Waterfront2

On the Waterfront: Plymouth’s Maritime History continued

PILGRIMS ON THE SHORE

In late autumn, 1620, the Mayflower, a ship of 180 tons —its draft too deep for the relatively shallow harbor— lay at anchor over a mile from Plymouth’s shore. At high tide a smaller vessel of 70-80 tons might have approached the shore. Initial explorations of the area were accomplished in the ship’s longboat. A shallop (a vessel that could be rowed or sailed) had been carried on the Mayflower partially dismantled and used for extra sleeping quarters for the overflow of passengers.

The shallop required 16-17 days to make ready for use on the water and afterwards remained in constant use. The harbor provided food for the colonists from the first. Edward Winslow described the bounty in a letter to George Morton in England

For fish and fowl we have great abundance; fresh cod in the summer is but coarse meat with us; our bay is full of lobsters all the summer and affordeth variety of other fish, in September we can take a hogshead of eels in a night….

Indeed, the abundant cod and mackerel provided a good living, and sometimes wealth, to uncounted Plymoutheans through the ensuing centuries. By the 1770s, Plymouth boasted 75 fishing vessels with crews of 7 or 8 men. In 1832 James Thacher described provisions needed for a typical fishing voyage

To fit a vessel of 70 tons, carrying 8 men, for a fishing voyage of 4 months, it requires…800 bushels of salt…20 barrels of clam bait, 35-40 barrels of water, 20 lbs. of candles, 2 gallons of sperm oil….After these articles [and the stone ballast and clothes for the men who salt the fish] are paid for, the profits are divided …3/8 to the owners and 5/8 to the crew. If he furnishes his own provisions, each man carries 30-50 lbs. ship bread, 3-6 gallons molasses, 14-28 lbs. of flour, some butter, lard, vinegar, and [traditionally] 2-6 gallons of rum….Each man carries 6 codlines…4 lead weights of 5 lbs. each…24 codhooks, one pair large boots reaching above the knees…a piece of leather or oil-cloth to defend his breast against the wet…[also paid for by each man] 2 cords wood, a barrel of beef, 1 bushel beans, 20 of potatoes, 3 of meal….The fish are brought home in the salt, and after being washed are spread on flakes to dry.

Thacher, History of the Town of Plymouth, 3^rd. ed.,
1972, p. 314-317

The Mayflower Pilgrims lost no time preparing a first shipment of raw materials back to England. Shortly after delivering 35 new settlers in the fall of 1621, the Fortune sailed for London laden with beaver skins, clapboards, and a valuable cache of medicinal sassafras, only to lose her precious cargo to French privateers near England. Despite this initial calamity, shipments of fish, timber, furs and other North American commodities allowed Plymouth to build a profitable trans-Atlantic trade and to develop a thriving coastal trade with the Carolinas for corn, rice and hogs, and the West Indies for coffee, molasses and rum. Later, Plymouth’s ships and men rounded “the horn” of South America in search of Pacific whales and eastern riches.

Returning vessels from Liverpool brought finished goods into the colonies (forbidden to export any but raw materials). The highly desired imports included punch bowls, teacups and teapots (and tea), handkerchiefs and pocketknives.
		Teapot, Andrianus Kocks Pottery, Delft, Holland, 1686-1701. Tin-glazed earthenware.

In 1769 the Brig Lydia sailed to Liverpool carrying a purchase order for

1 doz blue & wh China cups & saucers, 1 doz round Yellow Shoe Buckles, 1 doz round White Ditto, 1 doz blue & wh Linnen Handkfs, ½ doz pen knives, ¼ doz best Ditto for pens, 2 blue & wh 3 quart punch bowls, ½ doz 2 quart wh stone mugs.