FKOM THE DISCOVERY OP CAPE HORN TO THE APPLICATION OF 

 STEAM TO NAVIGATION; 1616 — 1S07. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



A FAMOUS VESSEL — THE MAYFLOWER — HER APPEARANCE — THE SPEEDWELL 



DEPARTURE OF THE TWO SHIPS — ALLEGED UNSEAWORTHINESS OF THE 

 SPEEDWELL — THE MAYFLOWER SAILS ALONE — THE EQUINOCTIAL — CONSULTA- 

 TIONS — A REMEDY APPLIED — FIRST VIEW OF THE LAND — SUBSEQUENT HISTORY 

 AND FATE OF THE MAYFLOWER. 



We have now to narrate the incidents of a voyage without 

 precedent, in one point of view, in maritime annals, and to 

 chronicle the adventures of a ship which may be safely said to 

 have achieved a fame beyond that of any other that ever 

 ploughed the ocean. When we mention the name of the May- 

 flower, in which the Pilgrim Fathers proceeded from South- 

 ampton Water to Plymouth Rock, we arc sure that the distinc- 

 tion which we claim for this feeble vessel will be contested by 

 none, — not even by those who would gladly accord the supremacy 

 of the seas to the Nina of Columbus or the Vittoria of Ma- 

 gellan. The details of the voyage are few and unsatisfactory ; 

 but the vivid imagination of historians and orators has amply 

 supplied their place. 



The Mayflower was built in England, at a time when English 



commerce could bear no comparison with that of Holland, and 



when the trade with the latter power employed six hundred Dutch 



ships to one hundred of English build. They were picturesque 



3G1 



