USA > Massachusetts > Chronicles of the first planters of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1623-1636 > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
Wednesday, the wind still holding easterly, we came as far as the Land's End, in the utmost part of Cornwall, and so left our dear native soil of England behind us ;1 and sailing about ten leagues further, we passed the isles of Scilly, and launched the same day a great way into the main ocean. And now my wife and other passengers began to feel the tossing waves of the western sea, and so were very sea-sick. And this is to be noted, that all this while our pas- sage hath been upon the coast of England, and so ought truly to be accounted the first day of our part- ing with Old England.
Thursday the same easterly wind blew all day and night, and the next day, so that some of the seamen thought we were come by this time two hundred leagues from England ; but toward night the wind was calm.
Saturday we were becalmed all day. This day met us a little ship of Bristol, that came from Chris- topher islands.2
14. 15.
16.
1 Cotton Mather says, that " when they came to the Land's End, Mr. Higginson, calling up his children and other passengers unto the stern of the ship, to take their last sight of England, said, ' We will not say, as the Separatists were wont to say at their leaving of England, Fare- well, Babylon ! Farewell, Rome ! But we will say, Farewell, dear England ! Farewell, the Church of God in England, and all the Christ- ian friends there ! We do not go to New-England as Separatists from the Church of England ; though we cannot but separate from the cor-
ruptions in it. But we go to prac- tise the positive part of church re- formation, and propagate the Gospel in America.' And so he concluded with a fervent prayer for the King, and Church, and State, in England, and for the presence and blessing of God with themselves in their present undertaking for New-England." - See Mather's Magnalia, i. 328.
2 " That every thing approaching to an acknowledgment of the author- ity of the Pope, and his power of canonization, might be avoided, they never used the addition of Saint when they spoke of the Apostles and
222
THE FIRST SABBATH AT SEA.
CHAP. XI. 1629. May 17.
Sabbath, being the first Lord's day we held at sea, was very calm, especially in the morning. But we were disturbed in our morning service by the ap- proach of a Biscayner's ship, a man-of-war, that made towards us, and manned out his boat to view us ; but finding us too strong for him, he durst not venture to assault us, but made off.
This day my two children, Samuel and Mary, be- gan to be sick of the small pox and purples together, which was brought into the ship by one Mr. Browne, which was sick of the same at Gravesend ; whom it pleased God to make the first occasion of bringing that contagious sickness among us, wherewith many were after afflicted.
18.
Monday calm still, the wind being north-west, blowing a little towards evening, but contrary to our course.
19.
Tuesday wind south-west, as little helpful as the former, and blowing very weak. This day the mas- ter of our ship, myself and another, went aboard the Lion's Whelp, where Mr. Gibbs1 made us welcome with bountiful entertainment. And this day, towards night, my daughter grew sicker, and many blue spots were seen upon her breast, which affrighted us. At the first we thought they had been the plague tokens ; but we found afterwards that it was only a high mea- sure of the infection of the pocks, which were struck again into the child ; and so it was God's will the
the ancient Fathers of the Christian church; and even the usual names of places were made to conform. The island of St. Christopher's was always written Christopher's, and, by the same rule, all other places to
which Saint had been prefixed." Hutchinson, Hist. of Mass. i. 429. See also note 3 on page 138 ; Win- throp, i. 60, ii. 33.
1 John Gibbs was captain of the Lion's Whelp. See page 172.
223
MARY HIGGINSON DIES.
child died about five of the clock at night, being the CHAP. first in our ship that was buried in the bowels of the XI. - ~ 1629. May 19.
great Atlantic sea ; which, as it was a grief to us her parents, and a terror to all the rest, as being the beginning of a contagious disease and mortality, so in the same judgment it pleased God to remember mercy in the child, in freeing it from a world of mis- ery, wherein otherwise she had lived all her days. For being about four years old, a year since, we know not by what means, swayed1 in the back, so that it was broken, and grew crooked, and the joints of her hips were loosed, and her knees went crook- ed, pitiful to see. Since which time she hath had a most lamentable pain in her belly, and would oft- times cry out in the day and in her sleep also, "My belly !" which declared some extraordinary distem- per. So that in respect of her we had cause to take her death as a blessing from the Lord to shorten her misery.
Wednesday a wet morning. The wind was west south-west, and in the afternoon north-west and by west, both being contrary to our course, which was to sail west and by south. Thus it pleased God to lay his hand upon us by sickness and death and con- trary winds ; and stirred up some of us to make the motion of humbling ourselves under the hand of God by keeping a solemn day of fasting and prayer unto God, to beseech him to remove the continuance and further increase of these evils from us ; which was willingly condescended unto, as a duty very fitting and needful for our present state and condition.
