The Mayflower departed Plymouth for America

On 16 September 1620, the Mayflower finally sailed alone from Plymouth, England, carrying about 102 passengers — roughly half religious separatists, half secular “adventurers” — bound for the Virginia colony in the New World.

Getting underway had been a saga. The ship first left Southampton in company with the Speedwell, which sprang leaks twice and forced both vessels back to port. With money and the sailing season running out, the Speedwell was abandoned and her passengers crammed aboard the Mayflower.

The crossing took some ten weeks of storms and dwindling rations. Blown off course, the Mayflower dropped anchor off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on 21 November 1620, far north of its target. The Pilgrims established one of the first permanent English settlements in New England — and, by some estimates, more than 30 million people now trace their ancestry to that crowded passenger list.