Of Their Voyage and How They Passed the Sea; and of Their Safe Arrival at Cape Cod
[1620] SEPTEMBER 6 . . . After they1 had enjoyed fair winds and weather for a season, they were encountered many times with crosswinds, and met
with many fierce storms, with which the ship was shrewdly2 shaken, and her upper works made very leaky; and one of the main beams in the mid ships
was bowed and cracked, which put them in some fear that the ship could not be able to perform the voyage. So some of the chief of the company,
perceiving the mariners to fear the sufficiency of the ship, as appeared by their mutterings, they entered into serious consultation with the master and
other officers of the ship, to consider in time of the danger; and rather to return then to cast themselves into a desperate and inevitable peril . And truly
there was great distraction and difference of opinion amongst the mariners themselves; fain3 would they do what could be done for their wages’ sake
(being now half the seas over), and on the other hand they were loath to hazard their lives too desperately. But in examining of all opinions, the master
and others affirmed they knew the ship to be strong and firm under water; and for the buckling of the main beam, there was a great iron screw the
passengers brought out of Holland, which would raise the beam into his place; the which being done, the carpenter and master affirmed that with a post
under it, set firm in the lower deck, and other ways bound, he would make it sufficient. And as for the decks and upper works, they would caulk them as
well as they could, and though with the working of the ship they would not long keep staunch,4 yet there would otherwise be no great danger, if they did
not over-press her with sails. So they committed themselves to the will of God, and resolved to proceed.
In sundry of these storms the winds were so fierce, and the seas so high, as they could not bear a knot of sail, but were forced to hull,5 for diverse day
together. And in one of them, as they thus lay at hull, in a mighty storm, a lusty6 young man (called John Howland) coming upon some occasion above
the gratings, was, with a seele7 of the ship thrown into [the sea]; but it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail halyards,8 which hung overboard,
and ran out at length; yet he held his hold (though he was sundry fathoms under water) till he was held up by the same rope to the brim of the water, and
then with a boat hook and other means got into the ship again, and his life saved; and though he was something ill with it, yet he lived many years after,
and became a profitable member both in church and commonwealth. In all this voyage there died but one of the passengers, which was William Butten,
a youth, servant to Samuel Fuller, when they drew near the coast.
But to omit other things (that I may be brief), after long beating at sea they fell with that land which is called Cape Cod; the which being made and
certainly known to be it, they were not a little joyful. After some deliberation had amongst themselves and with the master of the ship, they tacked
about09 and resolved to stand for the southward (the wind and weather being fair) to find some place about Hudson’s River for their habitation. But after
they had sailed that course about half the day, they fell amongst dangerous shoals10 and roaring breakers, and they were so far entangled therewith as
they conceived themselves in great danger; and the wind shrinking upon them withal,11 they resolved to bear up again for the Cape, and thought
themselves happy to get out of those dangers before night overtook them, as by God’s providence they did. And the next day they got into the Cape
harbor,12 where they rid in safety. . . .
Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the
vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper
element. . . .
But here I cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half amazed at this poor people’s present condition; and so I think will the reader too, when he
well considers the same. Being thus passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation (as may be remembered by that which went
before), 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.13 It is recorded in Scripture14 as a mercy to the apostle and his shipwrecked company, that the barbarians showed them no small
kindness in refreshing them, but these savage barbarians, when they met with them (as after will appear) were readier to fill their sides full of arrows then
otherwise. And for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and
fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search an unknown coast. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate
wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men? And what multitudes there might be of them they knew not. . . . What could now sustain them but the spirit
of God and his grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean,
and were ready to perish in this wilderness; 15 but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity, etc. 16 Let them
therefore praise the Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure forever. . . .