Papers of the Winthrop Family, Volume 2

Anno Domini 1630: March 29: mundaye.1

Winthrop, John

1630-03-29

Easter mundaye Rydinge at the Cowes neare the Ile of wight in the Arbella,2 a Shippe of 350: tuns whereof Capt Peter Milborne3 was master, beinge manned with 52 seamen, and 28: peeces of ordinance, (the winde cominge to the n: and by w: the eveninge before) in the morninge there come aboard vs, mr. Cradocke the late Gouernor, and the masters of his 2: shippes Capt John Lowe master of the Ambrose, and mr. Nicholas Hurlston master of the Jewell, and mr. Tho: Beecher master of the Talbott 4 (which 3: shippes rode then by vs, the Charles the Mayflower the William and Francis the Hopewell,5 the Whale, the Successe, and the Tryall beinge still at Hampton and not readye) when vpon Conference it was agreed that (in regarde it was vncertaine when the rest of the fleet would be readye) these 4: shippes should consorte togither, the Arb. to be Admiral , the Talbott Vice Admiral , the Amb: reeradmiral: and the Jewell a Capt and accordingly Articles of Consortshippe were drawn betweene, the said Capt and masters: wherevpon mr. Cradocke6 tooke leave of vs, and our Capt gave him a farewell with 4: or 5: shott.

about 10: of the Clocke we weighed Anchor, and set sayle with the winde at N, and came to an Anchor againe over against Yarmouthe,7 and the 240 Talbott weyed likewise and came and Anchored by vs, heere we mett with a shippe of Hamp ton 8 called the Plantation newly come from Virginia, our Capt Saluted her, and she vs againe, and the master one mr. Greues9 came aboard our shippe, and stayed with vs about 2: or 3 howers, and in the meane tyme his shippe came to an Anchor by vs.

For an explanation and description of the editorial rules which govern the Society's printing of MSS., see Winthrop Papers 1. Preface, ix–xl (1929).

The former name of this ship was the Eagle, changed to Arbella in honor of the wife of Isaac Johnson. The spelling and pronunciation of her first name have since become subjects of dispute. See Channing, History of the United States, 1. 330 n., and Worthington C. Ford, Proceedings , LIX. 24, “A Seventeenth Century Letter of Marque.” See also Charlotte M. Yonge, History of Christian Names (London, 1863), 343. For the terms of the purchase of the Arbella, see Miscellaneous Notes, page 274.

Peter Milborne, or Milburne, was a resident of the parish of St. Katherine by the Tower of London, and married in 1615 the widow Jane Coulter of Wapping. Charles E. Banks, The Winthrop Fleet (Boston, 1930), 108. He owned one-eighth of the Arbella. See supra, page 228.

The same master in the same ship brought Higginson over to Salem in 1629. Proceedings , LXII. 285. For Governor Cradock's description of the vessels of this earlier expedition, see Records of Massachusetts I. 383–385. See also ibid., 26 and 36. Of John Lowe and Nicholas Hurlston, little or nothing seems to be known.

See 3 Collections , VIII. 252, 253, 271.

There is an interesting description of the brick house which the first Governor of the Massachusetts Company had built, about 1634, on his estate of thirty-five hundred acres at Medford, in 1 Proceedings , XX. 25–27. This house is still standing.

For reproductions of contemporary views of Yarmouth and Hurst Castles, see Banks, The Winthrop Fleet, 38.

The figures in brackets throughout the text of the Journal indicate the numbers of the MS. pages of the original. The Winthrop Fleet left Southhampton, Monday, March 22; Cotton's Farewell Sermon “Gods Promise to his Plantation” was preached presumably on March 21. See 4 Collections , IV. 290 and 295. The text of the sermon was reprinted, from the first edition of 1630, in Old South Leaflets, Number 53, with notes (15 and 16). Many years later Captain Edward Johnson, who was not present, supplied details of the leave-taking at Southampton of which Winthrop makes no mention. W. F. Poole, Ed., Edward Johnson, Wonder-Working Providence, 1654 (Andover, 1867), 27–28.

Even Savage could not “satisfactorily make out this name” from the original manuscript, although he was certain that “Guerns,” as the name apeared in the first (1790) edition, was wrong. See James Savage, Ed., The History of New England (Boston, 1853), 1. 3.

Teusday 30:

Winthrop, John

1630-03-30

In the morninge about 10: of the Clocke the winde beinge Come to the W: with faire weather, we weighed and rode neerer Yarmouthe, when we came before the towne the Castle putt forthe a flagge: our Capt saluted them and they answered vs againe: The Talbott which rode further off saluted the Castle also.

Heere we sawe closse by the shore of the Ile of wighte a dutche shippe of 1000: tuns which beinge bonde to the E. Indies about 2: yeares since, in passinge through the needles strock vpon a rocke and beinge forced to runne a shore to save her men, could never be weyghed since, although she lyes a great height aboue the water and yet she hath some men aboard her.

Wensday 31:

Winthrop, John

1630-03-31

The winde continued w: and S: w: with rayne, our Capt and some of our Company went to Yarmouthe for supplye of wood, and other provisions (our Capt was still carefull to fill all our emptye Caske with water).

Thursday Aprill 1:

Winthrop, John

1630-04-01

The winde continued verye stronge at W: and by S: with muche rayne.

Friday 2:

Winthrop, John

1630-04-02

We kept a fast aboard our shippe and the Talbott 1 the winde continued still verye high at w: and S: and raynye, in the tyme of our fast 2: of our landmen, peirced a rundlett of stronge water, and stole some of it for which we layd them in boltes all the night, and the next morninge the principall was openly whipped, and bothe kept with bread, and water that daye.

For the practice of fasting and prayer on shipboard, see Higginson's “True Relacion,” Proceedings , LXII. 290, 299.

Saturday 3

Winthrop, John

1630-04-03

The winde continued still at w: with continuall dire storme, and rayne.

Sunday, 4

Winthrop, John

1630-04-04

Faire Cleere weather, in the morninge the winde w: and by n: but in the afternone S: S: w: this eveninge the Talbott weyed and went back to the 241Cows, because her Anchor would not hold heere the tyde sett with so strong a race.