The Mayflower | A Sea of Troubles | 2

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0:56Imagine it's the middle of November, 1620, and you're trudging up a high, sandy hill along the shore of Cape Cod. Your ship is anchored in the bay with most of the colonists on board, but you and 15 fellow pilgrims have come ashore to search for a suitable location for your new settlement. You pass some abandoned graves and the stubble of a harvested cornfield, clear evidence that humans have been living here, but the land is strangely empty of people. As you reach the top of the slope, one of your leaders, a 30-year-old man named William Bradford, stops in his tracks and kneels down beside a large mound of sand.

1:33Look at this. See how it's been smoothed over? You step forward beside Bradford, peering down for a closer look. Well, it looks new. Someone must have padded it down recently. We better leave it alone. It won't hurt to see what's buried beneath. I don't know. But Bradford and a few of the others have already begun clawing at the sand with their hands. The rest form a defensive ring, their muskets primed and ready. Oh, look at this. Bradford unearths a woven basket full of dried corn. It's so heavy that he can barely lift it. Beside it rests another basket containing three dozen ears of corn. His face brightens as he peels back the husks to reveal red, yellow, and blue kernels that gleam like jewels in the afternoon light.

2:15We should take this back to the ship. But you shake your head. That would be stealing. This corn belongs to the Indians, it's obvious. They buried it here for safekeeping. No, no, no, think clearly. We're growing weaker by the day. Will you let our children starve while all this corn lies just beneath our feet? So far the Indians have left us alone. By all the evidence, they must not be far away. We can't risk provoking them. The other men step back nervously, scanning the woods for signs of Indian presence. But no one emerges. The land is as eerie and quiet as ever. Now this corn is divine providence.

2:50God, in his infinite mercy, left it here so that we would not go hungry. Or it's Satan's temptation. We still have our seeds on the ship. There's plenty of wheat, barley, and peas to plant when spring comes. But what if our English crops don't grow in this new world? We'll all be dead come fall. And besides, our provisions are dwindling fast. We'll eat the ears of corn now and plant the dried kernels in the spring. This corn will be our salvation. And what if the Indians come to take their revenge? It won't come to that. We'll find out who the corn belongs to and repay them later. But for now, we'll take what we can carry.

3:22Our survival depends on it. Bradford and the other men start gathering up the corn. Against your better judgment, you join them, stuffing dried kernels into your pockets. The mood has instantly shifted. The men are relieved by the prospect of returning to the Mayflower with this unexpected bounty, but you can't escape the feeling that your theft will come back to haunt you.

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5:04In November 1620, a small party of pilgrim scouts explored the desolate shores of Cape Cod in search of a site to establish a colony. In their hunger and desperation, they stole a cache of buried corn that belonged to local Indians. But with their provisions running low, they believed they had little choice. The pilgrim's struggles were partly due to having sailed from England dangerously late in the season. After repeated delays, they set off on their transatlantic voyage in September 1620. In the agonizing weeks that followed, they endured brutal storms, rampant illness, and death. All the while, they knew that crossing the ocean was only the first step in their struggle to establish a spiritual community in the New World.

5:46Once they reached land, they would face a host of new challenges, finding food and water, building a settlement, and protecting themselves from the native communities who had inhabited the region for generations. Torn between feelings of hope and fear, they sailed into an unknown future with little to sustain them beyond their faith. This is Episode 2, A Sea of Troubles.

6:11In early September 1620, the Mayflower lost sight of the English coast and began its westward journey to America. The crew and 102 passengers on board would have to cross 3 ,000 miles of ocean before they saw land again. They were an unlikely group to attempt to establish a viable English colony in the New World. They were not noblemen, soldiers, or seasoned explorers like the men who founded Jamestown more than a decade earlier. Instead, they were farmers, weavers, shoemakers, printers, and servants with little to no experience surviving in the wild. Fewer than 50 were adult men, nearly 30 were children, and roughly 20 were women.

