Mayflower (ship)
The Mayflower was the ship that in 1620 transported 102 passengers, including a group of people seeking religious freedom. Their original destination was the Virginia Colony but they were forced to land instead at the Cape Cod hook.[1] Their story is one of suffering and survival in a harsh environment. The voyage is one of the most famous in early American history.
The Mayflower left England with the ship Speedwell on 15 August 1620. It carried Pilgrims from England and Holland. The Speedwell turned out to be unseaworthy. Both ships were twice forced to return to England. The Mayflower finally left Plymouth, England on 16 September 1620. On 19 November 1620, they spotted land. Their destination was the Virginia Colony but the ship was damaged so they were forced to land Cape Cod on 21 November. They wrote the Mayflower Compact, which made rules on how they would live and treat each other.[2][3]
The Passengers lived on the ship for a few months. They went ashore to build shelters in the day, then returned to the ship at night. About half the people died in the winter of 1620-21. In March 1621, there were enough shelters for everyone to live on land.
Related pages
References
- ↑ Eugene Aubrey Stratton. Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 17
- ↑ Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), pp. 20, 411-413
- ↑ George Ernest Bowman, The Mayflower Compact and its signers, (Boston: Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1920). Photocopies of the 1622, 1646 and 1669 versions of the document pp. 7–19.
Other websites
- Pilgrim Hall Museum of Plymouth, Massachusetts
- General Society of Mayflower Descendants Archived 2016-11-20 at the Wayback Machine
- The Mayflower And Her Log Archived 2004-02-18 at the Wayback Machine; Azel Ames, Project Gutenberg edition.
- Mayflower Descendants Chart Archived 2007-06-20 at the Wayback Machine.
- Pilgrims and the Mayflower Archived 2001-10-17 at the Wayback Machine Mayflower Interior Pictured