cheese , "haberdyne" , smoked herring, smoked ham and bacon, "dried neat's tongues," preserved and "potted" meats , fruits, etc. Mush, oatmeal, pease-puddings, pickled eggs, sausage meats, salt beef and pork, bacon, "spiced beef," such few vegetables as they had , etc., could be cooked in quantity, when the weather permitted, and would then be eaten cold.

Except as dried or preserved fruits, vegetables , limes, lemon juice, and the free use of vinegar feebly counteracted, their food was distinctively stimulant of scorbutic and tuberculosis disease, which constant exposure to cold and wet and the overcrowded state of the ship could but increase and aggravate. Bradford narrates of one of the crew of the MAY-FLOWER when in Plymouth harbor, as suggestive of the wretched conditions prevalent in the ship, that one of his shipmates, under an agreement to care for him, "got him a little spice and made him a mess of beef, once or twice," and then deserted him.

Josselyn, in his "Two Voyages to New England," gives as the result of the experience and observations had in his voyages, but a few years later, much that is interesting and of exceptional value as to the food and equipment of passengers to, and colonists in, this part of America. It has especial interest, perhaps, for the author and his readers, in the fact that Josselyn's statements were not known until after the data given in these pages had been independently worked out from various sources, and came therefore as a gratifying confirmation of the conclusions already reached.

Josselyn says as to food, as follows:--"The common proportion of victuals for the sea to a mess is as followeth:--

"2 pieces of Beef of 3 lb. 1/4 apiece. Pork seems to have been inadvertently omitted.

"Four pounds of Bread .

"One pint & 1/2 of Pease.

"Four Gallons of Bear , with mustard and vinegar for 3 flesh days in the week."

"For four fish days to each mess per day:--

"Two pieces of Codd or Haberdine, making 3 pieces of a fish, i.e. a dried salt cod being divided into three pieces, 2 of those pieces were to be a day's ration for 4 men.

"Four pounds of Bread.

"Three-quarters of a pound of cheese.

"Bear as before."

"Oatmeal per day for 50 men 1 Gallon , and so proportionable for more or fewer."

"Thus you see the ship's provision is Beefe and Porke, Fish, Butter, Cheese, Pease, Pottage, Water-Gruel, Bisket, and six shilling Bear."

"For private fresh provision you may carry with you :--

"Conserves of Roses, Clove-Gilliflowers, Wormwood, Green-Ginger, Burnt- Wine, English Spirits, Prunes to stew, Raisons of the Sun, Currence , Sugar, Nutmeg, Mace, Cinna mon, Pepper and Ginger, White Bisket, Butter, or 'Captains biscuit,' made with wheat flour or Spanish Rusk, Eggs, Rice, Juice of Lemons, well put up to cure or prevent the Scurvy, Small Skillets, Pipkins, Porringers and small Frying Pans."

Josselyn further gives us an estimate for:--

"Victuals for a whole year to be carried out of England for one man and so for more after this rate." He annexed also their current prices:--

"Eight bushels of Meal Two bushels of Pease at 3/s Two bushels of Oatmeal at 4s/6d One Gallon of Aqua Vitae One Gallon of Oyl Two Gallons of Vinegar A Hogshead of English Bear A Hogshead of Irish Bear A Hogshead of Vinegar A bushel of Mustard seed A Kental of fish, Cod or Haberdine, 112 lb."

Edward Window, in his letter to George Morton before mentioned, advising him as to his voyage, says: "Bring juice of lemons and take it fasting. It is of good use."

It is indeed remarkable that, totally unused to any such conditions, wet, cold, poorly fed, overcrowded, storm-tossed, bruised and beaten, anxious, and with no homes to welcome them, exposed to new hardships and dangers on landing, worn and exhausted, any of the MAY-FLOWER'S company survived. It certainly cannot be accounted strange that infectious diseases, once started among them, should have run through their ranks like fire, taking both old and young. Nor is it strange that--though more inured to hardship and the conditions of sea life--with the extreme and unusual exposure of boat service on the New England coast in mid winter, often wading in the icy water and living aboard ship in a highly infected atmosphere, the seamen should have succumbed to disease in almost equal ratio with the colonists. The author is prepared, after careful consideration, to accept and professionally indorse, with few exceptions, the conclusions as to the probable character of the decimating diseases of the passengers and crew of the MAY-FLOWER, so ably and interestingly presented by Dr. Edward E. Cornwall in the "New England Magazine" for February, 1897--From the fact that Edward Thompson, Jasper More, and Master James Chilton died within a month of the arrival at Cape Cod , and following the axiom of vital statistics that "for each death two are constantly sick," there must have been some little sickness on the MAY-FLOWER when she arrived at Cape Cod. It would, in view of the hardship of the voyage, have been very remarkable if this had not been the case. It would have been still more remarkable if the ill-conditioned, thin- blooded, town-bred "servants" and apprentices had not suffered first and most. It is significant that eight out of nine of the male "servants" should have died in the first four months. It was impossible that scurvy should not have been prevalent with both passengers and crew.

