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“We come on the ship they call the Mayflower. We come on the ship that sailed the moon.”


Mayflower departs England – Sep 16, 1620 In a difficult Atlantic crossing, the 90-foot Mayflower encountered rough seas and storms and was blown more than 500 miles off course. Along the way, the settlers formulated and signed the Mayflower Compact, an agreement that bound the signatories into a “civil body politic.” Because it established constitutional law and the rule of the majority, the compact is regarded as an important precursor to American democracy. After a 66-day voyage, the ship landed on November 21 on the tip of Cape Cod at what is now Provincetown, Massachusetts.

After coming to anchor in Provincetown harbor, a party of armed men under the command of Captain Myles Standish was sent out to explore the area and find a location suitable for settlement. While they were gone, Susanna White gave birth to a son, Peregrine, aboard the Mayflower. He was the first English child born in New England. In mid-December, the explorers went ashore at a location across Cape Cod Bay where they found cleared fields and plentiful running water and named the site Plymouth.

The expedition returned to Provincetown, and on December 21 the Mayflower came to anchor in Plymouth harbor. Just after Christmas, the pilgrims began work on dwellings that would shelter them through their difficult first winter in America.

[ My people, the Ralph Wheelocks, came soon after, in 1636, with the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Great Migration. We’ve been knocking about this land since then.]

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age’s most uncertain hour
and sing an American tune
But it’s all right, it’s all right
You can’t be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow’s going to be another working day
And I’m trying to get some rest
That’s all I’m trying to get some rest

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • ghostsniper September 18, 2017, 11:00 AM

    “…rule of the majority…”
    =================

    And in so doing they completely denied the natural rights of the individual, setting in motion the long journey to total societal collapse with unknown numbers of victims in it’s violent path. You are witnessing the beginning of the end of this long criminal passage right now and no, it is not going to get better, only steadily worse. And even more victims, many, many more. The unraveling of tyranny is always painful to everyone, especially those that refuse to see it when it’s large and right before their eyes, they receive the most pain as they are reluctant to adapt to the changes ahead, ardent clingers they are. Either in lifestyle or in death, change they will.

  • Rob De Witt September 18, 2017, 11:13 AM

    From O Sacred Head, Now Wounded, harmonized by God’s Musician, J. S. Bach.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCsIrnMHvVY

    What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest friend,
    For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
    O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,
    Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.

    Be Thou my consolation, my shield when I must die;
    Remind me of Thy passion when my last hour draws nigh.
    Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, upon Thy cross shall dwell,
    My heart by faith enfolds Thee. Who dieth thus dies well.

  • Donald Sensing September 19, 2017, 7:37 AM

    That is a striking illustration of Mayflower looming out of the fog, but alas, the ship was not the size of a flippin’ aircraft carrier. It was tiny. If you have ever seen a full-size reproduction, you’ll be dumbfounded by the raw courage it took even to attempt a trans-Atlantic crossing on a ship that today would not qualify as a decent fresh-water yacht. It was only 90 feet long.

  • MOTUS September 23, 2017, 2:10 PM

    I hate that I love so many of Paul Simon’s songs. I like to think that his lyrics don’t mean what he thinks they mean.