← American History Tellers
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- [00:00]
Lindsey Graham
Picture this. You're transported back in time, witnessing history unfold right before your eyes without any modern day interruptions. That's the magic of Wondery. Immerse yourself in the stories that shaped our nation with ad free episodes, early access to new seasons and exclusive bonus content. Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts and experience American history like never before. Imagine it's the middle of November, 1620, and you're trudging up a high sandy hill along the shore of Cape Cod. Your ship is anchored in the bay with most of the colonists on board, but you and 15 fellow pilgrims have come ashore to search for a suitable location for your new settlement. You pass some abandoned graves and the stubble of a harvested cornfield, clear evidence that humans have been living here. But the land is strangely empty of people. As you reach the top of the slope, one of your leaders, a 30 year old man named William Bradford, stops in his tracks and kneels down beside a large mound of sand. Look at this. See how it's been smoothed over? You step forward beside Bradford, peering down for a closer look. Well, it looks new. Someone must have patted it down recently. We better leave it alone. It won't hurt to see what's buried beneath. I don't know, but Bradford and a few of the others have already begun clawing at the sand with their hands. The rest form a defensive ring, their muskets primed and ready. Look at this. Bradford unearths a woven basket full of dried corn. It's so heavy that he can barely lift it. Beside it rests another basket containing three dozen ears of corn. His face brightens as he peels back the husks to reveal red, yellow and blue kernels that gleam like jewels in the afternoon light. We should take this back to the ship. But you shake your head. That would be stealing. This corn belongs to the Indians. It's obvious they buried it here for safekeeping. Oh, no, no. Think clearly. We're growing weaker by the day. Will you let our children starve while all this corn lies just beneath our feet? So far, the Indians have left us alone. By all the evidence, they must not be far away. We can't risk provoking them. The other men step back, nervously scanning the woods for signs of Indian presence. But no one emerges. The land is as eerie and quiet as ever now. This corn is divine providence. God in his infinite mercy, left it here so that we would not go hungry. Or it's Satan's temptation. We still have our seeds on the ship. There's plenty of wheat, barley, and peas to plant when spring comes. But what if our English crops don't grow in this new world? We'll all be dead come fall. And besides, our provisions are dwindling fast. We'll eat the ears of corn now and plant the dried kernels in the spring. This corn will be our salvation. What if the Indians come to take their revenge? It won't come to that. We'll find out who the corn belongs to and repay them later. But for now, we'll take what we can carry. Our survival depends on it. Bradford and the other men start gathering up the corn. Against your better judgment, you join them, stuffing dried kernels into your pockets. The mood has instantly shifted. The men are relieved by the prospect of returning to the Mayflower with this unexpected bounty. But you can't escape the feeling that your theft will come back to haunt you. Foreign.
- [03:29]
Tommy Alters
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- [04:13]
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- [04:56]
Lindsey Graham
From Wondery. I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American Historytellers. Our history. Your story in November 1620, a small party of Pilgrim Scouts explored the desolate shores of Cape Cod in search of a site to establish a colony. In their hunger and desperation, they stole a cache of buried corn that belonged to local Indians, but with their provisions running low, they believed they had little choice. The Pilgrims struggles were partly due to having sailed from England dangerously late in the season. After repeated delays, they set off on their transatlantic voyage in September 1620. In the agonizing weeks that followed, they endured brutal storms, rampant illness and death. All the while, they knew that crossing the ocean was only the first step in their struggle to establish a spiritual community in the New World. Once they reached land, they would face a host of new challenges. Finding food and water, building a settlement, and protecting themselves from the native communities who had inhabited the region for generations. Torn between feelings of hope and fear, they sailed into an unknown future with little to sustain them beyond their faith. This is episode two, a sea of troubles. In early September 1620, the Mayflower lost sight of the English coast and began its westward journey to America. The crew and 102 passengers on board would have to cross 3,000 miles of ocean before they saw land again. They were an unlikely group to attempt to establish a viable English colony in the New World. They were not noblemen, soldiers, or seasoned