was never of any practical use.* Having now obtained the patent, the next difficulty to be overcome was that of transportation across the sea. Arrangements were therefore made with some London merchants, but the terms agreed upon were not very favorable to the emigrants. The London merchants formed a joint stock company in whom was vested the title to the whole property acquired in the colony for a period of seven years, and in addition the services of each emigrant were only to be held equivalent to every £10 furnished by the capitalists. Nevertheless, though these terms were exceedingly hard, the Puritans decided to accept them and began preparations for embarkation.t

Though all of the congregation desired to go to the New World, a number of them were deemed unfit for pioneers or were unable to find room. in the vessels, and therefore Robinson was left behind to administer to such as could not emigrate. A small ship, the Speedwell, had already been purchased in Holland and was now ready to convey the emigrants to Southampton. The latter left Leyden accompanied by their brethren, and made their way to Delft Haven

*For the negotiations see Doyle, vol. ii., pp. 3943; Fiske, Beginnings of New England, pp. 7980; Palfrey, vol. i., pp. 53-55; Osgood, American Colonies, vol. i., p. 105 et seq.; Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation, pp. 167-176.

The terms are given in full by Palfrey, History of New England, vol. i., pp. 55-56; Osgood, American Colonies, vol. i., p. 105 et seq.

where they were joined by the members of the church at Amsterdam. The night of July 21 was spent in mutual encouragement and prayer and on the 22d, the wind being fair, they set sail. The parting with Robinson and their brethren was very affecting, but having determined on their course they would not turn back, and after a short voyage finally reached Southampton. While at Southampton the congregation received a touching letter from Robinson, which was read to the assembled company and which gave them greater heart for their voyage.*

After remaining at Southampton for a few days, the Speedwell was joined by a larger vessel, the Mayflower, and the passengers distributed between the two. In August the two vessels got under way, but the Speedwell very shortly sprang a leak and proved to be unseaworthy; and the two vessels were first obliged to put in at Dartmouth and then at Plymouth for repairs. The Speedwell, however, was found to be in no condition to withstand an ocean voyage and it became necessary therefore to leave a portion of the company at pany at Plymouth. Crowding as

* Dexter, Congregationalism of 300 Years (1880); Davis, Life of John Robinson (1903); Brook, Lives of the Puritans (1813); Mather, Magnolia (1702); Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation (Coll. of the Mass. Hist. Soc., 4th ser., vol. iii., 1856); Neal, History of New England (1720); Douglas Campbell, The Puritans in Holland, England and America (1892); Bying ton, The Puritan in England and New England (1896); Daniel Neal, History of the Puritans.

many as possible into the Mayflower, the company again set sail on September 6. After a long and tedious voyage which was full of danger because of the equinoctial gales, the Mayflower finally came in sight of the coast of New England on the 9th of November, touching at a spot not far distant from Cape Cod. It had been their purpose, however, to make a settlement near the Hudson River and the course of the ship was therefore turned south, but becoming entangled among the shoals, they decided to return and again came to anchor in Cape Cod harbor."

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year, and all the men of the company, which consisted of 102 people (men, women and children) affixed their signatures to the following document:

"In the name of God. Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

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Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and the advancement of the Christian faith, and the honour of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one of another, convenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body-politic, for our better order and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we

too eager to land, but as they were not within the limits of the Virginia Company and as signs of insubordination had broken out among some of the members of the company, it was deemed best that a voluntary compact be signed as a basis of social polity and that a governor be appointed. John Carver was elected to the latter position for a period of one

* The story which has often been told, to the injury of the Dutch, that they. bribed the master of the Mayflower not to land the company on the Hudson, is without solid foundation. It seems to have originated in the ill feeling which sprang up at a subsequent date between New England colonists and the Dutch. Grahame (History, vol. i., p. 144) repeats the story as if it were undoubtedly true. Bancroft (vol. i., p. 309, 1st ed.) leaves the matter somewhat in doubt. See also Doyle, English Colonies in America, vol. ii., p. 48; Palfrey, History of New England, vol. i., pp. 56-60; Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colonies, vol. i., p. 111.

witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names. Cape Cod, 11th November, in the

reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland, 18, and of Scotland, 54. Anno Domini 1620.” *

Immediately after landing, a party of 16 armed men under command of Miles Standish was sent out to explore the country. They found it covered with pine forests and here and there a deserted wigwam, but they rarely got sight of any of the natives. On their journey they unearthed a quantity of Indian corn which had been buried in the sand in baskets by the Indians, and this gave the colonists a very timely supply of seed for the following spring. Winter, with

* A. A. Haxtun, Signers of the Mayflower Compact (1897); Blanche McManus, Voyage of the Mayflower (1897); Azel Ames, The Mayflower and Her Log (1901); Brigham, Laws of New Plymouth.

all its fury, now came on the little band and it became absolutely necessary to fix upon some spot for a settlement. The hardiest of the company, therefore, undertook to search out a good harbor and convenient place where they might found a settlement, and in this undertaking five weeks were spent. It was not, therefore, until December 11, O. S., or December 21, 1620, N. S., that the Pilgrims finally set foot on the far-famed Plymouth Rock. As a remembrance of the kindnesses they had received at Plymouth, England, the Puritans bestowed the name of New Plymouth upon the settlement.*

At this point the whole company was landed, and the task of erecting habitations to shelter them from the inclement weather was immediately begun. A fort was built upon a hill commanding the bay and in it were placed a few small pieces of ordnance. At the foot of the hill two rows of huts were laid out, the plots being divided by lot;t some twelve houses were built at the outset, which served as the habitations for nineteen families, but as the winter had now set in with all its severity, the labor of felling trees and the construction of houses was necessarily suspended to

* Palfrey, History of New England, vol. i., pp. 61-64; Bancroft, vol. i., pp. 207-209.

+ Young, Chronicles of the Pilgrims, p. 173; Plymouth Colony Records, vol. vii., p. 1.

Goodwin, Pilgrim Republic, p. 106. See also the description of the town, as it was in 1627, by De Rasières in Collections of the New York Historical Society, vol. ii., pp. 351–352.

a great degree, though as much was accomplished as possible under the circumstances. The privations and exposure to the rigor of the season, and the fact that they were constantly soaked in the icy water by wading from the ship to land, finally implanted the seeds of mortal disease in the colonists, and during the first winter they gradually faded away.* One of the first entries in the new year was the following: the following:-"January 29, dies Rose, the wife of Captain Standish." Bradford's wife also perished by drowning. The deaths became so numerous during these winter months that nearly one-half of the entire number had been cut off. Palfrey says that of the 102 who came over 6 died in December, 8 in January, 17 in February, and 13 in March, and that before the second party arrived in the autumn 51 had died, including 28 out of the 48 adult men. Bradford in a letter to Weston says: "But it pleased God to vissite us then, with death dayly, and with so generall a disease, that the living were scarce able to burie the dead; and the well not in any measure sufficiente to tend the sick."† The dead were buried on the bank not far from the landing, and in order to prevent the Indians from attacking the survivors in their weakened state and to deceive them as to their actual numbers, the soil

Young, p. 198.

† Adams, Three Episodes in Massachusetts History, vol. i., p. 50. See also Trumbull, History of Connecticut, vol. i., p. 7 (reprint of 1898).