Pollack Rip

Though the sight of land brought great rejoicing and relief to the passengers of The Mayflower, Captain Jones felt otherwise.  They had only been given a legal patent to settle at the mouth of the Hudson River which was 220 miles to the south.  After they had come so far, and now that they were within sight of land, that might not seem like a big deal.  However, at the time, there were no reliable maps of the coast south of Cape Cod.  For a ship's captain, an unknown coast was as formidable as the ocean's fiercest storms.

As Jones turned south, it was smooth sailing for about 5 hours.  At around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Jones met up with what today is called the "Pollack Rip," one of the nastiest stretches of shallow water on the American coast.  The water and wind dropped suddenly and drastically.  The Pollack Rip is a maze of sandbars that continually rearrange with the changing tide for 15 miles between Cape Cod and Nantucket.  Even today, to watch the ferocity of the waters movement in this area is alarming.  In fact, it has been claimed that half the wrecks all along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts have occurred in these very waters.  Yet, this is where Captain Jones found himself without a map.  

The Mayflower ended up pinned by the wind and waves, and it was unbelievable that they had come this far only to lose everything within sight of land.  With only a short time before dark, the wind made a slight change and Captain Jones took advantage of the opportunity.  By sunset, at 4:35pm, Captain Jones had The Mayflower turned around and headed north.  A historic decision was made--The Pilgrims would not be settling at the mouth of the Hudson River, they would settle north near Cape Cod.

Yet again, God's intervention guided the destination of The Pilgrims.


Source, including image: 

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










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