On December 16, 1620, the Mayflower finally anchored in Plymouth Harbor on the western shore of Cape Cod Bay. The Mayflower’s passengers first set sail from England on August 5, however, they were stalled for weeks because their companion vessel kept leaking. After fruitless repairs to the Speedwell, they abandoned the smaller ship in early September, leaving behind some passengers and cargo, and sailed for two months on the restless Atlantic Ocean. When they reached Cape Cod on the American coast, far north of their destination, they waited weeks onboard the ship as search teams explored the coastland and as several passengers died onboard.
It had been over four months after they first set sail from Southampton when Captain Jones gave the command to drop anchor in Plymouth Harbor. For many passengers, their shipboard ordeal began even earlier when they boarded the Speedwell in Holland on July 22 to meet fellow colonists awaiting them in England.
After the ship reached Plymouth Harbor, there were several more days of exploration before settling on a place to establish their lives, and several more weeks of falling trees and building their crude village on the frozen ground before they could all leave the ship and become land-dwellers once more.
Even more passengers would die of various causes while they waited on the Mayflower. Though the passengers left no record of stepping down at any specific place, Plymouth Rock has since become an important symbol of their difficult journey and determination to begin anew.
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“Albeit they were few in number, yea very few, and strangers in the land. And walked about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people.”
(Psalms 105:12-13; 1599 Geneva Bible)
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