Willem Van De Velde II "Three Ships in a Gale" 1673
Wikimedia commons, Public Domain

It was clear to leadership on both sides of the Atlantic that Plymouth Colony’s continued survival relied on regular support from England. The Merchant Adventurers developed plans for sending ships, either built specifically for the colony or hired to carry provisions, equipment, and more settlers to the colony to capitalize on the labor, expense and human lives already expended on its founding. Bradford saw first-hand, the importance of provisions and healthy, virtuous settlers arriving regularly to shore up the tenuous toe hold the colony had established.  Sailing ships were the vital link.

In 1621, when Mayflower returned with news the colonist had settled in Plymouth, outside their previous permitted location, (the mouth of the Hudson River) John Pierce, one of the Merchant Adventurers went about the task of acquiring a new patent from the Council of New England. After a series of negotiations and some shady dealing on Pierce’s part, the patent was granted. Paragon a ship of some age was then engaged to carry sixty-seven passengers and at least thirty-eight tons of goods to Plymouth. The voyage did not go well.

            Paragon left London October 16, 1622 but began to leak before it even left the Thames. Despite the leak they continued sailing as far as the Downs on the southeast coast where in rising winds they attempted to anchor in shelter to ride out the storm. Despite this precaution the ship suffered enough that they decided to return to London where they found it would cost £100 and six to seven weeks of time to repair the damage.

            While in London, attempting to offset the unforeseen extra expenses Pierce took on more passengers. On January 1^st Paragon departed London with 109 passengers. The second, mid-winter attempt to cross the Atlantic reads like a hair-raising nautical nightmare:

              It was the middle of February that the storm began, and it continued for the most part of fourteen days, but for two or three days and nights together in the most violent extremity: at the beginning of the storm, their boat being above-decks, was thrown overboard: they spent their main-mast, their round-house was beaten off with the storm, and all the upper works of their ship: he that stood to give direction, for the guiding of her before the sea, was made fast, to prevent his washing over-board, and the sea did so over-rake them, as that many times those upon the deck, knew not whether they were within-board or without, and by her extreme leaking, being a very rotten ship, and the storm increasing, she was once very near foundering in the sea, as they thought she would never rise again: Notwithstanding the Lord was pleased of his great mercy to preserve them; and after great weather-beating and extraordinary danger, they arrived safe at Portsmouth in Hampshire; to the wonderment of all that beheld in what condition they were, and heard what they had endured.[1]

                        Paragon stayed in Portsmouth while Pierce found himself entangled in legal proceedings with the other Merchant Adventurers related to his shady dealings while acquiring the patent for Plymouth Colony. Likely, Paragonwas scrapped and any timbers from the battered hull that survived the horrific winter storm were sold off at a huge loss.

            The Merchant Adventurers had not been idle while Pierce made his attempts to cross the Atlantic with Paragon. It was clear the colonists at Plymouth needed a vessel based in the colony that could carry out trading voyages, be used for fishing, and generally provide transportation all aimed at improving the economic and actual health of the colonist which in turn would enrich the Merchant Adventurers. Toward that end, they had a vessel built specifically for the colony. Nathaniel Morton referred to the ship as the James, others recorded the ship as Little James, and Bradford only wrote of “the pinnace, a fine new vessel, built to stay in the country.”[2]
            Following the blueprint of a smaller vessel keeping in company with a larger oneto safely make the Atlantic crossing, (think:  Mayflower and Speedwell) The Little James, 44 tuns burden, sailed with the much larger vessel Anne, 140 tuns. Both carried passengers only the Little James had crew bent on mischief.

            The ship’s Master was John Bridges, he was responsible for sailing the ship, navigating and running the day-to-day operations aboard. The “Captain” was Emanuel Altham, a wealthy individual, who because he was the younger son of a well-to-do family and not likely to inherit any of their wealth he chose to make his own way in the world. As the captain he had control of military and mercantile affairs.[3] Altham had acquired a “letter of Marque,” that is, written permission from the crown permitting his ship to take foreign vessels for profit. The crew of the Little Jameswas given the expectations they would make their fortunes as legal pirates. In reality they worked for only a small percentage of the profits of the voyage, to be paid at the successful conclusion of the voyage.

            Master Bridges, in a letter to James Sherly after they arrived in Plymouth complained that, “no man shall make me venture to sea again with the men upon the same conditions for they care not which end went forwards.”[4]

            The following is a brief chronology of the brief but eventful life of the Little James:

1623

April 26^th - Little James leaves Portsmouth with 40 passengers

• Fogged in for 7 days in channel off of Cowes, on Isle of Wight (10 miles from Portsmouth)
• Took on more victuals at Cowes especially beer.
• 400 leagues off Land’s End chased after French ship looking for news. Took some fish from them but did not seize the ship. (Start of grumbling by crew).
• Trouble with the stores throughout the voyage. Jenney, part owner of the ship and responsible for the stores, spent much of his time taking care of his very pregnant wife.
• Mistress Jenney gave birth to a son a month before the ship arrived in Plymouth.
• Fog bound off the coast of Maine. They spent time fishing at Pemaquid on the Maine coast.

