Captain William Peirce or Peirse, a resident of Stepney, whom Winthrop calls “a godly man and most expert mariner,” probably holds the record for the largest number of voyages between England and New England in the first two decades of settlement. He first came out to Plymouth in 1623 as master of the Ann, and at this time was master of the Lion, in which he made four voyages to New England, 1630–1632, “with the regularity and safety of a ferry.” Captain Peirce took up his residence in Boston in 1632, became a church member, freeman, and deputy, compiled an almanac which was printed at the Cambridge press in 1640. He was killed by the Spaniards in 1641, when taking a shipload of emigrants to the colony of Old Providence in the Caribbean, as related in Winthrop's Journal for that year. Banks, The Winthrop Fleet, 106–107.

Isaac Allerton, Pilgrim father and trader, see D. A. B.

The narrow strait between Baker's Island and Little Misery Island is still the main ship channel to Salem. The probable anchorage of the Arbella was off Plum Cove on the Beverly shore, a favorite anchorage to-day.

John Endecott arrived at Salem in the autumn of 1628, as agent for the Company of the Massachusetts Bay, which appointed him governor of London's Plantation the following spring. His actual service as governor of Massachusetts is the longest on record. See William C. Endicott, John Winthrop and John Endecott (Boston, 1930).

Samuel Skelton, pastor of the First Church of Salem. See Young, Chronicles of Massachusetts, 142, note 4. Cradock, in his letter to Endecott dated April 17, 1629, writes of Skelton: “One of them is well knowne to yourselfe, viz. Mr. Skelton, whom wee haue the rather desired to beare a part in this worke, for that wee are informed yourselfe haue formerly received much good by his ministry; hee cometh in the George Bonaventure, Mr. Thomas Cox.” Records of Massachusetts, I. 386. For papers relating to Skelton, see Historical Collections, Essex Institute, XIII. 143–152.

Captain Leavett is Christopher Levett, for whom, see James Phinney Baxter, Christopher Levett, of York, The Pioneer Colonist in Casco Bay (Gorges Society, 1893) v., especially 1–77. In 1628 there was published Levett's A Voyage into New England [1623–1624].

A small cross before this word corresponds with a similar cross before “Salem,” written in the margin — all in paler ink and Winthrop's hand. For the naming of Salem and the condition of the plantation in 1629, see Proceedings , LXII. 379 and 317–318. For Thomas Dudley's description of the discouraging conditions at Salem in June, 1630, see his “Letter to the Countess of Lincoln,” Young, Chronicles, 311–312.

Felt thought that the reason for this return to the ships on Saturday night was probably “because Mr. Skelton supposed that he could not conscientiously admit them to his communion .... as they were not members of reformed churches like those of Salem and Plymouth.” John Cotton wrote Skelton, October 2, 1630, expressing his regret at the latter's failure to invite Winthrop, Johnson, Dudley, and Coddington to partake of the Lord's Supper in Salem. Cotton recanted in 1636. Joseph B. Felt, Annals of Salem (Salem, 1849), II. 568–569.

The name Cape Ann at that time was applied to the shore from the tip of the Cape to Beverly Harbor. See a contemporary map and notes, infra, page 281.