20.
1 Drawn to one side.
224
A FAST KEPT ON BOARD.
CHAP. XI. 1629. May 21.
Thursday, there being two ministers in the ship, Mr. Smith1 and myself, we endeavoured, together . with others, to consecrate the day as a solemn fast- ing and humiliation to Almighty God, as a further- ance of our present work. And it pleased God the ship was becalmed all day, so that we were freed from any incumbrance. And as soon as we had done prayers, (see and behold the goodness of God !) about seven o'clock at night the wind turned to north-east, and we had a fair gale that night as a manifest evidence of the Lord's hearing our prayers. I heard some of the mariners say, they thought this was the first sea-fast that ever was kept, and that they never heard of the like performed at sea before.
22.
Friday the wind fair, and east northerly, and for our purpose for New-England. It did blow strongly, and carried us on amain with tossing waves, which did affright them that were not wonted to such sights.
23.
Saturday the same wind blowing, but more gently. Now we were comforted with hope of my son Sam- uel's recovery of the pox.
24.
The second Lord's day, a fair day, an orderly wind, and prosperous.
25.
On Monday a fair, firm gale, the wind south south- west.
26.
Tuesday, about ten of the clock in the morning, whilst we were at prayers, a strong and sudden blast came from the north, that hoisted up the waves, and tossed us more than ever before, and held us all the day till towards night, and then abated by little and
1 Ralph Smith. See note 1 on page 151.
225
A TERRIBLE STORM.
little till it was calm. This day Mr. Goffe's great CHAP. XI. dog1 fell overboard, and could not be recovered.
Wednesday the wind still north, and calm in the 1629. morning ; but about noon there arose a south wind May 27.
which increased more and more, so that it seemed to us, that are landmen, a sore and terrible storm ; for the wind blew mightily, the rain fell vehemently, the sea roared, and the waves tossed us horribly ; be- sides, it was fearful dark, and the mariners' mate was afraid, and noise on the other side, with their running here and there, loud crying one to another to pull at this and that rope. The waves poured themselves over the ship, that the two boats were filled with water, that they were fain to strike holes in the midst of them to let the water out. Yea, by the violence of the waves the long-boat's cord, which held it, was broken, and it had like to have been washed overboard, had not the mariners, with much pain and danger, recovered the same. But this last- ed not many hours, after which it became a calmish day. All which while I lay close and warm in my cabin, but far from having list to sleep, with Jonah ; Jonah, my thoughts were otherwise -employed, as the time and place required. Then I saw the truth of the Scriptures, Psalm cvii. from the 23d to the 32d ; and my fear at this time was the less, when I remember- ed what a loving friend of mine, a minister, accus- tomed to sea-storms, said to me, that I might not be
1 Why Mr. Goffe's great dog was sent over to the Colony, it is difficult to surmise, unless it was to defend the sheep from the wolves. There is a naiveté in relating this incident, which is quite noticeable. Mr. note 2 on page 70.
Goffe's great dog, buried in his wa-
tery grave, has thus become indisso- lubly connected with the history of the Colony, as much as the Deputy Governor himself, and they will go down to posterity together. See
15
226
ANOTHER FAST KEPT.
CHAP. dismayed at such storms, for they were ordinary at XI. sea, and it seldom falls out that a ship perisheth at1 1629. them if it have sea-room ; which I the rather write,
May
27. that others as well as myself, by the knowledge hereof, may be encouraged and prepared against these ordinary sea-storms.
28
Thursday, south wind ; calm at night.
29. On Friday a boisterous wind, blowing cross, but was allayed towards night with a shower of rain.
30. Saturday, south-west wind, but fair and quiet.
31. Sabbath day, being the third Lord's day, fair and calm. We saw abundance of grampus fishes,2 two or three yards long, and a body as big as an ox.
June 1. Monday, the wind westerly and calm. But be- sides our being stayed by contrary winds, we began to find the temperature of the air to alter and to be- come more sultry and subject to unwholesome fogs. For coming now to the height of the Western Isl- ands, some of our men fell sick of the scurvy, and others of the small pox, which more and more in- creased; yet, thanks be to God, none died of it but my own child mentioned. And therefore, according to our great need, we appointed another fast for the next day.
2.