explorers like the men who founded Jamestown more than a decade earlier. Instead, they were farmers, weavers, shoemakers, printers, and servants with little to no experience surviving in the wild. Fewer than 50 were adult men. Nearly 30 were children and roughly 20 were women. Half of the group were religious radicals, Puritan Separatists who believed the only way to reform the Church of England was to break away from it entirely. They would spend the next eight weeks in close quarters with the so called strangers who did not share their close knit bonds and strong spiritual convictions. Among the strangers was Miles Standish, an English mercenary who would serve as captain and handle the colony's military needs. There were multiple families, including four children whose father had recently discovered their mother's adulterous affairs. Questioning their parentage, he had decided to ship them off to America alone. And there was one stranger who had previously crossed the Atlantic, an adventurer named Stephen Hopkins. Eleven years earlier, Hopkins had sailed on the Sea Venture, the infamous ship that wrecked on the shores of Bermuda on its way to Jamestown. While stranded there in Bermuda, Hopkins had joined an attempted mutiny. He ultimately made it to Jamestown, where he lived for a few years before returning to England. He had boarded the Mayflower along with his three children and wife, who gave birth to a son during the voyage. They named him Oceanus in honor of the unique circumstances of his birth. And with such a mixed group sharing close quarters, the Separatist spiritual leader, Reverend John Robinson, anticipated potential difficulties. Robinson had stayed behind in Leiden, Holland, with the majority of the congregation, who planned to travel to America at a later date. But he penned a farewell letter to those Voyaging to America, urging them to exercise patience and tolerance to avoid conflict. He argued that for the welfare of the colony, it was crucial that the separatists and the strangers learn to live together. It was a stance that did not come easily to the Leiden group, who saw themselves as spiritually superior to the strangers. According to their religious beliefs, they were members of the Elect, an exclusive group destined for salvation, also known as saints. All others, including the strangers, were destined for damnation. But the wisdom of Robinson's advice became clear as the passengers endured a long and harrowing voyage on the cramped Mayflower. Crammed into dark and suffocating makeshift cabins with only four to five feet of headroom, they shared space with livestock, scattered belongings and sloshing chamber pots. When they could keep food down, their diet consisted of stale biscuits, cheese and salted beef and fish. Their misery was compounded by the fact that they had no idea what awaited them if they survived the journey, which proceeded at an agonizingly slow pace. The Mayflower averaged just two miles an hour as it battled strong westerly gales and the powerful Gulf Stream. At times, conditions were so severe that Captain Christopher Jones had to lie a hull, taking down all the sails and letting the Mayflower drift to reduce strain on the ship's structure. But keeping the Mayflower and its passengers safe meant sacrificing hard earned miles, and these strong winds made for rampant seasickness, too. One seasoned sailor taunted the sick with promises to toss their bodies overboard, only to fall ill and become the first to die himself. His body was tossed into the sea. The Pilgrim leader, William Bradford, attributed the sailor's death to divine retribution, writing it pleased God to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner. Another man plunged into the ocean during an especially fierce gale. A young servant named John Howland slipped off the deck and plunged into the freezing waters. He caught hold of a rope trailing the ship and clung on even as he was dragged more than 10ft below the surface. Fortunately, the crew grabbed a boat hook and managed to haul Howland back on board the ship. Then, midway through the voyage that October, a violent storm cracked the Mayflower's main beam, prompting Captain Jones to consider turning back. His crew members refused, though, fearing they would not be paid if they failed to complete the journey. Despite their inexperience, the passengers banded together to help the crew repair the damage. They used a large iron screw jack to clamp the massive broken timber back into place with a support post wedged beneath it. The beam was stable enough for the journey to continue. But by early November, the Mayflower was nine weeks into a voyage that should have been completed in mid summer. The passengers had exhausted their firewood and were scraping the bottoms of their water casks. Even more troubling was the dwindling beer supply, an essential resource in an age when water was often unsafe to drink. As rations shrank, signs of scurvy appeared, including bleeding gums, loose teeth and foul breath. On November 6, a 15 year old servant became the second to die on board. All knew that more would follow if they didn't reach land soon, but no one knew how