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This elimination renders it inevitable that "Master Williamson" must have been of the ship's company. It remains to determine, if possible, what position upon the MAY-FLOWER'S roster he presumably held.
The catkins already formed on the alder, quite prepared to droop into April's beauty, the white edges of the May-flower's petals, already visible through the bud, show in advance that winter is but a slight and temporary retardation of the life of Nature, and that the barrier which separates November from March is not really more solid than that which parts the sunset from the sunrise.
It is indeed remarkable that, totally unused to any such conditions, wet, cold, poorly fed, overcrowded, storm-tossed, bruised and beaten, anxious, and with no homes to welcome them, exposed to new hardships and dangers on landing, worn and exhausted, any of the MAY-FLOWER'S company survived.
To a very few time-worn and venerated relics such as Brewster's chair and one or more books, Myles Standish's Plymouth sword, the Peregrine White cradle, Winslow's pewter, and one or two of Bradford's books a strong probability attaches that they were in veritate, as traditionally avowed, part of the MAY-FLOWER'S freight, but of even these the fact cannot be proven beyond the possibility of a doubt.
All of the foregoing, with numerous lesser articles, have received mention in the early literature of the Pilgrim exodus, and were undeniably part of the MAY-FLOWER'S lading. The MAY-FLOWER origin claimed for the "Governor Carver chair" and the "Elder Brewster chair" rests wholly upon tradition, and upon the venerable pattern and aspect of the chairs themselves.
The MAY-FLOWER'S officers and crew were, as we know, hired for the voyage, and there is no good reason to suppose that the second mate of the MAY-FLOWER was dismissed at Plymouth and Coppin put in his place which would not be equally potent for such an exchange between the first mate of the SPEEDWELL and Clarke of the MAY-FLOWER. The assumption presumes too much.
We have seen that the "pilot," John Clarke, was employed by Weston and Cushman, even before the vessel upon which he was to serve had been found, and he had hence the distinction of being the first man "shipped" of the MAY-FLOWER'S complement.
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