The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Mayflower, The

MAYFLOWER, The, the name of the vessel in which the Pilgrim Fathers, or first colonists in New England, sailed to this country in 1620. The Mayflower was a vessel of 180 tons. She set sail from Southampton, England, on 5 Aug. 1620, in company with her sister ship, the Speedwell, but the courage of the captain and the crew of the latter vessel failing, both ships put back to port. Finally on 6/17 September the Mayflower again spread her sails from Plymouth, having on board as passengers 41 men and their families, 102 persons in all They succeeded in crossing the Atlantic after a stormy voyage of 63 days. They intended to go to the mouth of the Hudson River but the captain of the Mayflower took them to Cape Cod. They landed at Plymouth, Mass., at a point where Plymouth Rock, a huge granite boulder, stands at the water's edge. A complete and authentic list of the male passengers who landed from the Mayflower is as follows:

The Mayflower Passengers.

Allerton, Isaac	Hopkins, Stephen
Allerton, John	Howland, John
Billington, John	Leister, Edward
Bradford, Wm.	Margeson, Bdward
Brewster, Wm.	Martin, Christopher
Britterage, Richard	Mullins, William
Brown, Peter	Priest, Degony
Carver, John	Rigdale, John
Chilton, James	Rogers, Thomas
Clarke, Richard	Soule, George
Cook, Francis	Standish, Miles
Crackston, John	Tilly, Edward
Dotey, Edward	Tilly, John
Eaton, Francis	Tinker, Thomas
English, Thos.	Turner, John
Fletcher, Moses	Warren, Richard
Fuller, Edward	White, William
Fuller, Samuel	Williams, Thomas
Gardiner, Richard	Winslow, Edward
Goodman, John	Winslow, Gilbert

With these 41 male passengers and heads of families came 15 male servants, whose names were as follows:

Servants on the Mayflower.

Carter,	Langemore,	Sampson,
Coper,	Latham,	Story,
Ely,	Minter,	Thompson,
Holbeek,	Moore,	Trevore,
Hooke,	Prower,	Wilder.

The following is a copy of the covenant agreed upon by these first settlers of Massachusetts, signed and subscribed on board the Mayflower at Cape Cod, 10/21 Nov. 1620, two days after the ship came to anchor.

The Mayflower Compact.

In the name of God Amen! We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc., have undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith, and 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 of one another covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic for our better ordering and preservation, and furthermore of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices from time to time, as shall be thought most mete and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names, at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the Eighteenth, and of Scotland the Fifty-fourth, Anno Domini 1620.

Whittier, Lowell, Holmes and other poets have immortalized the Mayflower in well-known poems. Consult Carpenter, E. J., ‘The Mayflower Pilgrims’ (New York 1918); Usher, R. G., ‘The Pilgrims and Their History’ (New York 1918).