much longer they would have to travel. Captain Jones could estimate latitude and knew that storms had carried them farther north than their intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River. But gauging longitude was much more difficult. Sailors would not have a reliable tool for measuring their east west position for another 140 years. And this meant that Jones and his crew were in the dark about how much further west they needed to sail. Imagine it's just after 7 o' clock in the morning on November 9, 1620. You're the pilot and second mate of the Mayflower and you're standing on the mid deck of the ship as it sails west across the Atlantic Ocean. The skies are clear and the crescent moon is fading into the sky as the sun rises behind you in the east. And as you gaze west, you make out a thin gray ridge on the horizon. Your heart starts racing and you call out, land ho. Captain Christopher Jones rushes over. As he follows your gaze, his face breaks out in a wide grin. My God, we've actually done it. What land is that? I'm almost certain it's Cape Cod. There's no mistaking those sandy hills. You're one of the only members of the crew who have sailed to New England before. But as Jones takes in your words, concern washes over his face. Cape cod must be 200 miles north of our destination. We're supposed to carry these people to the Hudson River. I'd forget about the Hudson. The Cape is the safest place to anchor between Virginia and Maine. And it's full of cod. The colonists stand to make a pretty profit in fishing. All you have to do is turn her northeast and sail around the tip of the Cape. Jones stares up at the sails, checking the wind direction. From the set of his jaw, it seems he's made up his mind about something. I don't give a damn about fishing profits. We've already lost two people, so my only profit priority is Getting the rest off this ship as soon as possible. The wind is coming from the north, moving south. If we follow it, we'll arrive at the Hudson in a couple of days. A journey north around the tip of the cape could take much longer. Well, yes, but if we turn south, we'll be sailing blind. We don't have any reliable charts of the waters between the Southern Cape and the Hudson. Well, that's a risk I'm willing to take. Cone squats by the hatch that opens down to the helmsman and the steerage below. Turn us 65 degrees port. Maintain course south southwest. Slowly the ship begins to swing south southwest, the northerly wind filling and tightening the sails. The captain looks out on the horizon with new resolve. You can't shake your nerves. The passengers and the crew are at their breaking point. And you're not sure it's worth the danger of sailing into the uncharted waters of an unknown coast. Just after dawn on Thursday, November 9, 1620, seabirds circled over the Mayflower and the color of the water lightened to a pale green. In the clear morning light, the crew spotted a distant line of bluffs. Soon, sandy tree covered hills emerged into sight. After 65 grueling days at sea, they had finally spotted land. It was the backside of Cape Cod, a sickle shaped peninsula in modern day Massachusetts. But their relief was tempered by the realization that they were more than 200 miles off course from their intended destination, at the mouth of the Hudson river, where the colonists had been granted legal permission to settle. Captain Jones weighed his options, desperate to get the ailing passengers ashore as quickly as possible. To reach Cape Cod Bay, he would need to sail north around the hooked tip of the Cape. Had there been a southern wind that morning, he might have steered that way regardless of the colonists charter. But the wind was blowing hard from the north. So Jones decided that the quickest course was to follow the wind skirting the backside of the cape in the direction of the Hudson and keep with the original plan. But in 1620, there was no reliable English charts of the waters between the bottom of Cape Cod and the Hudson River. This meant that Jones would be sailing with no knowledge of the dangers that might await. And after only a few hours, he unknowingly entered one of the Atlantic Ocean's most treacherous areas. An intricate maze of shoals and breakers known as Pollock Rip. By afternoon, the wind died down and the tide fell and the ship became trapped in dangerously shallow water. With daylight waning, the crew prepared to anchor. But doing so near the shoals risked disaster. Just in time, the wind shifted, allowing them to escape. Finally, recognizing the dangers of pressing on, Jones made a fateful choice. He decided to turn around and head northeast, back to Cape Cod. It would be there, on the shores of New England and not the Hudson river, that the Pilgrims would begin their new life. But as the Mayflower sailed north, tensions boiled over, putting the future of the new settlement in peril.
- [16:25]
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Lindsey Graham
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Lindsey Graham
Actually, I was thinking about heading out.
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And pro games all in one place. I'm not going anywhere.
