Mayflower clears Plymouth harbor alone, bound for the New World

Twice already that summer, the Mayflower and her leaking sister ship Speedwell had turned back to English ports for repairs. On September 6, 1620, with Speedwell finally judged unfit for the crossing, the Mayflower departed Plymouth, England alone, carrying 102 passengers and a crew of about 30. Below deck, families who had spent years as religious exiles in Holland settled into quarters barely larger than a modern single bed. The ship would spend roughly two months at sea before land…