It was November; it was winter. The group had been 66 days out of Plymouth and four months out of Leiden. They were in New England and obviously not Virginia. The problem was that their charter or patent was for them to settle in Virginia and nowhere else. So what to do?
"The malcontents among them had become quite defiant, openly proclaiming that when they came ashore they would use their own libertie for none had the power to command them" since they were not in Virginia. This fractional separation led to the composing of the famous Mayflower Compact.
But they were not in Virginia and Capt. Jones was loath to attempt, in November, to sail back into the Atlantic and south to Virginia. So it was decided; here they would stay.
And perhaps this was the best choice after all. There was no established church so they would be free of interference in their affairs.
All this was well and good but it was cold; it was November; it was winter and they had nobody and nothing and certainly no shelter of any kind awaiting them on the shore of this New World.
(Quoting from Saints and Strangers, by George F. Willison, 1945.)
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