USA > Massachusetts > Chronicles of the first planters of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1623-1636 > Part 35
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1 At Piscataqua, says Winthrop, i. 165.
2 For a further account of this storm, see Winthrop, i. 164 ; Mor-
ton's Memorial, p. 179 ; Hubbard, pp. 199-201 ; Mather's Magnalia, 1. 406 ; Scottow's Narrative, p. 14.
475
CASUALTIES ON BOARD.
we shall not forget the passages of that morning until our dying day.
CHAP. XXII.
1635. Aug. 15.
In the storm, one Mr. Willett,1 of New Plymouth, and other three men with him, having been turned out of all their havings at Penobscot about a fortnight before,2 and coming along with us in our ship from Richmond's Island, with his boat and goods in it made fast at the stern of our ship, lost his boat with all that was therein, the violence of the waves break- ing the boat in pieces, and sinking the bottom of it into the bottom of the sea. And Richard Becon, lending his help to the seamen at the hauling of a cable, had the cable catched about his arm, whereby his arm was crushed in pieces, and his right hand pulled away, and himself brought into doleful and grievous pain and misery.
But in all this grievous storm, my fear was the less, when I considered the clearness of my calling from God this way ;3 and in some measure (the Lord's holy name be blessed for it,) he gave us hearts contented and willing that he should do with us and ours what he pleased, and what might be most for the glory of his name ; and in that we rest- ed ourselves. But when news was brought unto us into the gunroom, that the danger was past, O how our hearts did then relent and melt within us ! and how we burst out into tears of joy amongst ourselves, in love unto our gracious God, and admiration of his
1 Thomas Willett was an Assist- ant of Plymouth Colony from 1651 to 1664, fourteen years. ยท Farmer says he was the first mayor of New York after its conquest from the Dutch by the English in 1664, and that he died at Barrington, in Rhode
Island, Aug. 4, 1674, aged 64. See Morton's Memorial, pp. 250, 304 ; Mass. Hist. Coll. xiv. 100, 293.
2 See page 471.
3 That is, his call to come to New-England.
476
THEY ARRIVE IN BOSTON HARBOUR.
CHAP. kindness, in granting to his poor servants such an XXII. -
- - extraordinary and miraculous deliverance ! His holy 1635 name be blessed forever !
Aug.
16.
This day we went on towards Cape Ann, as the wind would suffer, and our poor sails further, and came within sight thereof the other1 morning ; which Sabbath, being the thirteenth we kept on shipboard, was a marvellous pleasant day, for a fresh gale of wind, and clear sunshiny weather. This day we went directly before the wind, and had delight all along the coast, as we went, in viewing Cape Ann, the Bay of Saugust, the Bay of Salem, Marvil head, Pullin Point,2 and other places ; and came to anchor, at low tide, in the evening, at Nantascot, in a most pleasant harbour, like to which I had never seen, amongst a great many of islands on every side. I was exercised on shipboard both ends of the day. After the evening's exercise, when it was flowing tide again, we set sail again, and came that night to an- chor again before Boston, and so rested that night with glad and thankful hearts that God had put an end to our long journey, being a thousand leagues, that is, three thousand miles English, over one of the greatest seas in the world.3
Now this our journey, by the goodness of our God, was very prosperous unto us, every manner of way. First of all, it was very safe, and healthful to us ; for though we were in the ship a hundred passengers, besides twenty-three seamen, and twenty-three cows and heifers, three sucking calves, and eight mares,
-
1 That is, the next morning ; a the same words in his Journal. See peculiar use of the word.
page 235.
2 See page 405-410. 4 Winthrop, i. 164, adds, " hon-
3 Higginson uses almost precisely est people of Yorkshire."
477
THE VOYAGE SAFE AND HEALTHFUL.
yet not one of all these died by the way, neither CHAP. person nor cattle, but came all alive to land, and XXII. - many of the cattle in better liking than when we first 1635. entered the ship ; and most of the passengers in as Aug. good health as ever, and none better than mine own family ; and my weak wife,1 and little Joseph,2 as well as any other. Fevers, calentures, small pox, and such diseases as have afflicted other passengers, the Lord kept from among us, and put upon us no grief in our bodies, but a little seasickness in the beginning of the voyage; saving that two or three seamen had the flux, and Richard Becon lost his right hand in the last storm, and one woman, and a little child of hers, towards the end of the journey, had the scurvy. The means of which infirmity in her we all conceived to be the want of walking and stirring of her body upon the deck ; her manner be- ing to sit much, between the decks, upon her bed. And a special means of the healthfulness of the pas- sengers, by the blessing of God, we all conceived to be much walking in the open air, and the comforta- ble variety of our food. For seeing we were not tied to the ship's diet, but did victual ourselves, we had no want of good and wholesome beer and bread ; and as our land stomachs grew weary of ship diet, of salt fish and salt beef, and the like, we had liberty to change for other food, which might sort better with our healths and stomachs ; and therefore sometimes we used bacon and buttered pease, sometimes but-
1 Sept. 29, 1624, he married Ka- tharine, daughter of Edmund Holt, Esq., of Bury in Lancashire, by whom he had six children, all sons. She died in Feb. 1655, and he mar-
ried the widow of John Cotton, Aug. 26, 1656.
