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Mayflower, Passengers and Crew
LEARNING ABOUT THE MAYFLOWER | |
The Mayflower is the name of the cargo ship that brought the Puritan separatists (known as pilgrims) to North America in 1620 CE. It was a type of sailing ship known as a carrack with three masts, three decks (upper, gun, and cargo), and measured roughly 100 feet long and 25 feet wide. The pilgrim passengers were quartered on the gun deck (also known as the Tween Deck as it was in-between the other two) which, with the 8 small cannons, 4 medium cannons, and other considerations, was reduced to a living space of roughly 70 feet overall. The 30 or so crew members and captain quartered on the upper deck in the forecastle and aft castle, which also held pens for animals. Goods for the voyage were stored in the cargo hold, and passengers traveled in the tween. There were no windows on the tween deck and the ceiling was only 5 feet high, with no latrines and no private rooms; these were the living conditions for the 102 passengers on their journey from September 6 to November 11 1620 CE. | A replica of the original 17th century ship, built during 1955-1956. |
HISTORY OF THE PASSENGERS OF THE MAYFLOWER I | |
The captain and quarter-owner of the Mayflower was Christopher Jones (1570-1622 CE) who commanded a crew of 30 men and was contracted by Thomas Weston (1584-1647 CD) in the interests of the Puritan separatists living in Leiden, the Netherlands, to transport them to the New World to found their own settlement. The English colony of Jamestown, Virginia was thriving and their original destination was north of Jamestown, just below the Hudson River Valley in the region of present-day New York State, which was then part of the English Virginia Patent, but weather and lack of supplies forced their landing in present-day Massachusetts at Plymouth. The pilgrims under John Carver (1584-1621 CE), Edward Winslow (1595-1655 CE), and William Bradford (1590-1657 CE), and the others not of their group, signed the Mayflower Compact upon their arrival at Plymouth, a set of laws all agreed to live by which would inform those that came later and established the Plymouth Colony (1620-1691 CE), which would eventually become absorbed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, forming the basis of present-day New England in the United States. | Another view of the replica ship at sea. |
TOUR OF THE MAYFLOWER II | |
The Mayflower II is a replica of the 17th-century ship, celebrated for transporting the Pilgrims to the New World in 1620. The replica was built in Devon, England during 1955-1956, in a collaboration between Englishman Warwick Charlton and Plimoth Plantation, an American museum. The work drew upon reconstructed ship blueprints held by the museum, along with hand construction by English shipbuilders using traditional methods. The ship is considered a faithful generic replica within a few details (electric lights added and ladder replaced with a lower-deck staircase), with solid oak timbers, tarred hemp rigging, and hand-coloured maps, It is 106 feet long by 25 feet wide, 236 tons displacement, three masts (mainmast, foremast, mizzen), a bowsprit, and six sails. | 2011 Tour of the Mayflower II by the City of New Bedford while undergoing maintenance. |
ADDITIONAL COMPANION VIDEOS EXPLORING THE MAYFLOWER'S HISTORY | |
Deconstructing History: The Mayflower | Who Sailed on the Mayflower |
PASSENGER LIST OF THE MAYFLOWER | |
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MORE ABOUT THE MAYFLOWER PASSENGERS AND CREW | |
The 102 Mayflower passengers were a diverse group made up of religious separatists (later known as pilgrims) and others referred to by the pilgrims as Strangers (people who did not share their faith). The ship also had a crew of approximately 30 (possibly 50) captained by Christopher Jones (1570-1622 CE) of Rotherhithe, England. The separatists were seeking a new home where they could workshop freely without fear of the ongoing persecution of the Anglican Church under King James I of England (1603-1625 CE) and contracted with the merchant-adventurer Thomas Weston (1584-1647 CE) for a ship to take them to the New World. Weston then enlisted the others (Strangers) to assist the separatists in establishing a colony and turning a profit for the investors who financed the expedition. The trip was supposed to be made in two ships, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, but after the latter repeatedly sprung leaks in the early stage of the voyage, it was abandoned and some of its passengers taken aboard the Mayflower. The ship left Europe on September 6 and dropped anchor off the coast of North America on November 11 1620. After a harrowing winter during which 50% of the passengers and crew died, the survivors established Plymouth Colony in the region of present-day Massachusetts. |
RECOMMENDED READING MATERIALS @ YOUR LIBRARY | |
MAKING HASTE FROM BABYLON: THE MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS AND THEIR WORLD by: Nick Bunker Call Number: 974.402 BUN The Pilgrims were entrepreneurs as well as evangelicals, political radicals as well as Christian idealists. This book tells their story in unrivaled depth, from their roots in religious conflict and village strife at home to their final creation of a permanent foothold in America. | |
THE BOY WHO FELL OFF THE MAYFLOWER by: Patrick James Lynch Call Number: J 974.4 LYN An illustrated account of the life of John Howland, the young servant who was indentured to Pilgrim John Carver, describes how he embarked on the Mayflower and survived a fall off the ship before helping his ill shipmates by scouting out a safe harbor. | |
A JOURNEY TO THE NEW WORLD: THE DIARY OF REMEMBER PATIENCE WHIPPLE by: Kathryn Lasky Call Number: J LASKY Arriving in the New World after a grueling Atlantic crossing, Mayflower passenger Mem cares for her dying fellow pilgrims while befriending Native American Squanto, who assists her family through a first year of tragedy and thranksgiving. | |
DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE PILGIRIMS by: Kenneth C Davis Call Number: J 974.4 DAV Questions and answers present information about who the Pilgrims were, how and why they came to America on the Mayflower, and what happened in the colony of New Plymouth. | |
M IS FOR MAYFLOWER: A MASSACHUSETTS ALPHABET by: Margot Theis Raven Call Number: J 974.4 RAV Presents information about the state of Massachusetts in an alphabetical arrangement. |
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE |
Follow the link to take a short test to see how much you learned about the Mayflower from viewing this classroom topic.