How long pilgrims to sail to america

More than half of the group stayed though and fully integrated into Dutch life. Leiden had a profound influence on the lives of the Pilgrims - even after their departure. The concept of civil marriage was one innovation they took with them.

Virginia in America was an attractive destination because several colonies had already settled there. However, they also felt that they should not settle too near and end up with a similar environment to which they originally fled. The Separatists worked with their counterparts in England to fund and organise the journey — which had to make commercial sense. They negotiated with merchants in London and convinced them that funding their journey would see a return on investment thanks to the goods they would be able to send back to England.

They also needed permission to land in Virginia and establish a colony. The Mayflower would sail from the port of Rotherhithe in London, carrying many there for work in the new land, who simply wanted to build a new life, crew and servants. Rotherhithe was home to many of the crew including the Mayflower's Captain Christopher Jones.

The plan was to meet the Mayflower in Southampton before heading off together across the Atlantic. Southampton was a thriving seaport offering all the commercial facilities to provision and equip for the long sea voyage. Many of the buildings and streets familiar to the passengers then still exist. When the two ships met in the port there were concerns about the Speedwell though, which needed repairs after developing a leak. But on 15th August the two ships weighed anchor and set sail from Southampton.

It may have been because she carried too much sail, straining her timbers, or the direct result of sabotage by a reluctant crew. They changed course for Dartmouth , a port on the south coast of Devon. Unfortunately, the second attempt did not go as hoped either. The two boats turned about for Plymouth. By this time, the cramped, damp and miserable passengers had already spent up to six weeks at sea.

With a fair wind and good fortune, they would have hoped to be nearing America by then. The Speedwell was finally declared unfit for the journey. Some of the Pilgrims dropped out. The remainder crowded onto the Mayflower, which required re-provisioning, despite funds running low.

They left Plymouth on 16 th September , with up to 30 crew and passengers on board. Just under half of them were Separatists, or Saints. They used the name Saints as a way to indicate that they were part of a particular group with a certain set of beliefs. The rest were known as Strangers, as this is how the Saints viewed all others outside of their group. Many were skilled tradespeople sent by the investors to help build the new colony.

Though plenty of the passengers could have probably been defined on either side of this divide. The Mayflower took 66 days to cross the Atlantic — a horrible crossing afflicted by winter storms and long bouts of seasickness — so bad that most could barely stand up during the voyage.

By October, they began encountering a number of Atlantic storms that made the voyage treacherous. It was so bad that the sails often could not be used, instead they simply drifted.

One Stranger was swept overboard and one woman, Elizabeth Hopkins, gave birth to a baby boy, aptly named Oceanus. They had received good reports on this region while in the Netherlands. The Mayflower was almost right on target, missing the Hudson River by just a few degrees. The Pilgrims decided to head south, to the mouth of the Hudson River in New York, where they intended to make their plantation. But the rough seas nearly shipwrecked the Mayflower and instead they decided to stay and explore Cape Cod rather than risk another journey south.

They anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor. Shortly after, Susannah White gave birth to a son aboard the Mayflower, the first English child born in the colony. The colonists knew they had no right to settle in this land they had unintentionally arrived upon and decided to draw up a document that gave them some attempt at legal standing.

So upon arrival the settlers drew up the Mayflower Compact. Signed by 41 men on board, the compact was an agreement to cooperate for the general good of the colony. They would deal with issues by voting, establish constitutional law and rule by the majority.

In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, France and Ireland king, defender of the faith, etc. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape-Codd the Anno Dom.

The Pilgrims would spend the next month and a half exploring Cape Cod, while most stayed on board the ship, trying to decide where they would build their plantation. Watching on were a small group of Native Americans, people for whom this area was already home. The new arrivals tried to follow them but got lost and stuck among some dense thickets. They decided to change course and came across cleared land where corn had been grown and abandoned houses. They found buried corn, which they took back to the ship, intending to plant it and grow more corn, eventually returning what they had taken.

They also found graves. This village they had stumbled upon was once called Patuxet but had since been deserted following the outbreak of disease.

However, pilgrims were not the only passengers on the Mayflower. Other Mayflower passengers included servants, contracted workers, and families seeking a new life in America. Bradford was one of the founding leaders of the new colony, later serving as its governor for roughly 30 years. Learn about some of the other passengers aboard the Mayflower. Perhaps you can trace your ancestors all the way back to the Mayflower. The Mayflower was a merchant ship that usually carried goods such as wine, but its most famous cargo was the group of pilgrims destined to settle in Plymouth.

The ship first set sail in August alongside another merchant ship called the Speedwell. After the Speedwell sprouted a leak, both ships returned to port, and all passengers crammed into the Mayflower. Because of the delays, the Mayflower left England in September, putting them in the middle of storm season for the duration of their voyage. With cramped quarters and rough seas, the trip turned out to be rather dreadful. Many on board were constantly seasick and rarely got up, but they held together with a sense of divine purpose as they approached their destination and withstood the storms.

After two long, hard months at sea, passengers were overjoyed to spot the coastline. For the following months, the Mayflower served as a source of shelter for many of the pilgrims during their first winter. After a difficult voyage, the pilgrims were thrilled to land and start a new life.

Together, they did just that as they founded Plymouth Colony. As a result, they landed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. After exploring the area, the Mayflower pilgrims eventually decided to stay, partially due to harsh seas and dwindling supplies.

Because the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts, the charter allowing the pilgrims to join the Virginia colony became invalid. Naturally, passengers were not sure what to do, and confusion ensued.

The crossing, therefore, took two months, but it could be done in half the time. The voyage was supposed to be done by two vessels. The second, the Speedwell, was deemed to be unseaworthy, however, so the passengers were crammed onto the Mayflower.

As well as the odd people squeezed on board, there were food stores, tools, weapons including cannon and live animals, such as sheep, goats, chickens and dogs. They called for a return to a simpler faith and less structured forms of worship. In short, they wanted to return to worshipping in the way the early Christians had.

They thought the new Church of England was beyond reform. This opinion was very dangerous; in England in the s, it was illegal to be part of any church other than the Church of England. The Separatist church congregation that established Plymouth Colony in New England was originally centered around the town of Scrooby in Nottinghamshire, England.

Members included the young William Bradford and William Brewster. When they felt they could no longer suffer these difficulties in England, they chose to flee to the Dutch Netherlands. There, they could practice their own religion without fear of persecution from the English government or its church. Although they had religious freedom, life in the Netherlands was not easy.

The Separatists had to leave their homeland and friends to live in a foreign country without a clear idea of how they would support themselves. The congregation stayed briefly in Amsterdam and then moved to the city of Leiden.

There they remained for the next 11 or 12 years. Most found work in the cloth trades, while others were carpenters, tailors and printers. Their lives required hard work. Even young children had to work. Some older children were tempted by the Dutch culture and left their families to become soldiers and sailors. Their parents feared that they would lose their identity as English people. To make matters worse, the congregation worried that another war might break out between the Dutch and Spanish.