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DECEMBER

     A different kind of trouble now vexed these people. William Bradford wrote in his Diary,

      " ...Of all sorrows most heavy to be borne, was that many of their children by these occasions and the great licentiousness of youth in that country, and the manifold temptations of the place were drawn away by evil examples into extravagant and dangerous courses, getting the reigns off their necks, and departing from their parents. Some became soldiers; others took upon them far voyages by sea; and others some worse courses, tending to dissoluteness and the danger of their souls, to the great grief of their parents, and dishonor of God. So that they saw their posterity would be in danger to degenerate and be corrupted. So that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting place near twelve years, but they knew they were Pilgrims and looked not much on those things but lift their eyes to the Heavens their dearest country and fruited their spirits."
     Mr. John Carver and Mr. Robert Cushamn were sent to England by the congregation to obtain permission for the church of Leyden to settle in America. The London Company and the Council of Plymouth wore encouraging, but the most King James would do was to informally promise to let them alone in "America."
     The Speedwell, a vessel of sixty tons, was purchased at Amsterdam to carry these Pilgrims from Leyden to Southampton in England. There, they would be joined by the Mayflower, a vessel of one hundred and eighty tons, sailing from London.
     The entire congregation accompanied these Pilgrims to the harbor of Delft, fifteen miles from Leyden on the Meuse River. On July 22, 1620, the Pilgrims boarded the ship. Pastor Robinson gave the benediction by reading Psalm 120. Mr. Bradford wrote,    

    "Mr. Robinson, their pastor, falling down on his knees, and they all with him, he with watery cheeks commended them with most fervent prayer to God; and then with mutual embraces, and many tears, they took their leave, and with a prosperous gale, came to Southampton."    

     Both ships arrived safely at Southampton. On August 5th, the vessels left the harbor bound for the shores of America, but after a few days sailing, the Speedwell was found to be shattered, old and leaky. Both ships therefore anchored in the port of Dartmouth for eight days of repairs.
     Again they set sail, but the captain of the Speedwell deciding his ship was unfit to breast the ocean returned to Plymouth. The ship was abandoned. But on September 5th, the Pilgrims crowded aboard the Mayflower, and set sail. Mr. Bradford tells of their journey:

     "After they had enjoyed fair winds and weather for a season, they were encountered many times with cross winds, and met with many fierce storms, with which the ship was shroudly shaken, and her upper works made very leaky; and one of the main beams in the midship bowed and cracked, which put them in some fear that the ship could not be able to perform the voyage. So some of the chief of the company perceiving the mariners to fear the sufficiency of the ship, as appeared by their mutterings they entered into serious consultation with the master and other officers of the ship, to consider in time of the danger; and rather to return than to cast themselves into a desperate and inevitable peril.
     "And truly there was great distraction and difference of opinion among the mariners themselves; fain would they do what could be done for their wages sake, (being now half the seas over), and on the other hand they were loath to hazard their lives too desperately. But in examining of all opinions, the master and others affirmed they knew the ship to be strong and firm under water; and for the buckling of the main beam, there was a great iron screw the passengers brought out of Holland, which would raise the beam into his place; the which being done, the carpenter and master affirmed that with a post put under it, set firm in the lower deck, and otherways bound, he would make it sufficient.
     "And as the fore decks and upper works they would caulk them as well as they could, and though with the working of the ship they would not long keep stanch yet there would otherwise be no great danger, if they did not overpress her with sails.
     "So they committed themselves to the will of God, and resolved to proceed. In sundry of these storms the winds were so fierce, and the seas so high, as they could not bear a knot of sail, but were forced to drift, for divers days together. And in one of them, as they thus lay at drift, in a mighty storm, a lusty young man (called John Howland) coming upon some occasion above the grattings, was, with a seal of the ship thrown into sea; but it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail halliards, which hung overboard, and ran out at length; yet he held his hold (though he was sundry fathoms under water) till he was hauled up by the same rope to the brim of the water and then with a boat hook and other means got into the ship again, and his life saved; and though he was something ill with it, yet he lived many years after, and became a profitable member both in Church and Commonwealth."

      The ship was driven by storms for sixty-three days, yet on Saturday, November 9th the Mayflower anchored in the bay at Cape Cod. They hurriedly made preparation to keep the Lord's Day, yet before any went ashore, they covenanted together before God, and set their signatures to the "Mayflower Compact." In brief it stated,

      "In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, ...having undertaken for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith ... solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid . . .. "

      Seventy-three men were among the Pilgrim band. Of these, thirty-four were adults, eighteen of which were married. Nineteen were servants. In all, forty-one men signed the Mayflower Compact, and unanimously elected John Carver to serve as governor of the colony. The next day, being Sunday, was spent in prayer and praise on Clark's Island.

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