August 5^th – Little James arrives in Plymouth, after a 102-day voyage.

There were mixed emotions on the arrival of the Little James at Plymouth. The crew complained continually that they were cozened into this voyage under false pretenses and refused to obey either Bridges or Altham. Bradford steps in a promises wages to the crew for their labor. Some of the passengers were distraught at the conditions in Plymouth. Bradford noted, “some wished themselves in England again; other some pitying the distress they saw their friends had been long in, and still were under. In a word, all were full of sadness.”[5]

September 11^th – Little James sails for the Narragansetts on a trading voyage for corn and skins but they had limited success due to inferior trade goods.

• Returning to Plymouth from Narragansetts, in a storm the ship nearly runs onto Brown’s Island, off the Long Beach peninsula protecting Plymouth. The crew must cut away the mast and rigging to save the ship.
  

Men from Francisco de Orellana's expedition building a small brigantine, the "San Pedro", to be used for searching for food. 1541

1624

March     -     With a new mast and rigging they sail for Damariscove on a fishing voyage.
                 -     They catch 10,000 fish upon their arrival in Maine.

April 10^th -     Another storm occurs, driving the Little James up onto the rocks at the harbor at Damariscove, bashing a whole in the ship big enough for a “horse and cart” to drive through. Little James sinks in the harbor. Bridges, and crewmembers John Vow, and Peter Morrett drown.

• Carpenters attach large barrels to the ship, float it to shore to repair the damaged ship.

August 22^nd – Little James departs Plymouth for England.

• The ship is seized by two of the Adventures for debt of £250 upon its return to England.

1625

Spring      - Little James left England again for Plymouth this time
                  in company with White Angel.

• They have a successful fishing voyage and depart for England again in company with White Angel.
• The ships enjoy a fair-weather passage across the ocean, the Little James being towed all the way.
• In sight of Plymouth, (England) Little James casts off its towline but is taken by Turkish pirates, the master and men are sold into slavery, and the cargo sold in French, Morocco. Little James sails out of the historical record.
  

The story of these two ships illustrates not only how dangerous sea travel was early in 17^th century but also how fortunate the Pilgrims actually were in their crossing aboard Mayflower. When a decision was made to board a ship and take a chance on an Atlantic crossing, the outcome could not always be counted on to be poisitive.

 Frans Huys engraving, 1565 
A Dutch Hulk and a Boeier

[1] Morton, Nathanial, New England’s Memorial, Andesite Press, Scholar Select, Pg. 61-62.

[2] Bradford, William, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. by Samuel Eliot Morison. Knopf, New York. Pg. 127.

[3] Three Visitors to Early Plymouth, ed. by Sydney V. James, Jr. Plimoth Plantation Press, 1963. Pg. 21

[4] Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, Vol XLIV Pg178

[5] Bradford, Pg. 130.

A version of this article first appeared in the June 2021 Howland Quarterly

Mayflower II, early spring 2013. Drying the full suit of hand sewn linen-canvas sails.

During the season of fair weather the Pilgrims enjoyed after finally leaving England, one can image the passengers gazing up at what must have been an ordinary site for the time: A ship propelled by its sails made of Flax canvas. (The sails could also have been made of hemp canvas we don’t know for sure.) Flax it turns out is an extraordinary plant. Versatile and hardy, one species of the plant came to be known by the Latin name, Linum Usitatissium, or “of greater use” and has been in use for centuries.

The earliest evidence of spun, knotted and dyed flax fibers were discovered in a cave in the Republic of Georgia and date to 30,000 years ago during the upper paleolithic period. Ancient Egyptians cultivated flax plants, the fibers used to produce items ranging from ordinary Egyptian’s clothing to bolts of finely woven material, intombed in the pyramids for use by the Pharaohs in the afterlife. 5,000 years ago, the use of flax for textiles ranged from China to Germany and Switzerland.[i]

                      In 2003 Plimoth Plantation artisans soaking flax cloth imported from England,
                                 to pre-shrink the canvas under tension in preparation for making
                                        the sails of the Howland Society shallop, Elizabeth Tilley. 

Flax, wherever planted throughout Europe, required a laborious process to render the plant to its constituent parts, from which long lasting and strong cloth, thread, and line could be made. Its seeds can be pressed, to produce linseed oil, useful as a wood preservative, as a binder in paint, or as a vehicle in medicinal recipes. Even the mash, the crushed seed husks, left over from pressing can be fed to live-stock. It was a versatile plant making it valuable to grow and worth the effort expended.