THE MAY-FLOWER'S LADING

Beside her human freight of one hundred and thirty or more passengers and crew, the lading of the MAY-FLOWER when she sailed from Plymouth , September 6/16, 1620, was considerable and various. If clearing at a custom-house of to-day her manifest would excite no little interest and surprise. Taking no account of the ship's stores and supplies , the colonists' goods and chattels were many, their provisions bulky, their ordnance, arms, and stores heavy, and their trading-stock fairly ample. Much of the cargo originally stowed in the SPEEDWELL, a part, as we know, of her company, and a few of her crew were transferred to the MAY-FLOWER at Plymouth, and there can be no doubt that the ship was both crowded and overladen.

It is altogether probable that the crowded condition of her spar and main decks caused the supply of live-stock taken--whether for consumption upon the voyage or for the planters' needs on shore--to be very limited as to both number and variety. It has been matter of surprise to many that no cattle were taken, but if--as is not unlikely--it was at first proposed to take a cow or two , this intent was undoubtedly abandoned at Plymouth, England, when it became evident that there would be dearth of room even for passengers, none whatever for cattle or their fodder , and that the lateness of the season and its probable hardships would endanger the lives of the animals if taken. So far as appears the only domestic live-stock aboard the MAY-FLOWER consisted of goats, swine, poultry, and dogs. It is quite possible that some few sheep, rabbits, and poultry for immediate consumption may have been shipped, this being customary then as now. It is also probable that some household pets--cats and caged singing-birds, the latter always numerous in both England and Holland--were carried on board by their owners, though no direct evidence of the fact is found. There is ample proof that goats, swine, poultry, and dogs were landed with the colonists at New Plymouth, and it is equally certain that they had at first neither cattle, horses, nor sheep. Of course the she-goats were their sole reliance for milk for some time, whether afloat or ashore, and goat's flesh and pork their only possibilities in the way of fresh meat for many months, save poultry , though we may be sure, in view of the breeding value of their goats, poultry, and swine, few were consumed for food. The "fresh meat" mentioned as placed before Massasoit' on his first visit was probably venison, though possibly kid's meat, pork, or poultry. Of swine and poultry they must have had a pretty fair supply, judging from their rapid increase, though their goats must have been few. They were wholly without beasts of draft or burden , and their lack was sorely felt. The space they and their forage demanded it was doubtless considered impracticable to spare. The only dogs that appear in evidence are a large mastiff bitch

and a small spaniel, both the property of passengers, though there may have been others not mentioned. Speaking of the venison found in a tree by one of the exploring parties, Winslow says: "We thought it fitter for the dogs than for us," perhaps suggesting by his word "the" their own dogs aboard ship and provision for them. There is an intimation as to the ownership of these two dogs in the facts that on certainly two occasions John Goodman was accompanied by the little spaniel , from which it may perhaps be inferred that he was the dog's master; while the big mastiffs presence when only Peter Browne and Goodman were together suggests that Browne was her owner. The goats, swine, rabbits, and poultry were doubtless penned on the spar-deck forward, while possibly some poultry, and any sheep brought for food, may have been temporarily housed--as was a practice with early voyagers--in the ship's boats, though these appear to have been so few in number and so much in demand that it is doubtful if they were here available as pens. The heavy cargo and most of the lighter was of course stowed in the hold, as the main deck was mostly occupied as quarters for the male passengers, old and young, though the colonists' shallop, a sloop-rigged boat some thirty feet in length, had been "cut down" and stowed "between the decks" for the voyage. A glimpse of the weary life at sea on that long and dreary passage is given in Bradford's remark that "she was much opened with the people's lying in her during the voyage:' This shallop with her equipment, a possible spare skiff or two, the chests, "boxes," and other personal belongings of the passengers, some few cases of goods, some furniture, etc., constituted the only freight for which there could have been room "between decks," most of the space being occupied by cabins and bunks.

