Land Ho!

Today, November 9th, marks 402 years since the morning that land was spotted from The Mayflower. The Mayflower left Plymouth, England on September 6th, much later than planned. For perspective, that's about the time school started. After 65 days for non-seafaring passengers, what joy the sight of land must have been!

The Mayflower was a standard merchant vessel in her day. She was about 100 feet in length and was capable of holding 180 casks, or "tuns" of wine, thus the rating of 180 tons. Christopher Jones was her captain and had been for about 11 years making trips across the English Chanel with wool and wine, as well as to farther locations like Norway with various goods, and even a whaling trip to Greenland. Christopher Jones had a family--a wife and five children. Jones had never been to America so it was very wise that he chose a first mate and pilot who had, Robert Choppin.

There were 102 passengers on The Mayflower when she set out across the Atlantic. During the journey, two passengers died and two babies were born---both boys, Oceanus Hopkins and Peregrine White. There were also two dogs, an English spaniel and an English mastiff.

Most provisions were kept in the hold in the lower part of the ship. The passengers had NO comfort on their journey of over 2 months. They were in the 'tween deck---described as "airless," it was 75 feet long and not even 5 feet high. Imagine not being able to completely stand up in your living quarters for 2 months! The living quarters on The Mayflower were more of a "crawl space" divided up with make shift compartments for privacy. The whole "crawl space" was cluttered with the possessions of the passengers, and many chamber pots.


Are you ready to book your trip? This helps us to understand the celebration that ensued 402 years ago. "Not a little joyful," is how Bradford described the passengers excitement. Though aiming originally for the mouth of the Hudson River, The Pilgrims awoke to a view of Cape Cod. Looking at a map of the United States today, I cannot help but think of this peninsula reaching out from the mainland into the tempests of the Atlantic as God's outstretched arm to those bedraggled families.


Sources:
Philbrick, Nathaniel. The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World. Puffin Books, New York.                     2008.

Newcott, Bill. 400 years on, the Pilgrims get a reality check,                             https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/400-years-on-pilgrims-get-reality-check,                     Nov. 11, 2020






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