Mayflower II
This is the Mayflower II - a replica of the
original Mayflower. It was built in England between 1955 - 1957, and then
sailed to America, recreating the voyage of its namesake in 1620. That
first journey took 66 days to complete. The Mayflower II made the crossing
in just 55 days. The original Mayflower, only about 90 feet long 24 feet
wide and 11 feet deep, carried 102 passengers. The Mayflower II is moored
permanently at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The only detailed description of the Mayflower's
crossing in 1620 is by William Bradford, a passenger on that voyage. He
became the first governor of Plymouth colony, serving from 1621 until his
death in 1657. The following excerpt is from his history Of Plimouth
Plantation:
"And We Were Not a Little Joyful"
September 6, 1620.
All being compact together in one ship, we put
to sea with a prosperous wind, which continued for many days, which was
some encouragement to us; yet many were afflicted with seasickness. And
I may not omit here a special work of God's providence. There was a proud
and very profane young man, one of the seamen, of a lusty, able body, who
would always be condemning the poor people in their sickness and cursing
them daily. He told them that he hoped to help cast half of them overboard
before they came to their journey's end. But it pleased God before the
journey was not yet half complete, to smite this young man with a grievous
disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the
first that was thrown overboard.
After we had enjoyed fair winds and weather
for some weeks, we suddenly encountered many cross winds and met with many
storms in which the winds were so fierce and the seas so high that we could
not raise any piece of sail and were forced to drift with no sail at all
for many days. In one such storm, a lusty young man called John Howland
was thrown into the sea; but it pleased God that he caught hold of the
topsail halyards which hung overboard. He held on though he was hauled
beneath many fathoms of water, until he was hauled up with a boat hook
and got into the ship again and his life saved.
In another fierce storm, the ship was so mightily
shaken that her upper works were made very leaky; and one of the main beams
in the midships was bowed and cracked, which put us in some fear that the
ship could not be able to perform the voyage. Some of the company even
entered into serious consultation with the officers of the ship, to consider
returning rather than to cast themselves into a desperate and inevitable
peril. And truly there was great distraction and difference of opinion
amongst the mariners themselves. But in examining all opinions, the master
and others affirmed they knew the ship to be strong and firm under water.
And for the buckling of the main beam, there had been a great iron screw
the passengers brought out of Holland, which would raise the beam into
place and set it firmly in the lower deck. And as for the decks and upper
works, they would caulk them as well as they could. So we committed ourselves
to the will of God and resolved to proceed.
In all this voyage there died but one of the
passengers, which was William Butten, a youth, servant to Samuel Fuller,
when they drew near the coast. (William Bradford's wife, Dorothy, who had
sailed on the Mayflower with him, fell off the ship and drowned on 7 December
1620, when it was anchored in Provincetown Harbor.)
After a long beating at sea, we made landfall
at what is now called Cape Cod, and we were not a little joyful. After
some deliberation amongst ourselves and with the master of the ship, we
tacked about and resolved to sail southward, the wind and weather being
fair, to find some place about Hudson's River for our settlement. But after
we had sailed about half the day, we fell amongst dangerous shoals and
roaring breakers, and were so far entangled therewith as we conceived ourselves
to be in great danger; and so we resolved to sail up again for the Cape
and thought ourselves happy to get out of those dangers before night overtook
us, as by God's good providence we did.
The next day we got safely into the Cape harbor
[now Provincetown Harbor]. Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought
safe to land we fell upon our knees and blessed the God of Heaven, who
had brought us over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered us from all
the perils and miseries thereof, again to set our feet on the firm and
stable earth, our proper element.
Answer the following questions:
1. What happened to the young seaman 'of lusty, able body'?
2. What happened to John Howland?
3. How many passengers died on the voyage of the Mayflower?
Return
to Study Guide #2
Revised
January 20, 2001
by Tom Gallup, e-mail address: tom_gallup@westvalley.edu
West Valley College
http://www.westvalley.edu/wvc/ss/gallup/gallup.html