Crossing the Atlantic in the 1630s
Winthrop and Mather Journals Give First Hand Account of Voyages
“Our children and others that were sick and lay groaning in the cabins were fetched out and having stretched a rope from the steerage to the mainmast, we made them stand, some on one side and some on the other, and (did) sway it up and down until they were warm, and by this means they soon grew well and merry.”
So wrote John Winthrop April 12, 1630, aboard the ship Arbella. The trip of these dissident puritans was arranged by the Massachusetts Bay Company, which chose Winthrop as their governor.
Caught 93 Cod
A lot happened June 7. They found a fertile fishing ground. In two hours they caught 67 cod, “some a yard and a half long and a yard in compass (circumference),” Gov. Winthrop wrote. Their salt fish was gone so all had a good feast . Later, they caught another 26 cod.
Same day: “A woman was delivered of a child in our ship, stillborn,” Winthrop reported. Other days he wrote of seeing whales, becalmed seas and stormy weather.
Winthrop’s journal contains--in addition to his account of the two-month voyage--over a decade more of the colony’s history. It has been reprinted many times.
Rev. Mather's Journey
Their 1635 journey was barely underway when Rev. Richard Mather, aboard the James, went with Captain Taylor aboard their sister ship, the Angel Gabriel. There they found much sickness, including small pox, but dined well with the captain on cheese, mutton and roast turkey.
A couple weeks later they had rough seas; many aboard their own ship became seasick. That was just the beginning. On Aug. 15, besieged with rain and wind, they lost three anchors and later their sails were “split in pieces as though they were rotten rags.” It was the last they saw of the Angel Gabriel.
When they came to anchor before Boston, Rev. Mather gave thanks “that God had put an end to our long journey, being 1,000 leagues, and that is 3,000 English miles, over one of the greatest seas of the world…for though we were in a ship with 100 passengers, besides 23 seamen, 23 cows and heifers, 3 suckling calves and 8 mares, yet not one (of) these died.”
Many Lost Lives
Bad news awaited them. The last storm they weathered had uprooted trees on shore. A bark sailing from Boston to Marblehead lost 21 on board. The Angel Gabriel, anchored at Pemaquid, was broken into pieces. Most cattle and other goods perished; several people died.
Most members of Mather’s group remained near Boston at Dorchester. He became a famed puritan preacher, as did his son, Increase Mather, and his grandson, Cotton Mather. His journal was first published by the Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society.
Men of position, such as Winthrop and Mather, fared better than many. They often brought their own food and had shipboard privacy. An ordinary family of five might spend 70 days on the rolling sea in an area the size of today’s smallest bathroom. When there was no middle deck, they were at one end of the hold and the animals at the other.
On some ships the death toll was staggering. Buckets were used for calls of nature and retching. Unsanitary conditions bred disease, as did having no fruit and vegetables.