The provisions in use, both by passengers and crew, were probably kept in the lazarette or "runs," in the stern of the ship, which would be unusually capacious in vessels of this model; some--the bulkiest--in the hold under the forward hatch, as the custom was, and to some extent still is. The food supply of the Pilgrims, constituting part of the MAY- FLOWER'S Cargo, included, as appears from authentic sources:--

Breadstuff's, including,-- Biscuits or ship-bread . Oatmeal . Rye meal . Butter . Cheese, "Hollands" and English . Eggs, pickled . Fish, "haberdyne" . Smoked herring . Meats, including,-- Beef, salt, or "corned" . Dry-salted . Smoked . Dried neats'-tongues . Pork, bacon, smoked . Salt . Hams and shoulders, smoked . Salt . Vegetables, including,-- Beans . Cabbages . Onions . Turnips . Parsnips . Pease , and Vinegar , while,-- Beer , brandy, "aqua vitae" , and gin were no small or unimportant part, from any point of view, of the provision supply.

Winslow, in his letter to George Morton advising him as to his preparations for the voyage over, says: "Be careful to have a very good bread-room to keep your biscuit in." This was to keep them from dampness. Winthrop gives us the memorandum of his order for the ship- bread for his voyage in 1630. He says: "Agreed with Keene of Southwark, baker, for 20,000 of Biscuit, 15,000 of brown, and 5,000 of white." Captain Beecher minutes: "10 M. of bread for the ship ARBELLA." Beecher's memorandum of "oatmeal" is "30 bushels." Winslow mentions "oatmeal," and Winthrop notes among the provisions bought by Captain William Pierce, "4 hhds. of oatmeal." Rye meal was usually meant by the term "meal," and Window in his letter to George Morton advises him: "Let your meal be so hard-trod in your casks that you shall need an adz or hatchet to work it out with;" and also to "be careful to come by some of your meal to spend by the way." Notwithstanding that Bradford' speaks of their "selling away" some "60 firkins of butter," to clear port charges at Southampton, and the leaders, in their letter to the Adventurers from that port , speak of themselves, when leaving Southampton in August, 1620, as "scarce having any butter," there seems to have been some left to give as a present to Quadrequina, Massasoit's brother, the last of March following, which would indicate its good "keeping" qualities. Wood, in his "New England's Prospect" , says: "Their butter and cheese were corrupted." Bradford mentions that their lunch on the exploration expedition of November 15, on Cape Cod, included "Hollands cheese," which receives also other mention. There is a single mention, in the literature of the day, of eggs preserved in salt, for use on shipboard. "Haberdyne" seems to have been a favorite and staple article of diet aboard ship. Captain Beecher minutes "600 haberdyne for the ship ARBELLA." Wood says: "Their fish was rotten." Smoked "red-herring" were familiar food to all the MAY-FLOWER company. No house or ship of England or Holland in that day but made great dependence upon them. Bacon was, of course, a main staple at sea. In its half-cooked state as it came from the smoke-house it was much relished with their biscuit by seamen and others wishing strong food, and when fried it became a desirable article of food to all except the sick. Mention is made of it by several of the early Pilgrim writers. Carlyle, as quoted, speaks of it as a diet-staple on the MAY-FLOWER. Salt beef has always been a main article of food with seamen everywhere. Wood' states that the "beef" of the Pilgrims was "tainted." In some way it was made the basis of a reputedly palatable preparation called "spiced beef," mentioned as prepared by one of the sailors for a shipmate dying on the MAY-FLOWER in Plymouth harbor. It must have been a very different article from that we now find so acceptable under that name in England. Winthrop' gives the price of his beef at "19 shillings per cwt." Winslow advises his friend Morton, in the letter so often quoted, not to have his beef "dry-salted," saying, "none can do it better than the sailors," which is a suggestion not readily understood. "Smoked" beef was practically the same as that known as "jerked," "smoked," or "dried" beef in America. A "dried neat's- tongue" is named as a contribution of the Pilgrims to the dinner for Captain Jones and his men on February 21, 1621, when they had helped to draw up and mount the cannon upon the platform on the hill at Plymouth. Winthrop paid "14d. a piece" for his "neats' tongues." The pork of the Pilgrims is also said by Wood' to have been "tainted." Winthrop states that his pork cost "20 pence the stone" .

Hams seem to have been then, as now, a highly-prized article of diet. Goodwin mentions that the salt used by the Pilgrims was "sea-salt" and very "impure." Winthrop mentions among his supplies, "White, Spanish, and Bay salt."