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- [17:36]
Lindsey Graham
Imagine it's the night of November 9, 1690, and you're on board the Mayflower as it drifts a few miles off the coast of Cape Cod. The air below deck is thick with a sour smell of unwashed bodies, damp wood, and stale ale. You sit on a chest of clothing, huddled close with a dozen men. With the Puritan separatists out of earshot, the rest of you are discussing the news that you're now going ashore in New England, not the Hudson river as originally planned. A man named Stephen Hopkins puts voice to what you're all thinking. Well, look, if we're really going to settle in Cape Cod, then we're well beyond the domain of the Virginia Company. You know what that means. Once we step foot on land, no one is obligated to follow orders. The other men shift in their seats uneasily. You can feel tension coiling deep in your gut. You mean to stir up trouble. The moment we go Ashore? I'm simply stating the facts. It's every man for himself. I, for one, have no interest in bending a knee to a group of zealots. A low murmur of agreement ripples through the group. But you think about your debts to the investors back in London, the men who paid for your passage here. Well, look, I don't care much for these people either, but they mean us no harm. We must think about what's best for the colony. Best for the colony? What do people who have spent their entire lives with their noses in the Bible know about what's best for the colony? I'm the only man on this ship who survived in America. I lived in Jamestown, remember? I know what it's like to starve, to have to tear down your own home for firewood. I know what's waiting for us. And it isn't salvation, but that's exactly it. We're about to face the most dangerous situation of our lives. There could be strange beasts, hostile natives. The only way to survive will be to work together. Well, you go ahead and cast your lot with those religious radicals, but me, I'm gonna trust my gut. If you're a man of reason and join me, we'll do what we need to do to survive. As you stare into the hollow faces of the men around you, you know, Hopkins, words are hitting their mark. After 65 days at sea, they're all starving, sick and turning mutinous. It's clear that something must be done to bind this group together before your differences lead to your ruin. On the night of November 9, 1620, long, simmering tensions exploded on board the Mayflower. The Virginia Company's Royal Charter gave it territorial rights over a large swath of the mid Atlantic coast. The colonists had secured a patent from the Virginia Company to settle at the northern part of the territory near the Hudson River. But the news that the ship would be landing more than 200 miles north of their legal patent prompted some of the strangers to declare that they were no longer bound by any authority. They began talking of going their own way. Once they went ashore, the strangers made up roughly half the passengers. And many were troubled by the idea of joining a community led by religious radicals. But other strangers, especially those with close ties to the investors back in London, understood that cooperation would be crucial to the success of the colony. They formed an alliance with the Puritan Separatists, who looked to the example of their Reverend John Robinson. In Robinson's farewell letter, he had advised them to become a body politic using amongst yourselves civil government. He Also admonished them to obey any laws drawn up by their duly elected officials. In the end, cooler heads prevailed as leaders on both sides recognized the urgent need for some sort of unifying agreement before going ashore. Over the next day, the passengers hammered out what came to be known as the Mayflower Compact. They agreed to join together and govern themselves by common consent, enacting whatever laws proved necessary for the general good. In the decades to come, this Mayflower Compact would be remembered for having laid the foundation for self government in British North America. But it was not a constitution or an elaborate blueprint for democracy. In fact, the Compact opened with a declaration of loyalty to the British king. Instead, it was a pragmatic agreement forged in crisis. The men aboard the Mayflower were simply trying to find a way to preserve a colony that danger of coming apart before it was even established the next day. On the night of November 10, 1620, the Mayflower anchored near the northern tip of Cape Cod, waiting for daylight to sail around the curling peninsula and enter what is now known as Provincetown Harbor. Before anyone could disembark, all able bodied men were required to sign the Mayflower Compact. And at dawn on November 11, 41 men gathered in a cramped cabin to sign the agreement affirming their commitment to self governance. They represented roughly 90% of the adult male passengers, including servants and laborers. In accordance with the customs of the day, no women participated. Next, they unanimously elected Puritan separatist John Carver as their first governor. Carver was one of the most respected men in the congregation and the wealthiest man on board. Not only had he played a major role in securing funding for the voyage, but he had also contributed a significant amount of his own personal savings. So, with the immediate threat to the colony averted, Captain Christopher Jones sailed into the calm waters of Provincetown Harbor. The passengers were immediately greeted by the sight of a pod of whales, a welcome omen for the starving passengers. But with no harpoons or nets on board the ship, they could only watch. It was quickly becoming clear that they were ill equipped for what lay ahead. Though the Pilgrims were relieved to have survived the