A MAYFLOWER STORY

Doug Dunn

 

I had never much wanted to visit Plymouth. When my friend Carmel, visiting Devon for the first time, suggested it, we decided to go and see the Mayflower Museum. Good to do new things and I wanted to learn a little about American history.

 

We enjoyed the Mayflower 400 Exhibition commemorating its voyage from Plymouth in 1620. We read each poster display describing the story of how a small group of people transported themselves from humble beginnings in Nottinghamshire to Holland and then new world of America. I had heard about the Pilgrim Fathers and I was keen to learn the origins of the story.

 

After leaving the museum the guides suggested walking out onto the cobbled New Street and by Elizabethan House, once called London House, the offices of the London Company of Virginia. I sat on a bench while my friend went looking for coffees. I imagined meeting one of the pilgrim women and asking her what it was really like to be on that journey from Plymouth ….

 

“My name is Mary Brewster. I was one of the 18 women of 102 passengers on board the Mayflower in autumn 1620. Sadly only five of us women survived the first winter. We played an important role and should really be remembered for the part we played. When eventually we sighted land at Cape Cod which was further north than our planned destination of Virginia, we decided to stay where we were. The men went off exploring the land to find a suitable place to settle and build store houses. They were creating the beginnings of a new settlement we called Plymouth.  We women stayed on board to look after the sick and dying. We cooked and cared for the sick and young to ensure at least some of us would survive that first winter.

 

 

By autumn the following year in 2021, I felt a strong sense of gratitude and thanks for what my husband William Brewster and our colony had achieved. I remember thinking back to the treacherous 60 day voyage across the ocean in such confined conditions. The ship was only 75 feet long and 25 feet wide. Towards the end of the voyage there were many arguments, conflicts and we almost had an on-board mutiny. Thank God we resolved our differences and made a written agreement in Cape Cod. It became known as the Mayflower Compact.

 

That moment marked the end of an even longer journey from my home in Scrooby in Nottinghamshire where I lived with William, to Leiden in Holland where we lived for 12 years. Breaking away from the Church of England and anything not in the scriptures was another courageous journey we made and were proud of.

 

We sailed across from Leiden to Plymouth in Devon after several false starts on board the Speedwell. But we had to abandon her because it kept leaking and then pack everything onto another ship were hired; the Mayflower. We were sailing for the first time and people here in Plymouth probably thought we were foolhardy for wanting to sail in the autumn on such a long journey across the Atlantic. But we did it! We sailed off into the unknown with a ship half-full of 'strangers'. They were not of our thinking. Then one year later, though only half of us survived the hunger, illness and freezing winter, we were able to celebrate and give thanks to all we achieved. 

 

I think that Mayflower Compact was very important. After enduring such hardship, it was time for new ways and new rules to live by. That agreement kept our community connected and allowed us to thrive.”

 

I woke up from my day-dream and remembered reading in the museum that the pilgrim colony survived for only 70 years.  But what a long lasting impression they had made in the imagination of American people. Out of hardship and the unknown came a new spirit for life and adventure.

 

In some way learning about those pilgrims is helping me get through the pandemic.  I am learning new ways of thinking. Learning about the history on my doorstep is a good start. And that it is a good thing to speak to strangers!

 

 

 

The Mayflower Compact

 

 

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith, and the honor 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 another; covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, 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, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.