30. The Pilgrims Had Actually Set Out for Virginia
As every American schoolchild is taught, the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the Mayflower. They landed at Plymouth Rock, and established Plymouth as a settlement, about forty miles south of modern Boston. However, Plymouth, at roughly 42° latitude N, had not been the Pilgrims’ intended destination. When they left England, they had aimed for a destination hundreds of miles down the eastern seaboard in the Virginia Colony, at roughly 40° latitude N.
However, the Pilgrims encountered many setbacks. They had planned to sail from England in July, 1620, but most of them were then living in Leiden, in the Netherlands. So the plan was for a sister ship, the Speedwell, to sail from England to the Netherlands, pick up the passengers, return to Southampton, join the Mayflower, and then the two ships would sail together in convoy to Virginia.