The life of the pilgrims in the Plymouth Colony in the new world in 1620-1621 was unbelievably hard and deadly but we preppers can definitely learn lessons from their troubles.
Of the 102 people who went ashore off of the Mayflower, by the time of the first Thanksgiving, 53 had died from various diseases and ailments including exposure, malnutrition, scurvy, disease and even childbirth.
As we in America celebrate Thanksgiving, most of the symbolism & foods are intended to represent the “First Thanksgiving” feast by the Puritans (now called the Pilgrims), survivors of the Mayflower & Plymouth Colony.
The Truth About The Pilgrims & Their Survival
As is true with most things, history & marketing glosses over the truth of the situation… one where desperate, ill-prepared people did whatever it took to scratch out a living in a harsh foreign land while others (the native population) were pushed back from their own land.
Viewed in the hard light of prepping and survivalism, the voyage and landing of the Mayflower might more properly be called the “Mayflower Fiasco.” There are lessons that we, as preppers, can learn from their mistakes, nearsightedness and ignorance, though, so it’s time to put away the rosy “feel-good” Disney version of the Pilgrims and talk about the brutal, often short lives of these brave, intrepid people.
Let’s look at experts from the story, and then talk about the lessons to be learned. Rather than re-writing a bunch of information, I am including direct cut/pastes from this Wikipedia article (CLICKY) and this Wikipedia article (CLICKY), I will put what I pull from it in quotation marks. I’m not going to discuss who the Pilgrims were, why they came to the New World, but focus just on the voyage, successes and failures they had.
Debate
There is a lot of debate among historians about many portions of the story. I am going to use the traditionally considered viewpoint as my illustrations.
The Mayflower set sail in September traveling eastwards across the north Atlantic.
They ate up much of their supplies before they even left. They left at a time of year sure to be rough sailing, in a slab sided high castled ship (high castles keep a ship from sailing close to the wind, meaning beating up into the wind is a long, slow and inefficient way to sail).
“The Mayflower’s provisions were already quite low when departing Southampton, and they became lower still by delays of more than a month. The passengers had been on board the ship for this entire time, and they were quite worn out and in no condition for a very taxing, lengthy Atlantic journey cooped up in cramped spaces in a small ship. But the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth on September 6, 1620 with what Bradford called ‘a prosperous wind’”.
We go the way the wind blows?
Not that this would matter in such a slab-sided castle-laden tub of a ship, which couldn’t sail within 10 points of the wind.
“Aboard the Mayflower were many stores that supplied the pilgrims with the essentials needed for their journey and future lives. It is assumed that they carried tools and weapons, including cannon, shot, and gunpowder, as well as some live animals, including dogs, sheep, goats, and poultry. Horses and cattle came later. The Mayflower also carried two boats: a long boat and a “shallop”, a 21-foot boat powered by oars or sails. She also carried 12 artillery pieces, as the Pilgrims feared that they might need to defend themselves against enemy European forces, as well as the natives.”
When they arrived, they indeed found the place occupied by indigenous people. Depending upon which historian you believe, they dug up these people’s stored food and took it to use for themselves or they dug it up and used it as samples.
On Monday, November 27, an exploring expedition was launched under the direction of Capt. Christopher Jones to search for a suitable settlement site…There were 34 persons in the open shallop: 24 passengers and 10 sailors. They were obviously not prepared for the bitter winter weather which they encountered on their reconnoiter, the Mayflower passengers not being accustomed to winter weather much colder than back home. They were forced to spend the night ashore due to the bad weather which they encountered, ill-clad in below-freezing temperatures with wet shoes and stockings that became frozen. Bradford wrote, “Some of our people that are dead took the original of their death here” on that expedition.
Walking in a winter wonderland nightmare
The first winter was a nightmare. Nearly half the passengers and half the crew died in what makeshift shelters they could manage to throw up in the already freezing temperatures. Diseases ran rampant due to bad sanitation, deterioration due to malnutrition and poor shelter.
SO… how did they get along with the natives?
Well, that kinda depends on which natives we look at.
“They were met by native people who proceeded to shoot at them with arrows. The colonists retrieved their firearms and shot back, then chased them into the woods but did not find them. There was no more contact with native people for several months.
The local people were already familiar with the English, who had intermittently visited the area for fishing and trade before Mayflower arrived. In the Cape Cod area, relations were poor following a visit several years earlier by Thomas Hunt. Hunt kidnapped twenty people from Patuxet (the place that became New Plymouth) and another seven from Nausett, and he attempted to sell them as slaves in Europe. One of the Patuxet abductees was Squanto, who became an ally of the Plymouth colony.
The Pokanoket also lived nearby and had developed a particular dislike for the English after one group came in, captured numerous people, and shot them aboard their ship. By this time, there had already been reciprocal killings at Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod. But during one of the captures by the English, Squanto escaped to England and there became a Christian. When he came back, he found that most of his tribe had died from plague.”
Squanto
Squanto is an interesting fellow, I highly recommend looking up his REAL story.
When Squanto was enslaved and taken to Europe (before the Pilgrims voyage) he learned how to speak English. He acted as a translator with natives, and the natives taught the Pilgrims how to hunt, fish and farm.
The few settlers that were left adapted and survived, learned what they needed to know for self-sustainment, and started to scratch out a living in the new world.
The rest of the Thanksgiving story interesting, but outside the scope of this article.
Problems worth studying by preppers
Let’s take a look at some of the problems, and what they can teach us.
- The pilgrims arrived at the onset of winter with zero chance of growing provisions until spring. They landed in a populated area which had basically been hunted out of large game as well, meaning hunting would not sustain them.
- They were ill-prepared clothing-wise for colder weather than they were used to in Europe.
- The colony members didn’t carry adequate temporary shelter, leading to many deaths.
- They didn’t have proper sanitation, leading to many deaths.
- When Spring came, they had to learn how to grow crops. They had to learn how to hunt and fish.
SO… what can we learn from this?
- If you can in any way avoid it, don’t leave your shelter and food stocks behind in the winter.
- Stock up on the clothing you will need to survive any weather situation.
- Have adequate temporary shelter at hand if you need to bug out. Exposure will kill you.
- Learn proper sanitation for no power, no running water situations and DO IT.
- The time to learn necessary survival skills is now, not when you are in a survival situation.
We here at 3BY hope that you have a happy & blessed Thanksgiving!
