The voyage
On September 6, 1620 the Separatists and others left for the New World. They took a boat called the Mayflower. There were 102 on board: 70 adults and 32 children. Two babies were born at sea. There were strangers on board too. They were not strangers as in people you don’t know, these strangers were simply people who were not Separatists. These strangers went to the New World for adventure, and perhaps because they were troubled, or for wealth. All of the settlers on board were from the lower classes and were expecting to work hard in the New World. Scurvy, an illness caught on board, only was suffered by one man and he died. When the Pilgrims arrived in the New World, it was November and had landed farther North than Jamestown. That meant the Pilgrims had extremely cold winters. As the governor, William Bradford wrote, “For the season it was winter. Those who knew New England winters, know them as sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms.”
-Nafissa