The Mayflower and Her Log - Chapters VII-VIII



CHAPTER VII.
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 (far more imperative in that day than this) 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 (England), 
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 (the "staterooms" of to-day), 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 
(open) cabin or saloon (often depicted as the signing-place of the 
Compact), under the high poop deck. Constructed on the general plan of 
such rooms or cabins to-day (with four single berths, in tiers of two on 
either hand), 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 (as had also doubtless several of the principal men) 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 (some of) 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 (necessarily) made, and that but 
for the leaky decks, the inseparable discomforts of the sea, and those of 
over crowding, the wives of the Pilgrims (three of whom gave birth to 
children aboard the ship), 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 
[regulate] the people by the way [on the passage] 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 (especially for so large a company), 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 (principally uncooked) to groups or families, 
who, with the aid of servants (when available), 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 (New England) 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" (brandy)--were relied 
upon for the (supposed) 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 
(moderate) 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 (hard bread), butter, cheese ("Holland cheese" 
was a chief staple with the Pilgrims), "haberdyne" (or dried salt 
codfish), smoked herring, smoked ("cured ") ham and bacon, "dried neat's 
tongues," preserved and "potted" meats (a very limited list in that day), 
fruits, etc. Mush, oatmeal, pease-puddings, pickled eggs, sausage meats, 
salt beef and pork, bacon, "spiced beef," such few vegetables as they had 
(chiefly cabbages, turnips, and onions,--there were no potatoes in that 
day), etc., could be cooked in quantity, when the weather permitted, and 
would then be eaten cold. 

Except as dried or preserved fruits, vegetables (notably onions), 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 (being 4 men) is as followeth:-- 

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

"Four pounds of Bread [ship-bread]. 

"One pint & 1/2 of Pease. 

"Four Gallons of Bear [Beer], 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 [dry], 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 (in case you or any of 
yours should be sick at sea):-- 

"Conserves of Roses, Clove-Gilliflowers, Wormwood, Green-Ginger, Burnt- 
Wine, English Spirits, Prunes to stew, Raisons of the Sun, Currence 
[currants], 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 [Rye meal probably intended]
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
[No estimate of Beef or Pork, or of vegetables, is included.]
A Hogshead of English Bear
A Hogshead of Irish Bear
A Hogshead of Vinegar
A bushel of Mustard seed
A Kental [Quintal] 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 while the ship lay in that harbor), 
and following the axiom of vital statistics that "for each death two are 
constantly sick," there must have been some little (though not to say 
general) 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. 



CHAPTER VIII.
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 
(England), 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 
(necessarily large, like her crew, when bound upon such a voyage, when 
every possible need till her return to her home port must be provided for 
before sailing), the colonists' goods and chattels were many, their 
provisions bulky, their ordnance, arms, and stores (in the hold) 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 (not even milch-cows) were taken, but if--as is not unlikely--it 
was at first proposed to take a cow or two (when both ships were to go and 
larger space was available), 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 (a 
large and prohibitive quantity of the latter being required for so long a 
voyage), 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 (these requiring but little forage) 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 (and game after landing), 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 (though it seems 
strange that a few Spanish donkeys or English "jacks" had not been taken 
along, as being easily kept, hardy, and strong, and quite equal to light 
ploughing, hauling, carrying, etc.), 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 (the only dog of that breed probably seen on these shores 
since Pring's "bigge dogges" so frightened the Indians' in this region 
seventeen years before)(*) 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 
(once when alone), 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 (unused) 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 (or "'tween decks") 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 (aft) being occupied by cabins and bunks. 

(* Captain Martin Pring had at Plymouth, in 1603, two great "mastive 
dogges" named "Fool" and "Gallant," the former being trained to carry a 
half-pike in his mouth. "The Indians were more afraid of these dogs than 
of twenty men." American Magazine of History; Goodwin, Pilgrim Republic, 
p. 3.) 

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 (in barrels).
Oatmeal (in barrels or hogsheads).
Rye meal (in hogsheads).
Butter (in firkins).
Cheese, "Hollands" and English (in boxes).
Eggs, pickled (in tubs).
Fish, "haberdyne" [or salt dried cod] (in boxes).
Smoked herring (in boxes).
Meats, including,--
Beef, salt, or "corned" (in barrels).
Dry-salted (in barrels).
Smoked (in sacks).
Dried neats'-tongues (in boxes).
Pork, bacon, smoked (in sacks or boxes).
Salt [" corned "] (in barrels).
Hams and shoulders, smoked (in canvas sacks or hogsheads).
Salt (in bags and barrels).
Vegetables, including,--
Beans (in bags and barrels).
Cabbages (in sacks and barrels).
Onions (in sacks).
Turnips (in sacks).
Parsnips (in sacks).
Pease (in barrels), and
Vinegar (in hogsheads), while,--
Beer (in casks), brandy, "aqua vitae" (in pipes), and gin ["Hollands,"
"strong waters," or "schnapps"] (in pipes) 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 [be able to get at] some of your meal to 
spend [use] 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 (August 3), 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" (ch. 2), 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" 
(or dried salt cod) 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 ("corned") 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" (14 lbs.). 

