Concept
Mayflower
Overview
Mayflower was an English square-rigged merchant sailing ship, active from before 1609 until 1622. Her tonnage was 180+, and she was 110 feet (34 meters) long and 25 feet (7.5 meters) in the beam, with several decks. She was notable in that she transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620.
After 10 weeks at sea, Mayflower, with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reached what is today the United States, dropping anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts on 21 November [O.S. 11 November] 1620. The Pilgrims, often conflated with the Puritans (who sought to reform and purify the Church of England from within), sought separation from the church and prayed privately. They believed that the church's resistance to reform and its Roman Catholic past left it beyond redemption. Starting in 1608, a group of English families departed England for the Netherlands, where they could worship freely. By 1620, the community resolved to cross the Atlantic Ocean for America, which they considered a "new Promised Land" where they would establish Plymouth Colony.
The Pilgrims had originally hoped to reach America by early October using two ships, and had a second arranged for the voyage, Speedwell, which, however, proved unseaworthy and so was left behind in England. The ensuing delays and complications restricted the Pilgrims' journey to a single ship, Mayflower. Before disembarking from her, they wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact, an agreement that established a rudimentary government in which each member would contribute to the safety and welfare of the planned settlement. Arriving in November, they were unprepared to endure a harsh winter. Local indigenous peoples assisted the colonists in gathering food, but only half of the original Pilgrims survived the first winter at Plymouth following an outbreak of disease. The following year, the survivors celebrated the colony's first fall harvest along with 90 Wampanoag people, an occasion declared in centuries later as the first American Thanksgiving. As one of the earliest colonial vessels, Mayflower has become a cultural icon in the history of the United States.
No record of the ship herself exists after 1624, when she was appraised at Rotherhithe; she is believed to have been broken up and her timbers used for building construction.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
From the commencement of the winter fishing 1771, to the end of the winter fishing 1781, the tonnage bounty upon the herring-buss fishery has been at thirty shillings the ton. During these eleven years, the whole number of barrels caught by the herring-buss fishery of Scotland amounted to 378,347. The herrings caught and cured at sea are called sea-sticks. In order to render them what are called merchantable…
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
States what Mayflower is.
In the exportation of their own surplus produce, too, it is only with regard to certain commodities that the colonies of Great Britain are confined to the market of the mother country. These commodities having been enumerated in the act of navigation, and in some other subsequent acts, have upon that account been called _enumerated commodities_. The rest are called _non-enumerated_, and may be exported directly to…
Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
States what Mayflower is.
These poor men, driven-out of their country, not able well to live in Holland, determine on settling in the New World. Black untamed forests are there, and wild savage creatures; but not so cruel as Starchamber hangmen. They thought the Earth would yield them food, if they tilled honestly; the everlasting heaven would stretch there too, overhead; they should be left in peace, to prepare for Eternity by living well…
Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, and
Names Mayflower twice.
Philosophers who discussed Mayflower
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Place in the tradition
Part of Ramism.