the Mayflower

From one famous ship to another... a painting of the Mayflower by maritime artist A.D. Blake, shown approaching the tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The fourth Thursday in November is U.S. Thanksgiving Day when the safe arrival of the first pilgrims is marked. Captained by Christopher Jones, the Mayflower departed England from a site near to the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth in September 1620, carrying 101 passengers, 31 of them children, plus two pet dogs and a crew of 34. She was approximately 90 feet (27.4 metres) on deck, with a beam of 25 feet (7.6 metres), though exact dimensions have never been known. She would have displaced approximately 180 tons.

The intended destination was an area near the Hudson River, in "North Virginia." However, the ship was forced far off-course by bad weather and drifted well north of the intended Virginia settlement. After an exploratory excursion by the Mayflower's "shallop" (a sailing boat carried onboard the Mayflower), the Mayflower made sail and arrived at Plymouth on 15 December 1620.

A replica was constructed in 1957.   There are, as one would expect, plenty of books and websites on the subject of the Mayflower.