Pilgrims set sail to New England on the ship Mayflower

A group of Puritan separatists, having left England for the Netherlands in 1608, although unable to escape religious persecution by the English Crown, obtain a patent from the Virginia Company of London, to settle land in at the mouth of the North River (Hudson River), for the Northern Virginia colony.

102 passengers, including the pilgrims, tradesmen and adventurers, and 30 crew disembark from Plymouth England, abandoning the enterprise’s second ship the Speedwell, after it’s leaks postpone their departure twice.