The beans of the Pilgrims were probably of the variety then known as "Spanish beans." The cabbages were apparently boiled with meat, as nowadays, and also used considerably for "sour-krout" and for pickling, with which the Leyden people had doubtless become familiar during their residence among the Dutch. As anti-scorbutics they were of much value. The same was true of onions, whether pickled, salted, raw, or boiled. Turnips and parsnips find frequent mention in the early literature of the first settlers, and were among their stock vegetables. Pease were evidently staple articles of food with the Plymouth people, and are frequently named. They probably were chiefly used for porridge and puddings, and were used in large quantities, both afloat and ashore.

Vinegar in hogsheads was named on the food-list of every ship of the Pilgrim era. It was one of their best antiscorbutics, and was of course a prime factor in their use of "sour krout," pickling, etc. The fruits, natural, dried, and preserved, were probably, in that day, in rather small supply. Apples, limes, lemons, prunes, olives, rice, etc., were among the luxuries of a voyage, while dried or preserved fruits and small fruits were not yet in common use. Winslow, in the letter cited, urges that "your casks for beer . . . be iron bound, at least for the first tyre" . Cushman states that they had ample supplies of beer offered them both in Kent and Amsterdam. The planters' supply seems to have failed, however, soon after the company landed, and they were obliged to rely upon the whim of the Captain of the MAY-FLOWER for their needs, the ship's supply being apparently separate from that of the planters, and lasting longer. Winthrop's supply seems to have been large . It was evidently a stipulation of the charter-party that the ship should, in part at least, provision her crew for the voyage,--certainly furnish their beer. This is rendered certain by Bradford's difficulty with Captain Jones, previously referred to, showing that the ship had her own supply of beer, separate from that of the colonists, and that it was intended for the seamen as well as the officers.

Bradford mentions "aqua vitae" as a constituent of their lunch on the exploring party of November 15. "Strong waters" are mentioned as a part of the entertainment given Massasoit on his first visit, and they find frequent mention otherwise. Wine finds no mention. Bradford states in terms: "Neither ever had they any supply of foode from them but what they first brought with them;" and again, "They never had any supply of vitales more afterwards , for all ye company sent at any time was allways too short for those people yt came with it."

In 1628 Josselyn put the average cost of clothing to emigrants to New England at L4 each. In 1629 good shoes cost the "Bay" colonists 2s/7d per pair. In his "Two Voyages to New England "previously referred to, Josselyn gives an estimate of the "outfit" in clothing needed by a New England settler of his time. He names as "Apparel for one man--and after this rate for more:--" One Hatt One Monmouth Cap Three falling bands Three Shirts One Wastcoat One Suite of Frize One Suite of Cloth One Suite of Canvas Three Pairs of Irish Stockings Four Pairs of Shoes One Pair of Canvas Sheets Seven ells of coarse canvas, to make a bed at sea for two men, to be filled with straw One Coarse Rug at Sea

The Furniture of the Pilgrims has naturally been matter of much interest to their descendants and others for many years. While it is doubtful if a single article now in existence can be positively identified and truthfully certified as having made the memorable voyage in the MAY- FLOWER , this honorable origin is still assigned to many heirlooms, to some probably correctly. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes in his delightful lines, "On Lending a Punch Bowl," humorously claims for his convivial silver vessel a place with the Pilgrims:--

"Along with all the furniture, to fill their new abodes, To judge by what is still on hand, at least a hundred loads."

To a very few time-worn and venerated relics--such as Brewster's chair and one or more books, Myles Standish's Plymouth sword, the Peregrine White cradle, Winslow's pewter, and one or two of Bradford's books--a strong probability attaches that they were in veritate, as traditionally avowed, part of the MAY-FLOWER'S freight, but of even these the fact cannot be proven beyond the possibility of a doubt.

From its pattern and workmanship, which are of a period antedating the "departure from Delfshaven," and the ancient tradition which is traceable to Brewster's time, it appears altogether probable that what is known as "Elder Brewster's chair" came with him on the ship. There is even greater probability as to one of his books bearing his autograph.

The sword of Myles Standish, in possession of the Pilgrim Society, may claim, with equal probability, MAY-FLOWER relation, from its evident antiquity and the facts that, as a soldier, his trusty blade doubtless stayed with him, and that it is directly traceable in his descendants' hands, back to his time; but an equally positive claim is made for similar honors for another sword said to have also belonged to the Captain, now in the keeping of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

The Peregrine White cradle "is strongly indorsed as of the MAY-FLOWER, from the facts that it is, indubitably, of a very early Dutch pattern and manufacture; that Mrs. White was anticipating the early need of a cradle when leaving Holland; and that the descent of this one as an heirloom in her family is so fairly traced."

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet