The Mayflower Story
During difficult times the separatists wanted to break away from the Church of England. In 1607 they left Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire to go to Holland
Life in Holland wasn’t what the separatists expected, so in 1620 they left on the Speedwell to join the Mayflower on it’s voyage to America.
Both the Speedwell and Mayflower ships left Southampton in August 1620
At the start of the voyage the Speedwell started to leak and both ships sailed to Plymouth (UK) with plans to repair the damaged ship.
The Speedwell could not be fixed. Some of the passengers remained in Plymouth, whilst 102 from both ships set sail on the Mayflower for America in September 1620.
Due to bad weather the Mayflower arrived in America on 11th November 1620. This was much later and further North East than originally expected.
The journey of the Speedwell and Mayflower...
Netherlands Massachusetts
Mayflower Speedwell
London Southampton Dartmouth Plymouth
On this day 41 male Pilgrims created a government and signed the “Mayflower Compact”
John Carver was the first Governor of the Plymouth Colony. Following his death William Bradford became the new Governor.
The first winter was cold and many of the passengers stayed on board the Mayflower. The ship became home to the sick and dying. By the end of winter, just under half of the settlers had survived.
After some time the Pilgrims were taught to fish and plant in their new environment by the Wampanoag, a Native American tribe.
The Narragansett tribe were not so happy to help. As a warning they sent arrow heads wrapped in snake skin to the Pilgrims.
The Pilgrims returned the snakes skin with gun powder and bullets which warned off the Narragansett tribe.
There was no further conflict with the Plymouth Colony and the Narragansett tribe which allowed the Pilgrims to settle in their new environment.
After the 1st successful harvest in autumn 1621 the Plymouth Colony and Wampanoag celebrated with a three day festival. Over time this has become known as the first Thanksgiving.
This ebook was designed by young volunteers from Improving Lives Plymouth as part of the Mayflower 400 Youth Social Action project.