Some of the clothing the pilgrims wore while gazing at the sails were made of linen. Undershirts, called shifts, were light-weight linen, and some men’s breeches and sailor’s cassocks were made of heavier linen canvas. Linen waistcoats and aprons were common. As long wearing and reliable a product linen clothing was it was not indestructible and required repair or replacement over time. In England, the importance of having flax on hand to process into thread for sewing or weaving into cloth, is reflected in the law created in the 16th century, requiring that a quarter of an acre (one rood) of flax be planted for every sixty acres under cultivation.[ii]

            In the early years after settling Plymouth, the colonist relied on ships coming out of England for nearly everything manufactured they needed including furnishings, tools, shoes, and clothing. As Bradford noted upon landing in his Of Plymouth Plantation, “they had now no friends to welcome them nor inns to entertain or refresh their weather-beaten bodies; no houses or much less towns to repair to, to seek for succor.”[iii]

            Bradford knew that for the colony to be viable long term, they would have to become more self-reliant. Rather than wait for cloth, and clothing to come from ships out of England, the colonists would, in time, manufacture their own. In 1639 the Plymouth Colony passed a requirement that “every house holder, sow one rodd of ground square at least with hemp or flax yearly.”[iv] A rod is a measurement 16.5 feet in length so a square rod would equal 272.25 square feet.

In the Jabez Howland house, (the original structure was built in 1667) there are a number of spinning wheels exhibited reflecting the importance of textile production to the colonists. Presumably Jabez and his family grew flax in the back garden.
A distaff, treadle wheel used for spinning flax into linen thread

The inventory of John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley’s home at Rocky Nook at John’s death in 1672 records they had on hand “17 yards of flax” among the textiles and owned at least 3 wheels for spinning.
The above walking wheel is on display at the Jabez Howland House.
It was used for wool or cotton spinning.

Like so much of life in Plymouth Colony, textile production was a laborious process that started with sowing the seeds for flax in early spring. The seeds are broadcast in prepared ground in the same manner as grass seed. The plants grow close together and once matured leave little room for weeds to take hold among them.

The plants grow to about 2-3 feet in height and mature in about 100 days. To harvest, the entire plant was pulled from the ground, roots and all and left to dry for a several weeks. When the stalks have dried the seeds are separated from the stalks by passing them through iron combs in a process called rippling, and saved for processing on their own. The multi-step process of separating the inner part of the plant, the bast, from the outer bark layer takes several weeks and is called retting.

Retting softens the outer bark with moisture, either the ambient moisture in the air if the stalks are left on the ground, in a pond of water, or in a running stream that carries away the decomposing plant matter. In general, a stagnant water source like a pond or a bog will ret the flax more quickly but results in the build-up of foul odors from biological break-down of the outer fiber.[v] In the Plymouth Colony records in 1641 land around the “Eel River swamps” was reserved for growing flax or hemp.[vi]

When thoroughly wet and partial decomposed the whole plant must be dried again which will take several more weeks.

Through another series of steps, the linen fiber is finally separated from the outer layer of the plant. The dried plant is first beaten against a brake, that is, a wooden board or a bench or something solid. Then a blunt wooden knife is used to skutch the flax, knocking off the outer bark. Then the fiber is drawn through a series of metal combs or spikes to remove any remaining bark, or outer fibers from the linen. It is estimated that over 85% of the plant is removed in producing the linen fibers for spinning.[vii]

From left to right: Dried flax, Scutching knife, brake, hackling comb, and finish flax ready for spinning.

Of course, this is only the first step to produce linen cloth. The fiber must be spun on a wheel, then soaked and dried to set the spin of the thread, before woven on a loom to produce bolts of cloth from which clothing can be made. These steps require more skilled labor but many people in the colony would be familiar with the process. Those who had lived in the Netherlands before coming to Plymouth would be familiar with, if not proficient in many textile producing techniques.

Commercial looms and spinners eventually took over from the householders for the production of linen in Plymouth colony but that was all in the future, a future those pilgrims gazing up at the white linen sails of Mayflower as they made their way across the sea could only dream about.

This is a fun video from the Monreagh Heritage Center in county Donigal, Ireland in which
Colm Clarke explains how they produced linen in Ireland until the 1950's starting with sowing the seeds in early spring.


The site, New England Flax & Linen is a great resource of
online information about all things flax and linen

The start of our flax bed at the Jabez Howland House 
(The 3'x10' bed is only about 10% the size of a square rod's worth of flax plants)
The sail shaped marker was designed as inspiration for the young flax plants. 

                                                                                  Endnotes

[i] Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flax
[ii] National Park Services website: www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/flax-production-in-the-seventeenth-century.htm
[iii] Bradford, Of Plimoth Plantation, Morison edition, pg. 61.
[iv] Plymouth Colony Records, XI part 1, pg. 32. June 4, 1639.
[v] Website: https://www.decktowel.com/pages/how-linen-is-made-from-flax-to-fabric
[vi] Plymouth colony Court Records: July 6, 1641. Pg. 247.
[vii] National Park Service website: www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/flax-production-in-the-seventeenth-century.htm