Tuesday, we solemnly celebrate another fast. The Lord that day heard us before we prayed, and gave us answer before we called ; for early in the morning the wind turned full east, being as fit a wind as could blow ; and sitting at my study on the ship's poop, I saw many bonny fishes3 and porpoises 4
1 At for in or by.
2 See Chronicles of Plymouth, note 5 on page 152. Bonitos.
4 The porpoise, (delphinus pho- cena,) of the cetacean class of the Mammalia, porcopesce, Ital., porc- poisson, Fr., hog-fish, Eng. It is
227
HALF-WAY TO NEW-ENGLAND.
pursuing one another, and leaping some of them a CHAP. XI. yard above the water. Also, as we were at prayer under the hatch, some that were above saw a whale 1629. June puffing up water not far from the ship. Now my wife was pretty well recovered of her sea-sickness.
Wednesday a fair day, and fine gale of full east 3. wind. This day myself and others saw a large round fish sailing by the ship's side, about a yard in length and roundness every way. The mariners called it a sun-fish.1 .It spreadeth out the fins like beams on every side, four or five.
Thursday and Friday the wind full east. We 4, 5. were carried with admiration on our journey. By this we were more than half way to New-England. This day I saw a fish very strange to me, (they call it a carvel,) which came by the ship's side, wafting along the top of the water. It appeared at the first like a bubble above the water, as big as a man's fist; but the fish itself is about the bigness of a man's thumb ; so that the fish itself and the bubble resem- bleth a ship with sails, which therefore is called a carvel.2
Saturday wind direct east still.
The fourth Sabbath we kept at sea. The wind 7.
full easterly till noon, and then it came full south-
so called from the supposed resem- blance of its projecting snout to that of the hog. See Griffith's Cuvier, iv. 453 ; Shaw's Zoology, ii. 504 ; Nat- uralists' Library, Mammalia, vi. 222. A species of Acalephæ, Medusa or Cyanea, familiarly known under the names of sea-jellies and sea-net- tles. 'The fins here mentioned are its tentacles. See Griffith's Cuvier, xii. 482, 562-569 ; Gould's Report of the Invertebrata of Massachusetts, p. 347.
2 Carvel is a Spanish name for a light vessel without decks. The fish which resembled it, was proba- bly the Physalia, called by sailors the Portuguese man-of-war, a mo- luscous animal, which has a large air-bag to aid its swimming, and a comb or crest, which answe's as a sail. See Griffith's Cuvier, xii. 490, 569-571 ; Chronicles of Plymouth, note 2 on page 86.
6.
228
ON THE BANK OF NEWFOUNDLAND.
CHAP. east, a strong gale that night and the next day till XI.
night.
1629. June
9.
Tuesday the same wind held till nine o'clock in the morning, and then a great shower, which lasted till about seven at night, and then it was a very calm. Here we sounded with a deep-lead1 line above a hundred fathom, and found no bottom. This day we saw a fish called a turtle, a great and large shell- fish, swimming above the water near the ship.
10.
Wednesday wind northerly, a fine gale, but calm- ish in the afternoon.
11.
Thursday, the wind at north, an easy gale and fair morning. We saw a mountain of ice, shining as white as snow, like to a great rock or cliff on the shore. It stood still, and therefore we thought it to be on ground,2 and to reach the bottom of the sea ; for though there came a mighty stream from the north,3 yet it moved not ; which made us sound, and we found a bank4 of forty fathom deep, where- upon we judged it to rest, and the height above was as much. We also saw six or seven pieces of ice float- ing on the sea, which was broken off from the former mountain. We also saw great store of water-fowl swimming by the ship within musket shot, of a pied
1 The deep-sea-lead, spelt dipled in the manuscript, and commonly pronounced dipsey-lead, weighs from 14 to 18 or 20 pounds, and the deep- sea-line is from 90 to 110 fathoms. See Dana's Seaman's Friend, page 17.
2 These icebergs are frequently grounded in 40 and 50 fathoms wa- ter, and in foggy weather their vi- cinity may be known by the intense coldness they diffuse, and by the roar of the waters breaking against them.
3 This was the tide, or the strong current that runs counter to the Gulf Stream, from the Banks of New- foundland to Cape Florida.
4 They were now on the eastern edge of the Grand Bank of New- foundland, which extends from about the latitude of 42° to 50°, or upwards. About the latitude of 45°, its breadth is nearly four degrees. To the northward and southward it narrows almost to a point, and seems insensibly to drop into fathomless water.
229
FOGGY WEATHER.
color, and about the bigness of a wild duck, about CHAP. forty in a company ; the mariners call them hag-birds.1 XI. Toward night came a fog, that the Lion's Whelp was 1629. lost till morning. And now we saw many bonitos, June porpoises, and grampuses, every day more and more.
Friday foggy and calmish, the wind northerly in the morning, but about noon it came south-east, a dainty loom-gale,2 which carried us six leagues a watch.
Saturday the same wind till night, and we saw
13. great store of porpoises and grampuses.
