Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680 Part 22

_14th, Sunday._ We went to church, but heard a most miserable sermon by a young person, a candidate.

_15th, Monday._ The burgesses drilled and exercised in the presence of the governor. There were eight companies on foot, and one on horseback, all which divided themselves into two troops or squadrons, and operated against each other in a sham battle, which was well performed.[430] It took place on a large plain on the side of the city. It did not however terminate so well, but that a commander on horseback was wounded on the side of his face near the eye, by the shot of a fusil, as it is usually the case that some accident happens on such occasions. It was so in New York at the last parade, when two young men on horseback coming towards each other as hard as they could, to discharge their pistols, dashed against each other, and fell instantly with their horses. It was supposed they were both killed, and also their horses, for there were no signs of life in them; but they were bled immediately, and after two or three hours they began to recover, and in two days were able to go out again. One of the horses died. We went to see John Teller, and paid him for the wine and brandy. He seemed to have more confidence in us. We gave him to read, as further proofs, the letters which Mr. Ephraim Hermans and Mr. John Moll had written to us from the South River, both of whom he knew. He told us the Reformed of Roch.e.l.le had sent some deputies to the colony of Boston and the Independent church there to request the liberty to come over and live in a place near them, or among them, and in their country, which was granted them; and that they returned home three months ago.[431]

[Footnote 430: Detailed orders for this general training and sham-fight, as executed in 1686 by eight companies of foot and four troops of horse, may be seen in the _Proceedings_ of the Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, x.x.xIII. 328-330.]

[Footnote 431: A dozen Huguenots came to Boston the next year, and in 1686 a settlement of them was formed at Oxford, Ma.s.sachusetts.]

_16th, Tuesday._ We packed our goods in readiness to leave.

_17th, Wednesday._ We placed our goods on board s.h.i.+p.

_18th, Thursday._ We took leave of Mr. Teller, thanking him for his attention and kindness, and presented him with a copy of our _Cantiques Sacres_,[432] for which he was thankful. We would cheerfully have given him the _Maximes_[433] also, but our goods were packed on board the s.h.i.+p, and we could not get at them. He was now of a better mind and well satisfied, returning us our letters with thanks. While we were sitting at table this noon, it thundered very hard, whereupon one of the daughters of the woman of the house where we were staying commenced to scream and cry. We asked her if she were afraid of the thunder, upon which her mother inquired of us, if we were not. We said no, but the word had scarcely escaped our lips before there came a frightful clap, which seemed to cleave the heart from the body, and entirely changed our ideas. My comrade, Mr.

Vorsman, turned as pale as a white sheet, and could hardly speak. I was fearful he had met with some mishap, but he recovered himself. It was said there had scarcely ever been heard there such thunder. One man was killed, and two others not far from being so. These three persons were running in a field, and two of them seeing and hearing the weather lay down flat on the ground under a tree; the third man played stout and brave, jeering at the others who called to him to come with them. Soon the lightning struck him dead to the earth, and separated the other two from each other. There was also a hard rock, not far from our lodgings, split through.

[Footnote 432: Labadie's _Cantiques Sacres_ are to be found in _Fragmens de Quelques Poesies et Sentimens d'Esprit de M. Labadie_ (Amsterdam, 1678), but it would seem that they must also have been issued separately.]

[Footnote 433: Labadie, _Abrege du Veritable Christianisme Theorique et Pratique, ou Recueil de Maximes Chrestiennes_ (Amsterdam, 1670).]

_19th, Friday, and 20th, Sat.u.r.day._ Nothing occurred.

_21st, Sunday._ Coming out of the church, Mr. Teller spoke to us, and invited us to dine with him, but we thanked him.

_22d, Monday._ We took our leave, and went on board the s.h.i.+p, which was all ready to sail, except that they were waiting for the captain.

_23d, Tuesday._ After some delay the captain came on board with the rest of the pa.s.sengers, accompanied by many of their friends. Weighed anchor at three o'clock in the afternoon, it being almost low water, and set sail with a southwest and south-southwest wind. In pa.s.sing the fort we fired the salvo, which it answered; the pilot and the company then left us and we put to sea. But before going further to sea we must give a brief description of New England, and the city of Boston in particular.