Hams seem to have been then, as now, a highly-prized article of diet. 
Goodwin mentions that the salt used by the Pilgrims was (evaporated) "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 [end] tyre" 
[hoop]. 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 ("42 tons"--probably 
tuns intended). 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 (as stated by himself) 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" (or Holland gin) 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 [the Adventurers] but what they first brought with them;" and again, 
"They never had any supply of vitales more afterwards (but what the Lord 
gave them otherwise), for all ye company [the Adventurers] sent at any 
time was allways too short for those people yt came with it." 

The clothing supplies of the Pilgrims included hats, caps, shirts, neck- 
cloths, jerkins, doublets, waistcoats, breeches (stuff and leather), 
"hosen," stockings, shoes, boots, belts (girdles), cloth, piece-goods 
(dress-stuff's), "haberdasherie," etc., etc., all of which, with minor 
items for men's and women's use, find mention in their early narratives, 
accounts, and correspondence. By the will of Mr. Mullens it appears that 
he had twenty-one dozen of shoes and thirteen pairs of boots on board, 
doubtless intended as medium of exchange or barter. By the terms of the. 
contract with the colonists, the Merchant Adventurers were to supply all 
their actual necessities of Clothing food, clothing, etc., for the full 
term of seven years, during which the labors of the "planters" were to be 
for the joint account. Whether under this agreement they were bound to 
fully "outfit" the colonists before they embarked (and did so), as was 
done by Higginson's company coming to Salem in 1628-29 at considerable 
cost per capita, and as was done for those of the Leyden people who came 
over in 1629 with Pierce in the MAY-FLOWER and the TALBOT to Salem, and 
again in 1630 with the same Master (Pierce) in the LION by the Plymouth 
successors to the Adventurers (without recompense), does not clearly 
appear. No mention is found of any "outfitting" of the MAY-FLOWER 
passengers except the London apprentices. There is no doubt that a 
considerable supply of all the above-named articles was necessarily sent 
by the Adventurers on the MAY-FLOWER, both for the Pilgrims' needs on the 
voyage and in the new colony, as also for trading purposes. There seems to 
have been at all times a supreme anxiety, on the part of both Pilgrim and 
Puritan settlers, to get English clothes upon their red brethren of the 
forest, whether as a means of exchange for peltry, or for decency's sake, 
is not quite clear. There was apparently a greater disparity in character, 
intelligence, and station between the leaders of Higginson's and 
Winthrop's companies and their followers than between the chief men of the 
Pilgrims and their associates. With the former were titles and 
considerable representation of wealth and position. With the passengers of 
the MAY-FLOWER a far greater equality in rank, means, intelligence, 
capacity, and character was noticeable. This was due in part, doubtless, 
to the religious beliefs and training of the Leyden contingent, and had 
prompt illustration in their Compact, in which all stood at once on an 
equal footing. There was but little of the "paternal" nature in the form 
of their government (though something at times in their punishments), and 
there was much personal dignity and independence of the indi vidual. An 
equipment having so much of the character of a uniform--not to say
"livery "--as that furnished by Higginson's company to its people suggests 
the "hedger and ditcher" type of colonists (of whom there were very few 
among the Plymouth settlers), rather than the scholar, publisher, 
tradesman, physician, hatter, smith, carpenter, "lay reader," and soldier 
of the Pilgrims, and would certainly have been obnoxious to their finer 
sense of personal dignity and proportion. Doubtless an equivalent 
provision existed--though in less "all-of-a-pattern " character--in the 
bales and boxes of the MAY-FLOWER'S cargo for every need suggested by the 
list of the Higginson "outfit," which is given herewith, both as matter of 
interest and as affording an excellent idea of the accepted style and 
needs in dress of a New England settler (at least of the men) of 1620-30. 
One cannot fail to wonder at the noticeably infrequent mention of 
provision in apparel, etc., for the women and children. The inventory of 
the "Apparell for 100 men" furnished by Higginson's company in 1628-29 
gives us, among others, the following items of clothing for each 
emigrant:--

4 "peares of shoes."
4 "peares of stockings."
1 "peare Norwich gaiters."
4 "shirts."
2 "suits dublet and hose of leather lyn'd with oyld skyn leather, ye hose
  & dublett with hooks & eyes."
1 "sute of Norden dussens or hampshire kersies lynd the hose with skins,
  dublets with lynen of gilford or gedlyman kerseys."
4 bands.
2 handkerchiefs.
1 "wastecoat of greene cotton bound about with red tape."
1 leather girdle.
1 "Monmouth cap."
1 "black hatt lyned in the brows with lether."
5 "Red knitt capps milf'd about 5d apiece."
2 "peares of gloves."
1 "Mandiliion lynd with cotton" [mantle or greatcoat].
1 "peare of breeches and waistcoat."
1 "leather sute of Dublett & breeches of oyled leather."
1 "peare of leather breeches and drawers to weare with both there other
  sutes."

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 (made about 1628) 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 (Frieze)
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 (nearly everything having, of course, gone to decay with the wear 
and tear of more than two hundred and fifty years), 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 (second) family is so fairly traced." 

