In 1657, things were difficult for Quakers in the New World.
Early Quakers were not welcome by the established religions in the colonies. Massachusetts even passed a law that would fine any shipmaster who knowingly brought Quakers to port, and a lesser fine on anyone who imported or possessed a Quaker book.
On his “Orphan George” website, Jnana Hodson tells the remarkable story of Robert Fowler of Bridlington, Yorkshire, England. Fowler built and sailed a ship – the Woodhouse – specifically to transport Quakers across the Atlantic Ocean to the colonies.
Fowler’s mission sounds a bit crazy, but Rufus Jones writes in his book The Quakers in the American Colonies that it was necessary. Jones wrote:
“The action of the Massachusetts authorities against Quakers had made shipmasters wary of that kind of passengers. They were very unprofitable cargo.”
So Fowler built the Woodhouse, and found 11 Friends and a few crew members to sail with him to the New World. One of those passengers was Robert Hodgson, an ancestor of Jnana Hodson.
There were concerns about the ship being able to make it across the ocean.
John Puncheon’s book Portrait in Grey describes the Woodhouse this way: “It would be hard to imagine a smaller and less adequate vessel for this purpose than the one he produced.”
There were other warnings from many fronts, and even Fowler, who was an experienced seaman, seemed to have second thoughts, but George Fox convinced them to go.
In his captain’s log, Fowler compared the voyage, and what he saw as God’s role in it, to that of Noah’s Ark.
Remarkably, five weeks after leaving England, the ship arrived in New Amsterdam (now New York City) continuing Quakers’ involvement in the New World.
There is a lot more information about the Woodhouse and its trip on Hodson’s website (jmunrohodson.wordpress.com). It’s in his April 13, 2013 post titled “The Woodhouse Mission“.
Peachtree Friends Meeting 