2 Joseph was the fourth son, and the last born in England.
478
TWO VESSELS LOST.
CHAP. tered bag-pudding, made with currants and raisins ; XXII.
and sometimes drinked pottage of beer and oatmeal, and sometimes water pottage, well buttered.
163 5. Aug.
And though we had two storms by the way, the one upon Monday, the 3d of August, the other on Saturday, the 15th of the same, yet our gracious God (blessed and forever blessed be his name !) did save us all alive in them both, and speedily assuaged them again. Indeed, the latter of them was very terrible and grievous ; insomuch, that when we came to land, we found many mighty trees rent in pieces in the midst of the bole, and others turned up by the roots, by the fierceness thereof.1 And a bark going from the Bay to Marvil head, with planters and sea- men therein, to the number of about twenty-three, was cast away in the storm, and all the people there- in perished, except one man? and his wife, that were spared to report the news. And the Angel Gabriel, being then at anchor at Pemmaquid, was burst in pieces and cast away in this storm, and most of the cattle and other goods, with one seaman and three or four passengers, did also perish therein, besides two of the passengers that died by the way, the rest having their lives given them for a prey.3 But the James, and we that were therein, with our cattle
1 Morton, describing the effects of this storm in his New-England's Memorial, p. 180, says, " It blew down many hundred thousands of trees, turning up the stronger by the roots, and breaking the high pine trees, and such like, in the midst ; and the tall young oaks, and walnut trees of good bigness, were wound as a withe by it, very strange and fearful to behold."
2 Anthony Thacher. See his
Narrative of the Shipwreck in the next chapter.
3 Scottow says that "the ship and whole cargo perished, but not one soul of seamen or passengers miscarried." Hubbard too declares, that " the passengers were all pre- served alive, losing only their goods." Yet Mather probably has the truth. See Winthrop, i. 165; Scottow, p. 14 ; Hubbard, p. 199.
479
THE VOYAGE PLEASANT AND COMFORTABLE.
and goods, were all preserved alive. The Lord's CHAP. XXII.
name be blessed forever !
Secondly, it was very delightful, while we took pleasure and instruction in beholding the works and wonders of the Almighty in the deep ; the sea some- times being rough with mighty mountains and deep valleys, sometimes again plain and smooth like a level meadow, and sometimes painted with variety of yellow weeds.1 Besides it was a pleasant thing to behold the variety of fowls and mighty fishes, swimming and living in the waters.
Thirdly, it was comfortable to us, by means of the fellowship of divers godly Christians in the ship, and by means of our constant serving God morning and evening every day, the daily duties being performed one day by Mr. Maud, another by myself, and the Sabbath's exercises divided, (for the most part,) equally betwixt us too.
True it is, our journey was somewhat long. For though from Monday, the 22d of June, when we lost sight of our Old English coast, until Saturday, the 8th of August, when we made land again, at Men- higgin, it was but six weeks and five days, yet from our first entering the ship in King Road, on Satur- day, the 23d of May, till our landing at Boston, in New-England, on Monday, the 17th of August, it was twelve weeks and two days. For we lay at an- chor in King Road eleven days, before we ever set sail, and three days at Lundy, and twelve days at Milford, and spent three days in tacking between King Road and Lundy, one day between Lundy and
1 Higginson also mentions these yellow flowers. . See pp. 232, 233.
1635. Aug.
480
RICHARD MATHER, OF DORCHESTER.
CHAP. Milford, and eight days between Menhiggin and
XXII.