When New Netherland was first discovered by the Hollanders, the evidence is that New England was not known; because the Dutch East India Company then sought a pa.s.sage by the west, through which to sail to j.a.pan and China; and if New England had been then discovered, they would not have sought a pa.s.sage there, knowing it to be the main land; just as when New Netherland and New England did become known, such a pa.s.sage was sought no longer through them, but farther to the north through Davis and Hudson straits. The Hollanders, when they discovered New Netherland, embraced under that name and t.i.tle all the coast from Virginia or Cape Hinloopen eastwardly to Cape Cod, as it was then and there discovered by them and designated by Dutch names, as sufficiently appears by the charts. The English afterwards discovered New England and settled there.[434] They increased so in consequence of the great liberties and favorable privileges which the king granted to the Independents, that they went to live not only west of Cape Cod and Rhode Island, but also on Long Island and other places, and even took possession of the whole of the Fresh River,[435] which the Hollanders there were not able to prevent, in consequence of their small force in New Netherland, and the scanty population. The English went more readily to the west, because the land was much better there, and more accessible to vessels, and the climate was milder; and also because they could trade more conveniently with the Hollanders, and be supplied by them with provisions. New England is now described as extending from the Fresh River to Cape Cod and thence to Kennebec, comprising three provinces or colonies: Fresh River or Connecticut, Rhode Island and the other islands to Cape Cod, and Boston, which stretches from thence north. They are subject to no one, but acknowledge the king of England for their lord,[436] and therefore no s.h.i.+ps enter unless they have English pa.s.sports or commissions. They have free trade with all countries; but the return cargoes from there to Europe go to England, except those which go secretly to Holland.

There is no toll or duty paid upon merchandise exported or imported, nor is there any impost or tax paid upon land. Each province chooses its own governor from the magistracy, and the magistrates are chosen from the princ.i.p.al inhabitants, merchants or planters. They are all Independents in matters of religion, if it can be called religion; many of them perhaps more for the purposes of enjoying the benefit of its privileges than for any regard to truth and G.o.dliness. I observed that while the English flag or color has a red ground with a small white field in the uppermost corner, where there is a red cross, they have here dispensed with this cross in their colors, and preserved the rest.[437] They baptize no children except those of the members of the congregation. All their religion consists in observing Sunday, by not working or going into the taverns on that day; but the houses are worse than the taverns. No stranger or traveller can therefore be entertained on a Sunday, which begins at sunset on Sat.u.r.day, and continues until the same time on Sunday. At these two hours you see all their countenances change. Sat.u.r.day evening the constable goes round into all the taverns of the city for the purpose of stopping all noise and debauchery, which frequently causes him to stop his search, before his search causes the debauchery to stop. There is a penalty for cursing and swearing, such as they please to impose, the witnesses thereof being at liberty to insist upon it. Nevertheless you discover little difference between this and other places. Drinking and fighting occur there not less than elsewhere; and as to truth and true G.o.dliness, you must not expect more of them than of others. When we were there, four ministers' sons were learning the silversmith's trade.

[Footnote 434: This is to ignore the voyages of Gosnold, Pring, Weymouth, etc., and the settlement at Fort St. George in 1607.]

[Footnote 435: The Connecticut.]

[Footnote 436: The reading is _eer_, but _heer_ was of course intended. The control by the English king was much more real than is here indicated. The next sentence alludes to the Navigation Acts and their evasion. As to customs, Edward Randolph had in 1678 been appointed collector for New England, and had begun his conflict with the Ma.s.sachusetts authorities, but with little success thus far.

Land-taxes did in fact exist.]

[Footnote 437: On Endicott's cutting of the cross from the flag, in 1634, see Winthrop's _Journal_, in this series, I. 137, 174, 182.

Since the decision then reached (1636), the cross had been left out of all ensigns in Ma.s.sachusetts except that on Castle Island.]

The soil is not as fertile as in the west. Many persons leave there to go to the Delaware and New Jersey. They manure their lands with heads of fish. They gain their living mostly or very much by fish, which they salt and dry for selling; and by raising horses, oxen, and cows, as well as hogs and sheep, which they sell alive, or slaughtered and salted, in the Caribbean Islands and other places. They are not as good farmers as the Hollanders about New York.