The pewter and the silver flask of Winslow not only bear very early 
"Hallmarks," but also the arms of his family, which it is not likely he 
would have had engraved on what he may have bought after notably becoming 
the defender of the simplicity and democracy of the "Pilgrim Republic." 
Long traceable use in his family strengthens belief in the supposition 
that these articles came with the Pilgrims, and were then very probably 
heirlooms. One of Governor Bradford's books (Pastor John Robinson's 
"Justification of Separation"), published in 1610, and containing the 
Governor's autograph, bears almost 'prima facie' evidence of having come 
with him in the MAY-FLOWER, but of course might, like the above-named 
relics, have come in some later ship. 

In this connection it is of interest to note what freight the MAY-FLOWER 
carried for the intellectual needs of the Pilgrims. Of Bibles, as the 
"book of books," we may be sure--even without the evidence of the 
inventories of the early dead--there was no lack, and there is reason to 
believe that they existed in several tongues, viz. in English, Dutch, and 
possibly French (the Walloon contribution from the Huguenots), while there 
is little doubt that, alike as publishers and as "students of the Word," 
Brewster, Bradford, and Winslow, at least, were possessed of, and more or 
less familiar with, both the Latin and Greek Testaments. It is altogether 
probable, however, that Governor Bradford's well attested study of "the 
oracles of God in the original" Hebrew, and his possession of the 
essential Hebrew Bible, grammar, and lexicon, were of a later day. Some 
few copies of the earliest hymnals ("psalme-bookes")--then very limited in 
number--there is evidence that the Holland voyagers had with them in the 
singing of their parting hymns at Leyden and Delfshaven, as mentioned by 
Winslow and in the earlier inventories: These metrical versions of the 
Psalms constituted at the time, practically, the only hymnology permitted 
in the worship of the "Separatists," though the grand hymn of Luther, "Ein 
feste Burg ist unser Gott," doubtless familiar to them, must have 
commended itself as especially comforting and apposite. 

Of the doctrinal tracts of their beloved Pastor, John Robinson, there is 
every probability, as well as some proof, that there was good supply, as 
well as those of Ainsworth and Clyfton and of the works of William Ames, 
the renowned Franeker Professor, the controversial opponent but sincere 
friend of Robinson: the founder of evangelical "systematic theology," 
[method--Methodist? D.W.] whom death alone prevented from becoming the 
President of Harvard College. We may be equally sure that the few cases of 
books in the freight of the Pilgrim ship included copies of the 
publications of the "hidden and hunted press" of Brewster and Brewer, and 
some at least of the issues of their fellows in tribulation at Amsterdam 
and in Scotland and England. Some few heavy tomes and early classics in 
English, Dutch, Latin, and Greek were also presumably among the goodly 
number of books brought in the MAY FLOWER by Brewster, Bradford, Winslow, 
Fuller, Hopkins, Allerton, Standish, and others, though it is probable 
that the larger part of the very considerable library of four hundred 
volumes, left at his death by Brewster (including sixty-two in Latin), and 
of the respectable libraries of Fuller, Standish, and others, named in 
their respective inventories, either were brought over in the later ships, 
or were the products of the earliest printers of New England. One is 
surprised and amused that the library of the good Dr. Fuller should 
contain so relatively small a proportion of medical works (although the 
number in print prior to his death in 1633 was not great), while rich in 
religious works pertinent to his functions as deacon. It is equally 
interesting to note that the inventory of the soldier Standish should name 
only one book on military science, "Bariffe's Artillery," though it 
includes abundant evidence to controvert, beyond reasonable doubt, the 
suggestion which has been made, that he was of the Romanist faith. Just 
which of the books left by the worthies named, and others whose 
inventories we possess, came with them in the Pilgrim ship, cannot be 
certainly determined, though, as before noted, some still in existence 
bear intrinsic testimony that they were of the number. There is evidence 
that Allerton made gift of a book to Giles Heale of the MAY-FLOWER 
(perhaps the ship's surgeon), while the ship lay at Plymouth, and Francis 
Cooke's inventory includes "1 great Bible and 4 olde bookes," which as 
they were "olde," and he was clearly not a book-buyer, very probably came 
with him in the ship. In fact, hardly an adult of the Leyden colonists, 
the inventory of whose estate at death we possess, but left one or more 
books which may have been his companions on the voyage. 

Some of the early forms of British and Dutch calendars, "annuals," and 
agricultural "hand-books," it is certain were brought over by several 
families, and were doubtless much consulted and well-thumbed "guides, 
counsellors, and friends" in the households of their possessors. The great 
preponderance of reading matter brought by the little colony was, however, 
unquestionably of the religious controversial order, which had been so 
much a part of their lives, and its sum total was considerable. There are 
intimations, in the inventories of the Fathers, of a few works of 
historical cast, but of these not many had yet been printed. "Caesar's 
Commentaries," a "History of the World," and a "History of Turkey" on 
Standish's shelves, with the two Dictionaries and "Peter Martyr on Rome" 
on Dr. Fuller's, were as likely to have come in the first ship, and to 
have afforded as much satisfaction to the hungry readers of the little 
community as any of the books we find named in the lists of their little 
stock. It is pathetic to note, in these days of utmost prodigality in 
juvenile literature, that for the Pilgrim children, aside from the "Bible 
stories," some of the wonderful and mirth-provoking metrical renderings of 
the "Psalme booke," and the "horne booke," or primer (the alphabet and 
certain elementary contributions in verse or prose, placed between thin 
covers of transparent horn for protection), there was almost absolutely 
nothing in the meagre book-freight of the Pilgrim ark. "Milk for Babes," 
whether as physical or mental pabulum, was in poor supply aboard the MAY-
FLOWER. 

