The voyagers weren’t disposed to be fussy: “We could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beer, and it being now the 19th of December” ( Mourt’s Relation, 1622, commonly attributed to colonists William Bradford and Edward Winslow). The latter being closer, the colonists headed there and found the location promising, in part because the land had been cleared earlier by Native American farmers who then conveniently died due to European-borne pestilence. The choice came down to someplace called Anguum (probably near the present town of Ipswich), or else what the ship’s navigator called “Thievish Harbor,” in the direction of what’s now known as Plymouth Bay. Looking at the map now, you’d think a little bird would have twittered: Boston! You can found Boston! Apparently not. The question remained exactly where the colonists should set up shop. The 41 who signed it on November 11 included no women but were otherwise a remarkably egalitarian crew, consisting of Seps and non-Seps, masters and servants, all bound by the realization that has animated every republic since: If we don’t stick together we’re wolf chow. Instead, finding themselves at odds in a legal no-man’s-land, theydrafted the Mayflower Compact. Of the 102 passengers, around 40 were Separatists (i.e., separated from the Church of England), a like number were regular folks recruited by the London merchants who underwrote the expedition, and the balance were hired men, servants, and so on.īut the colonists didn’t go their separate ways. Contrary to what we imagine, the colonists weren’t united by religion. The group dutifully attempted to sail south, but shoals and contrary winds kiboshed that idea. Their patent from the Virginia Company of London authorized them to establish a plantation between 38 and 41 degrees north latitude the tip of Cape Cod was just north of 42 degrees. Problem two was that Cape Cod was not where the colonists were supposed to be.
Then they spent an extra couple weeks under sail due to bad weather, arriving just in time for winter. Repair attempts failed, and by the time the travelers had consolidated themselves on the Mayflower, a month had passed. They’d initially left Southampton, England, in August, but one of their two ships, the Speedwell, sprang a leak. You may inquire: What sort of idiot would sail across the north Atlantic at the height of storm season? The voyagers probably asked themselves the same question.
On Novem, after 64 days at sea, the Mayflower sighted Cape Cod. Here’s the story, assembled with the help of my doughty research assistant Bibliophage: Pretty much everything you think you know about the Pilgrims is wrong (including their being called Pilgrims - that term didn’t catch on until centuries later), so it’s not surprising the beer angle slipped under the radar. In an age when so many have lost their moral compass, it’s comforting to know that people in the old days had their priorities straight. You heard right, more or less: The Mayflower colonists decided to settle at Plymouth because they were running low on beer.
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