The Puritans Journey to the New World

<-- The Mayflower

The Puritans left England so that they could practice their own religion. They started their journey on September 6th, 1620. Their destination, the New World, represented a whole new beginning. Being so far away from their homeland erased the past corruption. They used the Mayflower to make their journey to the New world with 102 passengers and 30 sailors. The 1st part of journey started out well but by the second half the weather was horrible. They originally they were going to take 2 boats to the new world but the 2nd boat named The Speedwell sprung a leak. This forced everybody to cram onto the Mayflower making it very crowded. As a result there was no places to take bathes or wash clothes, the sleeping area was very crowded and to make matters worse there was no heat so when the wether was bad the puritans got wet and cold. The Mayflower was 90 feet long, weighed 180 tons and it was a double decker boat. The people going to the New World called themselves saints.

They had to worry about how much food and water they ate. On the boat they had salted beef or pork, dried peas,salted fish and hard biscuits. They did not land were they wanted to, they were actully quite far off, but they had no choice, so they after 66 days they spotted providence town (in Cape Cod). A young man named William Button died on the trip; he had left his wife and family behind traveling to the New World. People on the ship were sad when he died, but this wasn't the only person who passed away upon The Mayflower.

Upon reaching the New World, the Puritans did not adapt well and had a "starving time" as Jamestown did. Half the people died that first winter, which amounted to around 200 people. There were around 100 people who returned to England. The people who remained were forced to learn how to survive in their new home. The Puritans were unfriendly to the Natives, unlike the Pilgrims. The Puritans starved and suffered Indian attacks. John Winthrop led the Puritans until his death in 1649 and during the 1st year of landing, Winthrop used his own personal wealth to feed many of his followers.