The most that can be claimed with confidence, for particular objects of 
alleged MAY-FLOWER relation, is that there is logical and moral certainty 
that there was a supply of just such things on board, because they were 
indispensable, and because every known circumstance and condition 
indicates their presence in the hands to which they are assigned, while 
tradition and collateral evidence confirm the inference and sometimes go 
very far to establish their alleged identity, and their presence with 
their respective owners upon the ship. A few other articles besides those 
enumerated in possession of the Pilgrim Society, and of other societies 
and individuals, present almost equally strong claims with those named, to 
be counted as "of MAY-FLOWER belonging," but in no case is the connection 
entirely beyond question. Where so competent, interested, and 
conscientious students of Pilgrim history as Hon. William T. Davis, of 
Plymouth, and the late Dr. Thomas B. Drew, so long the curator of the 
Pilgrim Society, cannot find warrant for a positive claim in behalf of any 
article as having come, beyond a doubt, "in the MAY FLOWER," others may 
well hesitate to insist upon that which, however probable and desirable, 
is not susceptible of conclusive proof. 

That certain articles of household furniture, whether now existent or not, 
were included in the ship's cargo, is attested by the inventories of the 
small estates of those first deceased, and, by mention or implication, in 
the narratives of Bradford, Winslow, Morton, and other contemporaries, as 
were also many utensils and articles of domestic use. There were also 
beyond question many not so mentioned, which may be safely named as having 
very certainly been comprised in the ship's lading, either because in 
themselves indispensable to the colonists, or because from the evidence in 
hand we know them to have been inseparable from the character, social 
status, daily habits, home life, or ascertained deeds of the Pilgrims. 
When it is remembered that furnishings, however simple, were speedily 
required for no less than nineteen "cottages" and their households, the 
sum total called for was not inconsiderable.(*)

(* Bradford, in Mourt's Relation (p. 68), shows that the colonists were 
divided up into "nineteen families," that "so we might build fewer 
houses." Winslow, writing to George Morton, December 11/21, 1621, says: 
"We have built seven dwelling-houses and four for the use of the 
plantation." Bradford (Historie, Mass. ed. p. 110) calls the houses "small 
cottages.") 

Among the furniture for these "cottages" brought on the Pilgrim ship may 
be enumerated: chairs, table-chairs, stools and forms (benches), tables of 
several sizes and shapes (mostly small), table-boards and "cloathes," 
trestles, beds; bedding and bed-clothing, cradles, "buffets," cupboards 
and "cabinets," chests and chests of drawers, boxes of several kinds and 
"trunks," andirons, "iron dogs," "cob-irons," fire-tongs and "slices" 
(shovels), cushions, rugs, and "blanckets," spinning wheels, hand-looms, 
etc., etc. Among household utensils were "spits," "bake-kettles," pots and 
kettles (iron, brass, and copper), frying-pans, "mortars" and pestles 
(iron, brass, and "belle-mettle"), sconces, lamps (oil "bettys"), 
candlesticks, snuffers, buckets, tubs, "runlets," pails and baskets, 
"steel yards," measures, hour-glasses and sun-dials, pewter-ware 
(platters, plates, mugs, porringers, etc.), wooden trenchers, trays, 
"noggins," "bottles," cups, and "lossets." Earthen ware, "fatten" ware 
(mugs, "jugs," and "crocks "), leather ware (bottles, "noggins," and 
cups), table-ware (salt "sellars," spoons, knives, etc), etc. All of the 
foregoing, with numerous lesser articles, have received mention in the 
early literature of the Pilgrim exodus, and were undeniably part of the 
MAY-FLOWER'S lading. 

The MAY-FLOWER origin claimed for the "Governor Carver chair" and the 
"Elder Brewster chair" rests wholly upon tradition, and upon the venerable 
pattern and aspect of the chairs themselves. The "Winslow chair," in 
possession of the Pilgrim Society at Plymouth (Mass.), though bearing 
evidence of having been "made in Cheapside, London, in 1614," is not 
positively known to have been brought on the MAY-FLOWER. Thacher's 
"History of Plymouth" (p. 144.) states that "a sitting-chair, said to have 
been screwed to the floor of the MAY-FLOWER'S cabin for the convenience of 
a lady, is known to have been in the possession of Penelope Winslow (who 
married James Warren), and is now in possession of Hannah White." There 
are certain venerable chairs alleged, with some show of probability, to 
have been the property of Captain Standish, now owned in Bridgewater, but 
there is no record attached to them, and they are not surely assignable to 
either ship or owner. That some few tables --mostly small--were brought in 
the MAY-FLOWER, there is some evidence, but the indications are that what 
were known as "table-boards"--long and narrow boards covered with what 
were called "board-cloths"--very largely took the place of tables. The 
walnut-top table, said to have once been Governor Winslow's and now in 
possession of the Pilgrim Society, is not known to have come over with 
him, and probably did not. It was very likely bought for the use of the 
Council when he was governor. The "table-boards" mentioned were laid on 
"trestles" (cross-legged and folding supports of proper height), which had 
the great merit that they could be placed in any convenient spot and as 
easily folded up, and with the board put away, leaving the space which a 
table would have permanently occupied free for other use. 

