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The Mayflower and Her Log, entire by Azel Ames
Book, page 22 / 43


it is probable, he was originally selected for their service in Holland.
Bradford and others entitled to judge have given their opinions of this
cowardly scoundrel (Reynolds) in unmistakable terms.

What other officers and crew the pinnace had does not appear, and we know
nothing certainly of them, except the time for which they shipped; that
some of them were fellow-conspirators with the Master (self-confessed),
in the "strategem" to compel the SPEEDWELL'S abandonment of the voyage;
and that a few were transferred to the MAYFLOWER. From the fact that the
sailors Trevore and Ely returned from New Plymouth on the FORTUNE in
1621, "their time having expired," as Bradford notes, it may be fairly
assumed that they were originally of the SPEEDWELL'S crew.

That the fears of the SPEEDWELL'S men had been worked upon, and their
cooperation thus secured by the artful Reynolds, is clearly indicated by
the statement of Bradford: "For they apprehended that the greater ship
being of force and in which most of the provisions were stored, she would
retain enough for herself, whatever became of them or the passengers, and
indeed such speeches had been cast out by some of them."

Of the list of passengers who embarked at Delfshaven, July 22, 1620,
"bound for Southampton on the English coast, and thence for the northern
parts of Virginia," we fortunately have a pretty accurate knowledge.
All of the Leyden congregation who were to emigrate, with the exception
of Robert Cushman and family, and (probably) John Carver, were doubtless
passengers upon the SPEEDWELL from Delfshaven to Southampton, though the
presence of Elder Brewster has been questioned. The evidence that he was
there is well-nigh as conclusive as that Robert Cushman sailed on the
MAY-FLOWER from London, and that Carver, who had been for some months in
England,--chiefly at Southampton, making preparations for the voyage, was
there to meet the ships on their arrival. It is possible, of course,
that Cushman's wife and son came on the SPEEDWELL from Delfshaven; but is
not probable. Among the passengers, however, were some who, like Thomas
Blossom and his son, William Ring, and others, abandoned the voyage to
America at Plymouth, and returned in the pinnace to London and thence
went back to Holland. Deducting from the passenger list of the MAYFLOWER
those known to have been of the English contingent, with Robert Cushman
and family, and John Carver, we have a very close approximate to the
SPEEDWELL'S company on her "departure from Delfshaven." It has not been
found possible to determine with absolute certainty the correct relation

 
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