The Perilous Crossing and Immigration in Colonial Times

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow using only that information within the passage.
Every emigrant, whether a wealthy proprietor or deported convict, had no choice but to endure a common ordeal—the voyage across the Atlantic. 

Mariners of the colonial period followed one of two routes between Europe and North America: the long, pleasant route by the Azores and West Indies; or the short route against prevailing headwinds across the stormy North Atlantic. Their course was at best tortuous, owing in part to the crudity of instruments for determining latitude and longitude. Most seamen measured the sun's height with a cross-staff. This often resulted in great errors in angular measurement because the observer was usually blinded by the sun's rays. 

Modem air travelers notice that the flight from America to Europe is generally an hour or two shorter than the trip in the opposite direction. This is because the prevailing winds blow from west to east, speeding up the Europe-bound travelers, but slowing down those going to America. The prevailing winds blew in the same direction hundreds of years ago, making the voyage from Europe to colonial America a long-drawn-out trip of from six weeks to four months or more. The trip was not only tedious but perilous in the extreme. 

Few of us today, able to fly halfway around the globe in a few hours, recline in a cushioned chair, dine on palatable food, and be entertained by music and motion pictures, can grasp the difficulties, hardships, and dangers of travel in past centuries, or can feel in our hearts the terrors, doubts, and fears that beset the prospective voyager. 

Because voyages were often fatal, men frequently made their wills before embarking. William Moulle, about to sail from Plymouth, England, to Virginia in the middle 1600s, wrote to his brother in London: "And I leave this (if I should die at sea and not been taken prisoner,) that you should have the little I take with me to sea. , . ." 

The perils of an ocean voyage are crystalized in the prayer "For a Person or Persons going to Sea" written in 1789, and adapted from the 1662 edition of the English Book of Common Prayer: ". . . We commend to thy almighty protection, the servant, for whose preservation on the great deep our prayers are desired. Guard him, we beseech thee, from the dangers of the sea, from sickness, from the violence of enemies, and from every evil to which he may be exposed. Conduct him in safety to the haven where he would be. ... " 

To the suppliant of earlier days, every word rang with a keen and special meaning. "The dangers of the sea" were a real threat to seafarers of the seventeenth and the eighteenth 

Immigration in Colonial Times
Pitifully small in comparison with modern ocean liners, colonial vessels averaged an overall length of from 50 to 90 feet, and in general were less than one-tenth the size of a vessel of today, exposing occupants to every vagary of wind and wave. Clumsy and top-heavy, the early ships pitched and tossed alarmingly. Sails of canvas and rigging made of wood and hemp were subject to frequent damage from wind and water. The high bow and stem were remnants of medieval days when ships were floating battlegrounds to be won or lost by hand-to-hand fighting and combatants required fortified shelter which overlooked the enemy. From the low central portion .men, were often washed overboard. And they were rarely picked up, because of the ships' poor maneuverability and because few seamen or landsmen could swim. 

Added to natural hazards were other dangers. "Sickness" was considered a concomitant with sea travel. Shipboard fever, scurvy, dysentery, smallpox, plague, and other assorted ailments resulted in frequent deaths. In 1730, the day after the brigantine Fortune set out from London on its "intended voyage with Cod's Permission towards Boston," two passengers were "taken sick and full of Paine, and at least 6 smallpox broke out upon them very thickly." 

"The violence of enemies" meant attack by pirates who infested the seas, or by privateers, vessels authorized by nations to supply deficiencies in their naval forces, which frequently resorted to piracy. Such marauders might seize or sink a ship and kill or enslave its passengers. These captures were not rare, isolated instances involving an occasional ship and a few individuals, but common occurrences. In 1625 the Mayor of Plymouth, England, wrote that in one year 1000 sailors, besides ships, had been taken by pirates. In 1636 some 50 men and boys and 7 women were on their wav to Virginia in the Little David when they were all captured by pirates and sold as slaves. English women were much sought after because they brought high prices to the Mediterranean slave markets. In 1637 the Elizabeth was taken by Spanish warships, and her 120 passengers were carried to Spain and imprisoned. 

A happier incident took place in 1720. A party of Scotch-Irish immigrants were on their wav from Londonderry to New Hampshire when pirates boarded the ship. Just then Mrs. James Wilson gave birth to a girl. The pirate captain offered to spare the ship and its passengers, provided the baby was named for his mother, Marv. He is said to have built the handsome Ocean-born-Marv House in Henniker, New Hampshire, for Marv, where she lived to be ninety-four years old, 

"Every evil to which he may be exposed" covered a multitude of circumstances from insufficient or spoiled stores of food such as weevily biscuits and stinking beer to mutiny or even cannibalism. In 1649 the Virginia Merchant sailed for America with 350 aboard but was prevented by gales from entering Chesapeake Bay. Food ran low. "A well-grown rat was sold for sixteen shillings at a market rate. . . ." 

Some of the party were put ashore on an island, where "the living fed upon the dead; four of our company having the happiness to end their miserable lives." The survivors were rescued by some friendly Indians and taken to York River after a Journey of twenty-two weeks.3 

What words could express the thankfulness of the traveler fortunate enough to be conducted "in safety to the haven where he would be "? 

Living conditions on ships were primitive and crowded, privacy was an impossibility, and sanitation was rudimentary. The food was monotonous and frequently spoiled. Pickled beef and pork, peas, beans, bacon, salt fish, oatmeal, cheese, butter, biscuits, and beer are some of the items listed as stores. 
Most of the passengers were herded in the between-decks area. Usually, the only private cabin belonged to the ship's master, who frequently gave it up and retired to the chart room to allow persons of importance to occupy his quarters. 

Conditions aboard ships bringing indentured servants (See Broadsheet V) to the Colonies were often so bad that more than half of the company died. Some masters confined all these bondsmen and bondswomen in hold and did not release them until all were sold in America. 

Even worse were the slave ships, on which African captives, often shackled, grew sick and died by the thousands under debasing and inhuman treatment. It was said that the resulting stench of slave ships could be smelled from a long distance away, causing other vessels to give them a wide berth. 
To increase profits, as many Africans as possible were packed into the ships* holds, with less space for each individual than if he were in a coffin. An English reformer, the Reverend John Newton, wrote that "the slaves lie in two rows, one above the other, on each side of the ship, close to each other like books upon a shelf." With food inadequate, sanitation nonexistent, and ventilation minimal, sickness was inevitable. Many slave ships lost half or two-thirds of their human cargo. An average of 12 percent perished on each voyage. It is surprising that any survived. 

Describe the two main routes mariners of the colonial period would take between Europe and North America.

Explain the difficulties and inaccuracies faced by seamen when measuring latitude and longitude during the colonial period.

Discuss the impact of prevailing winds on the duration of voyages from America to Europe and vice versa.

Compare the travel experiences of modern air travelers with those of voyagers from past centuries.

What were some common practices and sentiments of individuals prior to embarking on a voyage across the Atlantic?

Identify the various perils faced by seafarers during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Describe the size and construction of colonial vessels and the implications for their occupants.

Explain the types of dangers other than natural hazards that travelers faced at sea.

Provide an account of the living conditions on ships during colonial times.

Discuss the conditions and mortality rates of ships carrying indentured servants and slaves.