The Other Mayflower

 1620 - The voyage of the Mayflower, England to America. 

Pretty straight forward, right?

You leave England, sail across the Atlantic

and land in America, except...

it didn't quite go that way.

Unknown to a lot of us [myself included],

the Pilgrims weren't from Jolly Olde England,

they were from the Netherlands,

and sailed first from there to England

to meet the Mayflower.

The ship they sailed on was the Speedwell,

which I am calling the 'other' Mayflower

because it too was to make the voyage to America.

It was problems with the Speedwell

that actually caused the Pilgrims to end their

voyage by landing in Plymouth

instead of their original destination

of Northern Virginia.

You see, the Speedwell leaked, a lot.

It leaked so badly it had to be repaired after

that comparatively short jaunt

from the Netherlands to England.

After a week or so for the repairs to be completed,

the two ships departed together for America,

but didn't get too far from the English coast

before the Speedwell leaked again.

After pulling into another port for further repairs,

both ships set off once more,

but not for long.

After just a couple of days at sea

the Speedwell leaked yet again,

severely enough that both ships turned

back to where they had started.

This time the Pilgrims gave up on the Speedwell

[good move I would say]

and transferred the passengers and cargo

onto the already crowded Mayflower.

The repairs and multiple departures by then

had extended the voyage to a point that

by the time they managed to get across the Atlantic

and close to the American coastline

they were sailing right into storm season,

and heavy seas forced them to give up on continuing

to Virginia and instead they made land at Plymouth.

PS:  I've been up there to Plymouth Rock,

and the locals say that's not 'really' where

the landing occured...

but that's a whole other story.