Sailing Aboard the Mayflower

Part 2

What Happened on the Voyage

The Mayflower left Plymouth, England on September 6, 1620, and anchored off the tip of Cape Cod on November 11. During those two months crossing the Atlantic Ocean to America, many things happened on the Mayflower.The first half of the voyage was actually fairly smooth. The wind and weather were good for sailing, and they made good progress. Aside from sea-sickness, the health of the passengers was generally very good. One of the sailors, however, continually laughed and scoffed at the passengers, "cursing them daily" and saying that he hoped to throw their dead bodies overboard and take their belongings for himself. But it turned out that this sailor would be the first to get sick and die: Passenger William Bradford wrote "it pleased God before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard. Thus his curses light on his own head, ... for they noted it to be the just hand of God upon him."

The Voyage – con’t

Of the 102 passengers onboard the ship, three of them were pregnant women. One of the women, Mrs. Elizabeth Hopkins, gave birth during the voyage. Stephen and Elizabeth Hopkins named their newborn son Oceanus. The other two women would give birth shortly after arrival.After they had sailed more than half way to America, the Mayflower began to encounter a number of bad storms, which began to make the ship very leaky, causing many of the passengers below deck to be continually cold and damp. During one of the storms, a main beam in the middle of the ship cracked, causing some of the passengers and crew to wonder if the ship was strong enough to make all the way to America. But Master Christopher Jones felt his ship was strong, and so they fixed the main beam with a large screw, caulked the leaky decks as best they could, and continued on.

The Voyage – con’tDuring another storm, a twenty-five year old man named John Howland came up on deck, but the ship suddenly rolled and he lost his balance and fell into the cold Atlantic ocean. Luckily, he managed to grab a hold of a rope that was hanging down from one of the topsails, and held on as he sunk many feet below the surface of the water. The Mayflower's

crew hauled him back up to the surface with the rope, and then grabbed him with a boathook. Wet and cold and cramped in their small quarters, some of the passengers began to develop coughs and colds. As the Mayflower finally began to approach America, one of the passengers, a young boy named William Butten, a servant to the passengers' doctor Samuel Fuller, died. William Butten died on November 6, just three days before land was sighted.

Routes and Maps of the Voyage

The Mayflower was hired in London, and sailed from London to Southampton in July 1620 to begin loading food and supplies for the voyage--much of which was purchased at Southampton. The Pilgrims were mostly still living in the city of Leiden, in the Netherlands. They hired a ship called the Speedwell to take them from Delfthaven, the Netherlands, to Southampton, England, to meet up with the Mayflower. The two ships planned to sail together to Northern Virginia. The Speedwell departed Delfthaven on July 22, and arrived at Southampton, where they found the Mayflower waiting for them. The Speedwell had been leaking on her voyage from the Netherlands to England, though, so they spent the next week patching her up.

On August 5, the two ships finally set sail for America. But the Speedwell began leaking again, so they pulled into the town of Dartmouth for repairs, arriving there about August 12. The Speedwell was patched up again, and the two ships again set sail for America, about August 21. After the two ships had sailed about 300 miles out to see, the Speedwell again began to leak. Frustrated with the enormous amount of time lost, and their inability to fix the Speedwell so that it could be sea-worthy, they returned to Plymouth, England, and made the decision to leave the Speedwell behind. The Mayflower would go to America alone. The cargo on the Speedwell was transferred over to the Mayflower; some of the passengers were so tired and disappointed with all the problems, that they quit and went home. Others crammed themselves onto the now very crowded Mayflower.

Finally, on September 6, the Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England, and headed for America. By the time the Pilgrims had left England, they had already been living onboard the ships for nearly a month and a half. The voyage itself across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days, from their departure on September 6,

until Cape Cod was sighted on November 9, 1620. The first half of the voyage went fairly smoothly, the only major problem was sea-sickness. But by October, they began encountering a number of Atlantic storms that made the voyage treacherous. Several times, the wind was so strong they had to just drift where the weather took them, it was not safe to use the ship's sails. The Pilgrims intended to land in Northern Virginia, which at the time included the region as far north as the Hudson River in the modern State of New York. The Hudson River, in fact, was their originally intended destination. They had received good reports on this region while in the Netherlands. All things considered, the Mayflower was almost right on target, missing the Hudson River by just a few degrees.

As the Mayflower approached land, the crew spotted Cape Cod just as the sun rose on November 9. The Pilgrims decided to head south, to the mouth of the Hudson River in New York, where they intended to make their plantation. However, as the Mayflower headed south, it encountered some very rough seas, and nearly shipwrecked. The Pilgrims then decided, rather than risk another attempt to go south, they would just stay and explore Cape Cod. They turned back north, rounded the tip, and anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor. The Pilgrims would spend the next month and a half exploring Cape Cod, trying to decide where

they would build their plantation. On December 25, 1620, they had finally decided upon Plymouth, and began construction of their first buildings.

Land Ho!On the early morning of November 9, 1620, the Mayflower's crew spotted land. It was the first land they had seen in more than two months, and signified to the Pilgrims that they were near the end of their long voyage. What a relief, and what excitement it must have been! The crew determined that the land they were seeing was Cape Cod, somewhat to the north of the Hudson River in New York where the Pilgrims intended to plant their colony.

So the Mayflower turned south to head for New York (back then it was called "Northern Virginia"). But on the way, the Mayflower encountered some very treacherous seas, and nearly shipwrecked. The passengers and crew were so shaken up by the near disaster, that they decided to head back to Cape Cod, instead of trying to make another attempt to head south. They entered Cape Cod in the early morning of November 11, and anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor, waiting for sunrise. After the sun was up and the tide was high, they sent shore a small group of men to collect juniper wood--the living quarters on the Mayflower had no doubt become very rancid and smelly, and one of the Pilgrims highest priorities was to collect some juniper wood to burn onboard the ship, to make everything smell just a little bit better. Over the next month and a half, the Pilgrims would send out multiple exploring parties, seeking out a suitable place to build their colony.

The Mayflower Compact"Modern" versionIn the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.:Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith, and the honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another; covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.

What was the Mayflower Compact?

The Mayflower Compact was a short document, just a little over a hundred words. It was written over the period of a single evening. The document had to be agreed upon by every man that was part of the soon to be Plymouth Colony (the laws of this period gave legal status only to men) before anyone was allowed to set foot on land. The 41 men signed their agreement (or made their mark if they were too sick or could not write) to follow the rules set forth.

Why did the Colonists Need the

Mayflower Compact?One reason for this written agreement,

which set rules for the new colony, was that the Pilgrims had not landed in the correct place.

The other part of the problem was that the Pilgrims had left in such a rush, the charter which gave them the legal right to settle in the New World had not been received. Then there was some disagreement as to how to proceed with the situation. One group thought that they had the right to do whatever they wanted, they where essentially outside the law. It would have amounted to each man for himself and more than likely, no one would have survived.