6:50Half of the group were religious radicals, Puritan separatists who believed the only way to reform the Church of England was to break away from it entirely. They would spend the next eight weeks in close quarters with the so-called strangers who did not share their close-knit bonds and strong spiritual convictions. Among the strangers was Miles Stanish, an English mercenary who would serve as captain and handle the colony's military needs. There were multiple families, including four children whose father had recently discovered their mother's adulterous affair. Questioning their parentage, he had decided to ship them off to America alone.

7:25And there was one stranger who had previously crossed the Atlantic, an adventurer named Stephen Hopkins. Eleven years earlier, Hopkins had sailed on the Sea Venture, the infamous ship that wrecked on the shores of Bermuda on its way to Jamestown. While stranded there in Bermuda, Hopkins had joined an attempted mutiny. He ultimately made it to Jamestown, where he lived for a few years before returning to England. He had boarded the Mayflower, along with his three children and wife, who gave birth to a son during the voyage. They named him Oceanus in honor of the unique circumstances of his birth.

7:58And with such a mixed group sharing close quarters, the separatist spiritual leader Reverend John Robinson anticipated potential difficulties. Robinson had stayed behind in Leiden, Holland, with the majority of the congregation who planned to travel to America at a later date. But he penned a farewell letter to those voyaging to America, urging them to exercise patience and tolerance to avoid conflict. He argued that for the welfare of the colony, it was crucial that the separatists and the strangers learn to live together. It was a stance that did not come easily to the Leiden group, who saw themselves as spiritually superior to the strangers.

8:34According to their religious beliefs, they were members of the elect, an exclusive group destined for salvation, also known as saints. All others, including the strangers were destined for damnation. But the wisdom of Robinson's advice became clear as the passengers endured a long and harrowing voyage on the cramped Mayflower. Crammed into dark and suffocating makeshift cabins with only four to five feet of headroom, they shared space with livestock, scattered belongings, and sloshing chamber pots. When they could keep food down, their diet consisted of stale biscuits, cheese, and salted beef and fish.

9:09Their misery was compounded by the fact that they had no idea what awaited them if they survived the journey, which proceeded at an agonizingly slow pace. The Mayflower averaged just two miles an hour as it battled strong westerly gales and the powerful Gulf Stream. At times, conditions were so severe that Captain Christopher Jones had to lie a hull, taking down all the sails and letting the Mayflower drift to reduce strain on the ship's structure. But keeping the Mayflower and its passengers safe meant sacrificing hard-earned miles, and these strong winds made for rampant seasickness, too. One seasoned sailor taunted the sick with promises to toss their bodies overboard, only to fall ill and become the first to die himself.

9:51His body was tossed into the sea. The pilgrim leader, William Bradford, attributed the sailor's death to divine retribution, writing, It pleased God to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner. Another man plunged into the ocean during an especially fierce gale. A young servant named John Howland slipped off the deck and plunged into the freezing waters. He caught hold of a rope trailing the ship and clung on, even as he was dragged more than ten feet below the surface. Fortunately, the crew grabbed a boat hook and managed to haul Howland back on board the ship.

10:25Then, midway through the voyage that October, a violent storm cracked the Mayflower's main beam, prompting Captain Jones to consider turning back. His crew members refused, though, fearing they would not be paid if they failed to complete the journey. Despite their inexperience, the passengers banded together to help the crew repair the damage. They used a large iron screw jack to clamp the massive broken timber back into place. With a support post wedged beneath it, the beam was stable enough for the journey to continue. But by early November, the Mayflower was nine weeks into a voyage that should have been completed in midsummer.

10:59Passengers had exhausted their firewood and were scraping the bottoms of their water casks. Even more troubling was the dwindling beer supply, an essential resource in an age when water was often unsafe to drink. As rations shrank, signs of scurvy appeared, including bleeding gums, loose teeth, and foul breath. On November 6th, a 15-year-old servant became the second to die on board. All knew that more would follow if they didn't reach land soon. But no one knew how much longer they would have to travel. Captain Jones could estimate latitude and knew that storms had carried them farther north than their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River, but gauging longitude was much more difficult.

