1609, England
The pilgrims of the Mayflower, known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were considered to be the founding fathers of the future United States of America
The date and location where the Mayflower was built is not known but she is suspected to have been launched in 1609 in Harwich (Essex). She ...
1609, England
The pilgrims of the Mayflower, known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were considered to be the founding fathers of the future United States of America
The date and location where the Mayflower was built is not known but she is suspected to have been launched in 1609 in Harwich (Essex). She started as a cargo ship transporting various goods to France, Norway, the Mediterranean sea, may have been whaling around Greenland prior to being chartered for the pilgrimage trip to North America.
Even though North America was known by the Spanish for over a century, British only started to colonise the area in 1584 by sending ships to the famous lost colony of Roanoke. This first attempt of permanent settlement having been a failure, they tried again in 1606 to send ships to Virginia recently purchased from the Spanish and set up a fort at Jamestown. The settlement later on destroyed by a combination of Indians, starvation, malaria and harsh winters.
In 1620 the Mayflower set sail from London alongside the Speedwell who had come from Leyde (Holland). The Mayflower carried on to Southampton, Dartmouth and Plymouth. However, the Speedwell developed some leaks and had to turn back and the Mayflower had to carry on on her own.
After a short stop in Newfoundland for supplies, the weather turned for the worse and the ship had to land on the shores of Cape Cod (Massachusetts) in November 1620 instead of the shores of the Hudson river, original landing site.
She carried 102 passengers and a crew of 50. Amongst the passengers were British nonconformists, pious missionaries escaping the persecutions of Jacques I and wishing to find a place where they could freely practice their religion. Most passengers were of modest origins (small farmers, craftsmen...) who all adhered to the puritan principles. Those Europeans were the first colons to successfully settle permanently in New-England where they founded the town of Plymouth. A pact that settled the principles upon which the new colony was to be governed was signed on board the Mayflower by all parties. The pilgrims of the Mayflower, known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were considered to be the founding fathers of the future United States of America. The first European woman to disembark was Mary Chilton and the last surviving passenger was Mary Allerton who died aged 83 on 28 November 1699.
The Mayflower subsequently returned back to England in 1621 in less than half the time it took her to sail to America due to favourable weather conditions. By 1624, she stopped being of use but her fate is not known and she might have ended up broken up.