Bradford mentions that when the fire of Sunday, January 14., 1621, 
occurred in the "common house," the "house was as full of beds as they 
could lie one by another." There is a doubt, however, whether this 
indicates bedsteads or (probably) "pallets" only. Beds, bedding of all 
sorts, pillow-"beers," pillow-cases and even "mattrises," are of most 
frequent mention in the earliest wills and inventories. (See Appendix.) 
"Buffets," "cupboards," and "cabinets," all find mention in the earliest 
writers and inventories, and one or two specimens, for which a MAY-FLOWER 
history is claimed, are in possession of the Pilgrim Society and others. 
The "White" cabinet, of putative MAY-FLOWER connection, owned by the 
Pilgrim Society, is a fine example of its class, and both its "ear marks" 
and its known history support the probable truth of the claim made for it. 
Of "chests" and "chests-of-drawers" there were doubtless goodly numbers in 
the ship, but with the exception of a few chests (or the fragments of 
them), for which a MAY-FLOWER passage is vaunted, little is known of them. 
The chest claimed to be that of Elder Brewster, owned by the Connecticut 
Historical Society, was not improb ably his, but that it had any MAY-
FLOWER relation is not shown. A fragment of a chest claimed to have been 
"brought by Edward Winslow in the MAY-FLOWER" is owned by the Pilgrim 
Society, and bears considerable evidence of the probable validity of such 
claim, but proof positive is lacking. Boxes of several kinds and sizes 
were part of the Pilgrims' chattels on their ship, some of them taking the 
place of the travellers' "trunks" of to-day, though "trunks" were then 
known by that name and find early mention in Pilgrim inventories, and 
there were no doubt some upon the Pilgrim ship. A few claiming such 
distinction are exhibited, but without attested records of their origin. 

"Andirons, fire-dogs, and cob-irons" (the latter to rest roasting spits 
upon) were enumerated among the effects of those early deceased among the 
Pilgrims, rendering it well-certain that they must have been part of their 
belongings on the MAY-FLOWER. Fire-tongs and "slices" [shovels] are also 
frequently mentioned in early Pilgrim inventories, placing them in the 
same category with the "andirons and fire-dogs." 

In "Mourt's Relation," in the accounts given of the state reception of 
Massasoit, "a green rug and three or four cushions" are shown to have 
performed their parts in the official ceremonies, and were, of course, 
necessarily brought in the MAY-FLOWER. 

Spinning-wheels and hand-looms were such absolute necessities, and were so 
familiar and omnipresent features of the lives and labors of the Pilgrim 
housewives and their Dutch neighbors of Leyden, that we should be certain 
that they came with the Pilgrims, even if they did not find mention in the 
earliest Pilgrim inventories. Many ancient ones are exhibited in the "Old 
Colony," but it is not known that it is claimed for any of them that they 
came in the first ship. It is probable that some of the "cheese fatts" and 
churns so often named in early inventories came in the ship, though at 
first there was, in the absence of milch kine, no such use for them as 
there had been in both England and Holland, and soon was in New England. 

Among cooking utensils the roasting "spit" was, in one form or another, 
among the earliest devices for cooking flesh, and as such was an essential 
of every household. Those brought by the Plymouth settlers were probably, 
as indicated by the oldest specimens that remain to us, of a pretty 
primitive type. The ancient "bake-kettle" (sometimes called "pan"), made 
to bury in the ashes and thus to heat above and below, has never been 
superseded where resort must be had to the open fire for cooking, and 
(practically unchanged) is in use to-day at many a sheep- herder's and 
cowboy's camp fire of the Far West. We may be sure that it was in every 
MAY-FLOWER family, and occasional ancient specimens are yet to be found in 
"Old Colony" garrets. Pots and kettles of all sorts find more frequent 
mention in the early inventories than anything else, except muskets and 
swords, and were probably more numerous upon the ship than any other 
cooking utensil. A few claimed to be from the Pilgrim ship are exhibited, 
chief of which is a large iron pot, said to have been "brought by Myles 
Standish in the MAY-FLOWER," now owned by the Pilgrim Society. 

Hardly an early Pilgrim inventory but includes "a mortar and pestle," 
sometimes of iron, sometimes of "brass" or "belle-mettle" (bell metal). 
They were of course, in the absence of mills, and for some purposes for 
which small hand mills were not adapted, prime necessities, and every 
house hold had one. A very fine one of brass (with an iron pestle), nine 
and a half inches across its bell-shaped top,--exhibited by the Pilgrim 
Society, and said to have been "brought in the MAY-FLOWER by Edward 
Winslow,"--seems to the author as likely to have been so as almost any 
article for which that distinction is claimed. 

