Living in Holland was a small group of English religious
dissenters who, because of persecution, had been forced
to leave England. Concerned their children were becoming
too Dutch and the possibility of a war between Holland
and Spain, but still unwelcome in England, these gentle people
decided to immigrate to the New World. The Virginia Company
agreed to transport them to the mouth of the Hudson River,
took their money, and loaded them on two ships
(Speedwell and Mayflower)with other English immigrants
not of their faith.

The little fleet set sail in July only to have the Speedwell
spring a leak 300 miles out to sea. Accompanied by the Mayflower,
it barely made it back to Plymouth without sinking.
Repairs failed to fix the problem, so in September
everyone was crammed aboard the Mayflower, and the whole
mess sent merrily on its seasick way to the New World.

Landfall occurred near Cape Cod after 65 days and a very
rough passage, but strangely enough, the Mayflower's captain,
who had managed to cross the Atlantic during hurricane season,
suddenly was unable to sail around some shoals
and take them farther south. This forced the Pilgrims to find
a place to settle in Massachusetts and try to survive
a New England winter with few supplies.

After anchoring off Cape Cod on November 11, 1620,
a small party was sent ashore to explore. They promptly stumbled
into a Nauset graveyard where they found baskets of corn
which had been left as gifts for the deceased.
The gathering of this unexpected bounty was interrupted
by the angry Nauset warriors, and the hapless Pilgrims
beat a hasty retreat back to their boat with little to show
for their efforts.

Shaken but undaunted by their welcome to
the New World, the Pilgrims continued across Cape Cod Bay
and decided to settle, of all places, at the site of the
now-deserted Wampanoag village of Patuxet.
There they sat for the next few months in crude shelters
- cold, sick and slowly starving to death.
Half did not survive that terrible first winter.
The Wampanoag were aware of the English but chose to avoid
contact them for the time being.