![]() ![]() Besides, in addition to the Pilgrims and the ship’s crew, there were other paying passengers on board, about 30 regular folks booking passage to America. Jones made it very clear that even though Bradford was the leader of the Pilgrims, he was in charge of the Mayflower. It pleased God before they came half seas over, 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.īradford and Master Jones also had more than a few heated discussions, arguing about the route, the crew’s attitude, and whether the creaky old ship was seaworthy. One of the sailors especially despised the Pilgrims, telling them that his only wish was to “throw your dead bodies into the sea and claim your treasures for myself.” Luckily for the Pilgrims, he never got the chance. But Master Jones and the Mayflower’s crew of roughnecks weren’t interested in cavorting with or entertaining their devoutly religious passengers. One the few nice days, kids were permitted to climb up on deck and run around. The children suffered the most- from both sickness and boredom. The rain leaked in through the creaky deck boards, making their lives cold and damp. The foul weather forced the Pilgrims to huddle in the crowded holds. ![]() Then the rain began pouring and the wind blew- and hardly let up for the rest of the journey. The Pilgrims even wore colorful clothes William Bradford, for example, owned a “green gown, violet cloak, lead colored suit with silver buttons, and a red waistcoat.” And unlike the stricter Puritans, the Pilgrims liked to sing and play games.īut after those first couple of weeks, the fun came to a stormy end. In reality, there was only one man over 60 the average age was 32 and there were 30 children on board. It is commonly believed that the Pilgrims were a bunch of staid old men who wore black clothes and black hats with buckles. The first few weeks of the voyage saw relatively calm weather, and the mood among the Pilgrims was good. The Mayflower II, a replica of the Pilgrims' ship. A few of the passengers even slept in the shallop, a surveying boat that was stowed on the gun deck. Because people were heading to a new life in an unknown land, they brought along as many of their possessions and rations as they could pack in… which made the living quarters below decks extremely cramped. Some of the wealthier families paid the ship’s carpenter to build cots, but most of the passengers slept on hard wooden floors on a constantly rocking boat. The Mayflower was designed to carry cargo, not people, so there were few cots or hammocks to sleep on. And that’s what 102 passengers, 25 crew members, two dogs, many cats, and even more rats squeezed into for 66 days on rough and often stormy seas. Even so, that’s roughly the size of a two story, three bedroom house. “Considering the proportions of a number of known merchant vessels of the era,” writes William Baker in Colonial Vessels, “the Mayflower might have had a keel length ranging from 52 tp 73 feet, a breadth of 24 to 27 feet and a depth of 10 to 13 feet.” Other historians say she may have been as a long as 90 feet. Historians can only guess as to the Mayflower’s exact exact size and shape (no pictures of her were ever painted), although most agree that she had two decks and three masts. The Pilgrims finally set off from Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620, more than a month behind schedule. ![]() Here’s the second part of their story that began last week with Why the Pilgrims Came to America. Historical fact: The Pilgrims never called themselves “Pilgrims.” In fact, they weren’t known by that name until the 1840s. The following is an article from Uncle John's Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader. ![]()
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