The Mayflower dropped anchor early in the morning of the 21st in Provincetown Harbor after 65 days at sea. William Bradford, historian and 2nd governor of Plymouth described what faced the Pilgrims: “Being thus passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation, they had now no friends to welcome them or inns to entertain or refresh their weather- beaten bodies; no houses or much less towns to repair to...And for now it was Winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search and unknown coast.” Nearly all historians describe the winter of 1620-21 as mild, though the season began with harsh weather early in December just at the time the Pilgrims were exploring the unknown land. Bradford described the conditions of December 7th and 8th: “for the ground was now all covered with snow and hard frozen. Snow depth was half a foot. Another exploration party set out the 16th in very cold and hard weather to reach the southern shore of Cape Cod Bay. The 17th was windy, the weather was very cold and it froze hard as the spray of the sea lighting on their coats, they were as if they had been glazed. (2) The afternoon of the 18th brought snow and rain. (These early winter conditions eventually gave way to milder weather when the winds shifted from the northeast to a more southerly flow.) The expedition then moved to the western shore of the Bay where one of the mariners remembered visiting a large harbor on a previous voyage. Samuel de Champlain had visited this harbor in 1605 and published a navigation chart of the area in 1612. The Pilgrims were not the earliest to visit Plymouth harbor with their landing on that stormy night of December 18th-19th, 1620. More favorable weather followed the storm. After two days of drying out, exploring the small island, and sounding the harbor, the famous landing took place on December 21st, from a small rowboat and not from the larger ship, on a sandy beach and not on a rock, by only ten men and not with women and children, and without ceremony as the men were afraid of meeting hostile natives on shore. After a reconnaissance showed the area to have some advantages over other places recently surveyed, the small boat returned to Province town and the entire company came over on the Mayflower on December 26th. The decision was made to found the colony on the surveyed site at Plymouth, in part by the weather: Now the heart of winter, and unseasonable weather, was come upon us, so that we could not go upon coasting and discovery, without danger of losing men and boat, especially considering what variable winds and sudden storms do there arise. Also cold and wet lodging has so tainted our people (for scarce any of us were free of vehement coughs) as if they could continue long in that state, it would endanger the lives of many, and breed disease and infection amongst us.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 17:21:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015