Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647

Almost immediately, Ashley confirms the Pilgrims' worst fears by neglecting to pay the colony back for goods it had supplied him with. Instead, he ships large amounts of beaver back to England, disrupting the Pilgrims' relationship with their backers, who begin to be "more eager to supply him than the colony, and even somewhat disparage it in comparison" (143).

Nevertheless, the Pilgrims continue to wait for supplies through the spring of 1630, occasionally hearing rumors about ships that have gone to Ashley or that have had to turn back due to bad weather. Even more alarmingly, they hear that Allerton has bought a ship without their knowledge. The Pilgrims send Edward Winslow to investigate the claim and potentially discharge Allerton, but one of the English partners—a man named Hatherley—arrives in Plymouth before Winslow can do this. A letter from Sherley explains that Hatherley has been sent to look over Plymouth's accounts. It also states that Allerton and the partners bought a ship for fishing called the White Angel, which Hatherley himself explains Allerton will soon be arriving on. The Pilgrims are upset both that Hatherley's ship has not brought them the supplies they expected and that a second ship was bought without consulting them.

When Allerton finally arrives, he and Hatherley reassure the Pilgrims that they do not need to have any dealings with the White Angel unless they want to. Allerton, however, has again brought goods back to sell privately, so when he leaves with the White Angel, the Pilgrims make sure to explain to Hatherley that Allerton "played his own game, not only to the great detriment of the partners at the colony […] but also to that of the partners in England also, by prejudicing them against the settlement" (146). Hatherley accordingly returns to England later that year with goods from the colony and with letters informing the partners that the Pilgrims are no longer employing Allerton and do not wish to be charged for the White Angel.

Several other significant events also occur in 1630, including the first execution in the new colony. In addition, the Pilgrims manage to catch Ashley trading weapons to local tribes and consequently send him back to England. Although he eventually manages to free himself, he dies in a shipwreck before he is able to return to America. Finally, Bradford inserts letters describing a sickness that has broken out in Boston and Charleston; the Pilgrims, as well as other Puritans in the region, feel that the disease is God's judgment, and they are heartened to learn that some residents of Charleston desire to "take counsel of those at New Plymouth" (149).

With Ashley and Allerton gone, the Pilgrims are better able to manage their business. Winslow, however, is unable to prevent the White Angel being charged to the Pilgrims' account. Furthermore, he writes that Sherley at some point got hold of the power of attorney the Pilgrims had arranged with Allerton and now refuses to give it up “that being the instrument of [the] agents' credit to procure such sums" (150).

Bradford inserts two letters from Sherley on the same topics. In the first, Sherley suggests that Allerton is to blame for any misunderstandings that have arisen, and not just because the partners believed him to be acting on the Pilgrims' behalf. Allerton, Sherley says, persuaded them to enter into business with Ashley by claiming that the Pilgrims would not be able to repay their debts. Later letters from Sherley continue in the same vein. Sherley says that the decision to buy the White Angel was Allerton's, and that it is now clear, looking at the accounts Allerton has provided him with, that both the partners' and the Pilgrims' business has been mismanaged: "Had Mr. Allerton gone on in that risky and expensive way one year more we should not have been able to meet his expenditure…. […] Had there been an orderly course taken and your business better managed, by the blessing of God yours would have been the ablest colony we know of, undertaken by Englishmen" (152).

These letters convince Bradford that the idea to buy the White Angel was indeed Allerton's and that Allerton "may not have intended to wrong the plantation, [but that] his own private ends led him astray" (153). The extent of this "wrong" (152) becomes clear when Governor Bradford goes over Allerton's accounts for himself and discovers that Plymouth Plantation is now deeply in debt: "Into such huge sums had Mr. Allerton run them in two years, for at the end of 1628 all their debts did not much exceed £400, as will be remembered; now they amounted to as many thousands!" (154). Furthermore, Allerton makes no effort to help Plymouth out of its dilemma, instead leaving to set up his own competing trading operation close to the Pilgrims' trading house in Kennebec. Allerton's underhanded practices come back to haunt him when he sells on credit to "loose and drunken fellows"(155) who do not repay him. Allerton therefore returns to Plymouth, promising to mend his ways.

Meanwhile, the colony also faces other challenges, including the theft of goods from one of their trading houses by a group of Frenchmen. In addition, a man named Sir Christopher Gardiner—a descendant of a bishop who used to persecute English Protestants—also creates trouble when he arrives in America by, among other things, keeping a mistress. He therefore flees to live amongst a Native American tribe but quarrels with them as well and is returned to Plymouth.