The Voyage to New England

While the Leiden Pilgrims outfitted a small vessel, the Speedwell, the merchant adventurers chartered a large ship, the Mayflower, and recruited colonists in London. In July, 1620, the Speedwell sailed from Delft Haven to Southampton, where it joined the Mayflower. The two ships sailed together in August, but the Speedwell quickly proved unseaworthy and was abandoned at Plymouth, England.

On September 16 (by the modern calendar) the Mayflower put to sea with as many persons from the two ships as could be accommodated. There were 102 passengers and a crew of 25. The passengers included 41 members of the Leiden congregation and 39 colonists from London, including Separatist leaders William Bradford, William Brewster, and John Carver. Among the others were Captain Myles Standish, a professional soldier who had been hired to serve as military commander at Plymouth; and various servants and workmen, including John Alden, a cooper who had signed a contract to serve in the colony for a year. About 30 of the passengers were children.

Land was sighted on the 66th day. It was Cape Cod—New England, not Virginia. The men from Leiden expressed their satisfaction at this, but some of the London passengers who had expected to land in Virginia threatened mutiny. On November 21, 1620, in Provincetown Harbor, the leaders of both groups drew up a covenant agreeing that a governing body would be elected by the colonists, and that all would abide by the rule of the majority. The passengers signed the covenant, known as the Mayflower Compact, and John Carver was elected governor.

In its promise of “just & equall lawes” written by the settlers themselves, the compact was a statement of revolutionary new principles. After being forgotten for many generations, it was hailed in 1802 by John Quincy Adams as a great charter of freedom, and has come to be recognized as a milestone in the growth of democracy.