Arrival at Plymouth Harbor

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. 

* * * * * 

“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)

Another Desperate, Frigid Search

On the icy morning of December 7, 1620, several men set off again from the Mayflower. Two weeks anchored off the bitter New England coast, the ocean-weary passengers and over two dozen restless crewmembers hoped this would be the day the Pilgrims found a suitable home. 

While the men in the shallop searched for a harbor deep enough to bring in the ship, those on foot stumbled upon graves and the decayed structures of earlier inhabitants. Both groups found beached blackfish measuring nearly twenty feet long. One fish was cut up with several pieces strewn about. 

The land party found bare human footprints along the sandy beach and followed them toward the woods where one man thought he glimpsed an Indian shelter. As night fell, the ground team lost sight of the shallop. They scurried out of the woods to reconnect with the others. When they found the boat, they directed it toward a nearby creek. After both teams reunited, they gathered firewood and made their usual crude barricade for protection against wind and possible nighttime attacks. 

In the deepening darkness, they ate their meager rations and shared the stories they gathered from the day's events. At night, however, their sleep was interrupted by loud, bone-chilling cries. They jumped to their feet, grabbed their muskets, and fired into the darkness. After a long silence, seeing nothing in the dim firelight, they decided the howls were probably wolves. One crewman said he often heard the same unearthly sounds in Newfoundland.

* * * * * 

“For poverty and famine they were solitary, fleeing into the wilderness, which is dark, desolate and waste.” 

(Job 30:3; 1599 Geneva Bible)

Jasper Dies Far From Home

Six years after their 1610 marriage, Samuel More was convinced his wife had a long-term affair. All four children in the More household bore a noticeable resemblance to Katherine’s childhood friend, Jacob Blakeway. Long before Samuel and Katherine were married, she and Jacob promised themselves to each other, but her father had other plans. He arranged for Katherine to marry her cousin, Samuel, in order to keep their Shropshire County estate within the family. 

Months after their fourth child was born, despite Katherine’s wishes, Samuel placed the children with another family. Four years later, he placed them all aboard the Mayflower with those pious passengers intent on planting another English colony on the American continent. By sending them across the ocean, Samuel believed the children could leave behind a lifetime of questions about their parentage and have a far better chance for happiness and prosperity. But Samuel surely also knew it was an effective way to minimize his pubic humiliation, lash out against his cheating wife, and slash his financial burden for children he no longer wanted. 

On December 6, 1620, seven-year-old Jasper More died at Cape Cod from an infection, the first child to die on the journey. Within weeks, both sisters would follow him in death. Out of the four Mayflower siblings, only Richard More survived to adulthood, becoming an important sea captain for the colonists. 

Little is known of their mother's fate, but Samuel More became a member of England’s Parliament and a military officer. 

* * * * * 

“Behold, children are the inheritance of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb his reward. As are the arrows in the hand of the strong man; so are the children of youth. Blessed is the man that hath his quiver full of them.” 

(Psalms 127:3-5; 1599 Geneva Bible)