Facts about Mayflower
The return trip was nearly fatal for the crew of Mayflower as it was caught in a winter storm on the way home.
The original destination of the Pilgrim's voyage on the Mayflower was the Hudson River by agreement with the Dutch who had established a colony there, north of the Jamestown Settlement.
On March 21, 1621, the passengers who had inhabited the ship during the winter moved ashore at Plymouth Colony, and on April 5, Mayflower returned to England.
Rather than disembark the passengers as the original agreement to deliver the pilgrims to North America, the captain and crew of Mayflower remained and provided the ship as shelter for the pilgrim passengers.
Mayflower was the famous ship that transported the Pilgrim Fathers from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts (United States), in 1620.
Throughout the winter, the passengers spent time ashore preparing homesites and searching for food but remained aboard Mayflower.
After repeated Viking raids, the monks fled Lindisfarne in 875 C.E., carrying the relics of Saint Cuthbert with them.
Mayflower was purchased by Christopher Jones and several of his business partners in 1607.
On April 5, 1621, Mayflower set sail from Plymouth Colony to return to England, where she arrived on May 6, 1621.
The main record for the voyage of Mayflower and the disposition of the Plymouth Colony comes from William Bradford, a guiding force and later the governor of the colony.
The 102 passengers on Mayflower were the earliest permanent European settlers in New England; some of their descendants have taken great interest in tracing their ancestry back to one or more of these Pilgrims.
Only about half of the settlers were still alive when Mayflower returned to its home port in the spring.