the North River in Scituate; "but there are no "great navigable river and
good harbor" in conjunction in the neighborhood of Manomet, or of the
North River,--the former having no river and the latter no harbor. If
Coppin had not declared that he had never seen the mouth of Plymouth
harbor before ("mine eyes never saw this place before"), it might readily
have been believed that Plymouth harbor was the "Thievish Harbor" of his
description, so well do they correspond.

Goodwin, the brother of Mrs. Austin, quite at variance with his sister's
conclusions, states, with every probability confirming him, that the
harbor Coppin sought "may have been Boston, Ipswich, Newburyport, or
Portsmouth."

As a result of his "relation" as to a desirable harbor, Coppin was made
the "pilot" of the "third expedition," which left the ship in the
shallop, Wednesday, December 6, and, after varying disasters and a narrow
escape from shipwreck--through Coppin's mistake--landed Friday night
after dark, in the storm, on the island previously mentioned, ever since
called "Clarke's Island," at the mouth of Plymouth harbor.

Nothing further is known of Coppin except that he returned to England
with the ship. He has passed into history only as Robert Coppin, "the
second mate" (or "pilot") of the MAY-FLOWER.


But one other officer in merchant ships of the MAY-FLOWER class in her
day was dignified by the address of "Master" (or Mister), or had rank
with the Captain and Mates as a quarter-deck officer,--except in those
instances where a surgeon or a chaplain was carried. That the MAY-FLOWER
carried no special ship's-surgeon has been supposed from the fact of Dr.