The lighting facilities of the Pilgrims were fewer and cruder than those 
for cooking. They possessed the lamp of the ancient Romans, Greeks, and 
Hebrews, with but few improvements,--a more or less fanciful vessel for 
oil, with a protuberant nose for a wick, and a loose-twisted cotton wick. 
Hand-lamps of this general form and of various devices, called "betty- 
lamps," were commonly used, with candlesticks of various metals,--iron, 
brass, silver, and copper,--though but few of any other ware. For wall- 
lighting two or more candle sockets were brought together in "sconces," 
which were more or less elaborate in design and finish. One of the early 
writers (Higginson) mentions the abundance of oil (from fish) available 
for lamps, but all tallow and suet used by the early colonists was, for 
some years (till cattle became plentiful), necessarily imported. Some of 
the "candle-snuffers" of the "first comers" doubtless still remain. We may 
be sure every family had its candles, "betty-lamps," candlesticks, and 
"snuffers." "Lanthorns" were of the primitive, perforated tin variety--
only "serving to make darkness visible" now found in a few old attics in 
Pilgrim towns, and on the "bull-carts" of the peons of Porto Rico, by 
night. Fire, for any purpose, was chiefly procured by the use of flint, 
steel, and tinder, of which many very early specimens exist. Buckets, 
tubs, and pails were, beyond question, numerous aboard the ship, and were 
among the most essential and highly valued of Pilgrim utensils. Most, if 
not all of them, we may confidently assert, were brought into requisition 
on that Monday "wash-day" at Cape Cod, the first week-day after their 
arrival, when the women went ashore to do their long- neglected 
laundrying, in the comparatively fresh water of the beach pond at Cape Cod 
harbor. They are frequently named in the earliest inventories. Bradford 
also mentions the filling of a "runlet" with water at the Cape. The "steel-
yards" and "measures" were the only determiners of weight and quantity--as 
the hour-glass and sun dial were of time-- possessed at first (so far as 
appears) by the passengers of the Pilgrim ship, though it is barely 
possible that a Dutch clock or two may have been among the possessions of 
the wealthiest. Clocks and watches were not yet in common use (though the 
former were known in England from 1540), and except that in "Mourt's 
Relation" and Bradford's "Historie" mention is made of the time of day as 
such "o'clock" (indicating some degree of familiarity with clocks), no 
mention is made of their possession at the first. Certain of the leaders 
were apparently acquainted at Leyden with the astronomer Galileo, co-
resident with them there, and through this acquaintance some of the 
wealthier and more scholarly may have come to know, and even to own, one 
of the earliest Dutch clocks made with the pendulum invented by Galileo, 
though hardly probable as early as 1620. Pocket watches were yet 
practically unknown. 

Except for a few pieces of silver owned by the wealthiest of their number, 
pewter was the most elegant and expensive of the Pilgrims' table- ware. A 
pewter platter said to have been "brought over in the MAY- FLOWER" is now 
owned by the Pilgrim Society, which also exhibits smaller pewter formerly 
Edward Winslow's, and bearing his "arms," for which, as previously noted, 
a like claim is made. Platters, dishes, "potts," ladles, bottles, 
"flaggons," "skelletts," cups, porringers, "basons," spoons, candlesticks, 
and salt "sellars," were among the many pewter utensils unmistakably 
brought on the good ship. 

The wooden-ware of the colonists, brought with them, was considerable and 
various. The Dutch were long famous for its fabrication. There was but 
very little china, glass, or pottery of any kind in common use in western 
Europe in 1620; some kinds were not yet made, and pewter, wood, and 
leather largely filled their places. Wooden trenchers (taking the place of 
plates), trays, "noggins" (jug or pitcher- like cups), cups, and "lossets" 
(flat dishes like the bread-plates of to day), were of course part of 
every housewife's providings. Some few of Pilgrim origin possibly still 
exist. As neither coffee, tea, nor china had come into use, the cups and 
saucers which another century brought in --to delight their owners in that 
day and the ceramic hunter in this-- were not among the "breakables" of 
the "good-wife" of the MAY-FLOWER. The "table-plenishings" had not much 
variety, but in the aggregate the (first) "nineteen families" must have 
required quite a quantity of spoons, knives, salt "sellars," etc. Forks 
there were none, and of the accessories of to-day (except napkins), very 
few. Meat was held by the napkin while being cut with the knife. Josselyn' 
gives a list of "Implements for a family of six persons" going to New 
England. 

Kitchen utensils:--
"1 Iron Pot.
1 Great Copper Kettle.
1 Small Kettle.
1 Lesser Kettle.
1 Large Frying pan.
1 Brass Mortar.
1 Spit.
1 Gridiron.
2 Skillets.
Platters, dishes, and spoons of wood.
A pair of Bellows.
A Skoope, etc."


