The Mayflower was the cargo ship that transported the English separatists or pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to what became known as Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. The passengers were a small party of English puritans dissenting from the rule of James I over the Church of England and, more generally, against the wickedness of English society. The sought to found a colony in the new World as new Jerusalem and to establish for themselves there a land in which Puritans would be free of both the religious persecution they faced at home and also from the temptations of what they saw as a heathenish England.
|
|
|
Cross-section of a typical 17th century English cargo ship.
|
Details of the Mayflower's actual dimensions are unknown but estimates based on its load, weight and the typical size of merchant ships of its day suggest an estimated length of 90 to 110 feet and a width of approximately 25 feet. The original voyage of the Mayflower included 102 passengers, of which only half were puritans. The others were hired hands, servants or farmers recruited by London merchants for the originally intended destination which was the mouth of the Hudson River. The crew numbered between 25 to 30 individuals.
|
|
| The Pilgrims embarking onto the Mayflower at Plymouth Harbor, England. |
The Mayflower blew off course during the long ordeal of their passage and never reached the Hudson River. With winter approaching and with few options, the ship anchored in Cape Cod Bay. During the harsh winter, the passengers and crew suffered an outbreak of contagious disease described as a mixture of scurvy, pneumonia and tuberculosis. By spring, there were only 53 passengers and half the crew left alive. In March, 1621, the surviving passengers left the Mayflower and eventually settled at Plymouth. These were the earliest permanent European settlers to New England.
It is believed that in November of that year, the Mayflower survivors celebrated a harvest festival to give thanks for their salvation, thus launching the tradition of Thanksgiving in the United States. The Mayflower, a privately commissioned vessel, returned to England in 1623. It is believed that she was eventually dismantled for scrap lumber in Rotherhithe, London.
