rt has not hitherto been readily accessible, or in
form available for ready reference to the many who eagerly seize upon
every crumb of new-found data concerning these pious and intrepid
Argonauts.

To such there can be no need to recite here the principal and familiar
facts of the organization of the English "Separatist" congregation under
John Robinson; of its emigration to Holland under persecution of the
Bishops; of its residence and unique history at Leyden; of the broad
outlook of its members upon the future, and their resultant determination
to cross the sea to secure larger life and liberty; and of their initial
labors to that end. We find these Leyden Pilgrims in the early summer of
1620, their plans fairly matured and their agreements between themselves
and with their merchant associates practically concluded, urging forward
their preparations for departure; impatient of the delays and
disappointments which befell, and anxiously seeking shipping for their
long and hazardous voyage.

It is to what concerns their ships, and especially that one which has
passed into history as "the Pilgrim bark," the MAY-FLOWER, and to her
pregnant voyage, that the succeeding chapters chiefly relate. In them the
effort has been made to bring together in sequential relation, from many
and widely scattered sources, everything germane that diligent and
faithful research could discover, or the careful study and re-analysis of
known data determine. No new and relevant item of fact discovered,
however trivial in itself, has failed of mention, if it might serve to
correct, to better interpret, or to amplify the scanty though priceless
records left us, of conditions, circumstances, and events which have
meant so much to the world.

As properly antecedent to the story of the voyage of the MAY-FLOWER as
told by her putative "Log," albeit written up long after her boned lay
bleaching on some unknown shore, some pertinent account has been given of
the ship herself and of her "consort," the SPEEDWELL; of the difficulties
attendant on securing them; of the preparations for the voyage; of the
Merchant Adventurers who had large share in sending them to sea; of their
officers and crews; of their passengers and lading; of the troubles that
assailed before they had "shaken off the land," and of the final
consolidation of the passengers and lading of both ships upon the
MAY-FLOWER, for the belated ocean passage. The wholly negative results of
ca