The fifth Sabbath, the same wind. Towards noon 14. it began to be foggy, and then it rained till night. We went four or five leagues a watch.
Monday a fair day, but foggy ; the same wind blowing, but with fresh gales, carried us seven leagues a watch. In the afternoon it blew harder, so the sea was rough, and we lost the sight of the Lion's Whelp. It being foggy, we drummed for them, and they shot off a great piece of ordnance ; but we heard not one another.
Tuesday wind south and by east ; foggy till about 10 o'clock. While we were at prayers, it cleared up about an hour, and then we saw the Lion's Whelp distant about two leagues southward. We presently tacked about to meet her, and she did the same to meet us ; but before we could get together, a thick fog came, that we were long in finding each other. This day we sounded divers times, and found our- selves on another bank,3 at first forty fathom, after
15.
16.
1 Probably a species of the Mer- ganser. The approach to the Banks may be known by the appearance of numerous sea-fowls, such as guille- mots and divers.
2 A gentle, easy gale of wind, in which a ship can carry her topsails. 3 " On the western side of the Great Bank, and to the southward of the island of Newfoundland and
12.
230
FIRST SIGHT OF LAND.
CHAP. thirty-six, after thirty-three, after twenty-four. We XI. thought it to have been the bank over against Cape 1629. Sable, but we were deceived ; for we knew not cer- June 16. tainly where we were, because of the fog. After three or four hours' company we lost the Lion's Whelp again, and beat our drum and shot off a great piece of ordnance, and yet heard not of them. But perceiving the bank to grow still the shallower, we found it twenty-seven and twenty-four fathoms. Therefore, being a fog, and fearing we were too near land, we tacked about for sea-room for two or three watches, and steered south-east.
17.
Wednesday very foggy still, and wind south and by west ; and sounding, found no bottom that we could reach.
18.
Thursday wind full west, and contrary to us. This day a notorious wicked fellow, that was given to swearing and boasting of his former wickedness, bragged that he had got a wench with child before he came this voyage, and mocked at our days of fast, railing and jesting against Puritans ; this fellow fell sick of the pocks, and died. We sounded and found thirty-eight fathom, and stayed for a little to take some codfish, and feasted ourselves merrily.
19.
Friday, wind west still, a very fair, clear day. About four o'clock in the afternoon some went up to the top of the mast, and affirmed, to our great com- fort, they saw land to the north-eastward.
Saturday wind south-west, a fair gale. We sound- 20.
Nova Scotia, a chain of banks ex- tends almost two degrees from the land. These are called Green Bank, Banquereau, Sable Island Bank, &c. All these have soundings of various
depths, from 20 to 70 fathoms, ad- mirably situated, in dark weather, to warn the mariner of his approach towards the land." Blunt's Ameri- can Coast Pilot, p. 12.
231
CAPE SABLE IN SIGHT.
ed and found forty, thirty, twenty-two, and a little CHAP. after no ground. XI.
Sabbath, being the sixth Lord's day, wind west- 1629. erly, but fair and calm.
June 21. 22.
Monday, wind easterly, a fair gale. This day we saw a great deal of froth not far from us. We feared it might be some breach of water against some [ ].1 Therefore the master of our ship hoisted out the shallop, and went with some of the men to see what it was ; but found it only to be a froth carried by the stream.
Tuesday the wind north-east, a fair gale. This day we examined five beastly Sodomitical boys which confessed their wickedness, not to be named. The fact was so foul, we referred them to be punished by the Governor, when we came to New-England, who afterwards sent them back to the Company, to be punished in Old England, as the crime de- served.2
23
Wednesday, wind north-east, a fair day and clear. About nine o'clock in the morning we espied a ship about four leagues behind us, which proved the Lion's Whelp, which had been a week separated from us ; we stayed for her company. This day a child of goodman Black's,3 which had a consumption before it came to ship, died. This day we had all a clear and comfortable sight of America, and of the Cape Sable, that was over against us seven or eight
24.
1 Here are two words which I cannot decipher. They look like ned grales. The copyist puts a star over them, seeming to intimate that he could not make them out. Hutch- inson has it rocks. But no such word is to be found in the MS.
2 See pages 90 and 93.
3 This man's name was probably Blake. The name of that ancient and respectable family, the Blakes of Dorchester, is usually found writ- ten Black in old family papers and records.
232
CAPE ANN IN SIGHT.
CHAP. leagues northward. Here we saw yellow gilliflowers on the sea.
XI. - - 1629. June
25.
