Interactive Map of Mayflower Passengers

The project research commenced in 2017, and as part of this we built an interactive map of where the Mayflower passengers and crew came from before travelling to America.  This was an interesting project, especially as Southampton (home to Hampshire Studios!) played such an important role in providing all the supplies and provisions for both the Mayflower and her sister ship the Speedwell.

Click anywhere on the map to activate. It can be enlarged so you can see the individual village, and sometimes the street level where people were born.

Each pointer opens up a short summary of the life of that person, whether they were part of the Separatist / Pilgrim Congregation, a paying passenger or a servant of either group.

• Blue: Pilgrims & their servants
• Green: Merchant Passengers & their servants
• Red: Crew 

So what did we discover during our research that we did not know before?

• Almost half the people on-board the ship were fare paying passengers seeking a new life, and not driven by religious convictions.
• Having arrived in America it took weeks to find the place they wanted to settle, and a few months more before they had constructed housing. In the meantime only shore parties left the ship, so conditions aboard must have been hard and contributed to the high death rate.
• Almost 50% of the passengers and crew died between December 1620 and the Spring to Early Summer.
• Due to illness and reduction in people available to build the planned 19 family houses and a number of community buildings only a few were completed.  A year later only seven dwelling-houses and four community buildings had been completed.

The economic, religious and geo-political background to the whole separatist movement, and the exploration of the USA, is equally interesting. Hampshire has a connection with this through the 3rd Earl of Southampton, a relative of the Montagu's of Beaulieu, who was a major financier and active member of of the Virginia Company.