![]() ![]() There were 102 passengers aboard - 50 men, 20 women, and 32 children - with a crew of 40. Saints and Strangers alike agreed to sail on and trust in God. If they turned back, they would lose everything and be in worse poverty than ever. Unless Thomas Weston relented there would be no future expedition with additional provisions and help. The Pilgrims had no Speedwell for fishing, they would arrive too late for planting, and they had few arms for hunting. On September 16th, the Mayflower set out alone. There were, by that time, plenty agreeable to do so, Deacon Cushman among them. The Mayflower would take as many passengers as it could, but 20 would have to be left behind. This time the ships put in to Plymouth, England, where it was decided to go on without the Speedwell. ![]() They were more than 300 miles out when the Speedwell reported it was leaking and “must bear up or sink at sea.” Toward the end of August, Mayflower and Speedwell put to sea again. The passengers on the Mayflower were so unhappy that Christopher Martin, acting as governor on that ship, refused to let anyone ashore for fear they would not return. Then the Speedwell, its captain said, became “open and leakie as a sieve.” The ships put back to Dartmouth where the Speedwell was dry-docked for nearly three weeks. They sailed rapidly for two days before a stiff wind. ![]() On August 15th the Mayflower and Speedwell put to sea with the passengers on the two ships totaling about 120. To clear port they had to sell some of their provisions, including most of their butter, leaving them short of supplies. Pleas for help were sent to Weston but he kept his word and sent the Pilgrims nothing. That was a heavy blow because the Speedwell captain refused to sail until the vessel’s rigging was changed and that would cost money. He vowed the Pilgrims would not get another cent from the Merchants and Adventurers. Thomas Weston, the London adventurer, was denounced as a “bloodsucker” for changing the terms of his agreement and he stomped off to London when the Leyden leaders refused to sign the new agreements. There was little cooperation in buying provisions and, as a result, the Mayflower was stocked with two tons of butter, hardly any guns, and little to use in trade with the Indians. And they were having trouble getting along with each other. He could not get along with the Leyden agents, Deacons Robert Cushman and John Carver. The two groups, unknown to each other but bound together in a perilous undertaking, had only a short time to get acquainted before new problems cropped up.Ĭhristopher Martin, a Puritan, had been named expedition treasurer. They were seasick and drenched when the Speedwell pulled into Southampton harbor and docked alongside the Mayflower with its complement of “Strangers” from London. It was purchased to be used as transportation and for fishing in the new settlement, She proved a balky ship, heeling way over and soaking her passengers on the short trip. The contingent of Separatists from Leyden had crossed from Holland to England in their small vessel misnamed the Speedwell. There were three factions aboard the Mayflower: the Separatists or Saints from Leyden in Holland the colonists from London, called “Strangers,” recruited by Thomas Watson, prime mover of the Merchants and Adventurers and, the ship’s crew, who disliked both. Sadly, “necessity having no law, the emigrants were constrained to be silent.” A contract was drawn up detailing the terms of the repayment and profit sharing, but when the Pilgrims arrived in England from Holland they discovered the terms had been altered, much to their hurt. The Merchant Adventurers agreed to take care of the shipping and to fund the provisions. The business purpose of the expedition was to found a fishery. ![]() WHERE WERE THE PILGRIMS FROM FREESocialism was never “the dream of the Pilgrims.” They needed no Adam Smith to spell out for them the merits of free enterprise and the necessity for individual responsibility. ![]()
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