Boston. Nevertheless, our God preserved us all
1635. the while, and we had opportunity by these often
Aug. delays to take in more hay, oats, and fresh water, and arrived in a good condition. Again let our gra- cious God be blessed forevermore ! Amen.1
1 RICHARD MATHER, the writer and seeing no chance of resuming of the preceding Journal, and the his ministry, and apprehending fur- ther persecution, he meditated a re- moval to New-England; and he was confirmed in this purpose by urgent letters received from Cotton and Hooker. On his arrival, he remained for some months in Bos- ton, and was admitted to the church there Oct. 25, 1635, with his wife, and Daniel Maud, his fellow-passen- ger. He immediately received in- vitations to settle at Plymouth, Rox- bury, and Dorchester. By the ad- vice of his friends Cotton and Hook- er, he chose the last place, where a new church was formed Aug. 23, 1636, (the former church, with its pastor, Mr. Warham, having re- moved to Windsor, in Connecticut,) and he was ordained their teacher. Here he spent the remainder of his days, and died April 22, 1669, in the 73d year of his age, and was bu- ried in Dorchester burying-ground. Of six sons, all by his first wife, four, Samuel, Timothy, Nathaniel, and Joseph, were born in England, and two, Eleazar and Increase, in New-England. Four of them were settled in the ministry,-Eleazar at Northampton, in Massachusetts ; Samuel at Dublin, in Ireland ; Na- thaniel at Barnstable in Devonshire, at Rotterdam in Holland, and in London ; and Increase, President of Harvard College and father of Cot- ton Mather, in Boston. Richard Mather had begun a Memoir of him- self, which he had brought down to the 39th year of his age, being the year in which he came to New-Eng- land, but left it unfinished. It was never printed, and is probably lost. Extracts from it are contained in his progenitor of all the Mathers in New-England, was born in 1596, at the village of Lowton, in the parish of Winwick, two miles from War- rington, in Lancashire. His pa- rents, Thomas and Margaret Ma- ther, were of ancient families in that village, but in reduced circumstances. So great was his proficiency in his studies at Winwick School, that in 1611, at the early age of fifteen, he was invited to take charge of a pub- lic school at Toxteth Park, near Liverpool. Having spent seven years in this occupation, and fitted several scholars for the University, he removed there himself, and was entered a student of Brazen Nose College, May 9, 1618, at the age of 22. But he had been here but a few months before he was invited by the people of Toxteth to return and become their minister. This invita- tion he accepted, preached his first sermon Nov. 30, 1618, and was soon after ordained by Dr. Morton, Bish- op of Chester. After his marriage in 1624, he removed his habitation to Much-Woolton, three miles from Toxteth, but continued to preach at Toxteth. Having thus spent fifteen years, he was suspended from his ministry in August, 1633, for Non- conformity to the ceremonies, but in November following was restored through the intercession of some gentlemen in Lancashire. This re- stored liberty, however, continued not long ; for in 1634, Neal, Arch- bishop of York, sent his visitors into Lancashire, who suspended Mr. Ma- ther again, chiefly for not wearing the surplice. Being thus silenced,
481
RICHARD MATHER, OF DORCHESTER.
Life, which has usually been ascrib- ed to his son, Increase Mather, but which, as appears from his son's Preface to it, was written by some other person who was "not willing that his name should be published. But it is done by one who hath had the viewing of my father's manu- scripts ; from whence, as well as from personal and intimate acquaint- ance of many years' continuance, and other ways, he hath been truly furnished with the knowledge of what is here reported." One of the Public Grammar Schools of Boston, situated in that part of the city which was formerly Dorchester Neck, is called the Mather School, in honor of this patriarch. See the Life of Richard Mather, printed at Cam- bridge, N. E., in 1670, (42 pages, small 4to.) ; Mather's Magnalia, i. 401-414; Wood's Athen. Oxon. iii. 832 (ed. Bliss) ; Blake's Annals of Dorchester, pp. 14, 24.
The MS. of the preceding Jour- nal, which is now printed for the first time, was discovered in Dor- chester in November, 1844, in a box of old papers, which had not been examined for twenty-five years.
The author of the Life of Richard CHAP. Mather, mentioned above, had this Journal, for on page 21 he quotes at length the description of the storm. 1635. The manuscript, which is the ori- ginal, in the handwriting of the author, is in excellent condition, considering its age, 211 years, ex- cept that two pages at the beginning are a little torn in the margin. It probably once belonged to James Blake, the author of the Annals of Dorchester, who died in 1750, and from him descended to the Rev. James Blake Howe, of Claremont, N. H., whose son, William B. W. Howe, of St. John's, Berkley, S. C. found it in the box of papers left at Dorchester by his father, and pre- sented it to the Dorchester Anti- quarian and Historical Society. By the kindness of that Society, I have been permitted to copy and insert it among these Chronicles. The ac- curacy of my copy has been secured by its careful collation with another copy, which had also been collated with the original and corrected by my friend the Hon. James Savage, the editor of Winthrop's History, and President of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
31
XXII.
