Mayflower steps ( Archived) (32)

so mom used to say

true? ho he's unique

Unique

The Mayflower was the ship that transported English Separatists, known today as the Pilgrims, from Plymouth in England to the New World There were 102 passengers, and the crew is estimated to have been about thirty, but the exact number is unknown.

This voyage has become an iconic story in some of the earliest annals of American history, with its story of death and of survival in the harsh New England winter environment.

The culmination of the voyage in the signing of the Mayflower Compact was an event which established a rudimentary form of democracy, with each member contributing to the welfare of the community.

Ref Wiki.

The Pilgrim ship Mayflower was a typical English merchant ship of the early 17th century – square-rigged and beak-bowed, with high, castle-like structures fore and aft that served to protect the ship's crew and the main deck from the elements. But having on her stern such structures as the 30-foot high, square aft-castle made the Mayflower extremely difficult to sail against the wind. This awkward superstructure configuration, making the Mayflower unable to sail well against the North Atlantic's prevailing Westerlies, especially in the Fall and Winter of 1620, was the direct cause of the ship's voyage from England to America taking over two months. The Mayflower??'?s return trip to London in April–May 1621, with the same strong winds following this time, took less than half that time.
By 1620, the Mayflower was an aging ship, nearing the end of the usual working life of an English merchant ship in that era, some fifteen years.

No dimensions of her hull can be stated exactly, since this was many years before such measurements were standardized. Probably Mayflower measured about 100 feet in length from the forward end at the beak of her prow to the tip of her stern superstructure aft. She was about 25 feet at her widest point, with about 12 feet of keel below the waterline. William Bradford estimated that Mayflower had a cargo volume of 180 tons, but he was not a mariner. What is known on the basis of records from that time that have survived is that she could certainly accommodate 180 casks of wine in her cargo hold. The casks were great barrels that each held hundreds of gallons of claret wine.


This was a ship that traditionally was heavily armed while on trading routes around Europe, due to the possibility of encountering pirates and privateers of all types. And with its armament, the ship and crew could easily be conscripted by the English monarch at any time in case of conflict with other nations.[