A lack of wind and breeze caused Kit's ship, the Dolphin, to move along the river at a very slow pace. The journey took nine days in all as the boat sailed on "the forty-three mile voyage." After passing Saybrook, the breeze faded away as the "sails sagged limp and soundless, and the Dolphin rolled sickeningly in midstream." Goodwife Cruff and her husband were already suspicious of Kit. The slowness of their journey made them even more suspicious of her. The couple "considered the becalmed ship" to be Kit's fault. It is implied in the story that they suspected her of being a witch, which was a grave crime in that time.
The word "becalm" describes when a lack of wind causes a ship to be still. This word accurately described the situation of the Dolphin on the river for most of those nine days. On the last day, a breeze came and it took the ship to Wethersfield.
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