11:39Sailors would not have a reliable tool for measuring their east-west position for another 140 years, and this meant that Jones and his crew were in the dark about how much further west they needed to sail.

11:53Imagine it's just after 7 o 'clock in the morning on November 9, 1620. You're the pilot and second mate of the Mayflower, and you're standing on the mid-deck of the ship as it sails west across the Atlantic Ocean. The skies are clear, and the crescent moon is fading into the sky as the sun rises behind you in the east. And as you gaze west, you make out a thin gray ridge on the horizon. Your heart starts racing, and you call out, Land, ho! Your Captain Christopher Jones rushes over. As he follows your gaze, his face breaks out in a wide grin. My God, we've actually done it. What land is that? I'm almost certain it's Cape Cod.

12:29There's no mistaking those sandy hills. You're one of the only members of the crew who have sailed to New England before. But as Jones takes in your words, concern washes over his face. Cape Cod must be 200 miles north of our destination. We're supposed to carry these people to the Hudson River. I'd forget about the Hudson. The Cape is the safest place to anchor between Virginia and Maine, and it's full of cod. The colonists stand to make a pretty profit in fishing. All you have to do is turn her northeast and sail around the tip of the cape. Jones stares up at the sails, checking the wind direction.

13:02From the set of his jaw, it seems he's made up his mind about something. I don't give a damn about fishing profits. We've already lost two people, so my only priority is getting the rest off this ship as soon as possible. The wind is coming from the north, moving south. If we follow it, we'll arrive at the Hudson in a couple of days. A journey north, around the tip of the cape, could take much longer. Well, yes, but if we turn south, we'll be sailing blind. We don't have any reliable charts of the waters between the southern cave and the Hudson. Well, that's a risk I'm willing to take. Stone squats by the hatch that opens down to the helmsman and the steerage below.

13:35Turn us 65 degrees port. Maintain course south-southwest. Slowly, the ship begins to swing south-southwest, the northerly wind filling and tightening the sails. The captain looks out on the horizon with new resolve, but you can't shake your nerves. The passengers and the crew are at their breaking point, and you're not sure it's worth the danger of sailing into the uncharted waters of an unknown coast.

14:03Just after dawn on Thursday, November 9, 1620, seabirds circled over the Mayflower, and the color of the water lightened to a pale green. In the clear morning light, the crew spotted a distant line of bluffs. Soon, sandy, tree-covered hills emerged into sight. After 65 grueling days at sea, they had finally spotted land. It was the backside of Cape Cod, a sickle-shaped peninsula in modern-day Massachusetts. But their relief was tempered by the realization that they were more than 200 miles off course from their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River, where the colonists had been granted illegal permission to settle.

14:41Captain Jones weighed his options, desperate to get the ailing passengers ashore as quickly as possible. To reach Cape Cod Bay, he would need to sail north around the hooked tip of the Cape. Had there been a southern wind that morning, he might have steered that way, regardless of the colonists' charter. But the wind was blowing hard from the north. So Jones decided that the quickest course was to follow the wind, skirting the backside of the Cape in the direction of the Hudson and keep with the original plan. But in 1620, there was no reliable English charts of the waters between the bottom of Cape Cod and the Hudson River.

15:15This meant that Jones would be sailing with no knowledge of the dangers that might await, and after only a few hours, he unknowingly entered one of the Atlantic Ocean's most treacherous areas, an intricate maze of shoals and breakers known as Pollock Ripp. By afternoon, the wind died down, and the tide fell, and the ship became trapped in dangerously shallow water. With daylight waning, the crew prepared to anchor, but doing so near the shoals risked disaster. Just in time, the wind shifted, allowing them to escape. Finally recognizing the dangers of pressing on, Jones made a fateful choice. He decided to turn around and head northeast back to Cape Cod.

15:54It would be there, on the shores of New England and not the Hudson River, that the Pilgrims would begin their new life. But as the Mayflower sailed north, tensions boiled over, putting the future of the new settlement in peril.