ANTHONY THACHER'S
NARRATIVE OF HIS SHIPWRECK.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THACHER'S NARRATIVE OF HIS SHIPWRECK.
I MUST turn my drowned pen and shaking hand to CHAP. indite the story of such sad news as never before this XXIII. 1635. happened in New-England.
There was a league of perpetual friendship be- tween my cousin Avery1 and myself, never to for- sake each other to the death, but to be partakers of each other's misery or welfare, as also of habitation, in the same place. Now upon our arrival in New- England,2 there was an offer - made unto us. My cousin Avery was invited to Marble-head,3 to be their pastor in due time ; there being no church planted there as yet, but a town appointed to set up the trade of fishing. Because many there (the most being fishermen,) were something loose and remiss
Aug.
1 " This Mr. Avery was a pre- cious, holy minister, who came out of England with Mr. Anthony Thacher." Increase Mather's note. His baptismal name was John. Winthrop calls him " a minister in Wiltshire, a godly man." See Winthrop, i. 165. ..
2 They came in the James, from Southampton, which arrived at Bos- ton, June 3. See Winthrop, i. 161; Mass. Hist. Coll. xxviii. 319.
3 Marblehead was not set off from Salem till 1649. See note 4 on page 244, and page 410.
486
ANTHONY THACHER'S
CHAP. in their behaviour, my cousin Avery was unwilling XXIII ..
1635. Aug.
to go thither ; and so refusing, we went to New- berry,1 intending there to sit down. But being soli- cited so often both by the men of the place, and by the magistrates, and by Mr. Cotton, and most of the ministers, who alleged what a benefit we might be to the people there, and also to the country and commonwealth, at length we embraced it, and thither consented to go. They of Marble-head forthwith sent a pinnace2 for us and our goods.
11.
12.
We embarked at Ipswich August 11, 1635, with our families and substance, bound for Marble-head, we being in all twenty-three souls, viz., eleven3 in my cousin's family, seven4 in mine, and one Mr. William Eliot, sometimes of New Sarum, and four mariners. The next morning, having commended ourselves to God, with cheerful hearts, we hoisted sail. But the Lord suddenly turned our cheerful- ness into mourning and lamentations. For on the 14th of this August, 1635, about ten at night, hav- ing a fresh gale of wind, our sails being old and done, were split. The mariners, because that it was night, would not put to new sails, but resolved to cast anchor till the morning. But before daylight, it pleased the Lord to send so mighty a storm, as the like was never known in New-England since the
14.
15.
1 See note 1 on page 411.
2 Winthrop, i. 165, says that this was "a bark of Mr. Aller- ton's." Isaac Allerton was one of the Pilgrims who landed at Ply- mouth in the Mayflower. Moses Maverick, of Marblehead, married his daughter Sarah. See Chroni- cles of Plymouth, p. 195, and Mass. Hist. Coll. xxvii. 243-249, 301-304.
3 Mr. Avery, his wife, a maid- servant, and "six small children," according to Winthrop, i. 165.
Besides himself and his wife, and his four children, there was probably his servant, or journeyman, Peter Higden, who came over with him from England. See Mass. Hist. Coll. xxviii. 319.
487
NARRATIVE OF HIS SHIPWRECK.
English came, nor in the memory of any of the In- CHAP. dians.1 It was so furious, that our anchor came XXIII. home. Whereupon the mariners let out more cable, 1635.
which at last slipped away. Then our sailors knew not what to do ; but we were driven before the wind and waves.
My cousin and I perceived our danger, [and] solemn- ly recommended ourselves to God, the Lord both of earth and seas, expecting with every wave to be swal- lowed up and drenched in the deeps. And as my cousin, his wife, and my tender babes, sat comforting and cheering one the other in the Lord against ghast- ly death, which every moment stared us in the face and sat triumphing upon each one's forehead, we were by the violence of the waves and fury of the winds, (by the Lord's permission,) lifted up upon a rock between two high rocks, yet all was one rock. But it raged with the stroke, which came into the pin- nace, so as we were presently up to our middles in water, as we sat. The waves came furiously and vio- lently over us, and against us, but, by reason of the rock's proportion, could not lift us off, but beat her all to pieces. Now look with me upon our distress, and consider of my misery, who beheld the ship bro- ken, the water in her, and violently overwhelming us, my goods and provisions swimming in the seas, my friends almost drowned, and mine own poor children so untimely (if I may so term it without offence,) be- fore mine eyes drowned, and ready to be swallowed up and dashed to pieces against the rocks by the mer- ciless waves, and myself ready to accompany them. But I must go on to an end of this woful relation.
1 See note 1 on page 473.
Aug. 15.
