Ship Fortune's 1621 Arrival at Plymouth
Mixed Blessings Follow Pilgrims First Thanksgiving
Oct 24, 2009
The Fortune was the first ship after the Mayflower, with almost a year’s lapse in time, a year during which many of the original pilgrims died. The remaining pilgrims were happy to see this second ship’s passengers, most of them either friends or relatives. Yet, this was a mixed blessing. It had arrived laden with few supplies and more mouths to feed.
Pilgrims Greet Relatives and Friends
On board were the Brewsters’ oldest son, Jonathan, 37, a ribbon weaver, and Edward Winslow’s brother John, 24. There were also people they had lived with at Leiden, including French Huguenot Phillippe de la Noye, whose name was soon spelled Delano. President Franklin Roosevelt was among his famous descendants
The new arrivals upped the number of residents in the struggling colony to 66 men and 16 women. There were probably no more than five young girls of marriageable age available—among them, three orphans who had come with parents on the Mayflower, Mary Chilton, 14, Elizabeth Tilley, 15, and Priscilla Mullins, 19.
Passengers on the Fortune
Passengers on the Fortune, in addition to those named above, were:
John Adams, William Bassite/Bassett (with one or two family members), William Beale, Edward Bompasse (Bumpas), Clement Brigges, John Cannon, William Coner (Connor) and Robert and Thomas Cushman. Robert Cushman had acted as the puritans’ agent in London and returned to England aboard the Fortune. His young son Thomas, about 12, remained and later played an important role as part of the colony’s leadership. (His father died before he could return to Plymouth.)
Others: Stephen Dean, Thomas Flavell and son, Widow Ford with children William, Martha and John (born shortly after she stepped ashore), Robert Hickes, William Hilton, Bennet Morgan, Thomas Morton, Austin Nicholas, William Palmer (with at least one other family member), William Pitt, Moses Simonson, Hugh Statie, James Steward, William Tench and William Wright.
Plymouth Colony’s Gov. Thomas Prence
Fortune passenger Thomas Prince/Prence, 21, became one of the colony leaders early on. He married Elder Brewster’s daughter, Patience, and later became Plymouth Colony Governor.
The Fortune’s Return Voyage
The Fortune had been sent by the Merchant Adventurer’s, the group that financed the Mayflower voyage. It returned to England carrying cargo to the New World that was to be credited against the colony’s debt to its financial backers. It was captured by the French during the return voyage.
It would be many more months before another ship from England arrived in Plymouth harbor, bringing desperately needed supplies, as well as wives and children of some of the Fortune passengers.
Source:
William Bradford’s History of Plimoth Plantation; “The Fortune, Second Boat to Plymouth,” The Second Boat, Vol. 3, No. 1 (May, 1982).
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