The Mayflower and Her Log | Page 8

"the leakiness of this ship was partly by her being overmasted and too
much pressed with sails." It will, however, amaze the readers of
Professor Arber's generally excellent "Story of the Pilgrim Fathers," so
often referred to herein, to find him sharply arraigning "those members
of the Leyden church who were responsible for the fitting of the
SPEEDWELL," alleging that "they were the proximate causes of most
of the troubles on the voyage [of the MAY-FLOWER] out; and of
many of the deaths at Plymouth in New England in the course of the
following Spring; for they overmasted the vessel, and by so doing
strained her hull while sailing." To this straining, Arber wholly ascribes
the "leakiness" of the SPEEDWELL and the delay in the final departure
of the MAYFLOWER, to which last he attributes the disastrous results
he specifies. It would seem that the historian, unduly elated at what he
thought the discovery of another "turning-point of modern history,"
endeavors to establish it by such assertions and such partial references
to Bradford as would support the imaginary "find." Briefly stated, this
alleged discovery, which he so zealously announces, is that if the
SPEEDWELL had not been overmasted, both she and the
MAY-FLOWER would have arrived early in the fall at the mouth of
the Hudson River, and the whole course of New England history would
have been entirely different. Ergo, the "overmasting" of the
SPEEDWELL was a "pivotal point in modern history." With the idea
apparently of giving eclat to this announcement and of attracting
attention to it, he surprisingly charges the responsibility for the
"overmasting" and its alleged dire results upon the leaders of the
Leyden church, "who were," he repeatedly asserts, "alone responsible."
As a matter of fact, however, Bradford expressly states (in the same
paragraph as that upon which Professor Arber must wholly base his
sweeping assertions) that the "overmasting" was but "partly"
responsible for the SPEEDWELL'S leakiness, and directly shows that
the "stratagem" of her master and crew, "afterwards," he adds, "known,
and by some confessed," was the chief cause of her leakiness.

Cushman also shows, by his letter,--written after the ships had put back
into Dartmouth,--a part of which Professor Arber uses, but the most
important part suppresses, that what he evidently considers the
principal leak was caused by a very "loose board" (plank), which was
clearly not the result of the straining due to "crowding sail," or of
"overmasting." (See Appendix.)
Moreover, as the Leyden chiefs were careful to employ a presumably
competent man ("pilott," afterwards "Master" Reynolds) to take charge
of refitting the consort, they were hence clearly, both legally and
morally, exempt from responsibility as to any alterations made. Even
though the "overmasting" had been the sole cause of the
SPEEDWELL'S leakiness, and the delays and vicissitudes which
resulted to the MAY-FLOWER and her company, the leaders of the
Leyden church--whom Professor Arber arraigns --(themselves chiefly
the sufferers) were in no wise at fault! It is clear, however, that the
"overmasting" cut but small figure in the case; "confessed" rascality in
making a leak otherwise, being the chief trouble, and this, as well as the
"overmasting," lay at the door of Master Reynolds.
Even if the MAY-FLOWER had not been delayed by the
SPEEDWELL'S condition, and both had sailed for "Hudson's River" in
midsummer, it is by no means certain that they would have reached
there, as Arber so confidently asserts. The treachery of Captain Jones,
in league with Gorges, would as readily have landed them, by some
pretext, on Cape Cod in October, as in December. But even though
they had landed at the mouth of the Hudson, there is no good reason
why the Pilgrim influence should not have worked north and east, as
well as it did west and south, and with the Massachusetts Bay Puritans
there, Roger Williams in Rhode Island, and the younger Winthrop in
Connecticut, would doubtless have made New England history very
much what it has been, and not, as Professor Arber asserts, "entirely
different."
The cruel indictment fails, and the imaginary "turning point in modern
history," to announce which Professor Arber seems to have sacrificed
so much, falls with it.

The Rev. Dr. Griffis ("The Pilgrims in their Three Homes," p. 158)
seems to give ear to Professor Arber's untenable allegations as to the
Pilgrim leaders' responsibility for any error made in the "overmasting"
of the SPEEDWELL, although he destroys his case by saying of the
"overmasting:" "Whether it was done in England or Holland is not
certain." He says, unhappily chiming in with Arber's indictment: "In
their eagerness to get away promptly, they [the Leyden men] made the
mistake of ordering for the SPEEDWELL heavier and taller masts and
larger spars than her hull had been built to receive, thus altering most
unwisely and