Thursday wind still north-east, a full and fresh gale. In the afternoon we had a clear sight of many islands and hills by the sea-shore. Now we saw abundance of mackerel, a great store of great whales puffing up water as they go; some of them came near our ship. Their greatness did astonish us that saw them not before ; their backs appeared like a little island. At five o'clock at1 night the wind turned south-east, a fair gale. This day we caught mackerel.
26.
Friday a foggy morning, but after clear, and wind calm. We saw many schools of mackerel,2 infinite multitudes on every side of our ship. The sea was abundantly stored with rockweed and yellow flowers, like gilliflowers. By noon we were within three leagues of Cape Ann ;3 and as we sailed along the coasts, we saw every hill and dale and every island full of gay woods and high trees. The nearer we came to the shore, the more flowers in abundance, sometimes scattered abroad, sometimes joined in sheets nine or ten yards long, which we supposed to be brought from the low meadows by the tide. Now what with fine woods and green trees by land,
I Here the MS. ends ; and for the be rapidly declining. Thus in the rest of the Journal I am obliged to year ending April 1, 1837, the num- rely upon Hutchinson, who used the MS. when it was entire. See his Collection, p. 42.
2 The spring mackerel appear on the coast of Massachusetts about the end of May, and towards the middle of June they become very plentiful. The numbers taken, however, vary exceedingly from year to year, and upon the whole the fishery seems to
ber of barrels caught was 234,059, valued at $ 1,639,402, whilst in the year ending April 1, 1845, the number was only 86,628, valued at $637,052. Compare the Statistical Tables of the Industry of Massachu- setts for those years, and see Sto- rer's Report on the Fishes of Mas- sachusetts, p. 41.
3 See page 22.
233
ARRIVAL IN CAPE ANN HARBOUR.
and these yellow flowers1 painting the sea, made us CHAP. all desirous to see our new paradise of New-Eng- XI. land, whence we saw such forerunning signals of 1629. June
fertility afar off.2 Coming near the harbour towards 26. night, we tacked about for sea-room.
27.
Saturday a foggy morning ; but after eight o'clock in the morning very clear. The wind being some- what contrary at south and by west, we tacked to and again with getting little, but with much ado. About four o'clock in the afternoon, having with much pain compassed the harbour, and being ready to enter the same, (see how things may suddenly change !) there came a fearful gust of wind and rain and thunder and lightning, whereby we were borne with no little terror and trouble to our mariners, having very much ado to loose down the sails when the fury of the storm struck us.3 But, God be prais- ed, it lasted but a while, and soon abated again. And hereby the Lord showed us what he could have done with us, if it had pleased him. But, blessed be God, he soon removed this storm, and it was a fair and sweet evening.
We had a westerly wind, which brought us, be- tween five and six o'clock, to a fine and sweet har- bour, seven miles from the head point4 of Cape Ann. This harbour twenty ships may easily ride therein ;5
1 These may have been butter- cups, which had been washed from the shore, and become mixed with rock-weed, kelp, and tangle ; or, more probably, a species of animal plants, Actinic, sea-anemones or fixed sea-nettles. See Griffith's Cuvier, xii. 494, 572.
2 How different was this scene from that which met the eyes of the Pilgrims, in November, 1620, when they made the opposite headland of
Cape Cod ! . See Chronicles of Ply- mouth, pp. 104-106.
3 In Hutchinson, " held up ;" which is unquestionably an error.
4 By the head-point I suppose he means the part of the Cape near Thacher's Island.
5 The outer harbour will contain 400 ships, and the inner harbour 200 fishing-vessels. It is an excellent harbour, and well protected, except from a south-west storm.
234
ARRIVAL AT NAIMKECK.
CHAP. where there was an island,1 whither four of our men XI. - with a boat went, and brought back again ripe straw- 1629. berries and gooseberries, and sweet single roses.2 June
27. Thus God was merciful to us in giving us a taste and smell of the sweet fruit as an earnest of his bountiful goodness to welcome us at our first arrival. This har- bour was two leagues and something more from the harbour at Naimkecke,3 where our ships were to rest, and the Plantation is already begun. But because the passage is difficult, and night drew on, we put into Cape Ann harbour.
28.
The Sabbath, being the first we kept in America, and the seventh Lord's day after we parted with England.
29.
Monday we came from Cape Ann to go to Naim- kecke, the wind northerly. I should have told you before, that, the planters spying our English colors, the Governor 4 sent a shallop with two men on Satur- day to pilot us. These rested the Sabbath with us at Cape Ann ; and this day, by God's blessing and their directions, we passed the curious and difficult entrance into the large, spacious harbour of Naim- kecke. And as we passed along, it was wonderful to behold so many islands,5 replenished with thick wood and high trees, and many fair, green pastures. And being come into the harbour, we saw the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.