Across the Ocean

While the Spanish are busy extracting vast amounts of gold and silver from Mexico and South America, the English are searching for similar riches in North America. They choose two locations to try to establish permanent colonies.

Virginia, located halfway down the Atlantic Coast, is the first site to be chosen by the English for settlement. Two initial settlement attempts fail, however, as settlers mysteriously vanish before re-supply ships can arrive.

The first successful settlement in Virginia comes 25 years later, at Jamestown. Colonists arrive in three vessels, funded by a group of wealthy London merchants who are given a monopoly on the region by the King.

A dozen years later, another group of colonists takes a more northerly route. Less well financed, it only manages to get a single ship to Massachusetts. It's the tiny Mayflower, crammed with 100 eager, but nervous settlers.


	Jamestown and Plymouth A colony is a settlement located far from the country that owns it. Colonies are usually established in the hope that settlers will be able to send raw materials back to the mother country. The first English colony is established during the very early 1600s, in Virginia. It is not re-supplied for three years, and almost collapses. Of the 500 original settlers, barely 50 survive. A second colony is established in Massachusetts, where half the settlers are devout Pilgrims, seeking to establish a new, more Godly community. Only half will survive the first winter.



	Crossing the Ocean The vessel shown above (at left) is a replica of the Mayflower, which landed in Massachusetts. It is typical of merchant vessels of the time. The largest of the vessels bringing settlers to Jamestown is a bit smaller, but stout and well-supplied (all other photos). It carries half of the settlers, and most of the supplies, in spare but adequate accommodations. The expedition departs in early winter, taking a long, round-about southern route that lasts four months, including two rest stops along the way. The settlers finally arrive at the Jamestown site in May. This gives settlers plenty of time to plan and build the fort that will protect their homes.


	Stowage for the Journey This shows the typical layout of merchant vessels like the Mayflower, which aren't intended to carry passengers at all, and certainly not women or children. The top deck is used by the crew to manage the sails, and by passengers whenever conditions permit. During bad weather, passengers are forced to remain below, on the severely cramped gun deck, and anywhere else with available space. Supplies, gear and building materials for homes are stowed in the hold, just above the keel. The rudder, used to control the ship's direction, is operated from the deck above by means of a long, curved tiller.


	Cramped Quarters The Mayflower, which brings settlers to Massachusetts, is positively crammed with passengers. It's hard to imagine how 130 people (including the crew) manage to find room aboard this small vessel for what will become a three-month journey. The expedition actually starts with two ships, but one turns out to be unseaworthy, and has to be left behind. This means that everything, and everyone, has to be loaded onto the remaining Mayflower. People sleep anywhere they can, with no privacy, and inadequate bathroom arrangements. Food is prepared above a brick-lined fireplace (lower right). Despite the cramped quarters, however, the Pilgrims manage to keep up their spirits.


	Getting to Plymouth The Pilgrims have been granted permission by a royal charter to settle up the Hudson River from New York, but are forced to turn north by treacherous currents near the entrance to Long Island Sound. They continue up the coast of Cape Cod, touching land for the first time at the current site of Providence, on the inner tip of Cape Cod. They then sail straight west to land at Plymouth, a shallow harbor that the Indians have recently deserted, due to disease brought by earlier European fishermen. The small boat shown above has been stored in pieces, which are re-assembled to ferry people and materials to shore. It is already December, so most Pilgrims spend their nights aboard the Mayflower until spring.


	Settlers and Indians The Jamestown colony starts off well enough, but with settlers who expect to be able to trade with the Indians for the food they will need. The Indians quickly turn hostile, however, and delays in the first re-supply mission lead to the 'Great Starving Time.' When more ships finally do arrive, they bring mostly more settlers, with little food or supplies. The Pilgrims at Plymouth have a similarly rocky start, finally arriving at a site far distant from their intended destination, in early winter. There is little time to set up shelters, and about half die before the first re-supply ship arrives, with yet more settlers. English investors, it seems, are mainly focused on growing their colonies, not keeping them supplied. Existing settlers are expected to fend for themselves.