The Life and Times of John Livingston [pp. 428-450]

John Livingston. 441
thoughts towards America. A number of persons, among~
whom were several ministers, determined to set sail for New
England, and having built a vessel of about 115 tons at Bel fast, they held themselves in readiness to go in the spring of
1636. They did not actually sail until the month of Septem ber. The number of passengers for America was about a
hundred and forty. Tlhe manner in which this design was
disappointed will be best learned from the author's own
words:
"We set to sea, and for some space had a fair wind, till we
were between three and bfour hundred leagues from Ireland, and
so nearer the banks of Newfoundland,l than any place of Europe;
but if ever the Lord spake by his winds and dispensations, it was
made evident to us, that it was not his will that we should go to
New England. For we met with a mighty heavy rain out of the
North-west, which did break our rudder, which we got mended,
with much of our gallon head, and four cross-trees, and tore our
foresail, five or six of our champlets made up a great beam under
the gunner-room-door broke; seas camne in over the round-house,
and broke a plank or two in the deck, and wet all them that were
between the decks; we sprung a-leak, that gave us seven hundred strokes in two pumps in the half-hour glass; yet we lay at
hull a long time, to beat out that storm, yet wve milght be sure in
that season of the year wve would foroathler with one or two more
of that sort, before we could reach New England. After prayer,
when we were consulting what to do, I propounded an overture,
wherewith I was somewhat perplexed thereafter, viz:'That sceeing we thought we had the Lord's warrant for our intended voyage; howbeit it be presumption to propose a sign to him, yet we
being in such a strait, and having stood out some days already; we
might yet for twenty-four hours stand( to it, and if in that time he
were pleased to calm the storm, and send a fair wind, we might
take it for his approbation of our advancing; otherwise that he
called us to return.' To this we all agreed, but that day, and
especially the night thereafter, we had the worst storm that we
had seen; so that the next morning so sooni as we saw day, we
turned and made good way with a main course and a little of a
foretopsail, and after some tossing we came at last on the third of
November, to an anchor at Loch-fergus. During all this time,
amidst such fears and (langers, the most part of the passengers
were very cheerful and confident. Mr. Blair was much of the
time weakly, and lay in time of storm; I was sometimes sick, and
then my brother M'Clellan only p)erfcrmned duty in the ship; several of those between the decks, being throng, were sicklily. An