ed to go in the SPEEDWELL, . . . that he sailed with
them [the Pilgrims] in the SPEED WELL, but on her final putting back was
transferred to the MAY-FLOWER." As we have seen in another relation,
Dr. Dexter also believed Coppin to have been the "pilot" sent over by
Cushman to Leyden, in May, 1620, and we have found both views to be
untenable. It was doubtless because of this mistaken view that Dr.
Dexter believed that Coppin was "hired to go in the SPEEDWELL," and, the
premise being wrong, the conclusion is sequentially incorrect. But there
are abundant reasons for thinking that Dexter's "impression" is wholly
mistaken. It would be unreasonable to suppose (as both vessels were
expected to cross the ocean), that each had not--certainly on leaving
Southampton her full complement of officers. If so, each undoubtedly had
her second mate. The MAY-FLOWER'S officers and crew were, as we know,
hired for the voyage, and there is no good reason to suppose that the
second mate of the MAY-FLOWER was dismissed at Plymouth and Coppin put in
his place which would not be equally potent for such an exchange between
the first mate of the SPEEDWELL and Clarke of the MAY-FLOWER. The
assumption presumes too much. In fact, there can be no doubt that
Dexter's misconception was enbased upon, and arose from, the unwarranted
impression that Coppin was the "pilot" sent over to Leyden. It is not
likely that, when the SPEEDWELL'S officers were so evidently anxious to
escape the voyage, they would seek transfer to the MAY-FLOWER.

Charles Deane, the editor of Bradford's "Historie" (ed.1865), makes,
in indexing, the clerical error of referring to Coppin as the
"master-gunner," an error doubtless occasioned by the fact that in the
text referred to, the words, "two of the masters-mates, Master Clarke
and Master Coppin, the master-gunner," etc., were run so near together
that the mistake was readily made.

In "Mourt's Relation" it appears that in the conferences that were held
aboard the ship in Cape Cod harbor, as to the most desirable place for
the colonists to locate, "Robert Coppin our pilot, made relation of a
great navigable river and great harbor in the headland of the Bay, almost
right over against Cape Cod, being a right line not much above eight
leagues distant," etc. Mrs. Jane G. Austin asserts, though absolutely
without warrant of any reliable authority, known tradition, or
probability, that "Coppin's harbor . . . afterward proved