Mayflower Part IV

On Monday November 13^th the entire ships company went ashore in shifts. They brought a 30' auxiliary sail boat called a shallop, they intended to use it for coastal exploration and perhaps trading with the Indians.

The shallop had been severely damaged on the trip and was brought ashore to commence repairs. They spent the day working on the shallop and exploring the new land.

The pilgrims were anxious to establish a settlement so their explorations became quite intense and the men were divided into several search parties, to survey the entire peninsula of Cape Cod.

Myles Standish, William Bradford, Steven Hopkins, Edward Tilley and twelve other men departed as a search party. They went to explore a river they observed while entering the harbor.

While exploring the area of what is now Providence Point they encountered a group of six Indians and their dog. As soon as the Indians saw the sixteen men they ran into the woods.

The exploratory party wanted to make contact with the Indians, so they began tracking them until darkness over came them. They made camp on the trail and established a perimeter which they posted guards on shifts.

The next day their search didn't turn up any results. The underbrush was heavy and the pilgrims lost there trail but they did find a fresh water spring and some corn fields that had been abandoned.

On the side of a hill they found some old ship planks,  a kettle. There was evidence of a burial site which they excavated and found a basket with 36 ears of Indian corn. This was corn that the Indians would use for seed in the upcoming planting season.

This site became known to history as Corn Hill. They explored further and found the Pamet River and then returned to the fresh water spring to set camp.

The next morning on November 17^th they broke camp and set out  to return to the Mayflower, however they became bewildered in the woods, and lost their way.

They then came upon a Indian trap set for deer. However all that was caught in the trap was William Bradford, who stepped on it during a moment of inattention.

They were able to make it back to the ship by sunset and signaled the ship which sent out a long boat to retrieve the shore party.

Stormy weather set in on the Pilgrims with snow squalls. They decided to wait for the schallop to be repaired which was ten days later and a party of twenty four under the command of Captain Christopher Jones set out in the schallop and a long boat to explore the Pamet River.

 But were held up for another day,due to sea conditions and heavy rain.

This is where the name Cold Harbor came from. They hiked several miles over the rough terrain along the Pamet River. It had snowed heavily the night before leaving 6 inches on the ground for the Pilgrims to contend with.

The Pilgrims spent the next week discussing their exploration in search for an acceptable site for a settlement so far corn hill was winning. It was elevated above the rest of the surrounding area with view of the Ocean and Cape Cod Bay however they were concerned about a fresh water source.

A decision was made to make one more exploratory trip this time circumnavigating the shores of Cape Cod Bay.

Sixteen men left in two boats late the following day. As a sailor myself I question the motivation of some of these decisions.

It was below freezing, spray from the motion of the boats were freezing on their clothing, they were going into the wind but weren't making any headway and they left late in the day.

The sun sets early in December in Massachusetts, therefore it must have been almost dusk when they left. They were looking for rivers, bays, and inlets and any cove's that would give protection from the sea and have an approachable shore line.

Most of the creeks and rivers were frozen over they eventually came to what is now called Wellfleet Harbor. Dusk was upon them so they made a landing and set camp in what is modern Eastham Massachusetts.

As they arrived they saw a group of Indians on shore who were cleaning a catch of fish, when the Indians saw the Pilgrims they ran off into the woods.

Because of the late hour they gathered firewood and set a perimeter and guards on shifts. In the darkness they could smell smoke from the Indian camp which they estimated to be five miles away. They were sure the Indians could smell and see their fire also. Most likely they had a team of warriors observing them also.

In the morning they divided up into two groups of eight. One group would continue to explore the area by shallop and the other group to explore by land.

They didn't find any significant waterways leading into the bay. The group of pilgrims on land however had much better luck.

They found Indian footprints on the beach and followed them until they entered the woods, they continued to follow the foot prints past a pond and then continued into a cornfield that looked abandoned.

They continued past another pond and some more corn fields. They continued on and encountered a burial ground. They are seeing signs of Indians all around them but no Indians so far.

They then came upon what appeared to be a group of five Indian houses that were abandoned. As evening was close they traced their trail back to the shore where they met with the group on the shallop and once again set camp, established a perimeter and established a sentry rotation schedule.

Around midnight the pilgrims awoke to the repeated yells from from the sentry “arm-arm”. Then they heard a high pitched noise that they haven't heard before.

There were reports from other explorers from when they were in New Newfoundland, they heard similar noises which they thought were from wolves or foxes.

 They shot their muskets into the air and the screeching noise stopped.

They went back to sleep and arose around five in the morning and began preparations for the day.

Then the hideous screeching started again and then the sentry's came running into the camp yelling those are men! Then the whistling of many arrows began pelting the camp.

The pilgrims began firing their muskets into the air then one of the pilgrims spotted a Indian in the predawn light by a tree, he shot at him three times before he responded, and ran off into the woods, yelling for his companions to follow.

Hostilities were exchanged on both sides but there weren't any injuries or death. The pilgrims named this place “First Encounter Beach”.

The pilgrims continued with their explorations continuing on the coast of the Cape Cod Bay searching for harbors, rivers and creeks which would be well situated for a settlement.