Plymouth to Plymouth

Once the passengers of the Mayflower sighted land and subsequently escaped Pollack Rip and made it back to Cape Cod, it wasn’t as if everyone could walk down the landing plank and begin life on new land.  The shallow waters of the area made it so that ships the size of the Mayflower had to anchor as far out as a mile from shore.  A party of men would need to go ashore and find a suitable place for the newcomers.

During the Atlantic voyage, a small sailing ship, a shallop, had been dismantled and stored in at least four separate places in the Mayflower.  Along with passengers in a row boat, the pieces were taken to shore to be reassembled.  Already into winter weather, it would take longer than desired to put together.  Not wanting to delay any longer, a scouting trip set out to the nearest land while the carpenter and assistants went to work to reassemble the shallop. 

Bradford and young Howland were part of this first scouting trip that proved to have its own adventures.  After prayers of gratitude upon setting foot on solid ground, they trudged along looking for a place to call home.  Though a suitable area for a new village was not found, a mound of curious sand was.  Upon digging up the sand, not far from the surface, the men found a basket so full of corn that it could barely be lifted by two men.  Not being thieves, this find made the Pilgrims stop and think.  They determined it was yet again the hand of Providence reaching out to save them from starvation and vowed to repay the owner several times over should they ever discover to whom it belonged.  Comically, on this trip as well, Bradford stumbled into a native deer trap and was caught by the leg in a noose tied to a spring-loaded sapling.  He actually marveled at the contraption. 

Once the scouting trip returned, it still took a few days for the scallop to be finished.  Once complete, 34 passengers went aboard the open shallop to scout out the land.  They returned to the place where they had miraculously found the corn.  Snow had fallen, and if they hadn’t been there before, they would have never noticed the curious sand.  However, they knew where to look, and found more corn and beans.  Bradford wrote, “And sure it was God’s good providence that we found this corn…for else we know not how we should have done.”  Again, God had prepared a way for their deliverance.  Also, on this trip they found the remains of former peoples, likely both European and native.  A possible place of settlement was determined and they headed back to the Mayflower. 

As the weather became more bitter, the situation on the Mayflower became more desperate.  More and more people were becoming seriously ill, and the death toll had begun.  On December 6^th, the last scouting group set out on the scallop once again.  This trip included arrow and bullet exchange with the feared Indians, yet no casualties on either side.  Most miraculous was the final leg of this scouting trip.  There was a bitter storm with the icy winds of winter.  The captain was trying to keep the shallop from being splintered against the rock when the rudder broke.  Then the wind shattered the mast and the scallop bobbed liked a bath toy.  The Pilgrims readily acknowledged that the hand of God took that scallop into the shelter of a small island.  They made their way to shore in the dark, the shore actually being an island.  Upon sunrise, a Saturday, they did what they could to explore and get themselves put back together.  They strictly observed the Sabbath as always.  This observance, their devotion to their Maker, cannot be overlooked as they were well aware of the consequence of each day. When Monday came, they headed for the mainland.

Plymouth Rock is a real stone today, an iconic stone with a story of its own.  In reality, the beach of Plymouth is sandy and there is no record of any special stone as a landing point.  That does not take away from the advantageous land they did find.  The land had obviously been cleared and farmed, but there wasn’t any other signs of recent settlement.  It was as if they had found the promised land.  What they didn’t know was that the Patuxet tribe that had once farmed that ground had been completed wiped out by disease 3 years prior.  The work of that tribe however, was not in vain.  The Patuxet left it ready for a people who had much yet to survive, but who would literally sow seeds to change the world.  One of their own, long-lost Squanto, would teach the Pilgrims how.

The scouting trip was finished, the group headed back to the Mayflower.  Having John Smith’s maps, they discovered the place where they had actually landed in the storm had been previously name, “New Plymouth.”  Having left the Speedwell and their friends at their last point of departure in Plymouth, England, this realization served as a confirmation that the book ends were in place, New Plymouth would be the next chapter of their lives.

For the record, the Pilgrims later did discover the owners of the miraculous corn and repaid the debt and then some.

Sources:

Ballard, Timothy. The Pilgrim Hypothesis. Covenant Communications, Utah. 2020.

Lynch, P.J.  "The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower or John Howland's Good Fortune." Candlewick Press, Somerville, Massachusetts. 2015.

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