After the Mayflower, A Struggling Colony Expands, 1621-1623

Pilgrim historian and author Becket Soule gave a talk about four ships that followed Mayflower to Plymouth, bringing new passengers to the struggling Colony in a March 31, 2013 presentation. Dr. Soule discussed the always fascinating, often inspiring, and occasionally tragic, stories about the four follow-on vessels and those who embarked on them and how they brought distinctive change to the infant Plimoth Plantation. Click here for a 68-minute recording of the presentation by Alden House.

(Above) The Revd. Dr. W. Becket Soule is a scholar, professor, and priest, currently serving as the pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church in North Carolina. A descendant of several Pilgrim families, he is on the board of numerous Mayflower groups and is an editor for the Mayflower Silver Book series. He began his presentation with a list of the Fortune’s passengers and an illustration of the unsuccessful Paragon ship’s voyage in 1622.

He then described the small ships, the Anne and the Little James, that made the voyage in 1623. The Little James broke up during a storm while anchored at Pemaquid, Maine

The principal backer of the Paragon was John Pierce (charter shown above), who suffered great loss as a result of the voyage. They needed to ship 3,000 beaver pelts in order to pay their debts.