Peter Arenstam - The Mighty Mastiff of the Mayflower

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Text copyright 2012 by Peter Arenstam

Illustrations copyright 2012 by Karen Busch Holman

All rights reserved

First published 2012

e-book edition 2012

Manufactured in the United States

ISBN 978.1.61423.820.1

Library of Congress CIP data applied for.

print edition ISBN 978.1.60949.609.8

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For Sue,

with whom I have shared

a lifelong voyage of discovery.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

Nearly Over Before It Begins

It is late in the day, late in the year and it may be too late to turn back to land. A mastiff stands on the deck of a small merchant ship named Speedwell. Despite her size and the many passengers aboard, she feels small and lonely looking out over the sea. A second merchant ship sailing in company coasts alongside, spilling the wind out of its sails, interrupting her thoughts of home and family. Keeping away a safe distance, the towering ship wallows in the deep swell, exposing its white painted hull with each roll.

We cannot gain on the leak. I fear we must bear up or sink at sea! Master Reynolds shouts from the Speedwell across the heaving waves. Water spurts from a log pump on deck, worked continuously by two straining crewmen. He raises his voice to be heard over the canvas sails shaking in the steady wind.

We can scarce free her of water with continued pumping, Reynolds adds. Passengers and sailors line the rails of both ships looking across at one another. The dog braces her paws against the rolling motion, eyeing the distance between the two ships.

Steady, now. No escaping for you, John Goodman says. He puts his hand on the dogs neck and rubs her fur with affection. Our lot is here on the Speedwell. God will watch over us. The ridges that appear on the dogs forehead suggest she is not so sure.

Looking out at the assembled passengers, the mastiff watches as the deacon staggers to the rail while his young servant Will Butten struggles to support him. The deacon is once again sick into the sea. The rail seems closer to the waters surface than ever before.

We must bear up and back to land, Reynolds hollers over to Master Jones, standing on the deck of the Mayflower. Or we will all soon be meat for the fishes. They cannot make out Joness growled reply, but his command to brace around and haul in the sheets for a course to Lands End might have been heard all the way back at Southampton and the pups the mastiff has left behind.

The larger ship surges ahead with the wind in her six sails. The dog on the Speedwell watches its stern slide by, the crisply painted carving of a mayflower glowing as it catches the last light of the dying day.

The Speedwell, under reduced sail to ease the pressure on the leaking hull, follows the Mayflower toward a safe anchorage in the southwest of England. The two days back to land are among the quietest and saddest since the Speedwell left Holland in July. The mastiff spends her time on deck dozing in a corner by the forecastle out of the wind and the sailors way. Her thoughts return to home and her four little ones left behind. She can only guess how they are faring without her.

This is the second attempt to leave the coast of England, and it has ended the same as the first. The leaking Speedwell forced both ships to turn back, the first time into Dartmouth. For the mastiff in the pre-dawn light, sniffing the wind at the rail for familiar scents, there is some hope of getting free. Maybe the ship will go all the way back to Southampton this time.

Land looms on the horizon, a dark lump like a sailors thrum cap, against a backdrop of purple in the sky hinting at where the sun will soon rise. The mastiff focuses on the mass of land as it grows bigger. Everything she knowsher old master, her new litter of pups, the old snug bed and the open fields she used to romp inis together on the growing bit of home. Her legs tense with the thought of returning, with the hope of springing ashore, with the need to be with her family and care for them, to care for someone.

Will Butten appears beside the dog. The mastiff can tell by the chamber pot Will struggles to hold upright to the rail that Master Fuller is still not used to the sea. In the growing light, Will shivers as he washes out the pot in a tub of salt water. If Master Fuller were to cast once more, he will turn himself inside out, Will says, looking at the dog. I fear he has not the constitution for sea travel. Will cups the mastiffs chin in his hand and with a good-natured shake says, You are lucky to have this fresh air and room of the deck now. If what I hear being spoken of below is true, soon enough well all be living cheek by jowl.

As the sun rises, the mastiff can make out more details of her surroundings. The English Channel stretches before the ship like the great road to London. Vessels bound on matters great and small make their own way across the waters. Billowing sails dot the scene like white caps at sea. Ahead, the Mayflower alters course, veering off for the high hills surrounding the entrance to a great harbor. The mastiff can see it is not Southampton after all. This is not her home.

Stand by to alter course! Master Reynolds shouts from his place of command on the deck. Get the anchors ready to fall, the mate barks at the crew. We will be anchored off the barbican by six bells. The mastiff turns from the rail. Since they are returning to Plymouth in England and not her home of Southampton, she wont be seeing her family. She has no interest in what is ahead on shore.

CHAPTER TWO

A Last Chance and a New Start

While the crew is busy once again searching out the source of the leak, a small number of passengers on either ship are allowed on shore. The mastiff, happy to have dry land under her paws, even after such a short time at sea, noses about the stack of barrels and chests removed from the Speedwell during the repairs. A red spotted spaniel races by, chasing the ships cat through the maze of provisions.

Here now, John Goodman shouts. Come back at once! He stomps his foot, but the spaniel pays him no mind. We will not be allowed ashore again if you cannot behave, he calls out to the dog as it disappears. The mastiff has little interest in the chase but watches as the cat streaks up onto a stack of tun barrels, where she sits smiling down at the two dogs. The mastiff continues her investigation, wandering up the pier, keeping an eye on her new master, John Goodman. The young spaniel runs in circles barking, trying to look menacing, oblivious to everyone.