n in New
England" and was trading between that port, "the Barbadoes" and London,
it is not impossible that she may have been built at Boston--a sort of
namesake descendant of the historic ship--and was that MAY-FLOWER
mentioned as belonging, in 1657, to Mr. Samuel Vassall; as he had large
interests alike in Boston, Barbadoes, and London. Masters of vessels
were often empowered to sell their ships or shares in them. Although we
know not where her keel was laid, by what master she was built, or where
she laid her timbers when her work was done, by virtue of her grand
service to humanity, her fame is secure, and her name written among the
few, the immortal names that were not born to die.

CHAPTER V

THE OFFICERS AND CREW OF THE MAYFLOWER

The officers and crew of the MAY-FLOWER were obviously important factors
in the success of the Pilgrim undertaking, and it is of interest to know
what we may concerning them. We have seen that the "pilot," John Clarke,
was employed by Weston and Cushman, even before the vessel upon which he
was to serve had been found, and he had hence the distinction of being
the first man "shipped" of the MAY-FLOWER'S complement. It is evident
that he was promptly hired on its being known that he had recently
returned from a voyage to Virginia in the cattle-ship FALCON, as certain
to be of value in the colonists' undertakings.

Knowing that the Adventurers' agents were seeking both a ship and a
master for her, it was the natural thing for the latter, that he should
propose the Captain under whom he had last sailed, on much the same
voyage as that now contemplated. It is an interesting fact that
something of the uncertainty which for a time existed as to the names and
features of the Pilgrim barks attaches the names and identity of their
respective commanders. The "given" name of "Master" Reynolds, "pilott"
and "Master" of the SPEED WELL, does not appear, but the assertion of
Professor Arber, though positive enough, that "the Christian name of the
Captain of the MAY-FLOWER is not known," is not accepted by other
authorities in Pilgrim history, though it is true that it does not find
mention in the contemporaneous accounts of the Pilgrim ship and her
voyage.

There is no room for doubt that the Captain of the FALCON--whose release
from arrest while under charge of piracy the Earl of Warwick procured,
that he might take command of the above-named cattle-ship on her voyage
to Virginia, as h