voyage, they were also filled with a new sense of dreadful their home was 3,000 miles of ocean away. The nearest English outpost was 500 miles south in Jamestown. Their clothing, already rotting from sea damp, was useless against the biting New England cold. William Bradford looked at the low, sandy land before them, describing it as a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men. He would later write, being thus past the vast ocean and a sea of troubles, the they now had no friends to welcome them, nor inns to entertain or refresh their weather beaten bodies. But Bradford was also overcome by feelings of awe and wonder. Looking back on that first morning, he would write, what could now sustain them but the spirit of God and his grace? With the Mayflower safely anchored, Bradford and 15 other men decided to venture ashore for the first time. They boarded a small boat and made their way to shore. And when they finally stepped foot on dry land, they fell to their knees in gratitude. Over the next few hours, they walked along the windswept dunes, gathering fresh firewood to take back to the ship. The sandy coastline was covered with trees, but there were no signs of any human life. What the Pilgrims did not yet know was that the region had recently been ravaged by a catastrophic epidemic. Coastal New England was previously home to around 70,000 people across 69 villages. But between 1616 and 1619, a mysterious disease spread by European fishermen kill 90% of the local native population. So when the Pilgrims arrived, the land appeared eerily empty, with no apparent threats from local Indians. Still, over the next month, the Pilgrims clung to the Mayflower while smaller scouting parties searched the length of the Cape for a suitable place to settle before winter set in. They had quickly decided against the outer cape where they first landed because of its rugged terrain and dry, sandy soil. They needed to find a location with a harbor, fresh water, fertile land, timber and plentiful fish and game. And most of all, they hoped to find a navigable waterway that would provide access to inland trade routes. To that end, on November 15, another scouting party went ashore under the direction of Captain Miles Standish, the stranger serving as their military leader. Standish was a short, broad shouldered man with reddish hair. Nicknamed Captain Shrimp, he was forced to shorten his sword to keep it from dragging on the ground. He also had a short fuse that alienated some of the colonists back in England. Standish had been chosen as the Pilgrim's military leader over the vastly more experienced Captain John Smith, who had helped found Jamestown. Although Smith possessed deep knowledge of the region and had even given New England its name, the Pilgrims rejected him, fearing his strong personality would overpower their religious vision. Smith complained that the Pilgrims had decided that books and maps were better to teach them than myself. The scouting party would now feel the impact of that decision. Smith's map of New England clearly showed the area around the Charles river near modern day Boston as the most suitable settlement site. But Standish insisted on exploring the entire 50 mile coastline of Cape Cod's bayshore. But he had only marched the scouting party a mile down the beach when they spotted six Indian men walking toward them. The group quickly vanished into the trees. Standish and his men tried to chase them, but they soon fell back due to exhaustion. They continued exploring over the next two days, camping on the beach with guards posted. On November 17, they came across a freshly smooth mound of sand. They began digging and soon uncovered a large cache of corn stored in baskets. Although they had bought seeds for wheat, barley and peas on board the Mayflower, the Pilgrims feared their crops would not grow well in the New England climate, a worrying prospect when their food stores were already low. They decided to take the corn back to the ship, vowing to repay the owners later. By late November, the Pilgrims had repaired a larger boat, a 35 foot shallop that they had brought on the Mayflower and stored in pieces. With the shallop, they launched a third expedition, this time with more than 30 men joining. As the men went ashore, they confronted snow and bitter cold that caused their wet shoes and stockings to freeze. Frostbite and sickness forced some of the men to return to the ship, but not before looting more buried corn along the way. The rest continued exploring and soon came upon a large grave. If they had any reservations about disturbing Indian graves, they ignored them and began digging. Beneath dishes and personal items, they found two wrapped bundles. A smaller bundle contained the remains of a Native child and some strings of beads. A larger bundle contained a skull with strands of blond hair, clearly the remains of a European man. They stole the items they deemed most valuable and refilled the graves. Later that day, they discovered some abandoned Indian homes and decided to help themselves to more household goods. Although they intended to leave beads or some other tokens of peace for stealing the Indian belongings they forgot in their haste to return to the Mayflower and returned with their booty without leaving any compensation, the Pilgrims explorations had revealed that despite their initial impressions, the land was far from empty. And the remains of the European in the grave were a reminder of the life and death stakes they faced. As December loomed, the Pilgrims confronted worsening weather, dwindling food supplies and the growing threat of disease. They knew that as temperatures dropped, sea travel would become impossible. So they needed to find a site and start building a colony before it was too late.
