Pilgrims and Strangers Meet at aboard Mayflower
The Pilgrims sailed from Holland back to England aboard the Speedwell in preparation of their 1620 voyage to the New World. In England they would join other Pilgrims who would sail with them to America aboard the Speedwell and an additional ship, the Mayflower. Aboard the Mayflower, where it waited in Southampton harbor, besides Pilgrims there was also a group of people the Pilgrims came to call strangers who had been recruited by the merchants for this journey to America.
Twice the Speedwell and the Mayflower set sail from England for the New World. Finally they were forced to return to England and abandon the Speedwell that had become too leaky to continue on. Not all of the passengers from both ships could fit aboard the Mayflower and it became necessary to leave some of them behind.
Overcrowded Mayflower Sails on Alone
Not until September 6, 1620, did the Mayflower, for the last time, set sail for America with Captain Christopher Jones in command. Already the situation was looking bleak. After having to abandon the Speedwell and the delay that two false starts had created, September was one of the worst times to be setting sail upon an uncertain ocean in a vessel dangerously over loaded with more than 100 passengers. It was the season of westerly gales and autumn storms. For 66 storm-tossed days the Pilgrims and strangers, who outnumbered the Pilgrims, suffered their passage across a wintry Atlantic Ocean to the New World.
When nearly halfway through their voyage the Pilgrims considered turning back to England. For several days, due to storms, they were unable to raise any sails. In addition, a main beam lost its place and struck the vessel in her midships. This, in itself, would have been tragedy enough to give cause to return to England but passenger Mathew Stevens, being a carpenter, was able to remedy the situation.
They lost only one passenger during the voyage, William Butten who was a servant of Samuel Fuller. Butten died on November 6. Three days later, on the 9th, the passengers aboard the Mayflower had their first site of America.
Mayflower Moors in America
On Saturday, November 21, the ship moored in what would come to be called Provincetown Harbor, in present-day Massachusetts. From their mooring they could look upon an arm of land that would be known as Cap Cod. Surely the entire company of Pilgrims rejoiced. They had safely reached the New World with only one death occurring among them. Perhaps in compensation to this death, a successful birth had taken place aboard the Mayflower. The infant had been appropriately named Oceanus. Now all was well with those aboard this sturdy ocean vessel, except the Pilgrim's land grant from the London Company gave them permission to settle in Virginia, far southward of where they had landed. Here, on this northeastern coast of America they were virtually in an area that was yet to be claimed by any European power. For some aboard the Mayflower, such as the rebellious and non-Puritan Billington family, the situation of not being under any form of higher authority was far more than had been dreamed of concerning the New World.
But now a decision had to be made by all concerned. Would they venture on southward to Virginia or would they stay and settle where they were? The rougher element of passengers, those that had been more familiar with the back alleys and slums of London, mutinously declared that they would stay just were they were and not be bound by the authority of the London Company.
The Pilgrim leaders quickly saw that a decision had to be made at once. They decreed that here they too would establish their settlement. Their decision to do so may well had been determined on the certain realization that all able-bodied persons, Pilgrims and the others, would be needed to build and protect their new home.
Sources:
Athearn, Robert G. The New World: American Heritage New Illustrated History of the United States, Volume 1. Dell Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1963.
Comptons, The Complete Reference Collection. CD Rom, 1997, The Learning Company, Inc.
Musick, John R. Columbian Historical Novels, Volume V: The Pilgrims: A Story of Massachusetts. Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York, London and Toronto, 1893.
