The Wordy Shipmates

King Charles I of England chartered the Massachusetts Bay Company to undertake the Puritan settlement expedition. The company had grown out of earlier mercantilist endeavors (it had once been the Virginia Company of Plymouth in 1607). The charter authorized the colonization of “all the land between three miles north of the Merrimack River and three miles south of the Charles River, stretching ‘from sea to sea’” (73). Though the first colony remained coastal, colonists took the somewhat radical step of establishing self-government through a charter loophole. The most enduring aspect of their self-governing structure was “regularly scheduled voting” (74). Vowell classifies the colony as “a sort of republic—the most severely limited, totalitarian, closed-minded, vindictive, hard-ass republic possible” (75).

This limited representative government was not democracy: Winthrop was anti-democratic based on his reading of the Bible. Winthrop instead stressed governmental paternalism: A governor was like a father who should care for his charges/children, sometimes favoring a “tough love” approach and at other times being condescending. This was how Winthrop governed the colony. It also explains the Puritans’ non-Separatist relationship with the Church of England; Winthrop and company perceived of the church and the English state as parents who required deference and love.

Vowell’s research meant working with archivists at the Massachusetts Historical Society, where she read Winthrop’s journals, captivated that the water stains were Atlantic sea spray from hundreds of years ago.

In the journals, Winthrop wrote about “the extremes of what he had on his mind before leaving home” in 1630 (82). He mused over both poignant Bible verses that he would use in “A Model of Christian Charity” and logistical concerns, like provisions, that needed to be readied for the trip. He also wrote in detail about the Atlantic crossing, including notes on weather and navigation.

Winthrop and company landed in Salem, where a Massachusetts Bay Company “advance man” received them (88). Life was difficult for the emigrants: Winthrop’s son drowned in Salem, and not long after, the most prominent couple in the group also died. Many more followed; others suffered from exposure and lack of access to basic necessities like fresh water.

Winthrop relocated the colonists to Boston, which seemed to provide some degree of security, but Vowell ends the section with a reminder about “how miserable all the settlers were” (96). She references the short-lived sitcom Thanks, which spoofed the Massachusetts Bay colonists’ endeavor and presented “the optimism behind the image of the city on a hill” as the central joke of the show (97).