As to Boston particularly, it lies in lat.i.tude 42 20' on a very fine bay. The city is quite large, const.i.tuting about twelve companies. It has three churches, or meeting houses, as they call them.[438] All the houses are made of thin, small cedar s.h.i.+ngles, nailed against frames, and then filled in with brick and other stuff; and so are their churches. For this reason these towns are so liable to fires, as have already happened several times; and the wonder to me is, that the whole city has not been burnt down, so light and dry are the materials. There is a large dock in front of it constructed of wooden piers, where the large s.h.i.+ps go to be careened and rigged; the smaller vessels all come up to the city. On the left-hand side across the river lies Charlestown, a considerable place, where there is some s.h.i.+pping. Upon the point of the bay, on the left hand, there is a block-house, along which a piece of water runs, called the Milk Ditch.[439] The whole place has been an island, but it is now joined to the main land by a low road to Roxbury. In front of the town there are many small islands, between which you pa.s.s in sailing in and out.

On one of the middlemost stands the fort, where the s.h.i.+ps show their pa.s.sports. At low tide the water in the channel between the islands is three and a half and four fathoms deep, in its shallowest part. You sail from the city southeasterly to the fort, by pa.s.sing Governor's island on the larboard, and having pa.s.sed the fort, you keep close to the south, then southeast, and gradually more to the east to the sea.

On reaching the sea we set our course due east, with the wind south-southeast, and made good progress.

[Footnote 438: The meeting-houses of the First Church, North Church, and South Church (built 1640, 1650, 1672).]

[Footnote 439: The battery at the foot of Fort Hill, north of which a cove and creek then ran to the foot of Milk Street. The narrow isthmus to Roxbury existed when the first settlers came.]

_24th, Wednesday._ The wind and our course continued the same; but it is to be observed, the compa.s.s here is a point and a half northwesting. We spoke an English s.h.i.+p bound to Virginia. We found our lat.i.tude [42] 40' north, and the distance we had sailed 96 miles.

_25th, Thursday._ The wind became more southerly, but we held our course the same as before, or east by south. Lat.i.tude 42 68'.

Distance reckoned to be 136 miles. The English s.h.i.+p which had remained in company until now, left us. It began to blow so hard in the evening that we had to reef the topsails and take in the mainsail, and proceed with the mizzen-sail and foresail.

_26th, Friday._ The wind was due south, although it had been a little more westerly during the night. We observed the lat.i.tude 42 51'; reckoned the distance run 96 miles.

We had stipulated, when we engaged our pa.s.sage, to eat in the cabin, but when we got to sea we did not do so. There were ten pa.s.sengers besides us two, and among them two females. These ten had jointly bought a large quant.i.ty of provisions and groceries, and placed them in the cabin, they having such power over the captain. We were therefore compelled to remain outside, although we remonstrated. We saw afterwards that it was the Lord's doings, who would not that we should be in nearer communion with such wicked persons. We then arranged to eat with the mate and another pa.s.senger above on the half deck. We four brought together what provisions we had, and were well satisfied with each other. We had to-day a good topsail breeze and fine weather.

_27th, Sat.u.r.day._ It was rainy during the night; and although our bunk was in the gunner's room, it leaked in there very much. At sunrise it cleared up a little. We could not obtain any observation, but supposed the lat.i.tude was 43. The course was east-southeast, the distance run 100 miles. As it was Sat.u.r.day evening a hog was killed, there being seven or eight on board the s.h.i.+p.

_28th, Sunday._ The weather was fine, with a westerly wind, but not an entirely clear atmosphere.

Among the pa.s.sengers in the cabin was a minister, an Independent, who had formerly been in the East Indies, at Bantam on the island of Java.

He had been visiting his friends in New England, but undoubtedly could not obtain any situation among them, and was returning to England in order to sail if he could in the first s.h.i.+ps back to the Indies. This poor minister, every morning and evening, made a prayer, read some chapters out of the Old and New Testaments, and sang a psalm, all after the manner of the Independents. On Sundays he preached both in the morning and afternoon, and we attended in order to avoid scandal and dissipate as much as possible the breath of calumny.

We could not obtain any alt.i.tude to-day, in consequence of the haze.

Our course had been almost the whole night southeast by east and the course was therefore east by south; the distance was upwards of eighty miles. At noon it became calm, afterwards rainy, and in the evening the wind changed to the northwest, but continued still....[440]

[Footnote 440: Several pages are here omitted, narrating nineteen days of voyaging, but containing nothing of importance or of interest. The _Dolphin's_ course was over the Newfoundland banks, and then around the north of Scotland into the North Sea.]