Among the implements of husbandry, etc., and mechanics' tools we find 
evidence of hoes, spades, shovels, scythes, "sikles," mattocks, bill- 
hooks, garden-rakes, hay-forks ("pitch-forks"), besides seed-grain and 
garden seeds. Axes, saws, hammers, "adzs," augers, chisels, gouges, 
squares, hatchets, an "iron jack-scrue," "holdfasts" (vises), blacksmiths' 
tools, coopers' tools, iron and steel in bar, anvils, chains, etc., 
"staples and locks," rope, lime (for mortar), nails, etc., are also known 
to have been in the ship. Francis Eaton, the carpenter, seems to have had 
a very respectable "kit," and Fletcher, the smith, was evidently fairly 
"outfitted." 

The implements of husbandry were of the lighter (?) sort; no ploughs, 
harrows, carts, harness, stone-drags, or other farming tools requiring the 
strength of beasts for their use, were included. In nothing could they 
have experienced so sharp a contrast as in the absence of horses, cattle, 
and sheep in their husbandry, and especially of milch kine. Bradford and 
Window both mention hoes, spades, mattocks, and sickles, while shovels, 
scythes, bill-hooks (brush-scythes, the terrible weapons of the English 
peasantry in their great "Mon mouth" and earlier uprisings), pitchforks, 
etc., find very early mention in inventories and colonial records. 
Josselyn, in his "Two Voyages to New England," gives, in 1628, the 
following very pertinent list of "Tools for a Family of six persons, and 
so after this rate for more,--intending for New England." This may be 
taken as fairly approximating the possessions of the average MAY-FLOWER 
planter, though probably somewhat exceeding individual supplies. Eight 
years of the Pilgrims' experience had taught those who came after them 
very much that was of service. 

5 Broad Howes [hoes].
6 Chisels.
5 Narrow Howes [hoes].
3 Gimblets.
5 Felling Axes.
2 hatchets.
2 steel hand saws.
2 frones (?) to cleave pail! (Probably knives for cleaving pail stock.)
2 hand saws.
2 hand-bills.
1 whip saw, set and files with box.
Nails of all sorts.
2 Pick-axes.
A file and rest.
3 Locks and 3 paire fetters.
2 Hammers.
2 Currie Combs.
3 Shovels.
Brands for beasts.
2 Spades.
A hand vice.
2 Augers.
A pitchfork, etc.
2 Broad Axes.

Unhappily we know little from contemporaneous authority as to what grain 
and other seeds the Pilgrims brought with them for planting. We may be 
sure, however, that rye, barley, oats, wheat, pease, and beans were the 
bulkiest of this part of their freight, though Bradford mentions the 
planting of "garden seeds" their first spring. 

While we know from the earliest Pilgrim chronicles that their mechanics' 
implements embraced axes, saws, hammers, "adzs," augers, hatchets, an 
"iron jack-scrue," "staples and locks," etc., we know there must have been 
many other tools not mentioned by them, brought over with the settlers. 
The "great iron-scrue," as Bradford calls it in his original MS., played, 
as all know, a most important part on the voyage, in forcing the "cracked 
and bowed" deck-beam of the ship into place. Governor Bradford tells us 
that "it was brought on board by one of the Leyden passengers," and one 
may hazard the guess that it was by either Moses Fletcher, the smith, or 
Francis Eaton, the "carpenter." "Staples" and "locks" found their place 
and mention, as well as the "chains," "manacles," and "leg-irons" named in 
the list of accoutrements for offence or defence, when it became necessary 
to chain up the Indian spy of the Neponsets (as narrated by Winslow in his 
"Good Newes from New England") and other evil-doers. The planters seem to 
have made stiff "mortar," which premises the use of lime and indicates a 
supply. 

Among the fishing and fowling implements of the MAY FLOWER colonists are 
recorded, nets, "seynes," twine, fish hooks, muskets (for large game), 
"fowling pieces," powder, "goose-shot," "hail-shot," etc. 

Such early mention is found of the nets, "seynes," etc., of their fishing 
equipment, as to leave no room for doubt that store of them was brought in 
the ship. They seem to have been unfortunate in the size of their fish-
hooks, which are spoken of as "too large" even for cod. They must, as 
Goodwin remarks, "have been very large." Window also says, "We wanted fit 
and strong seines and other netting." 

They seem to have relied upon their muskets to some extent for wild fowl 
(as witness Winslow's long and successful shot at a duck, on his visit to 
Massasoit), as they undoubtedly did for deer, etc. They were apparently 
fairly well supplied with them, of either the "matchlock" or "snaphance" 
(flintlock) pattern, though the planters complained to the Merchant 
Adventurers (in their letter of August 3, from Southampton), that they 
were "wanting many muskets," etc. That they had some "fowling-pieces" is 
shown by the fact that young Billington seems (according to Bradford) to 
have "shot one off in his father's cabin" aboard ship in Cape Cod harbor, 
and there are several other coeval mentions of them. 