- [28:36]
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- [29:43]
Lindsey Graham
In December 1620, the Pilgrims continued their desperate search for a permanent settlement site before winter set in. On December 6, Mayflower's two pilots and a dozen colonists boarded the Shallop for another scouting expedition, following the curve west along the Cape shoreline. Over the next two days, they spotted more Indians and abandoned dwellings. When they camped, they formed barricades around themselves, using tree trunks and branches with a small opening where sentinels stood watch. Early in the morning on December 8, they were preparing breakfast at their barricaded campsite when they were startled by a terrifying cry. One of their guards came running from the woods shouting, indians. Indians. All at once, arrows started flying as the Pilgrims scrambled to light their muskets. They estimated that There were roughly 30 Indians firing arrows from the trees. Most of the Englishmen were armed with cumbersome matchlocks, muskets with long wicks that needed to be lit by hand to ignite the gunpowder. The former mercenary, Miles Standish, had a more advanced snaplock musket and was able to begin firing while the others were still dipping matches into the campfire. Some of the Englishmen were even forced to run for the shallop, where they had left their matchlocks behind. So one of the men guarding the barricade picked up a burning log from the fire and ran with it to the shallop. And so that the men on board could light their muskets, the Indian warriors continued firing their longbows until heavy gunfire finally forced them to retreat. Amazingly, the Pilgrims were unharmed. They gave a brief chase to show strength, then returned to their camp. The site of the attack would be forever known as First Encounter Beach. Although no lives were lost, this skirmish showed there was no guarantee that the Pilgrims could settle peacefully, but they took comfort in having forced the Indians to retreat. William Bradford later wrote, thus it pleased God to vanquish our enemies and give us deliverance. Little did the Pilgrims know their attackers were the owners of the corn they had stolen three weeks earlier. After picking up their things, the scouting party then sailed on, traveling west. While hugging the southern shore of Cape Cod Bay from his previous travels, Mayflower pilot Robert Coppen remembered a spot with a good harbor and a navigable river. He called it Thievish Harbor. But as the scouts searched for the harbor that afternoon, temperatures plunged. Sleet and salt spray drenched them as they struggled to navigate the shallop through the roaring gale. The rudder then snapped, forcing the men to steer the sailboat with their oars. Then, that night, the shallop had become almost completely unmanageable when Coppen cried out, be of good cheer. I see the harbor. Squinting through the darkness, he believed that they had finally reached Thievish Harbor. But as they tried to sail on against the howling wind, the shallop's mast splintered into pieces. They had no choice but to pick up their oars and row. Coppen's heart then sank when he realized he had been mistaken. Rather than a safe harbor, they were heading toward a wave pounded beach. Fortunately, the men managed to use their oars to steer themselves out of danger. They soon found calmer waters, but they had no idea where they were and or what they should do next. Imagine it's a bitterly cold night in December 1620. You're a sailor, and you're on board a damaged shallop in Cape Cod Bay with more than a dozen other men. You're soaked to the bone, your hands are frozen and stiff, and you can barely see a thing. Tempers are frayed, and you're debating your next move. One of the pilgrims, a man named Richard, drops his oar in his lap and pulls his sodden coat tighter around his shoulders. Well, I say we spend the night on board the shaft. We can't risk another ambush. It's pitch black. Those Indians could be anywhere. You wipe the cold salt spray from your eyes, fixing him with a hard stare. Yeah, and then what? We sit here shivering all night in the rain. Now I say we go ashore, build our fire, dry our clothes, and keep warm. We don't know this coast. The Indians could be waiting in those woods, ready to take their revenge. After this morning's attack, we have to stay put. No, we have to go ashore. And if the Indians attack, we'll attack back. I wager we can defend ourselves again. Anyway. I'd sooner take an arrow in the heart or a tomahawk to the skull than sit here shivering until my Bones give way. You gaze past Richard to the shore. It's a dark, shapeless blur in the night. Fear creeps at the edges of your thoughts as you contemplate what might be waiting in the trees. But you can. I can't let the others see it. Look, I know everyone is shaken by today's events, but now is not the time to give up. So I'm going ashore to build a fire. Those who want to live can come with me. The rest are free to spend the night on board the shallop and freeze. A dozen ghostly faces stare back at you, but one by one, they pick up their oars and together you begin to grope your way through the darkness and guide the shallop toward the beach ahead. You knew joining the crew of the Mayflower would be dangerous, but this voyage has been more than you bargained for. All you can do now is light a fire and pray you make it to sunrise. On the night of December 8, the pilgrims made their way to shore and built a fire. Despite their fears of another Indian attack, they were grateful for