Fortune (Plymouth Colony ship) facts for kids

The Fortune was an English ship that sailed to Plymouth Colony in the New World in the fall of 1621. It arrived one year after the famous Mayflower ship, which carried the Pilgrims.

This ship was much smaller than the Mayflower. It was meant to bring 35 new settlers to the colony. A group of London businessmen called the Merchant Adventurers, including Thomas Weston, paid for the voyage.

The Fortune took two months to get ready. It reached Cape Cod on November 9, 1621, and arrived at Plymouth Colony later that month. The settlers in Plymouth were not expecting the ship. Even though it brought useful new people, many of them young men, it did not bring any food or supplies. This made the colony's limited food even scarcer.

The ship stayed in Plymouth for about three weeks. It left in December, loaded with valuable furs and other goods to take back to England. However, on its way back, the ship made a navigation mistake. Instead of heading for the English Channel, it sailed southeast towards the coast of France. There, a French warship stopped and seized it.

The Fortune finally reached London in February 1622, more than two months after leaving Plymouth. But it arrived without its valuable cargo. Thomas Weston lost all the money he had invested in the Fortune voyage. Still, the trip was helpful because it brought new settlers to Plymouth Colony. Some of these settlers became important people in the colony's history.

Getting Ready for the Trip

The Fortune was a small ship, weighing 55 tons. This was about one-third the size of the Mayflower. Its job was to take 35 new settlers to Plymouth Colony. Their leader was Robert Cushman. He had helped organize the Mayflower and Speedwell voyages in 1620 from Leiden in London.

Most of the Fortune passengers were gathered in London by Thomas Weston and his business partner. William Bradford, the colony's governor, said there were 35 people on board. However, only 28 names are listed as receiving land in 1623.

Records show that 18 passengers were single. Eight were married but traveled without their families. It seems Mrs. Martha Ford might have been the only woman on the ship. It is possible some of the missing seven people were wives, but Bradford's account does not suggest this.

Many passengers, 16 of them, came from London or nearby areas like Stepney and Southwark. Three other passengers were from Leiden in Holland. Ten more passengers, whose origins are unknown, either died early or left the colony. This was found by looking at the 1627 Division of Cattle, which was like a census.

The Fortune Arrives in the New World

The Fortune reached the Cape Cod area on November 9, 1621. But the ship stayed near the tip of the Cape for some time. This worried the native people, who thought it might be a hostile French ship. When Governor Bradford heard about this strange vessel, he had Myles Standish prepare his militia. They also loaded the cannon on Burial Hill in case of an attack.

It took the ship several weeks to find Plymouth. When the Fortune finally sailed into Plymouth Bay, everyone saw it was a friendly English ship. The settlers were very happy and relieved. But during the trip from Cape Cod to Plymouth, the passengers were shocked by the bare and bleak shoreline. It was much like what the Mayflower passengers had seen.

The Fortune passengers found it hard to believe anything could live in such a harsh land. Governor Bradford wrote that they "saw nothing but a naked and barren place." When they saw the difficult conditions in the colony, they became quite worried. The passengers were so discouraged that they even told the ship's captain they wanted to leave if the colony was not what they expected. However, the captain and crew convinced them to stay. They were promised that if needed, they could be taken down the coast to Virginia.

The main problem when they arrived was that the ship was unexpected and there was a severe lack of food. Bradford wrote, "So they were landed; but there was not as much as biscuit-cake or any other victialls for them neither had they any beding, but some sorry things they had in their cabins, nor pot, nor pan, to dress meate in; nor over many cloathes…" The colony's leaders were not happy that Weston had sent new settlers without food or other goods to support them.

However, the new workers from the Fortune were welcome, as many were young men. Bradford described the arrivals as "lusty young men, and many of them wild enough."

Fortune Passengers and Colony Life

Unlike the Mayflower passengers a year earlier, everyone on the Fortune seemed healthy when they arrived. One birth was recorded soon after arrival: Martha Ford gave birth to a son. However, her husband William Ford and the son may have died around that time.

The ship carried many non-religious passengers, called "Strangers." Many were single men. They greatly outnumbered the single women in the colony. With the Fortune's arrival, the colony had 66 men and only 16 women. This shortage of women may have been due to many deaths in the winter of 1621-1622. For every eligible woman, there were six eligible men.

Another problem for the Fortune arrivals was that there were no homes for them in the small colony. Bradford had to divide the Fortune passengers among the seven existing houses and four public buildings. Some of these buildings were turned into dorms for the many young men.

