Papers of the Winthrop Family, Volume 2
1630-07-07
The Lyon went backe to Salem.1
Thomas Dudley's “Letter to the Countess of Lincoln” explains the move from Salem to Charlestown, early in July: “... we began to consult of the place of our sitting down; for Salem, where we landed, pleased us not. And to that purpose, some were sent to the Bay, to search up the rivers for a convenient place; . . . we found a place . . . up Charles River; and thereupon unshipped our goods into other vessels, and with much cost and labor brought them in July to Charlestown.” When Winthrop wrote “The Lyon went backe to Salem,” he himself was at Charlestown. Young, Chronicles, 314–316.
The Lion sailed from Bristol in February and arrived at Salem in May, 1630. It was this ship, Captain Peirce, Master, wisely hurried back by Winthrop to “Bristow” for provisions, the arrival of which in February, 1631, saved the Colony. Dudley states that there returned to England in the Lion: “Mr. Revell, one of the five undertakers here for the joint stock of the Company, and Mr. Vassall, one of the Assistants, and his family, and also Mr. Bright, a minister sent hither the year before.” See supra, page 153,
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