[AUGUST, 1680] _17th, Sat.u.r.day._ I slept very little last night in consequence of the noise. We had sailed during the night a little to the east, because our captain was afraid of falling on the island of Bus,[441] as he was not much west of it, though according to our reckoning he was to the east of it. We found our lat.i.tude was 57 30', and therefore hoped to pa.s.s Bus and the rock Rockol.[442] We sailed on several courses, but the one maintained was northeast by north. The distance sailed was 100 miles....

[Footnote 441: Buss Island has a curious history. It was reported as discovered in 1578, and again in 1668 and in 1671. An elaborate map of it was then published, and for a hundred years it appeared on charts of the North Atlantic as a considerable island, about lat. 58 N., long. 28 W. from Greenwich. But it has no existence and, though volcanic subsidence is possible, it probably never did exist.]

[Footnote 442: Rockall, a lofty and rocky islet in the North Atlantic, lat. 57 36' N., long. 13 41' W.]

_18th, Sunday._ We took an observation. Lat.i.tude 58 30'. It was very cold here and the days long. The wind continued northeast and north-northeast, with hard weather, which caused us to take in our sails, and about ten o'clock in the evening to tack about. I remained on deck myself, in order to keep a lookout for the great rock Rockol.

_19th, Monday._ We obtained an observation at 57 51', and we still more believed we were before the rock Rockol, which lies in 57 40': but we put our hope and trust in G.o.d, committing ourselves into His hands.

_20th, Tuesday._ It became gradually more still, and at last we could sail east-northeast, and northeast. We had sailed 72 miles. We could not take an observation.

_21st, Wednesday._ The wind was northwest, and our course east and east by north, with little headway. We found the lat.i.tude 58 10'; the course held was east by north; the distance 40 miles. We, therefore, supposed we were between Rockol and St. Kilda.[443] Towards evening the wind shot from the north-northwest, so that we could sail east-northeast, and afterwards northeast by east; but there was a rolling sea, and, therefore, we could not go ahead much because it came from the front. The wind however improved.

[Footnote 443: A remote island of the outer Hebrides, the westernmost of the group.]

_22d, Thursday._ The wind was west-northwest, and the course northeast by east, with the sea continuing to roll against us in front. We found ourselves at noon in 59 5', at which we rejoiced, because we had to enter the North Sea between the 59th and 60th degree. The distance sailed was 88 miles upon several courses. At noon the course was set northeast by east in order to sail above the island of little Barro.[444] There was a small purse made up by the pa.s.sengers, each one contributing what he pleased, for the person who should first discover land. We gave two s.h.i.+llings each. The minister would not give anything. It seems that meanness is a peculiarity of this cla.s.s of people. This was done in order that the sailors might look out more zealously for land, and so we might not fall upon land unexpectedly.

The purse was nailed to the mast, so that, being always in sight, it might be a constant incentive, and whoever might first see land might take it off. We were becalmed the whole night.

[Footnote 444: Apparently this does not mean the island of the Hebrides now called Barra, but that called Bernera, west of Lewis--Barra Major on some contemporary maps.]

_23d, Friday._ It was calm, beautiful weather. They thought they saw land, so the sailors said, and that it was Barro, but I could observe nothing. We also had greener water, and therefore supposed we were on soundings. The deep lead was thrown, but at 200 fathoms it came short.

The lat.i.tude was 59 34', the wind northeast, and we sailed east, for we were almost in the lat.i.tude of the south point of Shetland. We saw, several times, quant.i.ties of spermaceti drifting, a yellowish fat, which lies in the water, all together, but solid like the green sc.u.m which floats in ditches. We also saw rockweed floating; and a small land bird came on board the s.h.i.+p, from which we concluded we were approaching land. The wind was more free, and after running out and in it remained north-northeast. It blew so hard that the topsails had to be reefed at first, and then taken in. We sailed sometimes east, then east by north and east by south, and again east.

_24th, Sat.u.r.day._ It blew very hard from the north-northeast accompanied by rain, and we therefore could not ascertain the lat.i.tude but reckoned we were in 59 20'. The course was held half way between east and south, which brought us near the before mentioned rocks. It became calm at night.

_25th, Sunday._ It continued calm until noon. We obtained the lat.i.tude, 59 30'. Our progress was 40 miles, and the course a little more north than east. At noon the wind was south and south-southeast, with a fresh breeze. We saw this morning a flock of land birds, like finches; also pigeons and small gulls, which keep themselves on the sh.o.r.e. Towards evening it was very foggy. We sailed during the night east-southeast.