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Colonial America Was a Wild and Difficult Place to Be

Khalid Elhassan October 27, 2021 35 min

The seizure and destruction of tea in colonial Boston. Encyclopedia Britannica

The Speedwell undergoing repairs at Dartmouth. Nutfield Genealogy

The Unfortunately Named Speedwell Was Neither Speedy Nor Well

The Pilgrims’ intended journey to the New World was beset by many delays. They had planned to sail from England in July of 1620. However, most of the people who planned to make the voyage lived in Leiden, Holland, at the time. So the plan was for a sister ship, the Speedwell, to sail from England to the Netherlands, pick up the passengers, return to Southampton, join the Mayflower, and then the two ships would sail together in convoy to Virginia. The Mayflower and the Speedwell sailed from England to the New World on August 5^th, 1620. However, the Mayflower’s sister ship proved unfortunately named, in that she was neither speedy nor well.

The Speedwell began to leak, so the Pilgrims docked in Dartmouth for repairs. They set out again on August 21^st, but after a few days at sea, the Speedwell began to leak once again. The voyage’s leaders came to the conclusion that the Speedwell was simply not up to the task of crossing the Atlantic. So they decided to leave her in England, and continue to the New World on the Mayflower. After supplies were transferred from the Speedwell, the Mayflower finally set out on September 6^th — over a month behind schedule. It would prove to be an arduous voyage.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.