Today in History: The Pilgrims Take the Wrong Ship

On this day (August 5) in 1620, the Pilgrims left England in the Speedwell to journey to the new world and found a Godly City. The Speedwell had been purchased by the Pilgrims to make the journey alongside the more famous Mayflower. The ship immediately began to leak, requiring the Pilgrims to return to Dartmouth for repairs. A second attempt was aborted for the same reason after journeying 350 miles. Pilgrim William Bradford complained that a too-large mast was the problem. Historian Nathaniel Philbrick theorizes that the too-large mast was purposely installed by the Dutch who wished to frustrate the Pilgrim’s attempt to found an English colony in the New World.