by Rosetta Taylor

Created on: November 02, 2009   Last Updated: April 29, 2012

In the 21st century, when travel to the far side of the world is undertaken with little more thought than previous generations would have applied to hopping on a bus, it is not easy to imagine the mindset of the Pilgrims as they prepared to make their journey across the immense Atlantic Ocean. Perhaps the nearest approach would be to envisage a group of intrepid families preparing to colonize Mars, shortly after the first human landings on that distant planet. This is what faced the Pilgrims when they prepared to set sail for the New World.

For this reason their preparations included not only effectively shutting down their previous life, disposing of property and bidding final farewells, but also planning how they were to travel and packing up all the things they might need for the new and dangerous life that lay ahead.

William Bradford, a Pilgrim who later became governor of Plymouth colony, tells us a great many details of their preparation in the fifth chapter of his account 'Of Plymouth Plantation'. He describes how the Puritan Separatist congregation in Holland, who had fled from England in search of religious freedom, decided that for various reasons they would have a chance to lead a better life in the New World. In 1617 they obtained a patent from the London Virginia Company to start a new settlement near the mouth of the Hudson River, although this was not to be their final destination. Since there would not be space available for all of them to go at once, and some required a longer time to settle their affairs, they decided which persons were to go on the first voyage, and who was to join them at a later date. He explains that the chosen colonists sold their property and consigned the resulting money to a common fund for the provisioning of the voyage, a fund which was boosted by finance obtained through merchants in London.

Disagreements between the prospective colonists and their financiers caused many delays, but the Separatists finally bought a small ship, the Speedwell, which they intended should be part of a fleet of two to make the voyage. It was planned that the Speedwell would carry passengers and provisions across the Atlantic Ocean and remain with them in the New World, to be used for fishing and trading. They arranged to charter another vessel, the Mayflower, in London, together with a captain and crew to sail her.

After much prayer and weeping, those who were to make the voyage left Holland, their home for twelve years, bound, in

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>