from a group of merchants. Carver and Cushman quarrelled with Weston, and each other, over finances, contractual terms, shipping and provisions for the journey, to the point where Carver despaired of the whole venture. ‘We have begun to build’, he said, ‘and shall not be able to make an end.’ Cushman talked of 'a flat schism' between them. After Weston had hired the Mayflower ship, Cushman and Carver, as purchasing agents for the Leiden congregation, began to secure supplies and provisions in London and Canterbury. The More children As the Separatists gathered in London, they were joined by the More children, who were placed under the care of Weston, Cushman, and Carver. John Carver and Robert Cushman had jointly agreed to find them guardians among the passengers. The children were sent to the Mayflower by Samuel More, the husband of their mother Katherine, after an admission of her adultery. The children were to be indentured servants to certain passengers: Elinor, age eight, to Edward and Elizabeth Winslow; Jasper, seven, to the Carvers; and both Richard, five, and Mary, four, to William and Mary Brewster. All of the children except Richard died in the first winter of 1620. Attempts to leave England on the Speedwell The Mayflower sailed from London with its passengers at the end of July, 1620, to take on supplies and meet up with the Speedwell from Leiden at Southampton. When it was time to leave Southampton, in August 1620, Cushman made sure he joined his friends aboard the Speedwell, but the ship was not seaworthy. Cushman stated: "(S)he is as open and leaky as a sieve". Soon after Mayflower and Speedwell cleared the coast, they put in for repairs at Dartmouth, a port 75 miles west of Southampton. The repairs were completed on 17 August, but they were forced to remain in Dartmouth due to lack of wind. By then half their food had been eaten. In his writings Cushman was very concerned about this. Many of the passengers wanted to abandon the voyage, even though, to many, it meant losing everything they possessed. Cushman stated that the Mayflower captain refused to let them off. "(H)e will not hear them, nor suffer them to go ashore," Cushman stated, "lest they should run away." The months of tension had caught up with Cushman and he began to suffer a searing pain in his chest – "a bundle of