Mayflower was an English ship used by the Pilgrim Fathers (Pilgrims – English settlers) to settle in the New World (today called the United States – America). A group of 102 English families (Pilgrims) (with about 30 crew) left Plymouth of England by the Mayflower in 1620. They reached an area in Massachusetts where they established the Plymouth Colony.
Their voyage was a mix of happy and hardships. They first set foot upon a bare rock in December 1620 on the barren coast of Massachusetts Bay.
Mayflower was the three-masted square-rigged ship with castle-like structures fore and aft. She was basically a cargo ship with a capacity of 180 tons. She was heavily armed and had cannons such as inion and saker cannons.
During the age of discovery, Mayflower stands as a symbol of early European colonization in America in the history of migration from Europe to the United States.
In 1621 the Pilgrim Fathers celebrated their first harvest with prayers and feasts. That is today’s Thanksgiving Day, an American national holiday.
Giants on the Waters
