Dartmouth
There could scarcely be a more suitable place for our first port of call on this circumnavigation of the British Isles than Dartmouth, neither could there be a more beautiful one. It was from Bayard’s Cove (photo) in August 1620 that the 180-ton Mayflower and the 60-ton Speedwell set sail for America, the first ship with a group of prospective colonists from London, the latter with pilgrims from Leyden in Holland. The Pilgrim Fathers had put into Dartmouth to make repairs to the Speedwell earlier in the month. Some 300 miles WSW of Land’s End the Speedwell was judged to be unseaworthy and the Pilgrim Fathers returned to Plymouth, from which port the final departure for the historic transatlantic crossing was made, by the Mayflower alone. William Brewster the Elder with 102 pilgrims landed at Cape Cod Harbor on 21 November 1620. On that very same day the Mayflower Compact was signed: a charter of self-government that can lay claim to being the first draft of the American Constitution.
Our morning walking tour of the picturesque old town of Dartmouth, situated on the west bank of the River Dart, took in Bayard’s Cove and much else besides. The afternoon was left free for personal exploration, with optional botanical, ornithological and historical walks led by the expedition staff of the M.S. Endeavour. She remained at her moorings in the middle of the River Dart, illuminated by shafts of spring sunshine, an object of admiration by townsfolk and visitors alike, and of considerable pride to the latter-day American pilgrims to the British Isles who comprise our guests.
There could scarcely be a more suitable place for our first port of call on this circumnavigation of the British Isles than Dartmouth, neither could there be a more beautiful one. It was from Bayard’s Cove (photo) in August 1620 that the 180-ton Mayflower and the 60-ton Speedwell set sail for America, the first ship with a group of prospective colonists from London, the latter with pilgrims from Leyden in Holland. The Pilgrim Fathers had put into Dartmouth to make repairs to the Speedwell earlier in the month. Some 300 miles WSW of Land’s End the Speedwell was judged to be unseaworthy and the Pilgrim Fathers returned to Plymouth, from which port the final departure for the historic transatlantic crossing was made, by the Mayflower alone. William Brewster the Elder with 102 pilgrims landed at Cape Cod Harbor on 21 November 1620. On that very same day the Mayflower Compact was signed: a charter of self-government that can lay claim to being the first draft of the American Constitution.
Our morning walking tour of the picturesque old town of Dartmouth, situated on the west bank of the River Dart, took in Bayard’s Cove and much else besides. The afternoon was left free for personal exploration, with optional botanical, ornithological and historical walks led by the expedition staff of the M.S. Endeavour. She remained at her moorings in the middle of the River Dart, illuminated by shafts of spring sunshine, an object of admiration by townsfolk and visitors alike, and of considerable pride to the latter-day American pilgrims to the British Isles who comprise our guests.
