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| THE MAYFLOWER RECREATED |
This is something you didn't know. History says that The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, England, bound for the New World with 102 passengers, on 16/9/1620. The ship was headed for Virginia, where the colonists–half religious dissenters and half entrepreneurs–had been authorised to settle by the British crown. However, stormy weather and navigational errors forced the Mayflower off course, and on November 21 the travellers reached Massachusetts, where they founded the first permanent European settlement in New England in late December. This is the 'doctored' version.
A significant number were known as Separatists, a group of people who mostly wanted to live a life free from the current Church of England. Others were on the ship for a multitude of reasons – some anticipated the chance to build a better future for their families and the opportunity of new land, while for others the offer of freedom and adventure was too good to turn down. Then there were the crew themselves, plus the servants and unaccompanied children sent by their families to be looked after by the adults.
The passengers are often grouped into ‘Saints’ or ‘Strangers’ by historians, alluding to their motivations for the journey. But it’s likely that many ‘Saints’ were skilled tradesmen and many ‘Strangers’ had their own religious reasons for leaving 17th century England. The origins of these passengers can be traced across England and in the Netherlands.
They were led by a group of radical pastors who, challenging the authority of the Church of England, established a network of secret religious congregations in the English countryside around Scrooby, a small village on the River Ryton in north Nottinghamshire, England, near Bawtry in South Yorkshire. Two of their members, William Brewster and William Bradford, would go on to exert a profound influence on American history as leaders of the colony at Plymouth.
Importantly, these 'sailors' were not the first to land in America, nor did they discover it. There were already established colonies at the time, not least Jamestown – founded in 1607. But the Mayflower story is renowned for its themes of freedom and humanity – including the relationships first formed between the Native American Wampanoag tribe and the colonists and the first Thanksgiving.
They landed, for many reasons, on the tip of Cape Cod at what is now
Provincetown, Massachusetts. A party of armed men was sent out to
explore the area and find a location suitable for settlement. Three
weeks later, some passengers went ashore at the site located by the
advance party, to a place they named Plymouth. The trip was from
Plymouth, England to Plymouth, New England.
Before going ashore at Plymouth, Pilgrim leaders (including Bradford and William Brewster) drafted the Mayflower Compact, a brief 200-word document that was the first framework of government written and enacted in the territory that would later become the United States of America.
Actually, the ship had to stop at Newlyn in Cornwall on the Land's End peninsula in England before sailing west. It was believed that the water picked up at Plymouth had caused fever and cholera in the city, so Newlyn provided fresh water to the ship.
The first landing in New England was because the ship was running out of beer. So they halted, went ashore and collected water so that the seamen-not passengers- might have more beer. The passengers
demanded beer in place of water, as they were worried about contracting
Cholera. The weather was intolerable, so all passengers returned to the
ship to spend winter. They suffered an outbreak of a contagious
disease described as a mixture of scurvy, pneumonia and tuberculosis.
They drank beer, as far as possible, not water, as they thought that the
water was unsafe. The beer was stored in barrels known as "hogsheads."
When it ended, there were only 53 passengers, just over half, still alive. Likewise, half of the crew died as well.
They would go on to be known as the Pilgrims and influence the future of the United States of America in ways they could never have imagined.
This story isn't just about the Mayflower's passengers though. It's also about the people who already lived in America and the enormous effect the arrival of these colonists would have on Native Americans and the land they had called home for centuries.
More than 30 million people can trace their ancestry to the 102 passengers and approximately 30 crew aboard the Mayflower from records of the entire lot aboard when it departed England and the one-half that landed and survived in Massachusetts, in the harsh winter of 1620.
ADDENDA
The Mayflower, in American colonial history, is the ship that carried the Pilgrims from England to the tip of Cape Cod at what is now Provincetown, Massachusetts, where they established the first permanent New England colony in 1620. Although no detailed description of the original vessel exists, marine archaeologists estimate that the square-rigged sailing ship weighed about 180 tons and measured 90 feet (27 metres) long. In addition, some sources suggest that the Mayflower was constructed in Harwich, England, shortly before English merchant Christopher Jones purchased the vessel in 1608.
Some of the Pilgrims were brought from Holland on the Speedwell, a smaller vessel that accompanied the Mayflower on its initial departure from Southampton, England, on August 15, 1620. When the Speedwell proved unseaworthy and was twice forced to return to port, the Mayflower set out alone from Plymouth, England, on September 16, after taking on some of the smaller ship’s passengers and supplies. Chartered by a group of English merchants called the London Adventurers, the Mayflower, after a 66-day voyage, first landed on November 21 on Cape Cod. The ship remained in port until the following April when it left for England. The true fate of the vessel remains unknown; however, some historians argue that the Mayflower was scrapped for its timber, which was then used in the construction of a barn in Jordans, Buckinghamshire, England. In 1957 the historic voyage of the Mayflower was commemorated when a replica of the original ship was built in England and sailed to Massachusetts in 53 days.
Before going ashore at Plymouth, Pilgrim leaders (including Bradford and William Brewster) drafted the Mayflower Compact, a brief 200-word document that was the first framework of government written and enacted in the territory that would later become the United States of America.
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