Hiring a ship,
marking it as one of the most notable and important of Pilgrim
"red-letter days."
(e) The demonstration of the fact that the ship of which Weston and
Cushman took "the refusal," on Saturday, June 10/20, 1620, was not the
MAY-FLOWER, as Young, Deane, Goodwin, and other historians allege.
(f) The demonstration of the fact (overthrowing the author's own earlier
views) that the estimates and criticisms of Robinson, Carver, Brown,
Goodwin, and others upon Robert Cushman were unwarranted, unjust, and
cruel, and that he was, in fact, second to none in efficient service to
the Pilgrims; and hence so ranks in title to grateful appreciation and
memory.
(g) The demonstration of the fact that the MAY-FLOWER was not chartered
later than June 19/29, 1620, and was probably chartered in the week of
June 12/22 - June 19/29 of that year.
(h) The addition of several new names to the list of the Merchant
Adventurers, hitherto unpublished as such, with considerable new data
concerning the list in general.
(i) The demonstration of the fact that Martin and Mullens, of the
MAY-FLOWER colonists, were also Merchant Adventurers, while William
White was probably such.
(j) The demonstration of the fact that "Master Williamson," the
much-mooted incognito of Bradford's "Mourt's Relation" (whose existence
even has often been denied by Pilgrim writers), was none other than the
"ship's-merchant," or "purser" of the MAY-FLOWER, - hitherto unknown as
one of her officers, and historically wholly unidentified.
