Bad Weather Blew the Pilgrims Away From Their Intended Colonial Destination
Today, passenger planes can whisk us across the Atlantic from England to the United in just a few hours. Back in the seventeenth century, however, to cross the Atlantic was an often treacherous endeavor whose duration was measured in weeks, if not in months. For the Pilgrims, once they had ditched the leaky Speedwell and set out together aboard the Mayflower, the voyage began smoothly at first. However, the ship was beset by foul weather and fouler storms in the second half of the trip.
66 days after they had left England – a voyage that they had hoped would take a month – they finally spotted land at today’s Cape Cod, on November 9th, 1620. That was about 250 farther north than their original destination in colonial Virginia. All else being equal, they would have simply sailed down the coast until they reached their intended settlement site. However, all else was not equal, and the Pilgrims faced a serious problem: they were out of beer. Back then, that was a serious problem.
