In the case of Master John Hampden, the only other notable incognito of early Pilgrim literature, the description is full, and the only question concerning him has been of his identity with John Hampden, the English patriot of the Cromwellian era.  It is, therefore, not too much to assert that the may-Flower carried a “ship’s-merchant” (or purser), and that “Master Williamson” was that officer.  If close-linked circumstantial evidence is ever to be relied upon, it clearly establishes in this case the identity of the “Master Williamson” who was Governor Bradford’s incognito, and the person of the same name mentioned a month earlier in “Master” Mullens’s will; as also the fact that in him we have a new officer of the may Flower, hitherto unknown as such to Pilgrim literature.  If Mr. Bowman’s belief as to Giles Heale (see note) proves correct, we have yet another, the Surgeon.

The Carpenter, Gunner, Boatswain, Quartermaster, and “Masters-mates” are the only “petty officers” of the Pilgrim ship of whom any record makes mention.  The carpenter is named several times, and was evidently, as might be expected, one of the most useful men of the ship’s crew.  Called into requisition, doubtless, in the conferences as to the condition of the Speedwell, on both of her returns to port, at the inception of the voyage, he was especially in evidence when, in mid-ocean, “the cracking and bending of a great deck-beam,” and the “shaken” condition of “the upper works” of the may-Flower, gave rise to much alarm, and it was by his labors and devices, and the use of the now famous “jack-screw,” that the bending beam and leaking deck were made secure.  The repairs upon the shallop in Cape Cod harbor also devolved upon him, and mention is made of his illness and the dependence placed upon him.  No doubt, in the construction of the first dwellings and of the ordnance platform on the hill, etc., he was the devising and principal workman.  He undoubtedly returned to England with the ship, and is known in history only by his “billet,” as “the carpenter” of the may-Flower.

The Master Gunner seems to have been a man with a proclivity for Indian barter, that led him to seek a place with the “third expedition” at Cape Cod, thereby nearly accomplishing his death, which indeed occurred later, in Plymouth harbor, not long before the return of the ship.

The Boatswain is known, by Bradford’s records, to have died in the general sickness which attacked the crew while lying in Plymouth harbor.  The brief narrative of his sickness and death is all that we know of his personality.  The writer says:  “He was a proud young man, and would often curse and scoff at the passengers,” but being nursed when dying, by those of them who remained aboard, after his shipmates had deserted him in their craven fear of infection, “he bewailed his former conduct,” saying, “Oh! you, I now see, show your love like Christians indeed, one to another, but we let one another lie and die like dogs.”