d spring-water was wanting; and lastly, at
Agawam, now Ipswich, twenty leagues to the north, was an excellent
harbor, better ground, and better fishing. Robert Coppin, their pilot,
likewise informed them of "a great and navigable river and good harbour
in the other headland of the bay, almost right over against Cape Cod,"
which he had formerly visited, and which was called "Thievish Harbor."

A third expedition, therefore, was agreed upon; and though the weather
was unfavorable, and some difficulty was experienced in clearing
Billingsgate Point, they reached the weather shore, and there "had
better sailing." Yet bitter was the cold, and the spray, as it froze on
them, gave them the appearance of being encased in glittering mail. At
night their rendezvous was near Great Meadow Creek; and early in the
morning, after an encounter with the Indians, in which no one was
wounded, their journey was resumed, their destination being the harbor
which Coppin had described to them, and which he assured them could be
reached in a few hours' sailing. Through rain and snow they steered
their course; but by the middle of the afternoon a fearful storm raged;
the hinges of their rudder were broken; the mast was split, the sail was
rent, and the inmates of the shallop were in imminent peril; yet, by
God's mercy, they survived the first shock, and, favored by a flood
tide, steered into the harbor. A glance satisfied the pilot that it was
not the place he sought; and in an agony of despair he exclaimed: "Lord
be merciful to us! My eyes never saw this place before!" In his frenzy
he would have run the boat ashore among the breakers; but an intrepid
seaman resolutely shouted, "About with her, or we are lost!" And
instantly obeying, with hard rowing, dark as it was, with the wind
howling fiercely, and the rain dashing furiously, they shot under the
lee of an island and moored until morning.

The next day the island was explored--now known as Clarke's Island--and
the clothing of the adventurers was carefully dried; but, excusable as
it might have been under the circumstances in which they were placed to
have immediately resumed their researches, the Sabbath was devoutly and
sacredly observed.

On Monday, December 11th, O. S., a landing was effected upon
Forefather's Rock. The site of this stone was preserved by tradition,
and a venerable contemporary of several of the Pilgrims, whose head was
silvered with the frost of ninety-five winters, set