488
ANTHONY THACHER'S
CHAP. XXIII.
1635. Aug. 15.
In the same room whereas he sat, the master of the pinnace, not knowing what to do, our foremast was cut down, our mainmast broken in three pieces, the fore part of the pinnace beat away, our goods swimming about the seas, my children bewailing me, as not pitying themselves, and myself bemoaning them, poor souls, whom I had occasioned to such an end in their tender years, whenas they could scarce be sensible of death. And so likewise my cousin, his wife, and his children ; and both of us bewailing each other in our Lord and only Saviour Jesus Christ, in whom only we had comfort and cheerfulness ; in- somuch that, from the greatest to the least of us, there was not one screech or outcry made ; but all, as silent sheep, were contentedly resolved to die together lovingly, as since our acquaintance we had lived together friendly.
Now as I was sitting in the cabin room door, with my body in the room, when lo ! one of the sailors, by a wave being washed out of the pinnace, was gotten in again, and coming into the cabin room over my back, cried out, "We are all cast away. The Lord have mercy upon us ! I have been washed overboard into the sea, and am gotten in again." His speeches made me look forth. And looking to- wards the sea, and seeing how we were, I turned myself to my cousin, and the rest, and spake these words ; " O cousin, it hath pleased God to cast us here between two rocks, the shore not far from us, for I saw the tops of trees, when I looked forth." Whereupon the master of the pinnace, looking up at the scuttle hole of the quarter deck, went out at it ; but I never saw him afterwards. Then he that had
489
NARRATIVE OF HIS SHIPWRECK.
been in the sea, went out again by me, and leaped CHAP. overboard towards the rocks, whom afterwards also I could not see. XXIII. 1635. Aug. 15.
Now none were left in the bark, that I knew or saw, but my cousin, his wife and children, myself and mine, and his maid-servant. But my cousin thought I would have fled from him, and said unto me, " O cousin, leave us not, let us die together ;" and reached forth his hand unto me. Then I, letting go my son Peter's hand, took him by the hand, and said, " Cousin, I purpose it not. Whither shall I go ? I am willing and ready here to die with you and my poor children. God be merciful to us, and receive us to himself ;" adding these words, " the Lord is able to help and deliver us." He replied, saying, " Truth, cousin ; but what his pleasure is, we know not. I fear we have been too unthankful for former deliverances. But he hath promised to deliver us from sin and condemnation, and to bring us safe to heaven through the all-sufficient satisfac- tion of Jesus Christ. This therefore we may chal- lenge of Him." To which I replying, said, " That is all the deliverance I now desire and expect."
Which words I had no sooner spoken, but by a mighty wave I was, with the piece of the bark, wash- ed out upon part of the rock, where the wave left me almost drowned. But recovering my feet, I saw above me, on the rock, my daughter Mary. To whom I had no sooner gotten, but my cousin Avery and his eldest son came to us ; being all four of us washed out by one and the same wave. We went all into a small hole on the top of the rock, whence we called to those in the pinnace to come unto us,
490
ANTHONY THACHER'S
1635.
CHAP. supposing we had been in more safety than they XXIII. were in. My wife, seeing us there, was crept up into the scuttle of the quarter deck, to come unto us. Aug. 15. But presently came another wave, and dashing the pinnace all to pieces, carried my wife away in the scuttle, as she was, with the greater part of the quar- ter deck, unto the shore ; where she was cast safely, but her legs were something bruised. And much timber of the vessel being there also cast, she was some time before she could get away, being washed by the waves. All the rest that were in the bark were drowned in the merciless seas. We four by that wave were clean swept away from off the rock also into the sea ; the Lord, in one instant of time, disposing of fifteen souls of us according to his good pleasure and will.
His pleasure and wonderful great mercy to me was thus. Standing on the rock, as before you heard, with my eldest daughter, my cousin, and his eldest son, looking upon and talking to them in the bark, whenas we were by that merciless wave washed off the rock, as before you heard, God, in his mercy, caused me to fall, by the stroke of the wave, flat on my face ; for my face was toward the sea. Inso- much, that as I was sliding off the rock into the sea, the Lord directed my toes into a joint in the rock's side, as also the tops of some of my fingers, with my right hand, by means whereof, the wave leaving me, I remained so, hanging on the rock, only my head above the water ; when on the left hand I espied a board or plank of the pinnace. And as I was reach- ing out my left hand to lay hold on it, by another coming over the top of the rock I was washed away
491
NARRATIVE OF HIS SHIPWRECK.
from the rock, and by the violence of the waves was CHAP. XXIII. 1635. Aug. 15.
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