their decision when temperatures fell below freezing later that night. The next day, the skies cleared and the scouting party realized that they were on an island at the edge of a large, sheltered bay. As they took stock of their surroundings, their excitement grew. Realizing that this might be an ideal location to settle, they spent the day cutting down a tree to serve as a new mast for the damaged shallop. On Sunday, December 10, they rested in observance of the Sabbath, and the next day they finally sailed on to the far western shore of Cape Cod Bay. As the Pilgrims continued to explore, they found cleared fields suitable for farming and a nearby stream containing fresh water. They named the site New Plymouth, after the harbor they sailed from in England. Despite the popular legend, though, none of the Pilgrims made any mention of stepping on the large boulder on the shore that later became known as Plymouth Rock. The next day, the scouting party returned to the Mayflower in good spirits. But their joy didn't last. When William Bradford arrived, he received devastating news. While he was gone, his 23 year old wife, Dorothy had fallen overboard and drowned in the calm waters of Provincetown Harbor. The circumstances of her death would remain a mystery. It was unusual for a person to fall overboard while a ship lay at anchor, causing many to wonder if despair, homesickness or grief over the separation from her three year old son had driven her to suicide. And although Bradford felt the loss deeply, he made no mention of Dorothy's death in his writings except for a short poem he penned years later. In which he wrote, faint not, poor soul, and God still trust. Fear not the things thou suffer must. But Dorothy was not the only one to die on board the anchored Mayflower. A servant, a seven year old child and an elderly man all died from illness in the same week. The death toll made the need to begin building their settlement all the more urgent. So on December 15, 1620, the Mayflower sailed into Plymouth harbor, bringing the exhausted passengers to shore. After days of additional scouting, the Pilgrims chose a site near Plymouth Rock, favoring its high ground, access to freshwater and land that previous inhabitants had cleared for planting. Little did the Pilgrims know, though the site they had chosen for their settlement was a place known to the local Wampanoag Indians as Patuxet. It was once a thriving village of 2,000 people, but it had been completely decimated by the recent epidemic. No native dwellings remained, and apart from the cleared fields, the only sign of a recent Indian presence were sun bleached skull and bones still scattered on the ground. Bradford wrote that it was a very sad spectacle to behold. But the Pilgrims interpreted this desolation as divine providence, a sign from God confirming the righteousness of their mission to settle in the New World. And soon they decided to establish their settlement between two hills, what they called Coleshill, where they planned to build homes, and Fort Hill, where they planned to position the cannons they had brought from England. They hoped to begin building on the morning of December 21st. But violent storms delayed construction and stranded the settlers on shore without food. When the weather cleared, they began cutting down and clearing trees and finally, on Christmas Day, they raised the frame of their first house. But because of the shallowness of the harbor, they had no choice but to anchor the Mayflower a mile offshore. Settlers were forced to ferry supplies through freezing water and before long, dysentery, pneumonia and and scurvy spread through the colony and death became a daily reality. As winter went on and illness and exposure ravaged Plymouth, only a handful were left to build the settlement, care for the sick and bury the dead. All the while they could not shake the feeling that Indians were hidden nearby, watching them grow weaker and patiently waiting for their chance to strike. From wondereet this is episode two of our four parts series the Mayflower for American historytellers. In the next episode, a brutal winter takes a deadly toll on Plymouth Colony. A lone Indian emerges from the woods and walks into the settlement, paving the way for an unexpected alliance. And the Pilgrims attempt to end their hunger crisis by planting their first crops. If you like American historytellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad free right now by joining Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts, Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondering.com survey American Historytellers is hosted, edited and produced by me, Lindsey Graham for Airship Audio editing by Mohammed Shazi Sound design by Molly Bach music by Thrum. This episode is written by Ellie Stanton edited by by Dorian Marina Senior producer Andy Beckerman Executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman and Marshall Louie for wondering.
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Lindsey Graham
Quick, quick, quick.
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List three gifts you'd never give.
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Lindsey Graham
A cowboy.
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Lacy bobby socks. A diamond bracelet. A gift certificate to Sephora.
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Lindsey Graham
Carrie.
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Lindsey Graham
Quick, quick, quick.
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