The arms and accoutrements (besides ordnance) of the MAY-FLOWER Pilgrims, 
known on the authority of Bradford and Winslow to have been brought by 
them, included muskets ("matchlocks"), "snaphances" (flintlocks), armor 
("corslets," "cuirasses," "helmets," "bandoliers," etc.), swords, 
"curtlaxes" (cutlasses), "daggers," powder, "mould-shot," "match" (slow- 
match for guns), "flints," belts, "knapsacks," "drum," "trumpet," 
"manacles," "leg-irons," etc., etc. "Pistols" (brass) appear in early 
inventories, but their absence in the early hand-to-hand encounter at 
Wessagussett indicates that none were then available, or that they were 
not trusted. It is evident from the statement of Bradford that every one 
of the sixteen men who went out (under command of Standish) on the "first 
exploration" at Cape Cod had his "musket, sword,, and corslet;" that they 
relied much on their armor, and hence, doubtless, took all possible with 
them on the ship. They probably did not long retain its use. In the letter 
written to the Adventurers from Southampton, the leaders complain of 
"wanting many muskets, much armour, &c." 

Josselyn gives the equipment he considers necessary for each man going to 
New England to settle:-- 

"Armor compleat:--
One long piece [musket] five feet or five and a half long.
One Sword.
One bandoleer.
One belt.
Twenty pounds of powder.
Sixty pounds of shot or lead, pistol and Goose-shot."

Another list gives an idea of 'complete armor.'
Corselet
Breast [plate or piece].
Back [ditto].
Culet (?).
Gorget [throat-piece].
Tussis [thigh-pieces].
Head-piece "[morion skull-cap].

Bradford states that they used their "curtlaxes" (cutlasses) to dig the 
frozen ground to get at the Indians' corn, "having forgotten to bring 
spade or mattock." "Daggers" are mentioned as used in their celebrated 
duel by Dotey and Leister, servants of Stephen Hopkins. Bradford narrates 
that on one of their exploring tours on the Cape the length of guard duty 
performed at night by each "relief" was determined by the inches of slow-
match burned ("every one standing when his turn came while five or six 
inches of match was burning"), clearly indicating that they had no watches 
with them. The "drum" and "trumpet" are both mentioned in "Mourt's 
Relation" in the account given of Massasoit's reception, the latter as 
eliciting the especial attention of his men, and their efforts at blowing 
it. 

The Ordnance (cannon) brought in the ship consisted (probably) of ten 
guns, certainly of six. Of these, two (2) were "sakers,"--guns ten feet 
long of 3 to 4 inches bore, weighing from fifteen to eighteen hundred 
pounds each; two (2) were "minions" (or "falcons"),--guns of 3 1/2 inch 
bore, weighing twelve hundred pounds (1200 lbs.) each; and two (2) were 
"bases,"--small guns of 1 1/4 inch bore, weighing some three hundred 
pounds (300 1bs.) each. These were mounted on "the Hill" fort or platform. 
It is probable that besides these were the four smallest cannon, called 
"patereros" (or "murderers"), which, at the time of De Rasiere's visit to 
Plymouth in 1627, were mounted on a platform (in front of the Governor's 
house), at the intersection of the two streets of the town, and commanded 
its several approaches. It is not likely that they were sent for after 
1621, because the Adventurers were never in mood to send if asked, while 
Bradford, in speaking of the first alarm by the Indians, says, "This 
caused us to plant our great ordnance in places most convenient," leaving 
a possible inference that they had smaller ordnance in reserve. With this 
ordnance was of course a proper supply of ammunition adapted to its use. 
The "sakers" are said to have carried a four-pound ball, the "minions" a 
three-pound ball, and the "bases" a ball of a pound weight. There is not 
entire agreement between authorities, in regard to the size, weight, and 
calibre of these different classes of early ordnance, or the weight of 
metal thrown by them, but the above are approximate data, gathered from 
careful comparison of the figures given by several. There is no doubt that 
with this heavy ordnance and ammunition they stowed among their ballast 
and dunnage (as was the case in Higginson's ships), their "spare chains 
and anchors, chalk, bricks, sea-coal (for blacksmithing), iron, steel, 
lead, copper, red-lead, salt," etc.; all of which they also necessarily 
had, and from their bulk, character, and weight, would stow as low in the 
ship as might be. 

That a considerable "stock of trading goods" was included in the MAY- 
FLOWER'S lading is mentioned by at least one writer, and that this was a 
fact is confirmed by the records of the colonists' dealings with the 
Indians, and the enumeration of not a few of the goods which could have 
had, for the most part, no other use or value. They consisted largely of 
knives, bracelets (bead and metal), rings, scissors, copper-chains, beads, 
"blue and red trading cloth," cheap (glass) jewels ("for the ears," etc.), 
small mirrors, clothing (e. g. "red-cotton horseman's coats--laced," 
jerkins, blankets, etc.), shoes, "strong waters," pipes, tobacco, tools 
and hard ware (hatchets, nails, hoes, fish-hooks, etc.), rugs, twine, 
nets, etc., etc. A fragment of one of the heavy hoes of the ancient 
pattern --"found on the site of the Pilgrim trading house at Manomet "--is 
owned by the Pilgrim Society, and speaks volumes of the labor performed by 
the Pilgrims, before they had ploughs and draught- cattle, in the raising 
of their wonderful crops of corn. Such was the MAY-FLOWER'S burden, 
animate and inanimate, when--the last passenger and the last piece of 
freight transferred from the SPEEDWELL--her anchor "hove short," she swung 
with the tide in Plymouth roadstead, ready to depart at last for "the 
Virginia plantations."