Hello and welcome to a history of the United States.

Episode 20, The Voyage of the Mayflower.

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I couldn't do the show without you. In September 1620, the Mayflower set sail from

Southampton, a port city on the south coast of England, heading out to the new world. It was a cramped journey

with over 100 people on board, of which the pilgrims were a minority. There is no surviving

plan of the ship, and there are no photos, so we can only make educated guesses about what it was like.

Balin, in his book, The Barbarous Years, supposes that it was 113 feet in length,

23 feet wide, with 11-foot depth of hold.

Andrews, in his The Colonial Period of America, assumes that the Mayflower was similar to

other merchant ships of the era and describes it as a, quote, staunch, chunky, slow sailing vessel,

square-rigged, double-decked, broader beam, with high upper structure at the stern,

the passengers occupying cabins or quarters between decks, or, in the case of the women and children,

in rough cabins forward below the poop, end quote.

They also learnt from the mistakes of Jamestown. They were going to be prepared for this.

Furniture, pots, pans, livestock, and two dogs would all be taken.

The men gathered by the company for the expedition did not get on well with the pilgrims, finding

their excessive piety pretty ridiculous.

The pilgrims weren't too fond of these strangers, either.

Bradford writes some pretty scathing indictments.

He was not very fond of the Billingtons, whom he describes as one of the profanist families.

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