What really happened in 1620 The Mayflower Voyage: What really happened in 1620

1. The Mayflower Pilgrims were headed for Massachusetts. True or False 1. The Mayflower Pilgrims were headed for Massachusetts. 2. The Mayflower crew and passengers had a fairly easy crossing. All are false. Many “facts” we’ve learned or heard about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving are not really facts at all. 3. The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

The Mayflower What cargo might they have had? Food, supplies, tools, cannons, guns, powder, shot. Was this a good time of year to sail? The later in the year, it was more likely to be stormy and rough. When could they expect to arrive? In about two months. How much did it cost to hire the ship? In May of 1620, the Pilgrims hired Christopher Jones, 1/4th owner and captain of the Mayflower, to sail them and their cargo to northern Virginia in America.

Who was on the Mayflower? What do you think the job duties were for the cooper, gunner, and swabber? Photo source: myducksoup.com, www.donsthings.com, www.centerstagecostumes.com, www.buycostumes.com There were about 30 crew members, including a surgeon, cooper, carpenter, cook, gunner, swabber, and the sailors. There were 102 Pilgrim passengers on the Mayflower

Inside the Mayflower The captain lived in the poop house. The height of the Gun Deck (also called the ‘tween deck because it was between the cargo hold and the upper deck) was about 5 ½ feet. The size of the Gun Deck area was about 68 feet x 24 feet (at the widest). What does “sleeping in shifts” mean? What is a capstan? What is a windlass? What is the forecastle used for? The captain lived in the poop house. The Pilgrims lived on the gun deck during their voyage. The sailors slept in shifts in the cabin.

What cargo did the Mayflower carry? Very little furniture was brought. Just basic necessities that didn’t take up much room. Clothing such as monmouth caps, stockings, shirts, and aprons were probably also packed. The pilgrims brought food, tools, books, and supplies. What kind of food do you think they had? [Holland cheese, dried beef, salt pork, hard tack, wheat, peas, oil, beer (water was considered unsafe) and butter] What kind of supplies do you think they took? [Probably cooking utensils, needles] It’s possible they had some chickens or pigs. There were no goats, cattle, oxen, or horses. The only furniture was probably a few wooden chests and cradles. Why would they have not brought more furniture? [They probably sold what they had to raise money for the trip. They knew they could build furniture from local materials after they arrived.] Bedding was probably made from canvas sheets and rugs.

Animals on the Voyage Mastiff English Spaniel Why do you think they brought dogs? [Probably for hunting purposes.] Soures for photos: concise.britannica.com and dogs.about.com Mastiff English Spaniel

The Pilgrims Set Sail The Mayflower was hired in London and sailed to Southampton in July 1620 to begin loading food and supplies for the voyage. Most of the Pilgrims were still living in the Netherlands, so they hired the ship Speedwell to take them to meet with the Mayflower. The Speedwell began leaking on the way to England and it took a week to patch the ship. The Mayflower and the Speedwell planned to sail together to north Virginia, so they left on August 5th. About 1 week later, the Speedwell had to stop at Dartmouth for repairs because it had started leaking again. The ships set sail again about August 21st. When they were about 300 miles out to sea, the Speedwell began leaking again, so they returned to Plymouth to leave the Speedwell. The cargo from the Speedwell was transferred to the Mayflower, but some of the Pilgrims were so frustrated and disappointed with all the problems, that they quit the voyage and returned to the Netherlands. Those that wanted to continue on crammed onto the Mayflower. The crowded Mayflower left Plymouth, England for America on September 6th.

The Voyage of the Mayflower During the first half of the voyage the passengers’ health was good except for having some sea-sickness. One of the sailors laughed and cursed the Pilgrims every day saying that he hoped to throw their dead bodies overboard and take their belongings for himself. It turns out this same sailor became very sick and died and was actually the first to be thrown overboard. What do you think the Pilgrims thought about this? Three of the women were pregnant and one of them gave birth to a son during the voyage. Stephen and Elizabeth Hopkins named their son Oceanus. The last half of the voyage, the Mayflower sailed through a number of storms, which caused the ship to become very leaky. This caused the passengers to continually be cold and damp. The crew caulked the decks as best they could. During one of the storms, the main beam in the middle of the ship cracked, but the crew was able to fix it with a large screw. During another storm, a 25 yr. old man named John Howland was on the deck, when the ship suddenly rolled. John fell into the ocean, but luckily he was able to grab a rope that was hanging from a topsail. He held on as he sunk below the surface. The crew was able to haul him back to the surface and then grabbed him with a boathook. I wonder what the temperature of the ocean was? Because of the damp and cold, some of the passengers began to develop coughs and colds. A young boy named William Butten who was a servant to the passenger’s doctor died on November 6th. Several times, the wind was so strong that the ship just had to drift where the weather took them because it wasn’t safe to use the ship’s sails. The first half of the voyage was fairly smooth. The last half of the voyage was rough and stormy.

The Mayflower doesn’t land at its destination Northern Virginia, at the time, included the region as far north as the Hudson River. The Hudson River was the intended destination of the Pilgrims. They had received good reports about the regions while they still lived in the Netherlands. After spotting Cape Cod, the Pilgrims decided to head south to their destination where they intended to build a plantation. While headed south, the ship encountered some very rough seas and nearly shipwrecked. The Pilgrims and crew were so shaken up they decided to turn back north to Cape Cod rather take the risk of shipwrecking.

Land ho! When the sun came up and the tide was high, a small group went ashore to collect juniper wood. They used this to burn onboard the ship to improve the smell. Why do you think it smelled bad? The Pilgrims would spend the next month and a half exploring up and down the Cape Cod area, trying to decide where they would build their colony. Just at sunrise on November 9th, 1620, the crew had spotted Cape Cod, but didn’t land. It was November 11th before anyone from the ship actually set foot on land.

A place named Plymouth On December 25, 1620, they had finally decided upon Plymouth, and began construction of their first buildings. Was this a good time of the year to begin building? On December 28, 1620, the Pilgrims assigned house-plots to the 19 family groups. Each plot was 50 foot deep and the width was 8 feet multiplied by the number of members in the family. Each family was responsible for building their own house, as well as helping out to build community storehouses, a fort, and sheds. Because of the weather, lack of time, and not enough people to help build, many of the Pilgrims lived onboard the Mayflower during the winter. What kinds of difficulties do you think they had to deal with? [sickness, cold, lack of food and drink, sanitation] Picture source: staff.imsa.edu The Pilgrims only managed to get a few houses and storehouses built during their first winter in Plymouth.

MayflowerHistory.com, Copyright © 1994-2007. All Rights Reserved. Source MayflowerHistory.com, Copyright © 1994-2007. All Rights Reserved. This ppt. is for educational use in the classroom only with no charge to the students or staff. Sources of photos from other sites are listed in the notes section of the individual slides. Those not listed are from MayflowerHistory.com.