19. The Pilgrims soon had additional settlers join them in Plymouth
When Christopher Jones arrived home in England, the reports he gave to the Merchant Adventurers were far from promising. As had happened in the first year in the Jamestown Colony, the presence of disease, starvation, and death did not paint the New World as a land of promise. Jones did carry the relatively good news of the treaty with Massasoit and the assistance offered to the colonists by the natives. Ships began carrying passengers and supplies to the new settlement in New England to bolster the new colony, and the Merchant Adventurers’ investments. In November, 1621, the Merchant Adventurers dispatched a ship, Fortune, to the colony. Unfortunately, the ship carried more mouths to feed, but little in the way of supplies. Fortune also carried a demand for a payment from the Merchant Adventurers against the Pilgrims’ debts.
The Pilgrims loaded the ship with goods including dried fish and furs, according to their records a cargo worth the equivalent of $120,000 today. However, a French warship captured Fortune during the return voyage in 1622. The following year two additional ships arrived, both bearing additional settlers from the Leiden Congregation, among them Myles Standish’s second wife, and the future wife of William Bradford. By 1630, about 300 men, women, and children populated the Plymouth Colony. Most of the Leiden Congregation had by then relocated to the New World. Additional Strangers arrived as well, and Separatists gave them areas outside of the village of Plymouth for their settlements, though still within the governance of Plymouth Colony.