The Mayflower and Her Log; July 15, 1620-May 6, 1621 — Volume 5 by Azel Ames
page 17 of 39 (43%)
page 17 of 39 (43%)
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them [the Adventurers] but what they first brought with them;" and again,
"They never had any supply of vitales more afterwards (but what the Lord gave them otherwise), for all ye company [the Adventurers] sent at any time was allways too short for those people yt came with it." The clothing supplies of the Pilgrims included hats, caps, shirts, neck- cloths, jerkins, doublets, waistcoats, breeches (stuff and leather), "hosen," stockings, shoes, boots, belts (girdles), cloth, piece-goods (dress-stuff's), "haberdasherie," etc., etc., all of which, with minor items for men's and women's use, find mention in their early narratives, accounts, and correspondence. By the will of Mr. Mullens it appears that he had twenty-one dozen of shoes and thirteen pairs of boots on board, doubtless intended as medium of exchange or barter. By the terms of the. contract with the colonists, the Merchant Adventurers were to supply all their actual necessities of Clothing food, clothing, etc., for the full term of seven years, during which the labors of the "planters" were to be for the joint account. Whether under this agreement they were bound to fully "outfit" the colonists before they embarked (and did so), as was done by Higginson's company coming to Salem in 1628-29 at considerable cost per capita, and as was done for those of the Leyden people who came over in 1629 with Pierce in the MAY-FLOWER and the TALBOT to Salem, and again in 1630 with the same Master (Pierce) in the LION by the Plymouth successors to the Adventurers (without recompense), does not clearly appear. No mention is found of any "outfitting" of the MAY-FLOWER passengers except the London apprentices. There is no doubt that a considerable supply of all the above-named articles was necessarily sent by the Adventurers on the MAY-FLOWER, both for the Pilgrims' needs on the voyage and in the new colony, as also for trading purposes. There seems to have been at all times a supreme anxiety, on the part of both Pilgrim and Puritan settlers, to get English clothes upon their red brethren of |
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