Books: The Mayflower and Her Log, v5
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Azel Ames >> The Mayflower and Her Log, v5
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never been superseded where resort must be had to the open fire for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."
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