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18:09Imagine it's the night of November 9th, 1690, and you're on board the Mayflower as it drifts a few miles off the coast of Cape Cod. The air below deck is thick with a sour smell of unwashed bodies, damp wood, and stale ale. We sit on a chest of clothing, huddled close with a dozen men. With the Puritan separatists out of earshot, the rest of you are discussing the news that you're now going ashore in New England, not the Hudson River as originally planned. A man named Stephen Hopkins puts voice to what you're all thinking. Well, look, if we're really going to settle in Cape Cod, then we're well beyond the domain of the Virginia Company.

18:44You know what that means. Once we step foot on land, no one is obligated to follow orders. The other men shift in their seats uneasily. You can feel tension coiling deep in your gut. You mean to stir up trouble the moment we go ashore? I'm simply stating the facts. It's every man for himself. I, for one, have no interest in bending a knee to a group of zealots. A low murmur of agreement ripples through the group, but you think about your debts to the investors back in London, the men who paid for your passage here. Well, look, I don't care much for these people either, but they mean us no harm.

19:15We must think about what's best for the colony. Best for the colony? What do people who have spent their entire lives with their noses in the Bible know about what's best for the colony? I'm the only man on this ship who survived in America before. I lived in Jamestown, remember? I know what it's like to starve, to have to tear down your own home for firewood. I know what's waiting for us, and it is in salvation. But that's exactly it. We're about to face the most dangerous situation of our lives. There could be strange beasts, hostile natives. The only way to survive will be to work together.

19:46Well, you go ahead and cast your lot with those religious radicals. But me, I'm going to trust my gut. If you're a man of reason, then join me. We'll do what we need to do to survive. As you stare into the hollow faces of the men around you, you know Hopkins' words are hitting their mark. After 65 days at sea, they're all starving, sick, and turning mutinous. It's clear that something must be done to bind this group together before your differences lead to your ruin.

20:18On the night of November 9, 1620, long-simmering tensions exploded on board the Mayflower. The Virginia Company's Royal Charter gave it territorial rights over a large swath of the mid-Atlantic coast. The colonists had secured a patent from the Virginia Company to settle at the northern part of the territory near the Hudson River. But the news that the ship would be landing more than 200 miles north of their legal patent prompted some of the strangers to declare that they were no longer bound by any authority. They began talking of going their own way once they went ashore. The strangers made up roughly half the passengers, and many were troubled by the idea of joining a community led by religious radicals.

20:57But other strangers, especially those with close ties to the investors back in London, understood that cooperation would be crucial to the success of the colony. They formed an alliance with the Puritan separatists who looked to the example of their Reverend John Robinson. In Robinson's farewell letter, he had advised them to become a body politic, using amongst yourselves civil government. He also admonished them to obey any laws drawn up by their duly elected officials. In the end, cooler heads prevailed as leaders on both sides recognized the urgent need for some sort of unifying agreement before going ashore.

21:33Over the next day, the passengers hammered out what came to be known as the Mayflower Compact. They agreed to join together and govern themselves by common consent, enacting whatever laws proved necessary for the general good. In the decades to come, this Mayflower Compact would be remembered for having laid the foundation for self-government in British North America. But it was not a constitution or an elaborate blueprint for democracy. In fact, the compact opened with a declaration of loyalty to the British king. Instead, it was a pragmatic agreement forged in crisis. The men aboard the Mayflower were simply trying to find a way to preserve a colony that was in danger of coming apart before it was even established.

22:13The next day, on the night of November 10, 1620, the Mayflower anchored near the northern tip of Cape Cod, waiting for daylight to sail around the curling peninsula and enter what is now known as Provincetown Harbor. Before anyone could disembark, all able-bodied men were required to sign the Mayflower Compact. And at dawn, on November 11, 41 men gathered in a cramped cabin to sign the agreement, affirming their commitment to self-governance. They represented roughly 90 % of the adult male passengers, including servants and laborers. In accordance with the customs of the day, no women participated.