Trade Winds: the unheralded story of Christopher Jones

Image: The Mayflower, II, from Wikimedia, source unknown.

A long, long time ago (400 years to be exact), a city merchant approached a ship owner with the proposition to pilot several dozen men, women and children across the Atlantic in his commercial cargo vessel. Upon reaching their destination, he was to drop anchor, bring them ashore along with their possessions and provisions, leave them at the edge of the wilderness, then turn his ship around to head back home. And, that's what happened. But, instead of the crossing taking a few weeks, as anticipated, it turned into an odyssey that lasted for several months, and ultimately cost the ship owner his life.

Say the name, Christopher Jones, and most people have no idea of his relationship to the fabled founding of our country, and yet his claim in history is just as germane as the likes of those historical superstars, Miles Standish and William Bradford of Plymouth Plantation fame. When Thomas Weston, that city merchant, acting as agent for the joint-stock company invested in the plan to bring 102 souls over 3000 miles across the ocean to religious freedom, approached Jones, he jumped at the opportunity. With a large (and growing) family to support, Jones needed the work. Plus, shifting European economics were hitting the wealthy class right in their money bags, leaving the cargo trade, Jones's line of work, diminished. With his prospects becoming predictably lean, he declared an affirming "yes" to the offer—after all, what could go wrong?

Christopher Jones (c. 1570—about 5 March 1622) was part owner of the Mayflower, a merchant vessel, and he was also the Ship's Master (the title "Captain" was reserved for military ships). He descended from a line of seafaring skippers from Harwich, England, and upon reaching the age of 18 he inherited an interest in the Marie Fortune, a cargo ship willed to him ten years earlier when his father died. It appears from that moment on, Christopher Jones, led a fairly charmed life—that is until the Mayflower voyage of 1620.

Shortly after receiving his inheritance, Jones made two consecutive marriages to women who brought with them substantial marital portions that included shipping interests, property, and wealth, thusly increasing both his prosperity and social standing. And, although he was never considered a gentleman by class, he did enjoy the appointment of "capital burgess" by King James I; in other words, he was kind of a "somebody" around his Harwich neighborhood, where he worked and lived.

His first marriage to his neighbor, 17-year old, Sara Twitt, in 1593 produced their only child, Thomas, who was born within the year, but died in 1596. Sara died at the age of 27 in 1603. Just a few months later, that same year, Jones married his second wife, the 19-year old widow, Josian Gray (nee Thompson), to whom he was married until his death. Together they had eight children between 1604—1621.

By 1611, the expanding Jones family relocated to Rotherhithe, situated along the river Thames in the docklands section. That same year it was noted in records that Jones owned a quarter share of the Mayflower, and when not docked in the Thames between cargo runs, the ship (along with at least two other ships he co-owned) took him to ports throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, and very possibly as far northwest as Greenland. His merchant vessels carried primarily wine and wool, but at times also hats, hemp, Spanish salt, hops, as well as vinegar to Norway. Up until the Mayflower voyage Jones had only transported goods, never people.

Image: cross-section of the Mayflower's interior spaces, souce unknown

During the summer of 1620, Jones assembled a crew of roughly 30 men. After a few particular fits and starts, the voyage to North America began smoothly enough on September 6, 1620 (except for widespread, severe sea sickness), but as the ship encountered rough seas brought on by ocean storms, the days turned into weeks, and at one point, toward the end of the 66-day journey, they were almost shipwrecked. In fact, the vessel was so battered there was concern it might not remain sea worthy. This, and other extenuating circumstances hastened their decision to seriously explore the Cape Cod area over the next several weeks, and on December 25, 1620, several expeditions later, construction began on the first rudimentary structures at Plymouth.

Besides rampant scurvy, a particularly harsh winter ensued. Coupled with less than adequate shelter, some unknown virus also spread among the passengers and crew, who were mostly holed up on the ship; in their weakened state many were unable to rally. By late winter of 1621, with their provisions running out, the surviving passengers and crew (about half) were close to starvation. Making matters even more dire, local area tribes were beginning to close in on the settlement, but then, miraculously, the native, Tisquantum, appeared on the scene, and literally saved the lot of them from imminent annihilation (read: "A Seat at the Table").

Only half of the people survived the first winter at Plymouth. Throughout all of this misfortune, Christopher Jones, along with his diminished crew remained in Plymouth Harbor aboard the Mayflower. With their health severely compromised, they were too ill to make the trip back to England as planned. It was not until April 5th that Jones, and most of the surviving crew, were finally well enough to head home. The return trip took half the time of the initial voyage, and was in contrast, uneventful.

Upon his arrival home, Jones met his eighth child, a son named, John, who had been born during the transatlantic voyage. By summer, Jones had recuperated enough to resume his seafaring trade around Europe, but the severe deprivations he had suffered had taken a permanent toll on his well being, and he died within a year of his return.

Without his nautical talents to pilot the Mayflower, the ship became a "rotting hulk" in the mudflats along the Thames near his home in Rotherhithe; it was eventually dismantled and sold for scrap—a rather unromantic end to an epic tale of perseverance and luck at the edge of the world. Like his ship, Christopher Jones's remains have been lost, too, somewhere within the churchyard of his parish, St. Mary the Virgin, Rotherhithe. There, a monument was erected by the National Society of the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, which memorializes his contribution to the genesis of American history.

Image: Master of the Mayflower, source unknown

"Master of the Mayflower" was created by Jamie Sargeant, an English sculptor of public art. The monument depicts a figure looking back towards the Old World, while carrying a child looking forward to the New. It was dedicated at St. Mary's on July 2, 1995.

The plinth reads: To the memory of Christopher Jones 1570—1622 Master of the Mayflower. He landed 102 planters and adventurers at Plymouth Massachusetts 21 Dec 1620. They formed the Mayflower Compact the first permanent colony in New England.