The biggest concern for the colony was the ongoing food shortage. The arrival of the Fortune made it even worse. Weston had not sent any food supplies for the settlement on board the ship. Instead of making the colony stronger, the arrival of 37 more people to feed, with the second harsh winter coming, created a very difficult situation. Bradford calculated that even if they cut their daily food portions in half, their corn would only last six more months. After working very hard and facing extreme difficulties for a year, they now faced another tough winter with little food. Bradford wrote, "They were presently put to half allowance, one as well as an other, which begane to be hard, but they bore it patiently, under hope of (future) supply."

Robert Cushman and the Merchant Adventurers

One important passenger on the Fortune was Robert Cushman. He was with his son, Thomas. Thomas later became the church Elder for the Colony. Robert Cushman had been the London agent for Leiden. In 1620, he helped prepare for the Mayflower and Speedwell voyages.

In 1620, Cushman had negotiated a financial agreement for the Mayflower with the Merchant Adventurers. However, Bradford and others from Leiden refused to approve it in Southampton. They said the contract favored the Adventurers too much and was bad for the settlers. Cushman came to Plymouth to convince the settlers to finally sign this agreement, which had been unsigned for over a year.

Governor Bradford knew that the Adventurers had not yet seen any profit from their investment. After Cushman assured him that Weston could be trusted, Bradford and the others signed the agreement.

Loading the Ship for England

To show the Adventurers they were serious about paying their debt, the colony spent two weeks in December 1621 loading the Fortune. They filled it with barrels of beaver skins, otter skins, sassafras, and clapboards. Clapboards are split oak pieces used to make barrel staves.

The cargo was worth about 400-500 pounds. This amount would cut the colony's debt to the Adventurers by almost half.

The Fortune's Journey Back to England

The Fortune stayed in Plymouth for only about two weeks. On December 13, 1621, it began its return trip to London. Robert Cushman was on board. He had left his 14-year-old son, Thomas, in the care of Governor Bradford.

Cushman carried Bradford's letter to Weston. He also had a manuscript that would become a very important historical record of the Pilgrims' first 13 months in America. Today, it is known as Mourt's Relation. It is believed to have been written by Bradford and Edward Winslow. It tells about the First Thanksgiving and the rich resources of the New World.

The Fortune did not have a smooth journey back to England. It seems a major navigation error occurred. Navigation was not perfect in those days. The ship sailed hundreds of miles off course from England. It went southeast into France's Bay of Biscay, off the coast of Vendee, north of La Rochelle.

About five weeks into its voyage, on January 19, 1622, and not far from the fortified Ile d’Yeu, a French warship caught the Fortune. The ship was about 350 sea miles southeast of where it should have been – England's Land's End and the English Channel. It seems the Fortune made a common mistake. Its captain mistook the long peninsula of Brittany in western France for the Lizard Peninsula in southwestern England. Then, it strayed down the French Atlantic coast and was captured by a French warship.

Even though the Fortune was not an enemy ship, France was dealing with Huguenot rebel activities at this time. Any English vessel near their shore was suspected of helping the rebels and could be searched and seized. The French warship stopped and boarded the Fortune, and it was seized.

Although it was soon learned that the Fortune was not carrying illegal goods, the French governor seized its guns, cargo, and rigging. The governor locked the ship's captain in a dungeon. He kept Cushman and the crew on board under guard. He also took the manuscript of Mourt's Relation.

After 13 days, they were freed. Cushman got his manuscript back, but the ship's valuable beaver skins were gone. The Fortune finally arrived back in the Thames River on February 17, 1622.

The loss of the Fortune's valuable cargo was a huge financial blow to the Merchant Adventurers. By this time, they had little hope of getting their money back from either ship. Because of this, the Merchant Adventurers reorganized in 1626 with Plymouth Colony leaders. They tried to change their financial agreements so Plymouth Colony could eventually pay its debts.

Other Ships Visit Plymouth (1622–1624)

English ships bringing new settlers did not arrive again until the Anne and Little James came in the summer of 1623. However, Plymouth Colony was not completely alone. English fishing boats and some ships funded by colonization efforts visited the colony from time to time.

Edward Winslow recorded that in June or July 1622, two ships, the Charitie and Swan, arrived in Plymouth Harbor. These ships were paid for by Thomas Weston. They carried about 50 or 60 colonists who were meant to settle in areas outside Plymouth. Around this time, the Sparrow and a small boat called a shallop were also involved in colonization efforts.

The ship Discovery, on a 1622 voyage from Virginia to England, made a short visit to Plymouth. A passenger named John Pory, an official from Jamestown, wrote a letter praising the colony. In October 1622, the ship Paragon, with 67 passengers, came out funded by "private men's purses." But it had to return to England two weeks later because of storm damage. The Paragon tried again to reach Plymouth in February 1623. However, it was likely driven back by North Atlantic weather and never reached Plymouth.

As the years passed, more English fishing boats came to the New England coast. In 1624, Captain John Smith reported, "There hath been a fishing this yeere upon the Coast about 50 English ships…"