That she had no chaplain goes without saying. The Pilgrims had their
spiritual adviser with them in the person of Elder Brewster, and were not
likely to tolerate a priest of either the English or the Romish church on
a vessel carrying them. The officer referred to was the representative
of the business interests of the owner or chartering-party, on whose
account the ship made the voyage; and in that day was known as the
"ship's-merchant," later as the "purser," and in some relations as the
"supercargo." No mention of an officer thus designated, belonging to the
MAY-FLOWER, has ever been made by any writer, so far as known, and it
devolves upon the author to indicate his existence and to establish, so
far as possible, both this and his identity.

A certain "Master Williamson," whose name and presence, though but once
mentioned by Governor Bradford, have greatly puzzled Pilgrim historians,
seems to have filled this berth on board the MAY-FLOWER. Bradford tells
us that on Thursday, March 22, 1620/21, "Master Williamson" was
designated to accompany Captain Standish--practically as an officer
of the guard--to receive and escort the Pokanoket chief, Massasoit,
to Governor Carver, on the occasion of the former's first visit of state.
Prior to the recent discovery in London, by an American genealogist, of a
copy of the nuncupative will of Master William Mullens, one of the MAY-
FLOWER Pilgrims, clearly dictated to Governor John Carver on board the
ship, in the harbor of New Plymouth (probably) Wednesday, February 21,
1620 (though not written out by Carver till April 2, 1620), on which day
(as we learn from Bradford), Master Mullens died, no other mention of
"Master Williamson" than that above quoted was known, and his very
existence was seriously questioned. In this will, as elsewhere noted,
"Master Williamson" is named as one of the "Overseers." By most early
writers it was held that Bradford had unwittingly substituted the name
"Williamson" for that of Allerton, and this view--apparently for no