Journey of the Mayflower

History

2020 marked the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower ship’s voyage in 1620 from Plymouth, England to America, which was known as back then as the New World. The ship carried a human cargo of one hundred and two passengers and thirty crew.

The Mayflower set sail on 16th September 1620 from Plymouth, UK, to voyage to America. But its history and story start long before that. Its passengers were in search of a new life – some seeking religious freedom, others a fresh start in a different land. 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.

Within this blog we will look at the history of the ship and the journey it faced in venturing to the New World. This is the journey we follow through our Pilgrimage tour package for more information please follow the link provided!

The Mayflower Ship

There were other ships that took the Pilgrims across the Atlantic such as the Fortune (1621), Anne and Little James (1623) and the second Mayflower (1629) however none have been quite as culturally iconic when looking into the history of migration from Europe to the New World.

It is also interesting to note that nine Presidents of America have descended from Pilgrims from Leiden including President Franklin D Roosevelt, George W Bush and Barack H. Obama.

The Journey 1607-1620

In England in the early 17th Century, a group of people known as “Separatists” wanted to practise their religion in a way forbidden by the Church of England were planning to escape overseas. These people became regarded as dangerous renegades who rejected fundamental principles of the State and the established Church of England, thus they worshipped in secret to avoid arrest and persecution. They eventually planned an escape to the Netherlands to avoid persecution by the Church.

They almost didn’t make it however as in 1607, they planned an escape whilst holding secret meetings in the town of Boston. This plan failed as the ships captain betrayed them and they were made a spectacle of by the soldiers that seized them and their possessions. They were then held at the towns Guildhall but in 1608 they did manage to escape to the Netherlands.

Boston Guildhall The Pilgrim Fathers Cells

Following their escape from England, this group of Separatists were granted leave in 1608 to settle in the Dutch city of Leiden. They lived there for many years, however, by 1617, the colonists were disenchanted by life in Leiden and planned to leave, eventually settling on America. They needed financial backing however – not so easy given their radical religious beliefs. They turned to the Virginia Company, based in the heart of London, for help. They sent John Carver and Robert Cushman to London to negotiate a process that took three years in the end. London has been the financial powerhouse of England since the Roman times, and without the support of rich London merchants, they might never have got too America. Those merchants procured the Mayflower, its crew and recruited non-religious people – known as ‘strangers’ – to join the expedition.

Two ships were planned to make the voyage. A ship called the Mayflower would sail from the port of Rotherhithe on the River Thames in London, carrying the people known as the 'strangers' who would help build and run the new colony in America. A second ship called the Speedwell would carry the group of religious separatists from Leiden. It was then planned that the two ships would meet in Southampton, before crossing the Atlantic. After one last joint meal and service in the house of Rev John Robinson, 46 men, women and children made the journey from Leiden to Delfshaven near Rotterdam to set sail to Southampton on July 22, 1620.

As the Mayflower and Speedwell came within sight of God’s House Tower on Southampton’s city walls some 400 years ago, it was clear that the Speedwell needed assistance before the crew could continue as it was leaking heavily. John Carver, a notable individual used this time wisely by stocking up provisions for the two weeks they were stuck here. Eventually the colonists got back on their ships and when they left Southampton from West Quay, they assumed this would be the last port they would see in England. However, we know this isn’t how the story goes.

The speedwell getting repaired in Dartsmouth

As after setting sail from Southampton, the Mayflower and the Speedwell didn't get very far and both ships had to divert to Dartmouth for repairs, arriving on 23 August 1620. It took approximately a week for the port's skilled craftsmen to make good the damage before the ships headed out into the English Channel, bound for the North Atlantic.

The Mayflower and the Speedwell were some 300 miles clear of Land’s End when the latter yet again began leaking badly and could not risk continuing – so the two boats turned about for Plymouth. By this time, the cramped, damp and miserable passengers had already spent up to six weeks at sea. After they sailed into Plymouth Sound, the Speedwell was declared unfit to continue and a number of the passengers dropped out. The remainder crowded onto the Mayflower – which required re-provisioning in Plymouth leaving them to finally depart the maritime city on the 16th of September 1620.

The Journey to America

The voyage itself across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days, from their departure on September 6, until Cape Cod was sighted on 9 November 1620. The first half of the voyage went fairly smoothly, the only major problem being 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 as it was not safe to use the ship's sails. As the ship approached land, the crew spotted Cape Cod just as the sun rose on the 9th of November.

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 the 25th 1620, they had finally decided upon Plymouth, and began construction of their first buildings.

Landing at Plymouth 1920

The Children of the Mayflower

When the Mayflower sailed, three of the women on board were in varying stages of pregnancy. Elizabeth Hopkins gave birth to her son, Oceanus, during the voyage; Susannah White gave birth to her son, Peregrine, while the ship was anchored in Provincetown Harbour; and Mary Allerton sadly gave birth to a stillborn child in February 1621.

Richard More was one of the four More children from Shipton in Shropshire - Ellen, Jasper, Richard and Mary - who were on board the Mayflower and whose tragic story has become a famous one linked with the epic voyage. Only Richard, who was six during the voyage, lived through that first winter in America. He became a seaman and ship’s captain, travelling a lot to various colonies to deliver supplies and fighting in various early naval sea battles.

Peregrine White was born to parents Susanna and William White while the Mayflower was anchored in Cape Cod in late November 1620. He became known as the ‘first born child of New England’ and went onto become a prominent farmer and military captain.  

Priscilla Mullins is one of the most famous women linked to the Mayflower but she was only a child at the time, aged 17 or 18 during the voyage. She was born in Dorking, Surrey in 1602, and went aboard the Mayflower with her parents William and Alice, and brother Joseph and she was the only member of her family to survive that first winter in America.

Priscilla is likely to be best known from the poem The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. According to the poem, Standish asked his good friend John Alden to propose to Priscilla on his behalf, only to have Priscilla ask, “Why don't you speak for yourself, John?”

Sources Used:

https://www.history.co.uk/article/The-Mayflower-And-the-birth-of-america

https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/mayflower

https://www.london-unattached.com/mayflower-pilgrims-gainsborough-boston/

https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/the-journey-to-16-september/

https://bonniekgoodman.medium.com/otd-in-history-december-18-1620-the-mayflower-docks-at-plymouth-and-the-pilgrims-create-a-colony-7736ce645928

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/12/along-pilgrim-trail-speedwell-is.html

http://mayflowerhistory.com/voyage

https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/who-were-the-pilgrims/2019/august/children-of-the-mayflower