As we join the exploratory voyages of d'Halve Maen, the ship has spent the last few days anchored off the coast of what's now New Jersey while five sailors are dispatched to explore the nearby shores using the ship's sloep, a small support boat. Two days ago, the crew suffered their only casualty on this voyage; an English sailor, John Colman, took an arrow to the throat while exploring the Kill Van Kull (the waterway that separates Staten Island from New Jersey). Just yesterday, the four survivors managed to return to the ship and report their news and deliver Colman's body. The crew returned Colman to shore for a proper burial, naming the site in his honor. Today, this location is generally regarded as being Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
Returning to the ship, the crew hoisted their support boat out of the water, turning it on its side to create an impromptu fortification. Feeling beseiged, the crew remains at anchor through another two nights. The day after the burial, another group of natives approach the ship for trade. These visitors are likely members of the Lenape nation, and the crew stand poised for another attack. However, these people appear to be unrelated to whatever group attacked the sloep on the Kill Van Kull and have no knowledge of Colman's death.
The eight, was very faire weather, wee rode still very quietly. The people came aboord vs, and brought Tobacco and Indian wheat, to exchange for Kniues and Beades, and offered vs no violence. So we sitting vp our Boate did marke them, to see if they would make any shew of the Death of our man; which they did not. |
